One of the gadgets that are often essential for our smartphone is the power bank, which allows us to forget about the autonomy of our mobile phone even when away from home. In order for us to find the best power bank according to our mobile we have to take into account several factors and we are going to show you one by one on what we must base ourselves before buying one of these portable batteries.
If we start looking in different stores we will find a wide variety, which can even be overwhelming. Buying a technology product is not always easy, much less when we have to think about the use that we will give it with our mobile phone or even if we plan to use it for more devices.
Points to consider when buying a portable battery
Capacity in mAh
As a fundamental point, when buying a power bank we will have to look at the number of mAh that it has. These data we will have to relate to our mobile to know how many times we are going to be able to charge the mobile with each of the portable batteries. We will find out this with a mathematical formula that is not exact, although it will give us an approximation, since the performance of portable batteries is not always the maximum and also the batteries suffer some degradation over time.
External battery capacity (mAh) x 0.60 / Mobile capacity (mAh) = Number of charges
With this formula we will be able to find out how many times we will be able to charge our mobile in a simple way as we show you in the following example:
20,000 mAh x 0.60 / 3,800 mAh = 3.1 charges
In this case that we give you as an example the charge of our mobile could be carried out completely in a 20,000 mAh battery about three times and some more. Although this will have variations despite everything, since we do not allow the mobile to turn off completely and possibly we do not wait for it to charge 100%, but it is worth it as an approximation.
Charging speed for our mobile
Fast charging is one of the factors that is taking the greatest value on mobiles and if we want to take advantage of this function also in our power bank, we will have to take it into account when choosing one of the many that we will find. There are no fast charging capacities of up to 65W as we can see in some mobiles, since this can only be achieved with the current from the plugs and also using the original charger.
However, if we are going to be able to look for portable batteries with Quick Charge technology, the standard that offers us a higher speed. So far this technology reaches up to Quick Charge 5.0, but in portable batteries given its dimensions and limitations to dissipate heat, they do not exceed the Quick Charge 3.0 standard with which we will minimize the waiting time. Portable batteries are not a constant power source as plugs do and therefore we cannot relate to a specific number of watts, so do not look for this type of data when buying an external battery, if they offer it to us it’s just an approximation.
Charging speed on portable battery
The battery itself also needs to be charged, but in this section we do not find fast charging technologies beyond the watts it is capable of receiving. Basically there are two types of charges for the power banks, the first and most basic with a technology similar to that of mobiles from a few years ago and that therefore will take longer to charge with their 5V and 2A or 10V and 2A which would be the most recommended. The cable and charger that we use to charge the battery will also be very important, an aspect that we usually forget.
Available ports
Portable batteries primarily need input and output ports to take advantage of them. First of all we will have to take into account the input port or also known as “IN” from where we are going to charge it and we can find the USB Type C cable in a general way. As for the output ports, they are identified as “OUT” and the most common is to find the classic USB-A port or increasingly USB Type C, which can have fast charging functions on some outputs but not others. .
Depending on the mobile we have and differentiating between iPhone or Android, we will have to assess what is the best option for us, even evaluating buying a cable that we always use and only with the battery, avoiding constantly transporting our charging cable that we use at home with the original charger.
The ideal battery is the one that adapts to your needs
Taking into account everything we have known, we will have to adapt the first calculation to the mAh of our mobile, decide on a type of load desired and of course know the ports that we are going to need. Then the search can take us wherever we decide, with the intention of buying a portable battery that meets all our requirements .
If we have to recommend a portable battery with Quick Charge 3.0, a large capacity of 20,000 mAh and a 10V and 2A type charge for the battery, we can recommend some like the one from Aukey that we show you, as long as it meets your needs.
