A Geek Goes Flying

I’m starting to rethink my love affair with Anker products. I mean, they do what they say, they’ve never damaged anything I own, and they seem to be well-made generally – but I’ve had some units fail well before I think they should. Examples: Distressed battery My Anker PowerCore Fusion 5000 gave up the ghost after a couple of years. Holds like a 5 minute charge now.  I picked up this Anker 321 MagSafe battery pack in October 2023. It has an 18 month warranty. I’ve used it relatively lightly (maybe 3-5x/month?). It gives me four lights when I charge it, but when attached to my phone, lights lit up or not, it doesn’t charge the phone. Phone doesn’t even see it’s there. (Yes, I’ve restarted the phone.) I’m pretty sure there is at least one other example. That said, my experiences may be relatively unique ? Kinda like Zendure before it, the products are great while they last, but they topple over a cliff earlier than I’d like, and then they’re worthless.  Meanwhile, the Anker ...

I was intrigued by the Ridge pack ¹  that can also charge an Apple Watch, but at $80 it wasn’t an impulse buy. But then I saw this Energizer SKU (QM10010PQ) selling for $35 and it was a no-brainer. 10,000 mAh battery pack (38.5 Wh) with MagSafe charging for an iPhone or an Apple Watch (the latter is the killer app feature), plus two USB-C cables on the back for charging an iPad or MacBook Air, plus another USB-C port that can be used for charging the device (or you can hook up its built-in USB-C cable, USB 1, to charge - and I confirmed, it charged – albeit slowly, at ~10W – off the built in USB-C ports on the Solterra. Built in kickstand. It doesn’t have a ton of capacity and it’s not the fastest charger, but as an all-around device I’m likely to actually have with me, it’s the most flexible thing I have in my arsenal. Now I don’t have to lug around a separate watch charger device (though this Belkin has served me well), and/or I can somewhat declutter my pencil case , maybe......

I was already a fan of the fuelrod chargers available at the Disneyland parks, as I’ve discussed before . But the old ones, with the USB A port for charging and a USB B Micro port for recharging the fuelrod, were compromised devices: Good in a pinch and easily swapped for a fresh battery inside the parks, but with the caveats of a slow 5 W charging speed and relatively small capacity. A few weeks ago, trying to swap the old fuelrod for a new one resulted in a notice that the old device would be upgraded free of charge to the new kit, which comes with a redesigned fuelrod itself (“Mobile Power Bank Model R32A/B”), USB C to Lightning, USB C to USB C, and USB C to USB B Micro and USB A to USB C adapters. The rod itself now has a single USB C port used for both charging other devices and recharging itself. Four green LEDs display the state of charge (full to empty). And, critically, the batttery appears to be larger capacity (11.52 Wh, 3.6V 3200 mAh), and the charging speed is greater, now...

$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...

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,...

Trying to figure out how much battery capacity I need in my flight bag (the crappy 2.1A-shared Insignia just ain’t cutting it anymore). These aren’t ideal tests and I’ll redo them at some point with a work load going on while sipping USB power (which will hopefully recharge while providing operating wattage), but, here goes (readings taken with a Klein ET-920 ). iPad Mini 4, recharged from dead to full: 13:31  Dead   9-10W 14:10  17%     7.8W  1142 mAh 15:08  44%     7.4W  2720 mAh 16:50  84%       5W  4729 mAh 17:52  98%       5W  5387 mAh 18:14  Full    1.3W  5500 mAh ("Not Charging") So about 5500 mAh (realistically, with charging loss, ~8,000 mAh capacity on the charging pack), and requires about 10W at maximum to recharge. I’ll do a test with the screen on, connected to the Stratus GPS unit over WiFi, AS...

In memoriam ... Thank you for your service , GTFO . The smaller one is a PowerAdd Slim 2, specs say it’s a 5000mAh/18.5Wh battery that charges at 5V⎓2A and outputs up to 5V⎓2.1A (12W). Bought July 22, 2015. I carried this when flight training (etc), and used it to supplement the internal battery on a GoPro Hero 3+ via an NFlightCam Aviation Audio+Power Cable . The larger one is a KMASHI K-MP816 I ordered February 10, 2016. It was recommended (I think on an official stratux how to page?) for powering a Raspberry Pi-powered Stratux; the Amazon listing described it as supplying “Powerful Dual USB 3.1A Output.” The actual specs (written on the device itself): 10000mAh/37Wh; 5V⎓2A charging, 5V⎓1A on output 1, 5V⎓2.1A on output 2, but if both outputs are used, a maximum output of 5V⎓2.1A total. I don’t think I ever used it with a Stratux (I did pick up a different pack, that fit in a 3D printed mount I found for a Stratux I’ve rarely used but still want to experiment with), but it did recha...

