A Geek Goes Flying

For the Solterra, for my iPhone 16 Pro with the unreliable USB C port, I wanted something that would hold the phone visibly and securely  and charge it with a decent amount of juice, and ideally with cooling. (I was waiting for TackForm to bring the CR07 back, but, alas, support confirmed it’s been discontinued.) The components I currently have, which work together brilliantly: The vent hook module from this: Coolpow for MagSafe Car Mount【Windshield+Vent+Dash】Magnetic Phone Holder  (the phone holder component works well, too, but doesn’t charge). It has a 17 mm ball so interoperates well with other hardware. This Anker 67W 3-Port USB-C Car Charger (the ESR below comes with its own 12V charger, but I know and trust the Anker, which is a little more flexible[1]; if I didn’t already have the Anker, the adapter that comes with the ESR is I’m sure fine...) [Edit: If I had it to do over again, I’d probably go with the  167.5W Anker charger instead; it’s $38 but USB...

$150 off an iPad mini 6 on sale at Amazon finally convinced me to upgrade from the iPad mini 4 I’ve been dragging between rental planes (with its slightly cracked screen and outdated operating system - iPadOS 16, released in 2023, left it behind ). Since it would now be USB C instead of Lightning, and since my old charging setup was woefully inadequate (10,000 mAh and 10W total output power), it was time to just sort of refresh things. Flight bag, 2020 edition , now: Center Section Four Top Pocket: Still the AO sunglasses and foggles. Main compartment: Same Stratus GPS / ADS-B receiver and RAM suction cup mount . At some point I might replace the battery, through the official kit ($125) or just an aftermarket battery ($30). Same  Bose A20 headset, but I needed to replace the ear pads ; I opted to use the official Bose SKU ($36 shipped). Same  Velcro PTT switch . New for the iPad mini 6: RAM-B-202-AP36U RAM® EZ-Roll'r™ Cradle with Ball for Apple iPad mini 6 ($36.50). I’l...

After seeing the impact a dual Xeon RX 580 GPU etc. Mac Pro 5,1 had on my electric bill, I’m spinning that beast up only when necessary! So I’ll be using the laptop slot I had built into my computer stand more and more. Which means having power cables draped everywhere from the grommet insert is less than ideal. So...  Anker MacBook Pro Charger, 100W USB C ($30 and comes with a 5' USB-C cable) Faracent USEC-2M 2 meter USB-C extension cable ($14 and purportedly transmits up to 5A, so, a full 100W ) The extension cable is necessary so I can have the wall wort plugged into the UPS on the floor and have an easily accessible USB-C female port I can plug a USB-C to USB-C cable, or for older and newer devices, a MagSafe cable, into, depending on what laptop is in the slot. I currently have it hooked up to a MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro via an Apple MagSafe 3 cable and can confirm it’s negotiated 19.5V and ~.25A (which is what it was drawing connected to a 67W charger USB-C to USB-C, no ...

The Zendure X5 was a pretty unique package, and I’ll miss it (it died and they were not able to replace it under warranty 😢). The best compromise I found to replace it was the Anker Power Bank, 20,000mAh Portable Charger with Built-in USB-C Cable, 87W Max Fast Charging Battery Pack (A1383) for about $60. It’s a little bigger and heavier, but Anker packs tend to have good efficiency ( comparison ), and the power profiles available mean I should definitely be able to properly fast-charge a tablet with enough juice to spare for a top-off of an iPhone, etc. Anker 20,000mAh PowerBank (The new pack is 6.2x2.9x1" (vs. 4.5” x 2.8” x 1”) (so, ~43% larger on the Cocoon ), and 15.5 oz/ 440 grams (vs. 10.41 oz / 295 g) (so, ~49% heavier). Not super small or light weight, but to get no-compromises high speed charging for both the battery pack itself and a connected tablet, plus > 60 Wh of usable capacity, that’s what’s out there. Everything else has a severely charging capability ...

