90 day warranty? Are these refurbs or something? They do say new in the blurb. But 90 days is lame. Price is suspiciously low too. Tempting but gotta wonder.
@phr griffin is an incipio brand, the same as those wonky speaker/light/batteries they had the other day. Incipio used to be strictly a phone case company, maybe their expansion into speakers and batteries didn’t pan out?
@phr@thechilipepper0 The BB house brand you’re thinking of is Insignia. Incipio is owned by Vinci Brands (along with Incase, Survivor, Griffin, Kate Spade, and Coach).
@ampersandranch@phr@risaspeace@thechilipepper0 Coach bought the Kate Spade brand…and later Coach changed its own name to Tapestry…and then changed its stock ticker symbol from COH to TPR.
@octoturt The question is… how many of those Amp-hours really are there on these … and will be working for at least the 90 days of the warranty? And will any of it really hold a charge 91 days after you buy it?
For those interested in a clever little life hack: if you tape or glue a bunch of these to your tank, you can create a relatively inexpensive homemade version of reactive armor!
@jgoldshlag 15 watts is an upper limit into a compatible load with a low resistance cable, actual maximum power transfer will probably be lower.
Read further for my attempt at a mostly accurate description of why. Or stop now if you don’t like reading such things.
My last phone would happily charge at 18 watts by drawing 2A at 9v, with a charger that could provide that. If the charger couldn’t adjust its output voltage, it would draw up to 2A at 4.5v or higher. When the voltage sagged below 4.5v, it would reduce its current draw until it was getting at least 4.5v. This meant it could still charge slowly even with a truly pathetic cable. It also meant it drew much less than 10 watts from many power supplies rated at 5v.
There is a boost converter in the power brick that converts the battery voltage to the USB voltage. At full charge, the battery will be around 4.2v. As it discharges it will drop to a cut off limit around 3.2v. The average of those values is 3.7v, which is the nominal rating for a lithium ion battery. At full charge the boost converter only needs to add 0.8v, increasing to 1.8v near the end.
The most expensive component in most boost converters is the inductor. When manufacturers cheap out on the inductor, the consumer gets a power brick that can only provide its rated output wattage with a fully charged battery. There are many other ways to design and manufacture inadequate power bricks, skimping on the inductor is just the most common.
Bad USB cables will also limit the power delivered, but the suckage won’t change with the state of charge.
@hamjudo from one person who studied at least some engineering in school to another, thanks for taking the time to share your particularly experienced take on this!
One question: Can you define ‘suckage’ in that last sentence? I love the word, but can’t tell what exactly you meant by it.
@hamjudo This is a literal battery pack - as in - more than one cell. Most likely, this setup won’t contain a boost circuit, because the cells are likely in a a 3s2p or 3s1p configuration. The battery pack’s output voltage (without regulation) would be much higher than the 5v output.
Its going to require some sort of buck circuit to reduce to the stated output voltage of 5v. The product description calls it “Integrated Smart Chip Technology” lol.
The only time you’ll really see a boost circuit is in those “lipstick” style portable chargers that are the same size as your typical 18650 Lithium Ion cell with a little USB output on top. Then your statements will generally be more applicable. But for most other “pack” style portable chargers like meh is selling today - they won’t be equipped with a boost circuit.
15 watts is an upper limit into a compatible load with a low resistance cable, actual maximum power transfer will probably be lower.
For me this sentence was very confusing. It read as if you were countering the OP, telling them that battery packs (and maybe even chargers) in general cannot go over 15W at all (and reach 15W only in best case). I wrote a rebuttal and then realized that you probably meant that only this particular battery pack cannot reach 15W. The confusion was because your response seemed to be countering the OP, while you actually did not disagree with what they said.
Old message:
There are many battery packs that put out more watts. Things like Raspberry Pi 4 prefer 18W. For example, many of the cheap Morphie packs sold by Meh before can put out hose 18W. Many Anker packs can do much more (say, up to 140W).
