Today people are using their smart phone’s from communication to entertainment like purposes. We often come across people in train , bus or cars hearing songs on their Smartphone or watching videos . Many people even love to play games during their travel duration. However the smart phone’s battery often gets exhausted in all these circumstances and majority of us are clueless about charging these smart devices in the public places.The power bank is one such device which comes to our rescue in such situations.Infact , a powerbank , is nothing but a small device fitted with a portable battery like your mobile which slips in to your pocket easily.These power banks let you charge your mobile once or twice on a single full charge. There are many kinds of power banks available in the market , while some are really cheap the others are expensive .
How does a power bank works ?
The power bank is a special battery which you can use in emergency situations.First you need to charge the power bank at your home and later on it lets you charge your mobile from it when needed . Since we are storing energy for emergency purposes it is called bank of power aka the power bank.The benefit of this device is that one can charge his/her smart device anytime and anywhere without searching for a charging point .
The power banks are also universal chargers i.e. you do not have to carry separate charger for different devices.Recently , we have also seen many combo power banks launched with wifi hotspot facility which lets you connect to your existing wireless network or devices which lets you create internet connection bridges.
How much capacity power banks you should buy ?
An oblivious question arises that How much capacity power bank you should buy ? well ! If you travel with many devices along with you then you should buy a power bank of higher capacity.But If you travel with just one mobile then you can purchase a power bank of lower capacity.Before purchasing a power bank do not forget check the MAH capacity on the battery of your mobile. So ,suppose that the battery of your mobile is 2500 MAH , then you should buy a power bank device of 3000 MAH capacity .Likewise , if you purchase a power bank having more than 5,000 MAH , that means , that your mobile can be fully charge roughly twice with that device. If your budget allows you , then you should prefer to purchase a power bank of higher capacity.
There is one interesting thing to note is that while you are charging your smart phone or tablet , your power bank loses a sizable amount of energy in power transfer , so , even If you have a power bank of 5,000 MAH , it is not a rule of thumb , that the mobile of 2,500 MAH will be fully charged twice . So it is always advisable to grab a power bank having more MAH battery capacity than your mobile .
Low quality power banks can damage your device
You may be lured by some cheapest power bank available in the market but these have no information given about the MAH capacity or the current draw .To make things worse they may have over heating problems and can harm your devices.Power banks with over voltage protection (OVP) , short circuit protection (SCP) , over charge protection (OCP) and over temperature protection (OTP) are durable and normally last longer.
Things to check before buying a power bank
You should check the type of cell a power bank is using – like is it Lithium Ion or a Lithium Polymer ? .Lithium Ion is cheaper than Lithium polymer and is used in majority of devices that you may have come across.Lithium polymer on the other hand is expensive but in comparison to Lithium Ion it charges double per unit.
Powerbank buy checklist !
- There are dozen of brands sellings powerbanks but always consider buying from a reputed brand.
- Inexpensive power banks use Lithium Ion cell which have low performance and bad for health
- Prefer powerbank which comes with a built-in cable
- Also consider the weight of your powerbank if portability is your preference
- If you are getting high mAh powerbank at a throw away price it may be using a refurbished battery which will not last longer
- Check how many USB ports are given as normally powerbanks have one 1.5A (small & medium devices) and two 2.1A (bigger devices) usb ports
- Old mobile devices require 1 ampere current to charge batteries while smartphones and tablets need 2.1 ampere input current.