Notebook PowerBanks

Okay, now on to the extraordinary battery packs that are designed to charge notebooks.

The following battery packs are designed for charging notebooks delivering higher voltages but they also provide standard USB ports to charge mobile devices.

BlackFox Powerbomb – 16’000mAh

With this biggie at hand you will be able to give a bit more juice to your notebook. Especially when on tour nothing’s more annoying than a notebook you’re working with and which is about to turn off due to an empty battery. For such situations the BlackFox PowerBomb may come in handy. Not only does it provide an USB-B port for charging mobile devices (but with poor efficiency!) it also offers the ability to charge your notebook at a selectable output voltage of 12, 16 or 19 volts according to what your notebook is closest to.

About the haptices, one can say that the brushed metal gives it a classy touch but also attracts fingerprints like hell.

An advantage is that this powerbank is rather slim unlike it’s LiIon-colleagues. So it can be tucked away in even the smallest room in your backpack.

While USB efficiency is poor, the notebook charging efficiency is really good. Tests with a notebook has shown that the battery of it can be charged roughly with another 30% when not in use. That is in most cases another 1 hour of Outlet-independent working.

A wide variety of delivered adapters allows you to virtually add juice to any notebook out there in the wild.

The downside however is that you cannot recharge the PowerBank with plain USB. You will always have to bring it’s power supply with you in order to recharge it.

Charge:	Discharge:	Dimensions:
FastCharge: Input Voltage: 18.07V Input Power: 2.31A Input Duration: 16:32:21 Input Capacity: 17823mAh	USB-B: Output Voltage: 5.07V Output Power: 1.86A Output Duration: 14:06:53 Output Capacity: 10172mAh IPhone Charged at: 310% – Notebook Plug: Output Voltage: 19.23V Output Power: 2.23A Output Duration: 00:38:23 Output Capacity: 16872mAh	Weight: 450g Height: 183mm Width: 125mm Depth: 13mm
Overall efficiency: USB-B: 57% / Notebook: 94%
Battery type: LiPo
Pros: Good and stable voltage and power ratings Charges Notebooks up to 19V Output power excellent Clearly communicated power ratings 1 USB B port delivering max. 2A 1 Notebook Connector port for Cable with adapters Selectable power Output (12V/16V/19V), indicated by 3 bright red LEDs Capacity indicated by 5 bright red LEDs Ecellent efficiency using notebook charge functionality Cons: Recharge only with delivered power supply. No USB recharge possible! Indicator LED not accurate (Stays long at 3-4 dots then rapidly falls) Poor USB-B charge efficiency
Price: Roughly 119 CHF / 99€

Xtorm PowerBank AL390 – 18’000mAh

Another special contestant is the Xtorm PowerBank AL390. Often there’s the joke about having a mobile wall outlet with you. Xtorm however made this joke come real. The rather big battery pack is housing a classic C-Type socket for the so-called Euro plug. Besides that there are also 2 USB ports to add some more juice to your mobile devices if needed.

What is really astounding, is the extremely good notebook charge efficiency. With a 111% efficiency it’s interesting to see that more power is issued than taken. we did the test multiple times to assure that there’s no measurement error and we ended up with the same results over and over again. we only have one explanation: Either our 230V measurement device to determine the power draw from the outlet is measuring less than real or the AC outlet of the powerbank is producing odd results.

The haptics of this powerbank, well, the black plastic makes it odd to handle and yells out cheapness.

Also we noticed that activating the AC outlet brings up coil whining. Seems normal as there’s a transformation from 19V to 230V ongoing. As the AC outlet is fixed to 230V keep in mind not to plug in devices that require 115VAC!

we noticed a rather worrying heat dissipation next to the power outlet. There’s a fan inside trying to cool down the electronics inside but keep in mind not to have this battery pack exposed to direct sunlight or covered in blankets etc. while in operation as it might overheat!

On to the facts…

Charge:	Discharge:	Dimensions:
FastCharge: Input Voltage: 19.15V Input Power: 2.40A Input Duration: 11:05:17 Input Capacity: 15128mAh	USB-B: Output Voltage: 5.00V Output Power: 1.00A Output Duration: 14:06:53 Output Capacity: 11172mAh IPhone Charged at: 343% – Notebook: Output Voltage: 230.23V Output Power: 0.27A Output Duration: 00:41:23 Output Capacity: 16872mAh	Weight: 581g Height: 187mm Width: 130mm Depth: 27mm
Overall efficiency: USB-B: 74% / Notebook: 111%
Battery type: LiIon (6 Cells)
Pros: Good and stable voltage and power ratings Charge Notebooks with their own power supply Clearly communicated power ratings 2 USB B ports delivering max. 2.4A together 1 Type C (Euro plug) connector delivering 85W (64w measured) Excellent notebook charge efficiency! Average USB-B efficiency Cons: Recharge time slow even with 19V/2.4A (11h) Has Coil Whine when using 230V AC outlet Discharges quickly even when not in use Heat next to the power outlet (almost 60°C!)
Price: Roughly 149 CHF / 129€

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