My pretty old phone (bought in 2019) came with a 40W USB-C charger. But it can also work with the 65W ones. Not sure about the newer 100W chargers. Maybe only newer phones support them.
Anyone know if these support pass-through or at least simultaneous charging? I’m guessing no on the pass-through charge part, since that feels like something they’d mention in the specs, but also not sure on whether it can charge itself and a device at the same time
15W PD, 5v only.
So yeah, there’s a reason why they’re cheap. Basically only useful for having a ton of spare power for your phone, not gonna do much for a Switch, and probably won’t even work with most laptops (which tend to require >5v).
@TexasDex No PD, just plain 15W. Power delivery is when it can handshake and supply voltages besides 5 volts. Current PD standards includes 9, 15, 20, 28, 36, and 48 volts.
@narfcake@TexasDex Yeah I think its good to make it painfully clear: There are absolutely no smart charging / fast charging technologies at all in this. Just plain jane 5v USB.
This is probably good for powering USB string lights that you’d want to hang around your office desk for holiday lighting, or charging old Fitbits and other old wearables, or charging micro-rc batteries, USB fans… etc.
I notice that usb-c to usb-c charging cables are expensive and hard to find compared with a to c. I mean ordinary cakes without the fancy e-mark chip. Any ideas?
@werehatrack Thanks, yeah, they exist, I can find them easily on that South American site that bought out Woot a few years back, but they’re fairly uncommon in brick and mortar shops. I can’t get to Ikea easily. I can easily get A to C cables in places like Best Buy but I don’t see comparable C to C cables there. Also I’d like short ones (like 6 inches) for use with power banks and those aren’t so easy to find. I’ll probably order some from fleabay.
Dumb technical question, but why hasn’t there been a USB-A adapter for a pair of AA’s? Plenty of AA (alkaline or rechargeable) that you could replace yourself rather than chuck these whole all-in-one devices.
I’ve seen Gameboy “custom battery packs” which was a pack that held 12 AAs and a DS cable sticking out of it.
@pakopako If you mean a device that essentially turns a pair of alkaline AA cells into a small power bank, those DO exist, I have a couple purchased from Dollar Tree years ago. The reason they don’t really exist now (and why they were dubious back then) is there just aren’t many USB products these days that would get much of a charge from a pair of AAs, and the current draw would pretty much kill the batteries very quickly, if not instantly. A device like a Game Boy Advance requires far less current than, say, a modern smartphone. (The battery pack you mentioned sounds incredibly unwieldy for anything other than sitting at a table with your Game Boy for long periods! LOL)
@pakopako@PooltoyWolf And a pair of AAs is only 3 volts, where USB supplies 5 as a baseline, and more in the later versions. Yes, it would be possible to add more AAs and get a higher voltage, but that gets bulky in a hurry. And the energy density would still not be all that great. Plus, there are only a very limited number of uses for dead alkaline batteries. One of the more common uses is destruction of battery holders via leakage.
@PooltoyWolf@werehatrack I know, I know. But having just thrown out yet another charging bank, that was my third in three years. And I’m looking at way more rechargeable AA batteries lying around (now that I’m no longer gaming heavily).
@pakopako@werehatrack If I may ask, what are you using your power banks for? They should be lasting more than one year, unless they’re cheapest of the cheap ones, I suppose. If you make sure not to let them sit completely dead for long periods, they should last at least a few years.
@PooltoyWolf@werehatrack Just powering my phones. I charge them at work in them morning and hook my phones to them from the commute home to the next morning. Repeat six days a week.
I’ve found an emergency NOAA radio that uses 4 AAs on Amazon with a USB-A output (likely throwing out <1000 mAh despite 4 Enloop batteries rated at 800 mAh each, they’re probably rated for that time across a lower current/voltage draw); it costs USD$19 but I’m tempted.
Honestly this is all because I wish my handcrank emergency radio had a working USB-A; I can plug in my phone, it charges for a split second, then gives up (it’ll still power everything else for an hour; I can even plug a USB pass-thru measuring device in, but as soon as something wants to draw more (I presume) current, the radio USB-A stops.
