Powerbanks for mobile devices – Part 1 / 4

Skross Emergency Battery – 1100mAh

The first battery is from the swiss manufacturer “Skross” and definitely the smallest power source when it comes to emergency charging. Thus it’s capacity isn’t very big, namely only 1100mAh, which would theoretically give an iPhone about 1/3 of it’s juice back.

Since it is rather small, the name is program and you’d better have a larger battery packed if you plan to be on tour for a longer time. This little battery is really only for  “Emergency” charging.

The haptics are okay, the case is made all plastic

4 LEDs show you the actual charge level and with the press of the power button, you can start the charge process.

With it’s “retractable” USB connector, this mini battery pack nearly fits ever so tiny pocket.

Charge:	Discharge:	Dimensions:
Input Voltage: 5.15V Input Power: 0.45A Input Duration: 2:48:44 Input Capacity: 1031mAh	Output Voltage: 5.08V Output Power: 0.96A Output Duration: 1:04:33 Output Capacity: 1027mAh IPhone Charged at: 22%	Weight: 31g Height: 43mm Width: 31mm Depth: 23mm
Overall efficiency: 99%
Battery type: LiPo
Pros: Small and convenient Excellent efficiency! Output power OK Lightweight 4 LED indicator showing power level “Retractable” USB plug Cons: Slow recharge Small capacity Gets really warm during charge and discharge Rather pricey for what is offered
Price: Roughly 20 CHF

Philips Batterypack – 1800mAh

This battery pack is from Philips and is now about 5 years old, yet delivers OK performance for what you got 5 years ago for your money. Although this pack isn’t that big, the capacity looks promising.

The haptics are okay. Although Plastic dominates the whole case, the feeling that it isn’t all hollow inside makes it all worth.

It’s the only powerbank so far I’ve seen that has a Mini-USB port to have it charged.

Alongside there’s a power supply that delivers 5V/500mA with an USB-B port to connect the battery pack. And alongside you get a set of plugs to charge various older cell phone models. Was handy in the past but with the Upcoming of Micro-USB this sort of gets obsolete.

If the batterypack appears to be non-charging or delivering way less capacity, there’s a reset pinhole to reset the charge logic and hopefully regaining the capacity announced. Had to use this feature twice so far but works well.

Charge:	Discharge:	Dimensions:
Input Voltage: 5.01V Input Power: 0.33A Input Duration: 6:36:22 Input Capacity: 1721mAh	Output Voltage: 4.72V Output Power: 0.35A Output Duration: 3:00:21 Output Capacity: 1331mAh IPhone Charged at: 33%	Weight: 61g Height: 62mm Width: 43mm Depth: 19mm
Overall efficiency: 77%
Battery type: LiPo
Pros: Small and convenient Comes with a lot of adaptors Lightweight Average Efficiency Can be “resetted” if malfunctioning or not charging properly Cons: Very slow recharge Small capacity Poor Output Power Mini-USB charging port
Price: Roughly 40 CHF / no longer available

Pearl Battery Pack – 2200mAh

The next battery pack was a gift from online Reseller Pearl. Similar products we found were at roughly 10 CHF so our expectations were not too high at all. But let’s have a look at the values that little battery has produced.

As you can see, the battery does only deliver 90% of it’s designed capacity. It’s casing is held basic. Transparent tube around the inner case and two USB ports on top, micro-USB for charging, USB for discharging. Most likely there’s a single 18650 LiIon-battery inside…
The lack of status LED or a key to test capacity can nhowever put you into challenge as you don’t know when this battery is out of juice. So you better charge it just before you leave the house.

Charge:	Discharge:	Dimensions:
Input Voltage: 5.08V Input Power: 1.28A Input Duration: 3:21:56 Input Capacity: 1976mAh	Output Voltage: 5.08V Output Power: 0.94A Output Duration: 1:36:43 Output Capacity: 1865mAh IPhone Charged at: 43%	Weight: 67g Height: 62mm Width: 22mm Depth: 22mm
Overall efficiency: 94%
Battery type: LiIon (1 18650 cell)
Pros: Small and convenient Excellent efficiency Output power OK Lightweight Cons: Slow recharge Small capacity No status LED for capacity check No Power ratings visible
Price: Roughly 10 CHF / offered once as a gift from Pearl

reVolt SolarBank – 3500mAh

The next battery pack is a bit special. As the name suggests, this battery pack comes with a solar panel allwoing it to be recharged using sunlight.

Although we personally think exposing a battery to direct sunlight (and the resulting heat!) is no good idea, the concept as such is ingenious. Without the need of a wall outlet you can recharge the battery pack with the help of mother nature. However recharing the battery pack with sunlight is very time-consuming. we didn’t test it but the manufacturer says it takes up to 20 hours of sunlight to have this battery pack at 100 percent again.

As you can see, the battery does only deliver 59% of it’s designed capacity. It’s casing is held basic with a soft touch skin. Two USB-B ports on top, micro-USB for charging. Basic stuff yet remarkable that this low-capacity offers two USB-B ports for simultaneous charging. Their combined output is 2.1A, so either it’s 1 Port with full power or both ports with 1A each!

The four LED indicator tells you how much power you have left and a red LED on the backside (where the solar panel resides) tells you if the batterypack is being solar-charged.

Charge:	Discharge:	Dimensions:
Input Voltage: 5.01V Input Power: 1.00A Input Duration: 04:05:17 Input Capacity: 3378mAh	Output Voltage: 5.17V Output Power: 0.84A Output Duration: 2:23:14 Output Capacity: 2022mAh IPhone Charged at: 77%	Weight: 102g Height: 80mm Width: 55mm Depth: 18mm
Overall efficiency: 59%
Battery type: LiPo
Pros: Small and convenient LED status indicator Output power OK 2 Output ports Lightweight Built-in solar panel Cons: Recharge using solar panel is ridiculously slow Poor efficiency
Price: Roughly 40 CHF

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