Power banks are one of the latest types of charging electronics that is sweeping the charging electronic market by storm. The reason that they have grown so fast is that they’re portable chargers that can be taken anywhere. One of the best results of power banks growing so quickly is the fact that there are now many companies that sell them and that has caused there to be competition and out of the competition has come innovation. The innovation of portable chargers has made there to be many different types of them on the market and this can be a great thing or bad thing.
Having so many types of power banks on the market is good because there are types that you would prefer over other ones. The bad aspect of having so many types is that there are lots of power banks that are low quality because companies just skimp out on the quality that they put into a power bank. So in this article, I’ll be going over the main points of a portable charger that you need to know before actually purchasing one and that way you’re going to be able to get one that fits your needs.
There are Many Types of Power banks on the Market
The first thing to know is that power banks are built on power capacities and that is what makes them portable in the first place. Another thing to know is that the power capacity of one is going to determine the type of experience that you’re going to have with the portable charger. This brings us to the main two base types of power banks.
Low Capacity
There are ones that have low power capacity and power banks that have capacities within the ranges of 3,000mAh to 5,000mAh are the ones that are used the most. The main reason for that is because a capacity that low usually means that the power bank is just using a single battery. There are two main battery types that these power banks use and they are Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer batteries. Ones that use Ion batteries are the ones that are cylindrical and ones that use Polymer batteries are Slim.
Slim power banks are going to be a preferable form factor as these types of power banks are the ones that are about the same size as your smartphone. All that said, as popular and useful as Mini power banks are with their portability, they don’t have a lot of power to provide; this is true for their low power capacities as they only have enough to charge most smartphones to full only one or two times.
High Capacity
Then there are power banks that are a lot more versatile with what they offer and these are power banks that have higher power capacities. These ones are larger and heavier though because they use more batteries. That is really the only flaw when it comes to power banks with high power capacities, as all there other parts are quite powerful and useful.
Their power capacities that are within the 20,000mAh range and beyond are able to charge many types of devices to their full power, such as smartphones, tablets or even laptops.
One of their other strongest points is that these power banks, along with their high power, also use many USB ports and as a result, you can charge many types at the same time.
Charging Speeds of the Ports
When it comes to charging, in general, we want our devices to charge to their full power quite quickly because we want to be able to unplug from the power bank in a timely manner. Not all power banks have fast charging speeds and that is why you have to take a close look at the Output and Input charging speeds of the power bank to know what you’re going to be getting.
The Output of the power is charging speed that your devices are going to be receiving and then the Input charging speed is the recharging speed of the power bank.
Knowing the charging speed of the ports on a high capacity power bank is when it’s most important since you’re going to be charging multiple devices at once. Take a look at the charging speeds below to know what each one of them means in terms of their speeds
5V/1.0A = Slow
5V/2.0A = Fast
5V/2.4A = Fastest Standard Charging
5V/3.0A = Quick Charge or Type-C
For the most part, when it comes to Mini power banks that have just a single port, they have 5V/1.0A charging speed and that is normal. However, there are newer Mini power banks that have slightly higher power capacities that have charging speeds that are within the 5V/2.0A range.
When it comes to power banks that have multiple USB ports then that’s when each of the ports should at least be giving a charging speed of 5V/2.0A because most devices are able to charge quite fast then. Then there are special charging technologies such as Quick Charge and Type-C that are compatible with certain devices and that makes them able to charge to their full power very quickly.
Brands of Power Banks
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned how there are many companies that now sell power banks and that is true. Having so many companies means that you have to be more careful about who you purchase your power banks from as there are lots of companies that sell low quality portable chargers.
The best way to purchase your power bank from a reputable source is to read the reviews on their products and also to take a close look at the specifications of the power bank to know the charging speeds. One of the best ways to know if a company is offering quality is to also take a look at their warranty policy as that will give you an idea of whether or not the company actually believes in their products.
Author Bio:
Hey, the name is Usman Haq. I’ve been blogging around the internet for a few years now and it has become something that I genuinely enjoy doing. As I can help people by writing content. I currently own a website ChargerHarbor.com that is about all things charging electronics.