And wait, the “similar” packs at Amazon are Belkin while these are Griffin, and that’s not supposed to mean anything? I’m still finding it hard to resist this price of course.
As someone who is tech-dumb… would these be suitable for on-the-go charging for a phone? I have an iphone 6s+ whose battery lasts about 45 minutes but I can’t afford a new phone just yet.
@plumpear Depending on how tech-savvy you are, it is possible to buy a new (aftermarket) battery for your iPhone and install it yourself for a fraction of the cost of buying a new phone. You could also ask around and see if you know anyone who might install the battery for you. I’m putting a new battery in my father’s 2016 iPhone SE after the local Apple Store refused, saying the phone was ‘too old’. (To their credit, they DID give him a nice large Mophie power bank and a cable, free of charge, to try and keep his phone alive longer.)
@PooltoyWolf Thanks very much for the info, though I am very tech un-savvy and would probably break important things. Apple store refused to try to replace the battery for same reason you stated (and they certainly didn’t offer a free power bank!). I wonder if these banks will be discounted on sidedeal any time soon…
@plumpear@PooltoyWolf the convenience factor of a working internal battery ($100+ to buy & install for an extra 2~3 years) sometimes trumps the easy factor of constantly using external batteries (in this case, $10 each year)
@pakopako Thank you, good point. However, the Apple store said there was no guarantee the phone’s old wires wouldn’t be broken in the process of changing the battery, and since I don’t have a backup phone, I can’t risk the battery change.
@pakopako@plumpear UBreakIFix will replace it, and on an iPhone 6, it might even be “while you wait” if they have the battery on hand and they have the time.
Newbie (noobie?) question… I realize they’re only $20 but my penny-saving self needs to know: How long typically before an item on Meh is moved to SideDeal for cheaper?
@plumpear Sidedeal is often the same or slightly more, unless they happen to send out one of those holiday or seasonal coupons right when you want something.
@narfcake@pgallo22 I’ll be using that as well
The set that arrived were in one piece, but they don’t have anywhere close to the stated 20,000 mAh (at the labeled 15W rate).
I’m testing the 2nd now, but the 1st charged for 10 hours (probably a bit much) and discharged 12,000 mAh. That a bit low (60% of the capacity of a “new” battery) compared to bigger brands (Panasonic, Mophie) that claim to retain 80~90% of their rated charge even if sold 3~5 years after the model was introduced.
Specs
Product: 2-Pack: Griffin 20,000mAh Power Banks
Model: GP-149-BLK
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$59.98 (for 2 similar) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Standard: Tuesday, Dec 19 - Thursday, Dec 21.
Enhanced: Monday, Dec 18 - Wednesday, Dec 20.
I have the power!!
/giphy power
/buy
It pains me to buy yet more battery packs but C slowly is taking over my devices, at a faster charging speed.
@DLPanther It worked! Your order number is: decorative-idyllic-delight
/image decorative idyllic delight
90 day warranty? Are these refurbs or something? They do say new in the blurb. But 90 days is lame. Price is suspiciously low too. Tempting but gotta wonder.
@phr griffin is an incipio brand, the same as those wonky speaker/light/batteries they had the other day. Incipio used to be strictly a phone case company, maybe their expansion into speakers and batteries didn’t pan out?
@thechilipepper0 Incipio is a Best Buy house brand, I think. Griffin was one a legit independent brand, but I’m not surprised if it’s been acquired.
@phr @thechilipepper0 The BB house brand you’re thinking of is Insignia. Incipio is owned by Vinci Brands (along with Incase, Survivor, Griffin, Kate Spade, and Coach).
@ampersandranch @phr @thechilipepper0 Kate Spade and Coach are owned by Tapestry I thought
@ampersandranch @phr @risaspeace @thechilipepper0 Coach bought the Kate Spade brand…and later Coach changed its own name to Tapestry…and then changed its stock ticker symbol from COH to TPR.
They’re slim! They’re ultra-slim! They’re compact (says so 3x)! They’re sleek!