Renogy power bank connected to MacBook Air It looks like the Renology R50EF E.FLEX 50 portable solar panel, and maybe also the RPB-72000PD 72,000 mAh / 266 Wh portable power bank, might be discontinued, so I grabbed ‘em while I could. The power bank comes with a Lyangel LY005SPS-200200U 40W (20V 2A) wall wort (5.5x2.1mm DC, positive pin negative shield). I used that to charge the bank to full (it arrived with a ~50% charge). So far I’ve tested wireless charging with an iPhone 12 Pro (works) and now through the Klein meter I have USB-C PD (1) connected to a MacBook Air and it’s supplying 19.73V 1.89A (36.7W). (The Mac sees it as a 60W charger.) The power bank is a beast, about the size and heft of a dense hardback book. It comes with that AC adapter, a ~19" DC to DC cord (5.5x2.1mm (“DC5521”) male connectors on both ends, about 10mm long), a set of (8) adapter tips (5.5x2.1mm female, and 8 various male ends), a soft case with a pouch for accessories, and a manual . It charges via t...

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....

FuelRod charging iPhone through Klein ET920 FuelRods get dissed a lot, somewhat deservedly. I’m here to recommend them, in very specific contexts. First, the downsides: They’re expensive ($30 at a Disneyland kiosk, circa spring 2020), they have limited capacity, and they charge slowly, at ~5W. In an instrumented test, I found a fully charged FuelRod (green light, after recharging at home via microUSB) brought an iPhone 12 Pro from 13% to 67% (about a 53% recharge) and took about 1 hour 24 minutes to do so. According to my Klein , total transfer was about 6.796 Wh (1349 mAh); the iPhone 12 Pro has a 2815 mAh battery at 3.83V (10.78 Wh), though mine’s about a year old and reports 87% maximum capacity remaining. But, all of that said, they offer one huge advantage that cannot be discounted: When they’re depleted, you can swap them for a fully charged replacement, free of charge, at a number of kiosks throughout Disneyland and California Adventure. There are very few places where you can ...

Following up from the lackluster results I got with the Anker PowerCore Fusion 10000 , I tried again with a Zendure X5 Portable Charger (still using the Anker cable). I topped it off overnight using the PowerCore Fusion, and did a quick instrumented test with the early-2015 MacBook 12" Retina. Success! Zenure X5 charging MacBook (measured by Klein ET920) I had high hopes for this power pack, since it advertises “USB-C: 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/2.25A, 45W Max.” Sure enough, connected to the MacBook they negotiate (according to the Klein ) 20.02V at 1.38A (a little better than what I expected), which my calculator says is 27.7W and the MacBook reports as 30W. coconutBattery shows the MacBook charging at 1.4-10W depending on what the computer is doing (in regular use on battery only, it typically shows 8-10W discharge). This is acceptable. MacBook % system_profiler SPPowerDataType     ...     AC Charger Information:       C...

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...

Recharging a Laptop on the Go For a few years now, I’ve had a Noovoo AC Power Bank (claims to be 20100mAh with 60W output and 72.36Wh) (no longer available; newer version ). It’s ... Fine. Gets the job done. Can recharge an ancient MacBook Air. Takes a while to recharge with the bundled AC adapter (3-4 hours with the bundled 19V 1.6A charger). The capacity isn’t really 20100 mAh (more like 15,000 mAh usable, according to this review - but the math isn’t sourced; internally, it uses 3x 6700mAh 3.7v batteries). The form factor is awkward. But I have it, and it works. I covet the Omni 20+ , but $249 is a bit steep... Basically, I want something that can recharge a MacBook Air 11" at least once, on the go, without being a hassle to lug around in a backpack. Novoo has a more squared-off Portable Laptop Charger , but it seems like it would be almost as awkward as what I’ve currently got. There’s also this Novoo Portable Laptop Charger with a claimed 40,000 mAh capacity , but at $140...