Back up battery for camping

[LibertyOrDeath]

Anyone have any experience with these? I'd like to get something to charge my phone when I'm in the woods for more than a couple days.
They have free shipping today, so that could save a couple bucks as well. Thoughts?

[Lord Timelord]

That is pretty good. THIS----> http://www.amazon.com/Anker-16000mAh...=Anker+Battery is EXCELLENT! I have the 13,000mAh model, which is about a year old now, and it kicks major ass! You will not be disappointed with either one to be honest!

Later on you can get a foldable Solar Panel that's 15watts to 60 watts output to recharge all your electronic stuff in the field, including that battery pack!

P.S. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ACCESSORY http://www.amazon.com/Anker-5-Pack-P...xgy_107_text_z
The high quality Anker USB cables deliver more voltage/amperage over their larger wires, and charge your devices as fast as possible. I cut my cellphone recharging time by 45 minutes and my tablet by 90 minutes vs. the cheap usb cables I was using to recharge them. The higher quality cables are worth the reduced recharging times.

[ADK2ndClub]

That is pretty good. THIS----> http://www.amazon.com/Anker-16000mAh...=Anker+Battery is EXCELLENT! I have the 13,000mAh model, which is about a year old now, and it kicks major ass! You will not be disappointed with either one to be honest!

Later on you can get a foldable Solar Panel that's 15watts to 60 watts output to recharge all your electronic stuff in the field, including that battery pack!

P.S. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ACCESSORY http://www.amazon.com/Anker-5-Pack-P...xgy_107_text_z
The high quality Anker USB cables deliver more voltage/amperage over their larger wires, and charge your devices as fast as possible. I cut my cellphone recharging time by 45 minutes and my tablet by 90 minutes vs. the cheap usb cables I was using to recharge them. The higher quality cables are worth the reduced recharging times.

Better charge times are higher Amps and Watts, all USB based charges max at 5v, watts and Amps it will only consume what it can handle but increasing volts fry electronics.

[ADK2ndClub]

Alright now that the wife and kids left shopping I can give a proper reply. mah rating is what will determine your longest charge. So for me I have a Smartphone with 2000mah battery, my 10500 battery will give me five recharges off, and 3.5 charges if its running and plugged in. So you take the rating of your Phones battery, how long does that last? Then divide it to determine how many charges that will give you, and you can figure out if that pack will be suffice. I personally, have several packs, my largest one is 50,000mah and has a solar panel, but my usually carry one is my PNY 10,500 one it it will keep me going for 4 days in the field doing drill. However that is military duty so my phone is idle most of the time, only on it at night. The wife upgraded to the Samsung S5 last year that used the Samsung proprietary USB 3.0 cable, and would not charge with any of my packs unless it was off, turned on it would say "unofficial charger detected, please use Samsung charger that came with the device" I ended up putting it in developer mode and removed some of the Samsung software and now it works with any charger I use.

Because of work I can get chargers and external packs cheap (2% above the stores cost), so I have had a lot, returned them and tried others, and being in the reserves I have had to make sure I get the best ones I can for drill. I found the 10,500 PNY the best for drill because it was small enough to fit in my cargo pocket comfortably, gave me enough charges for drill, and had an LED readout with amount of charge left in mah. With my employee discount I got the pack, and a 3.5A 24W brick for only $35.

[ADK2ndClub]

But all that being said, after clicking the link and seeing its a two pack, only $40, and after googling reviews they averaged 4 stars I think its a safe purchase.

[LibertyOrDeath]

I think I'm going to pass on this. I e-mailed them to find out what brand battery they use and here is the response "The LP150X comes with Grade A 18650 Cells. They are plain Chinese cells.
We have not had many issues with these units, and do offer a 12 month warranty on all Limefuel units." Chinese- No Thanks!

[camper4lyfe]

I'm intrigued. This would be great for hunting season.