And nowhere are the actual dimensions given.
Googling seems to turn up roughly 7/8" x 3 1/4" x 6 1/4".
@bigmeh any idea of the weight?
@bigmeh @phr 12 lbs
/giphy griffin
Pass
@werehatrack Good enough for my Galaxy S10+!
@werehatrack Right? USB-C and not even QC 3.0?
@PooltoyWolf I think that some people forget what website they are looking at…and they make comments like that.
@mehwootmania Right?? It’s two for $20, what more do you want? Lmao
@PooltoyWolf @werehatrack i miss my S10+, it’s heart rate sensor and headphone jack.
@werehatrack who has time to wait for 5-10watt charging? I love that they describe that as “fast charging”. I think they’re bluffing
100th Meh Button click!
i of course immediately clicked buy, the amperage-per-dollar on this deal is nuts
@octoturt The question is… how many of those Amp-hours really are there on these … and will be working for at least the 90 days of the warranty? And will any of it really hold a charge 91 days after you buy it?
@pmarin for 20 bucks, i’ll live
For those interested in a clever little life hack: if you tape or glue a bunch of these to your tank, you can create a relatively inexpensive homemade version of reactive armor!
I need this but with 60W PD
@mondegreene Yeah, not for this price…
15W is pretty disappointing for the USB C ports. As is 10.5W for the A.
@jgoldshlag 15 watts is an upper limit into a compatible load with a low resistance cable, actual maximum power transfer will probably be lower.
Read further for my attempt at a mostly accurate description of why. Or stop now if you don’t like reading such things.
My last phone would happily charge at 18 watts by drawing 2A at 9v, with a charger that could provide that. If the charger couldn’t adjust its output voltage, it would draw up to 2A at 4.5v or higher. When the voltage sagged below 4.5v, it would reduce its current draw until it was getting at least 4.5v. This meant it could still charge slowly even with a truly pathetic cable. It also meant it drew much less than 10 watts from many power supplies rated at 5v.
There is a boost converter in the power brick that converts the battery voltage to the USB voltage. At full charge, the battery will be around 4.2v. As it discharges it will drop to a cut off limit around 3.2v. The average of those values is 3.7v, which is the nominal rating for a lithium ion battery. At full charge the boost converter only needs to add 0.8v, increasing to 1.8v near the end.
The most expensive component in most boost converters is the inductor. When manufacturers cheap out on the inductor, the consumer gets a power brick that can only provide its rated output wattage with a fully charged battery. There are many other ways to design and manufacture inadequate power bricks, skimping on the inductor is just the most common.
Bad USB cables will also limit the power delivered, but the suckage won’t change with the state of charge.
@hamjudo @jgoldshlag Huh. Well whaddaya know?
@hamjudo from one person who studied at least some engineering in school to another, thanks for taking the time to share your particularly experienced take on this!
One question: Can you define ‘suckage’ in that last sentence? I love the word, but can’t tell what exactly you meant by it.
@hamjudo This is a literal battery pack - as in - more than one cell. Most likely, this setup won’t contain a boost circuit, because the cells are likely in a a 3s2p or 3s1p configuration. The battery pack’s output voltage (without regulation) would be much higher than the 5v output.
Its going to require some sort of buck circuit to reduce to the stated output voltage of 5v. The product description calls it “Integrated Smart Chip Technology” lol.
The only time you’ll really see a boost circuit is in those “lipstick” style portable chargers that are the same size as your typical 18650 Lithium Ion cell with a little USB output on top. Then your statements will generally be more applicable. But for most other “pack” style portable chargers like meh is selling today - they won’t be equipped with a boost circuit.
@hamjudo
For me this sentence was very confusing. It read as if you were countering the OP, telling them that battery packs (and maybe even chargers) in general cannot go over 15W at all (and reach 15W only in best case). I wrote a rebuttal and then realized that you probably meant that only this particular battery pack cannot reach 15W. The confusion was because your response seemed to be countering the OP, while you actually did not disagree with what they said.
