还有什么比电池焦虑更糟糕的吗？我们都变得依赖智能手机等出色的移动技术来让我们的生活更轻松、更愉快。虽然这些设备已经变得非常节能，但我们距离只需每隔几天充电一次还很远。
现代(Modern)智能手机在适度使用的情况下几乎无法管理 24 小时充电，因此我们已经习惯于将设备从一个充电器转移到另一个充电器。我们在家里、在车里和在工作中充电。只是为了避免可怕的“电池电量不足”警告。
这就是为什么无处不在的“移动电源”在过去几年如此受欢迎的原因。这些各种尺寸的紧凑型积木可以储存足够的汁液，让您的手机充满电数日。移动电源(Power)可能比任何人都知道更多地拯救了这一天，但大多数人在使用它们时并不真正了解它们。
当然，移动电源实际上是一种“即插即用”产品，但这些流行设备的每个用户都应该知道一些事情。毕竟，它们比我们大多数人意识到的要复杂得多。为了帮助您成为更明智的移动电源用户（和购买者），在再次使用移动电源之前，您应该记住以下一些基本事实。
移动电源使用(Use)（有潜在危险的(Potentially Dangerous)）锂离子(Lithium Ion)电池
今天的电池技术比以往任何时候都好。(way)这似乎是一个显而易见的观察结果，但很少有人记得像镍镉这样的旧技术如何花费很长时间才能充电并且几乎没有任何电力。
不幸的是，这些现代奇迹电池有一些警告。在如此高的能量密度下，电池总是有可能在一次不受控制的爆炸中释放所有能量。
这意味着爆炸或火灾，这是非常严重的！您可能听说过关于房屋因有缺陷的气垫板(faulty hoverboards)或手机(phones exploding)在人们口袋中爆炸而被烧毁的恐怖故事。这就是锂离子电池变坏时会发生的情况。
实际事故率可接受的唯一原因归结为锂设备内置的大量安全标准和技术。但是，您的移动电源的锂电池也可能因误用而变成危险物品。被刺穿或压碎是导致内部短路和随后熄火的一种可靠方法。
同样的道理也适用于因躺在炎热的车窗内或太靠近热源而受到的热量。因此，请谨慎处理您的新移动电源，并以正确的尊重程度对待它。
同时，您应该只购买和使用有品牌并获得消费者安全组织认证的移动电源。UL 认证可能是(UL certification)美国(USA)最常见的标准，其他地区也有自己的同等标准。
移动电源需要具备过充、过压和过热保护等多项功能才能安全使用。无品牌、未经认证的产品可能只有部分或没有这些功能。这(Which)是灾难的秘诀！
移动电源容量并不总是看起来的那样
移动电源几乎普遍以毫安时为单位，缩写为“mAh”。这是衡量电池可以容纳多少电量的指标。
智能手机或笔记本电脑内的电池也具有相同单位的额定值。因此，如果您购买 10 000 mAh 电池，而您的手机配备 2500 mAh 电池，您应该可以充满电，对吧？
事实证明，这里存在一些轻微的营销不诚实行为，以及由于物理定律而产生的开销。
营销宣传与电池和设备充电输入之间的电压差有关。锂电池(Lithium)的“标称”电压为 3.7 伏。但是，USB的工作电压至少为 5 伏，因此设备预计至少会在该电压下充电。
要了解这有何不同，我们需要另一个单位，即瓦时(watt hour)(watt hour)(Wh)。这是衡量电费的单位，表示实际使用的能源。
使用mAh 到 Wh 计算器(mAh to Wh calculator)，我们看到在 3.7V 时，我们的 10 000 mAh 移动电源具有 37 Wh 的能量。但是，我们的 2500 mAh 手机电池以 5V 充电需要 12.5 Wh。这只给我们大约三个完整的充电，而不是最多四个！
最重要的是，您必须考虑没有无损能量转换之类的东西。将移动电源中的化学能转换为电能并返回到化学储存器会将其中的一部分作为废热倾倒。
最后，您可以粗略估计移动电源为设备充电的“实际”电池容量约为 3.7V 标称电压下容量的三分之二。一些电池组实际上在两种电压下都有两种容量，这使您的工作更轻松。请(Just)记住，真正重要的是 5V 数字。
放大器也很重要
标准 USB(Standard USB)充电发生在 5V 和 0.5A。如果保持电压不变并增加安培数，则电流的速率会增加。这意味着银行将更快地放电，而目标设备将依次充电更快。也就是说，如果它支持以更高的安培数充电。
几乎所有现代智能手机和平板电脑都可以 2.1A 充电。因此，移动电源至少有一个额定电流为 2.1A 或 2.4A 的端口是很常见的。将任何兼容 USB 的设备插入高电流端口是绝对安全的。它只会接收它请求的电流。将手机插入此端口将以类似于使用壁式充电器的速度为其充电。
不过，这有一个缺点。更快(Faster)的放电会导致电池中的热量增加。电池温度越高，效率就越低。因此，使用更快的端口可能会对您在一天结束时获得多少费用产生显着影响。
如果您想尽可能多地节省开支，请不要主动使用手机并将其放在 0.5A 输出上过夜。在充电时将其关闭将是最佳选择。这是您在远离主电源露营时会遇到的那种情况。每一瓦都很重要。
如果您要去一个可以在没有选择之前为您的移动电源充电的地方，那么通常最好始终使用高电流端口。特别是如果您想积极地将手机用于GPS(GPS)导航等耗电应用。
说到充电，给实际的移动电源充电呢？
快速充电标准让(Quick Charge Standards Make)一切变得不同(Difference)
如果您拥有现代、中档或更好的智能手机，您就会知道它可以从墙上快速充电。因此，当许多移动电源需要一整天的时间才能充满电时，这可能会令人惊讶。造成这种情况的原因有很多，但如果您要经常使用移动电源而不是简单地保留一个以备不时之需，那么更快的充电时间至关重要。