[harleyhutch]

not to hijack your thread, but I take extended bike rides and trying to decide if I want something like this, a solar panel or just stick with installing a couple power and usb ports on my bike. Not sure if i have a way to charge the video camera battery while using it or just being able to charge the spare battery I bought. Not comfortable being remote on a bike charging off the battery at night when it's not running since they no longer have kick starters on them anymore.
FUAC

[ADK2ndClub]

not to hijack your thread, but I take extended bike rides and trying to decide if I want something like this, a solar panel or just stick with installing a couple power and usb ports on my bike. Not sure if i have a way to charge the video camera battery while using it or just being able to charge the spare battery I bought. Not comfortable being remote on a bike charging off the battery at night when it's not running since they no longer have kick starters on them anymore.
FUAC

I have a large one that also has jumper cables and can jump start the bike too.

[Lord Timelord]

Better charge times are higher Amps and Watts, all USB based charges max at 5v, watts and Amps it will only consume what it can handle but increasing volts fry electronics.

Sorry, but your information is out of date. The USB Specifications can be different depending on what is providing the data and/or power, and the newer devices can deliver a LOT more power than in the past.

Some USB 2.0 and a LOT of USB 3.0 spec devices can and ARE designed to charge at much higher voltages and wattages than what the PC's USB specs are for the 2.0 and 3.0 ports. Most of these devices come with their own special AC/USB chargers in the box, and with a very high quality USB cable using much thicker gauge wire. A good example of this is the ASUS Zenphone 2 , which has a 9volt/2amp 18 Watt AC/USB Adapter for rapid charging of it's 3 Amp Hour Lithium Polymer Battery.

USB 3.1 specs up the ante all the way up to 100 WATTS of power with 10 Gpbs data throughput! Read the below article from ExtremeTech for further information.

USB-C vs. USB 3.1: What’s the difference?

SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps (USB 3.1 Gen 2) from the USB-IF

[Lord Timelord]

Alright now that the wife and kids left shopping I can give a proper reply. mah rating is what will determine your longest charge. So for me I have a Smartphone with 2000mah battery, my 10500 battery will give me five recharges off, and 3.5 charges if its running and plugged in. So you take the rating of your Phones battery, how long does that last?

During the charging process, approximately 30%-35% of the external battery's total capacity will be consumed, including power lost from circuit heat and voltage conversion within the external battery (approx. 16%-19%) and the charging cable and your device (approximately 14%-16%). The industry average efficiency is 30%, with some of the more efficient and newer devices attaining an efficiency of 35%.

For example, add up the battery capacity of all your portable devices that you need to recharge. Now add 33% onto the number of Amp Hours you come up with, and that is the size of the battery you would need to fully recharge all of those devices. Getting a larger battery will give you more buffer room for additional recharges.

So if you had 10 Amp Hours worth of batteries in your devices that you would need to recharge, it would require a 13.3 Amp Hour Battery Pack to recharge them all. Those 3.3 Amp Hours are lost due in the circuit as heat and voltage conversion in the battery pack itself and the charging cable. That is why I stated that high quality USB cables can make a measurable difference, and are worth the money.

[Lord Timelord]

not to hijack your thread, but I take extended bike rides and trying to decide if I want something like this, a solar panel or just stick with installing a couple power and usb ports on my bike. Not sure if i have a way to charge the video camera battery while using it or just being able to charge the spare battery I bought. Not comfortable being remote on a bike charging off the battery at night when it's not running since they no longer have kick starters on them anymore.
FUAC

1. I would install a 12v Powerlet Outlet on your bike, and use a 12v/USB adapter to charge any USB devices you needed to run like GPS, Cellphone, etc., so they are all topped off while riding.
2. I carry my 13,000mAh Battery Pack in my Tank Bag (along with my Flat Kit, Tool Kit, Air Compressor, and other necessitites). That way I can recharge stuff when not on the bike.
3. A folding solar panel like mine would be beneficial on a long trip. Both for recharging the 13,000mAh battery pack, and if necessary it could recharge the motorcycles battery as well if needed.

[Lord Timelord]

I think I'm going to pass on this. I e-mailed them to find out what brand battery they use and here is the response "The LP150X comes with Grade A 18650 Cells. They are plain Chinese cells.
We have not had many issues with these units, and do offer a 12 month warranty on all Limefuel units." Chinese- No Thanks!

Just pointing out that the Anker Battery Packs use Premium LG Battery Cells, a 18 Month Warranty on their products, and have sold over 10 Million Units on Amazon. ;-)

[LibertyOrDeath]

Yeah, I think I'm going with the Anker.

[Cgrutt]

Good stuff LT.