Old message:
I hope this isn’t prophetic.
/image melted-symbolic-wonder
Anyone know if these support pass-through or at least simultaneous charging? I’m guessing no on the pass-through charge part, since that feels like something they’d mention in the specs, but also not sure on whether it can charge itself and a device at the same time
@reffu42 I had the same question, as I was hoping to use it as a dead-cheap UPS for a USB device.
According to https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/portable-power-bank-chargers/griffin-reserve-power-bank-20000mah#technical-specifications
the answer is No.
@mehcuda67 @reffu42 hmm. Released 2020 so these units might be 4 years old but not much more.
15W PD, 5v only.
So yeah, there’s a reason why they’re cheap. Basically only useful for having a ton of spare power for your phone, not gonna do much for a Switch, and probably won’t even work with most laptops (which tend to require >5v).
@TexasDex No PD, just plain 15W. Power delivery is when it can handshake and supply voltages besides 5 volts. Current PD standards includes 9, 15, 20, 28, 36, and 48 volts.
@narfcake @TexasDex Yeah I think its good to make it painfully clear: There are absolutely no smart charging / fast charging technologies at all in this. Just plain jane 5v USB.
This is probably good for powering USB string lights that you’d want to hang around your office desk for holiday lighting, or charging old Fitbits and other old wearables, or charging micro-rc batteries, USB fans… etc.
Good luck getting 2 amps from a regular 2.0 micro-USB.
I notice that usb-c to usb-c charging cables are expensive and hard to find compared with a to c. I mean ordinary cakes without the fancy e-mark chip. Any ideas?
@phr IKEA sells a decent-quality one-meter C to C cable for four bucks.
@werehatrack Thanks, yeah, they exist, I can find them easily on that South American site that bought out Woot a few years back, but they’re fairly uncommon in brick and mortar shops. I can’t get to Ikea easily. I can easily get A to C cables in places like Best Buy but I don’t see comparable C to C cables there. Also I’d like short ones (like 6 inches) for use with power banks and those aren’t so easy to find. I’ll probably order some from fleabay.
/buy
Why not have a few more power banks…
@atannir It worked! Your order number is: meaningful-loving-glitter
/image meaningful loving glitter
Dumb technical question, but why hasn’t there been a USB-A adapter for a pair of AA’s? Plenty of AA (alkaline or rechargeable) that you could replace yourself rather than chuck these whole all-in-one devices.
I’ve seen Gameboy “custom battery packs” which was a pack that held 12 AAs and a DS cable sticking out of it.
@pakopako If you mean a device that essentially turns a pair of alkaline AA cells into a small power bank, those DO exist, I have a couple purchased from Dollar Tree years ago. The reason they don’t really exist now (and why they were dubious back then) is there just aren’t many USB products these days that would get much of a charge from a pair of AAs, and the current draw would pretty much kill the batteries very quickly, if not instantly. A device like a Game Boy Advance requires far less current than, say, a modern smartphone. (The battery pack you mentioned sounds incredibly unwieldy for anything other than sitting at a table with your Game Boy for long periods! LOL)
@pakopako @PooltoyWolf And a pair of AAs is only 3 volts, where USB supplies 5 as a baseline, and more in the later versions. Yes, it would be possible to add more AAs and get a higher voltage, but that gets bulky in a hurry. And the energy density would still not be all that great. Plus, there are only a very limited number of uses for dead alkaline batteries. One of the more common uses is destruction of battery holders via leakage.
@PooltoyWolf @werehatrack I know, I know. But having just thrown out yet another charging bank, that was my third in three years. And I’m looking at way more rechargeable AA batteries lying around (now that I’m no longer gaming heavily).
@pakopako @werehatrack If I may ask, what are you using your power banks for? They should be lasting more than one year, unless they’re cheapest of the cheap ones, I suppose. If you make sure not to let them sit completely dead for long periods, they should last at least a few years.
@PooltoyWolf @werehatrack Just powering my phones. I charge them at work in them morning and hook my phones to them from the commute home to the next morning. Repeat six days a week.