Zendure X5 I have a Zendure X5 battery pack I initially liked well enough. The day after I got it I put it through its paces and was impressed ; within a few days I was “ a believer .” The pack performed as advertised . I’ve been using it lightly but consistently (a few times a month) ever since; it became my “tablet pack,” not as heavy to lug around as my ~99 Wh packs (for laptops), but with enough capacity and output to be able to meaningfully extend the life of an iPad on the go. Until recently. Twice now I’ve recharged it for a half day or so and had four LEDs (indicating full charge) and then, when I go to use it an hour or five later, with nothing plugged in, it’s dead. I submitted a support ticket to Zendure; I ordered it at the end of June 2022 and it was delivered July 5th, 2022, and it has a 2 year warranty (for ~$100 it should ...). I detailed the issues I was having. They responded asking for the serial number, which I don’t see anywhere on the unit. I responded so stating,...

Anker 615 USB Power Strip Picked up the Anker 615 (A9125) for my “ remote office .” Love this gadget. Manual . Wraps up neatly to travel compactly, but once on site the cord unwraps to 3' in length, with (2) 125V AC outlets and a combination of USB ports that can provide up to 65W USB-C PD, or a more usable 45W on one and 18W on the other, or (still enough to run a MacBook Air, recharge an iPad, and ...) 30W/20W/12W with all three USB ports occupied: USB-A: 5V ⎓ 2.4A (12W max) USB-C 1 / USB-C 2: 5V ⎓ 3A/9V ⎓ 3A/15V ⎓ 3A; 20V ⎓ 3.25A (65W max each port)  USB-C 1 + USB-C 2: USB-C 1: 5V ⎓ 3A/9V ⎓ 3A/15V ⎓ 3A/20V ⎓ 2.25A (45W max) USB-C 2: 5V ⎓ 3A/9V ⎓ 2A (18W max) USB-C 1 + USB-C 2 + USB-A: USB-C 1: 5V ⎓ 3A/9V ⎓ 3A/15V ⎓ 2A/20V ⎓ 1.5A (30W max) USB-C 2: 5V ⎓ 3A/9V ⎓ 2.22A (20W max) USB-A: 5V ⎓ 2.4A (12W max) USB-C 1 / USB-C 2 + USB-A: USB-C 1 / USB-C 2: 5V ⎓ 3A/9V ⎓ 3A/15V ⎓ 3A/20V ⎓ 2.25A (45W max) USB-A: 5V ⎓ 2.4A (12W max) Anker 525 Charging Station Definitely a usable gizmo. Not ...

Side table charging station tucked into corner; Anker charging station The station is built around a $35 HOOBRO Side Table with Charging Station, End Table with USB Ports and Outlet , which won’t be confused for Ethan Allen but snuggles into the available space perfectly and looks “fine.” (Certainly a lot better than the rat’s nest of cables that used to be in that void!) Also gives me a place to stash laptops, tablets, wireless keyboards, etc., that’s out of the way. The table has a built-in 110V outlet and (2) 10W (5V ⎓ 2A) USB-A ports, which is probably enough for impromptu / guest phone / watch / etc. recharging, but wasn’t quite what I needed from that space. So I added an Anker USB C Desktop Charging Station (623), with: (3) 110V outlets; (1) USB-C PD 45W port; and (2) 15W USB-A ports. Although the power strip’s USB output tops out at 60W total (per the manual ), and 45W isn’t the most a MacBook Air can take (and less than the stock charger for the MacBook Pro provides), 45W of ...

The Anker 511 Charger (Nano 3, 30W) Powering a MacBook Air Just a shout-out to this tiny little Anker USB C GaN Charger 30W, 511 Charger (Nano 3) charger (hooked it up to an early 2020 MacBook Air via an inexpensive Amazon Basics Fast Charging USB-C to USB-C2.0 Cable (USB-IF Certified), 60W - 10-Foot, White . Not much to say other than that it works. The Klein reports it supplying 19.92V at 1.40A (27.9W); coconutBattery reports the laptop charging with 8–15W (or more) while tapping this (Bluetooth keyboard) and streaming a high definition YouTube video over WiFi. It’s about 1/3 the size of the charger Apple bundles with the laptop, and makes a cost-effective option to keep a charger in another location. Dig it. Specs from the manual: Input 100-240V⏦1A 50-60Hz Output     5V⎓3A / 9V⎓3A / 15V⎓2A / 20V⎓1.5A (30W Max) PPS: 3.3-11V⎓3A Max (30W Max) 3.3-16V⎓2A Max (30W Max) Average Active Efficiency 82.24% Efficiency at Low Load (10%) 70.14% No-Load Power Consumpti...