现代(Modern)手机和平板电脑通常支持一种或另一种形式的“快速”充电。这里要讨论的充电标准太多了，但幸运的是，您所要做的就是确保移动电源声明的支持标准至少符合您的充电器提供的标准之一。这将显着减少充值电池所需的总时间。
直通充电(Charging)是一项有用的功能
这给我们带来了另一个问题。假设你只有一个充电器，你应该先给你的移动电源或设备充电吗？如果您有一个支持直通充电的移动电源，那么这是您不必面对的一个困境。
这样的移动电源可以从墙上给自己充电，同时也可以将电荷传递给另一个设备。一个充电器，两个快乐的设备。这是一个值得关注的功能。
一些笔记本电脑(Laptops)可以通过一些移动电源(SOME Power)充电
手机、平板电脑和其他小型电子产品或多或少在 5V USB电源上标准化，但笔记本电脑则不同。这些较大的设备接受来自电源的 12V 电源，该电源将来自墙壁的高压交流电流转换为适合您心爱的膝上加热器内精密电子设备的东西。
使用移动电源为笔记本电脑充电的主要方式有两种。在这两种情况下，您都需要具有正确功能的移动电源。许多现代笔记本电脑，尤其是超极本，现在可以通过USB-C充电。如果您的笔记本电脑可以通过USB-C充电（这是随附的充电器将使用的），那么您还可以使用具有USB-C输出并支持USB-C PD（供电(Power Delivery)）标准的移动电源。
您需要使用两端都有椭圆形USB-C连接器的真正(USB-C)USB-C电缆。(USB-C)您的笔记本电脑充电器可能使用可拆卸USB C电缆，在这种情况下，您只需在需要时将其移至移动电源即可。USB-C PD 电缆的额定电流为 3A，但有些额定电流为 5A。如果您的充电器和笔记本电脑都支持 5A 充电，那么值得购买兼容的电缆。然而，在大多数情况下，您将通过专为笔记本电脑充电而设计的典型移动电源获得 3A 充电，总功率为 30W。
现在，如果您的笔记本电脑不支持通过USB-C充电怎么办？然后你需要一个带有 12V 笔记本电脑输出的特殊移动电源。这是一个非 USB 端口，可与移动电源制造商提供的专有电缆配合使用。
您可以使用特殊的移动电源(Power)快速启动汽车
这是真的！有一些专门的移动电源带有一个附件，可以让你快速启动你的汽车。这些比普通的移动电源更贵，最好放在车内的安全位置。
它们可以成为真正的救命稻草，因为您不仅可以使用它们启动汽车，还可以在不起作用时为手机充电以寻求帮助。现在，需要明确的是，您不能为此使用任何移动电源，但基本的移动电源技术是相同的。
有限的寿命(Lifespans)是一天的(Day)秩序(Order)
有些人对现代设备没有可拆卸电池不太满意的原因之一是锂电池是寿命最短的组件之一。除非您对其进行物理损坏，否则手机的其余部分可能会工作数十年，但电池几乎肯定会在几年内耗尽。
锂电池随着每次充电逐渐失去其充电容量。它不像一个开关，电池会工作一分钟，然后停止下一分钟。电池可以存储的总电量会逐渐减少，直到它真正开始下降。
如今，您可以预计大多数锂电池在开始失去大量电量之前会经历大约 500 个完整的充电周期。这是一个完整(full )的充电周期。例如，如果您将移动电源从 50% 充电至 100% 两次，则只能算一次(one)完全充电。
你也不能指望移动电源无限期地保持充电。因此，如果您没有使用它们，请注意每隔几个月为它们补充一次。
再也不用担心没(Out)电(Power Again)了
也许有一天，我们最终会获得科学期刊一直承诺的超级电池突破。某种类型的超级电容器或室温超导体技术，可以让智能手机运行 100 年。
目前，我们将不得不使用不是很神奇但绝对可用的电池技术。多亏了移动电源，我们可以享受纤巧、有吸引力的设备，同时在远离主电源或汽车充电插座时也可以通过某种方式为它们充电。不再有FOMO或电池焦虑。作为一名知情的移动电源用户，您可以享受随心所欲地拥有尽可能多的电力的好处。无论你在哪！
Everything You Should Know About Power Banks
Is there anything worse thаn battery anxiety? We’re all becoming dependent on wonderful mobile technologies such as smartphones to make our lives easier and more pleasant. While these devices have become incredіbly power-efficient, we’re still pretty far away from only having to recharge once every few daуs.
Modern smartphones barely manage 24 hours of charge with moderate use, so we’ve grown used to moving our devices from one charger to the next. We charge at home, in our cars and at work. Just to keep that dreaded “low battery” warning at bay.
Which is why the ubiquitous “power bank” has become so popular over the last few years. These compact bricks of various sizes can store enough juice to keep your phone topped up for days. Power banks have probably saved the day more than anyone knows, but most people use them without really knowing anything about them.