I’ve found an emergency NOAA radio that uses 4 AAs on Amazon with a USB-A output (likely throwing out <1000 mAh despite 4 Enloop batteries rated at 800 mAh each, they’re probably rated for that time across a lower current/voltage draw); it costs USD$19 but I’m tempted.
Honestly this is all because I wish my handcrank emergency radio had a working USB-A; I can plug in my phone, it charges for a split second, then gives up (it’ll still power everything else for an hour; I can even plug a USB pass-thru measuring device in, but as soon as something wants to draw more (I presume) current, the radio USB-A stops.
And wait, the “similar” packs at Amazon are Belkin while these are Griffin, and that’s not supposed to mean anything? I’m still finding it hard to resist this price of course.
As someone who is tech-dumb… would these be suitable for on-the-go charging for a phone? I have an iphone 6s+ whose battery lasts about 45 minutes but I can’t afford a new phone just yet.
@plumpear For a 6? Yes.
@plumpear Depending on how tech-savvy you are, it is possible to buy a new (aftermarket) battery for your iPhone and install it yourself for a fraction of the cost of buying a new phone. You could also ask around and see if you know anyone who might install the battery for you. I’m putting a new battery in my father’s 2016 iPhone SE after the local Apple Store refused, saying the phone was ‘too old’. (To their credit, they DID give him a nice large Mophie power bank and a cable, free of charge, to try and keep his phone alive longer.)
@werehatrack Thanks!
@PooltoyWolf Thanks very much for the info, though I am very tech un-savvy and would probably break important things. Apple store refused to try to replace the battery for same reason you stated (and they certainly didn’t offer a free power bank!). I wonder if these banks will be discounted on sidedeal any time soon…
@plumpear @PooltoyWolf the convenience factor of a working internal battery ($100+ to buy & install for an extra 2~3 years) sometimes trumps the easy factor of constantly using external batteries (in this case, $10 each year)
@pakopako Thank you, good point. However, the Apple store said there was no guarantee the phone’s old wires wouldn’t be broken in the process of changing the battery, and since I don’t have a backup phone, I can’t risk the battery change.
@pakopako @plumpear UBreakIFix will replace it, and on an iPhone 6, it might even be “while you wait” if they have the battery on hand and they have the time.
Thank you, I’ve been looking for this item for a long time.
Meh, FOMO and I want to see the picture.
/buy
@phr It worked! Your order number is: delicious-crisp-dove
/image delicious crisp dove
Aaand these are now $20 for a single one on morningsave. Not yet on sidedeal.
Newbie (noobie?) question… I realize they’re only $20 but my penny-saving self needs to know: How long typically before an item on Meh is moved to SideDeal for cheaper?
@plumpear Sidedeal is often the same or slightly more, unless they happen to send out one of those holiday or seasonal coupons right when you want something.
KuoH
@kuoh Oh! Good to know, thank you. I was thinking it was cheaper.
I want to know if you can charge the pack with two cables simultaneously; i. e., the included micro cable and by using the C port at the same time.
@Barc777 I like the way you alibi.
KuoH
@Barc777 somehow the manufacturer did the smart thing and built the ports so close together you have to use only one.
@Barc777 @pakopako It would be interesting to send one to Big Clive and see what he would say about it.
One of the power packs was okay, the other was overexpanded and busted open, anyone else?
@pgallo22 Definitely not good! If you haven’t done so already, contact Support.
https://meh.com/support
@narfcake @pgallo22 I’ll be using that as well
The set that arrived were in one piece, but they don’t have anywhere close to the stated 20,000 mAh (at the labeled 15W rate).
I’m testing the 2nd now, but the 1st charged for 10 hours (probably a bit much) and discharged 12,000 mAh. That a bit low (60% of the capacity of a “new” battery) compared to bigger brands (Panasonic, Mophie) that claim to retain 80~90% of their rated charge even if sold 3~5 years after the model was introduced.
@pgallo22 just opened them from this deal and one is like that as well. just sent a message to support to see if they can help