MacBook Air connected to Anker Using the same setup as I did with the early 2015 MacBook, I did a quick instrumented test of the Anker PowerCore Fusion 10000 and the Zendure X5 , this time hooked up to a 2020 MacBook Air 13" Retina Core i5. This laptop is firmly in the era of full PD support, and the negotiated power profiles support this: Battery Pack Voltage Amps Watts Charging with Anker 9.04V 2.11A 19.07W 4.55W-8.37W Zendure 20.01V 1.4A 28W 14.82W The Zendure is supposed to provide 45W but the MacBook’s factory charger is a 30W unit and the power profile it supplies looks a lot like the 20V 1.4A I’m seeing here. The Anker only advertises 20W and I suspect the 19W I’m seeing here is just the closest PDO the two devices can negotiate. In either case, both packs will charge the laptop, which has a 3933 mAh battery (original capacity 4381 mAh, but it’s 2+ years old (only 25 cycles though), and has degraded to about 90% of its capacity when new...

Hooked an iPhone 12 Pro up to an Anker PowerCore Fusion 10000 via an Anker USB-C to Lightning cable (through a Klein ET920 to measure performance). Started with the phone reporting 23% battery charge (the phone is about a year old and iOS reports the battery has degraded to 85% of its original capacity). The phone was kept on but unused, screen off, all radios (cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth) hot. The Anker charged the iPhone at about 18W (~9V ~2A) and after about 50 minutes, the phone is reporting 88% charge, charging has slowed to 5W (5V 1A) if not lower (I’m often seeing, e.g., 5.08V at 0.55A, about 2.8W), and 6 of the 8 “charge status” lights on the Anker remain illuminated. I can definitely live with those numbers. It took about another hour, and one more “dot” on the Anker, to bring the phone all the way up to 100% charge reported. The Klein logged 1343 mAh, and 9.925 Wh, of power transmission. The stock iPhone 12 Pro battery is a 10.78 Wh unit, probably closer to 9.2 Wh now. If 9....

Klein measuring MacBook charging from Anker battery I picked up a cheap “early 2015” MacBook 12" . It came with a 29W USB-C charger that, according to a Klein ET920 , is currently pumping out around 14.67V at 1.87A ( the specs say either 5.2V2.4A or 14.5V2.0A; nothing’s perfect). The internal battery is degraded a bit, as you’d expect from a 7 year old set of cells with hundreds of cycles. Current capacity, according to coconutBattery, is about 4200 mAh @ 7.55 V, or 31.7 Wh ( (mAh)*(V)/1000 = (Wh) ). I thought the PowerCore Fusion 10000 would be a great on the go companion to the MacBook. It turns out, it’s just okay. (For this purpose. As a super-convenient charger + battery pack in one, it’s a great device!) On paper, at first glance, it seemed like it would fit the bill. 10,000 mAh of capacity should (even with power loss through conversion, etc) be enough to recharge a 5260 mAh MacBook battery fully, and the 20W output should be enough to allow light use and simultaneous cha...

It’s been a while ; I should probably revisit what’s in my flight bag. The exact configuration will change depending on if I’m renting or flying one of the planes in our “fleet,” the following is pretty typical for “grab the bag and go flying” no matter what aircraft it is. Note that my flights tend towards the cross-country, and I’m usually hundreds of miles from home. I fly a lot of missions ( Pilots n’ Paws , etc) and I’ve, e.g., been stuck in Las Vegas overnight when mountain waves suggested it would be a really good idea to wait out the ~50 knot headwinds. So, here goes. Everything in this list has saved a flight at least once. The bag: BrightLine Flex B4 Swift I paid $164 for this in 2014; it’s gone up a bit since then ($196) but I think it’s still a great deal. It’s incredibly durable, expandable (e.g., I have a Center Section Three ($40 in 2015, $46 now) I can zip in when I need a bit more storage - an overnight change of clothes, a second headset, whatever), and I like hav...