Sure, a power bank is literally a “plug-and-play” product, but there are some things every user of these popular devices should know. After all, they are much more sophisticated than most of us realize. To help you be a more informed user (and buyer) of power banks, here are some essential facts you should commit to memory before using one again.
Power Banks Use (Potentially Dangerous) Lithium Ion Batteries
Battery technology is way, way better today than ever before. That might seem like an obvious observation, but few people remember how older technologies like nickel-cadmium took forever to charge and held barely any power.
Unfortunately, these modern wonder batteries come with some caveats. With such high energy densities, there’s always the chance that the battery will release it all in one uncontrolled burst.
That translates to an explosion or fire, which is pretty serious! You may have heard horror stories about houses burning down from faulty hoverboards or phones exploding in people’s pockets. That’s what happens when lithium ion batteries go bad.
The only reason the actual accident rates are acceptable comes down to the host of safety standards and technologies built into lithium devices. However, your power bank’s lithium battery can turn into a dangerous object through misuse as well. Being pierced or crushed is one surefire way of causing an internal short and subsequent flameout.
The same goes for being exposed to heat from lying in a hot car window or being too close to a heat source. So be circumspect about how you handle your new power bank and treat it with the correct level of respect.
At the same time, you should only buy and use power banks that are branded and have certification from consumer safety organisations. UL certification is probably the most common standard in the USA, with other territories having their own equivalents.
Power banks needs to have several features such as overcharge, overvolt and overheating protection to be considered safe for use. Unbranded, uncertified products may have only some or none of these features. Which is a recipe for disaster!
Power Bank Capacity Isn’t Always What it Seems
Power banks are almost universally rated in milliampere hours, abbreviated as “mAh”. This is a measure of how much electrical charge the battery can hold.
