I possess more than a few character flaws, one of which is that I’m a rather trusting person. That is, I tend to believe what I’m told until I find out I’ve been lied to or I realize that the facts have been grossly misrepresented. Then I’ll never trust that person or source again or, at the very least, I’ll go out of my way to verify their claims.
Today is one of those days for me. And it’s all about power bank capacity and their blatant lies. You see, not long ago I wrote this article about how to create a better solar generator on your own, largely because of inexpensive portable power banks. I even liked the idea so much that I added power banks to the DIY Faraday cage I recently made. It seemed like a no-brainer for basic preparedness.
In fact, I had nothing but good things to say about portable power banks. I’ve used them for years, though not extensively. I recommended you have one in your bug out bag (I still do), EDC kit if you’re so inclined, and I even keep one in each vehicle–back when we had more than one car–for just in case purposes.
But then I decided to test one of the 26,800 mAh power banks I recently purchased. As you might guess, I was sadly disappointed in the results. You see, at some point I wondered just how many entire phone charges I could get out of a larger power bank than the 10,000 mAh power banks I usually purchase. I was thinking a handful of charge cycles wasn’t out of the question. After all, my Samsung Galaxy S21 is stated to have a 4,000 mAh battery from what I read online. Math suggests I could conceivably get up to 6.5 full charges from this battery bank. And if I used the 40,000 mAh power bank instead, well, I could play Candy Crush all week long. 😉
But I’m not that naïve, either. I recognize there’s a fudge factor involved with battery capacity claims. And I realize that my phone’s battery has likely degraded, which should’ve worked in the power bank’s favor because there would be less overall capacity needed. As such, I wasn’t expecting perfection, but I wasn’t expecting what I discovered, either.
Let me also be clear: I don’t have any fancy equipment to test battery capacities or any special knowledge. I simply did some math. Here’s what I did; feel free to correct me if I did something horribly wrong.
Because the aforementioned chargers include a handy display that indicates the percentage of power bank charge remaining (ranges from 0-100%) I simply wrote down where my phone charge was and waited for it to reach 100%. For instance, if I let my phone die down to 75%, I can assume because it has a 4,000 mAh capacity, that there was 1,000 mAh capacity drained. Then I simply divide the drained capacity from my phone by the drained charge on the power bank. Thus, if my power bank said 95% remaining, I would divide the 1,000 mAh that my phone needed replenished by 5%, which is the capacity drained from the power bank. The result would be 20,000 mAh. I hope that makes sense.
Here’s generally what I found initially (keep reading for my corrections):
- The 26,800 mAh capacity ranged roughly from 8,000-10,000 mAh capacity after several tests using both my phone and my wife’s iPhone 13, which has an approximate capacity of between 3,000-3,200 mAh, depending on the online source I referenced.
- The 40,000 mAh capacity ranged roughly from 11,000-12,000 mAh capacity after a few tests using only my phone.
Even if I choose the high end numbers, that’s less than 40% of the stated capacity for the 26,800 mAh power bank and only 30% for the 40,000 mAh power bank!
Something wasn’t right. So, decided to download a battery monitoring app. I ended up with something called AccuBattery. It looks quite detailed, but I doubt it will stay on my phone much longer as I don’t really see the need for it beyond this test. Anyway, I noticed that the app says my phone’s battery capacity is actually 4,855 mAh.
Wait a moment. My battery capacity grew? No. Turns out that I actually have a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which has a stated battery capacity of 5,000 mAh. I guess it helps to have accurate information from the start, lol.
But that doesn’t quite fix the numbers to be all rosy again. Long story short, I can simply add 25% to capacities above to adjust for my initial mistake. Doing so yields the following:
- The 26,800 mAh power bank ranges from 10,000-12,500 mAh capacity.
- The 40,000 mAh power bank ranges from 13,750-15,000 mAh capacity.
That still only comes out to approximately 47% capacity for the 26,800 mAh power bank and 37.5% capacity for the 40,000 mAh power bank if I used the high end of the range.
I was curious if it was only these newer power banks, so I dug into one of our bug out bags and pulled out a Getihu 10,000 mAh power bank. Although this company still manufactures portable power banks, they don’t make the model I have any longer. The problem is that, like many smaller power banks, they use four LED lights to indicate the approximate state of charge remaining, so I had to guess as to the capacity remaining. Long story short, I’m afraid I still only got slightly more than half of the stated capacity. But that’s not super concerning because this smaller power bank is four or five years old.
Yes, overall, I am disappointed. Am I shocked to my core? No, but getting less than half of what’s advertised feels more than deceptive. Granted, I should’ve known better or, at the very least, tested these devices to be sure. After all, if I expect to use them for my very survival, I’d better not have unrealistic expectations.
Does this mean I don’t recommend them? Well, I still believe having a portable power bank is a wise choice. But then it’s hard to know who or what to trust because I ended up purchasing the 26,800 mAh power banks after watching this video. I’ve watched his content on other product comparison before and generally enjoyed his advice. And, although this power bank isn’t his final recommendation, they seemed to rate well enough according to his tests, especially for the price, that I figured they were worth the gamble. (FYI, the 40,000 mAh power banks I also bought weren’t in his list; I merely bought those after searching online and BEFORE watching the video referenced above.)
Ultimately, this is surely one of those “you get what you pay for” situations. Buyer beware, I guess. And if you have a recommendation as to what is really worth the money, I’m all ears.
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