Powerbanks are used for providing portable power to charge battery-powered electronic devices including mobile phones, tablets, wireless audio devices, and others that have a USB interface: they can charge via USB or through a wireless medium for compatible devices.
Power banks come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fulfill the needs of many different people and their needs.
In recent years, the use of power banks has grown vastly as they provide easy charging of mobile electronic devices when away from mains power. Wireless charging powerbanks have also been introduced for those devices that can be charged wirelessly.
What is a Power Bank?
Power banks can be defined as portable batteries that use dedicated electronic circuits to control power in and power out for maximum efficiency. They can be charged up using a USB charger when a power socket is available, and then used to charge battery-powered devices such as mobile phones and a host of other devices that would normally use a USB charger.
These devices are also often referred to as portable chargers, as they can charge devices like mobile phones without the need to be connected to the mains during charging, although they will need to be charged, and this normally requires a mains charger.
The main types of USB power banks include the following:
Standard power banks:
These are the normal power bank portable chargers that are available in the stores and online. They are charged from normal USB sources like USB chargers.
These power banks are normally charged from a standard USB charger and there is some indication on the power bank as to its state of charge. This may be a row of small LED lamps or a simple alphanumeric display that indicates the charge level as a percentage of full charge. Typically a micro USB connector is used as the power in connection.
Once fully charged the power bank can be used to charge other devices. There may be one or more Type A USB sockets that can deliver charge to the devices that need charging.
Conekt develops premium quality power banks that are durable and easy to use. Each model is designed with customer needs and future technological developments in mind.
Solar power banks:
Solar power banks use sunlight to charge up. To do this they have photovoltaic panels. These are really only able to trickle-charge the internal battery when placed in sunlight because the solar cells are relatively small, but nevertheless, this can be a very useful function, but really only in very sunny or bright conditions.
As solar charging is slow and intermittent, it can also be charged from a USB charger as well. Solar charging is a useful backup, especially if you are traveling away from mains power. To ensure that the maximum amount of solar energy can be converted, some of the more advanced solar power banks have solar panels that fold out to present a larger area to the Sun.
Similar to the standard wired power bank, these solar-powered ones have standard Type-A USB connectors for the output or outputs and a micro USB for the input from a USB charger.
Wireless power bank:
With the advances in wireless power transfer technology, it is now possible to create power banks that are themselves charged from a standard USB source, but they are able to charge phones and other wireless charging compatible electronic devices wirelessly.
These power banks use the Qi standard that has been adopted by the majority of all electronic devices that can be charged wirelessly. The electronic device to be changed is placed on the power bank - orientation is often important.
It is best to turn off the wireless charging power bank once the charging is complete and then the wireless charging circuitry is disabled, so the power bank will not be discharged when idle.
The durability of Power banks
Two major aspects determine the longevity of a power bank: Charge discharge cycles and self-discharge time.
Charge discharge cycles:
The lifetime of a battery is quoted in terms of the number of charge-discharge cycles it can undergo before its performance falls by a given degree. Some cheaper power banks may only have a life of about 500 charge-discharge cycles, but better ones will have lifetimes of many more charge-discharge cycles.
Self-discharge time:
All battery cells, whether rechargeable or the primary ones have a certain degree of self-discharge. In recent times, rechargeable batteries feature their own control circuitry, and only a small amount of power is required to keep these circuits alive. As a result, there is only a finite time that a battery will remain charged.
It is important to know that a good-quality power bank can hold a charge for up to 6 months with only a small loss of charge, but lower quality ones may only retain a useful charge for only about a month. These figures are for room temperature, but storing them outside these temperatures significantly affects their performance.
Power bank charge capabilities
The level of charge that can be stored in power banks has increased in quantity and quality as the need has grown. Smartphones are one of the primary devices to be charged by power banks, and in recent years the battery capacities have increased significantly to provide longer idle times between charges.
Battery technologies
All power banks fundamentally use rechargeable batteries made using the element Lithium. Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Polymer batteries are most commonly used for power banks. Battery technology is key to numerous modern advancements in Information and Communication Technology such as mobile phones, laptops, electric cars, and so on.
The core technologies related to batteries are improving rapidly and there may soon be some breakthroughs in battery technology for every electronic device including power banks.
Types of Powerbanks - The two technologies work a bit differently
1. Lithium-ion (Li-Ion):
Lithium-Ion batteries have a higher energy density, i.e. they can store more electrical charge in a given size or volume, and are cheaper to manufacture, but they can have issues with aging.
2. Lithium-polymer (Li-Po):
Lithium-polymer power banks do not suffer from aging to the same extent so are a better choice. However, they are more costly to manufacture and as a result, they may not suit all budgets. Sometimes it may be that it is best to spend less, especially if they are likely to be accidentally lost.
Conekt uses Lithium-polymer technology to cater to the needs of all customers while offering all the best functionalities of a standard power bank
Power banks are highly useful as they enable battery-powered devices to be charged effortlessly on the go. As it is not always possible to access a power socket every time a mobile device needs charging, power banks as mobile accessories have now become an essential device and are highly beneficial, especially when traveling.
Power banks mostly come with capacities of 10000 mAh and 20000 mAh. However, models among each of the capacities differ based on the number and type of ports they come with. Power banks with 10000 mAh battery capacity are preferred by a major part of consumers, while 20000 mAh power banks are heavy-duty users.
The Conekt Advantage
Conekt Power banks are designed to be compact and powerful. They use advanced battery technology consisting of voltage protection, two-way fast charging, overcharge protection, and are seamlessly compatible with Android and Apple Devices.
Conekt has a wide range of models to choose from in the 10000 mAh segment at best budget prices which include bestsellers such as Zeal Proton, Zeal Swift, Zeal QC3.0, Zeal Pulse which offers (PD(Power delivery)+QC3.0) also charges MacBook. When it comes to 20000 mAh power banks, Conekt Zeal Fatboy has earned a good reputation among smartphone enthusiasts.
Conekt Gadgets provides mobile accessories that offer best in class performance and compatible with all major mobile brands including Redmi, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Oneplus, Apple, and others while providing features such as fast charging, ease of use, and portability.
Nowadays due to pandemic situations, everybody either working from home or attending online classes most of the times mobile is a must throughout the day. So it would be beneficial to have quick and portable charging devices not to get interrupted while on the go!