The battery inside your smartphone or laptop also has a rating in the same unit. So if you buy a 10 000 mAh battery and your phone sports a 2500 mAh battery, you should get four full charges out of it, right?
It turns out that there’s some mild marketing dishonesty going on here, as well as a measure of overhead thanks to the laws of physics.
The marketing spin has to do with the voltage difference between the battery and the device’s charging input. Lithium cells have a “nominal” voltage of 3.7 volts. However, USB operates at a minimum of five volts and so the device will expect to be charged at least at that voltage.
To see how this makes a difference we need yet another unit, the watt hour (Wh). This is the unit your electric bill is measured in and indicates the actual energy used.
Using an mAh to Wh calculator, we see that at 3.7V our 10 000 mAh power bank has 37 Wh of energy. However, our 2500 mAh phone battery charged at 5V needs 12.5 Wh. That only give us about three full recharges rather than four at best!
On top of this you have to consider that there is no such thing as lossless energy conversion. Converting the chemical energy in your power bank to electricity and back to chemical storage will dump some of it as waste heat.
In the end, you can roughly estimated the “actual” battery capacity of a power bank for charging devices at about two thirds of the capacity stated at a 3.7V nominal voltage. Some battery banks actually state two capacities at both voltages, which makes your job easier. Just remember that it’s the 5V number that actually matters.
The Amps Matter Too
Standard USB charging happens at 5V and 0.5A. If you leave the voltage the same and increase the amperage, the rate at which electricity flows increases. That means the bank will discharge more quickly and the target device will charge more quickly in turn. That is, if it supports charging at higher amperages.
Almost all modern smartphones and tablets can charge at 2.1A. Consequently it’s pretty common for power banks to have at least one port rated at 2.1A or 2.4A. It’s perfectly safe to plug any USB-compliant device into the high-amperage port. It will only receive as much current as it requests. Plugging your phone into this port will charge it at a speed similar to using a wall-charger.
There is a downside to this though. Faster discharging causes increased heat in the battery. The hotter the battery gets, the less efficient it is. So using the faster port could have a noticeable impact on how much charge you get out at the end of the day.
If you are trying to get as much out of the bank as possible, don’t actively use the phone and leave it overnight on the 0.5A output. Switching it off while charging would be optimal. This is the sort of scenario you’d encounter while camping away from mains power. Where every watt counts.
If you’re going to get to a place where you can recharge your power bank before you’re out of options, then it’s generally better to always use the high-amperage port. Especially if you want to actively use the phone for power hungry applications such as GPS navigation.
Speaking of charging, what about charging the actual power bank?
Quick Charge Standards Make All the Difference
If you have a modern, mid-range or better smartphone, you’ll know that it can charge pretty quickly from the wall. So it may be surprising when many power banks can take a whole day to charge up. There are various reasons for this, but if you are going to use a power bank often and not simply keep one for emergencies, faster charging times are critical.
Modern phones and tablets usually support one or another form of “quick” charging. There are too many charging standards to discuss here, but luckily all you have to do is ensure that the power bank’s stated supported standards match at least one of the standards your charger provides. This will cut down significantly on the total time it takes to top up the cells.
Pass-Through Charging Is a Useful Feature
Which brings us to another issue. Assuming that you only have one charger, should you charge your power bank or device first? If you have a power bank with support for pass-through charging, then this is one dilemma you don’t have to face.
Such power banks can charge themselves from the wall while also passing charge on to another device. One charger, two happy devices. It’s a feature worth looking out for.
Some Laptops Can Be Charged By SOME Power Banks
Phones,tablets and other small electronics have more or less standardized on 5V USB power, but laptops are different. These larger devices accept 12V power from a supply that converts the high-voltage AC current coming from the wall into something palatable for the delicate electronics inside your beloved lap-warmer.
There are two main ways your laptop can be charged using a power bank. In both cases, you need a power bank with the right features. Many modern laptops, especially ultrabooks, can now be charged via USB-C. If your laptop can be charged via USB-C, which is what the included charger will use, then you can also use a powerbank that has a USB-C output and supports the USB-C PD (Power Delivery) standard.
You need to use a true USB-C cable that has the oval USB-C connector on both ends. Your laptop charger might use a removable USB C cable, in which case you can simply move it over to the power bank when needed. USB-C PD cables are rated for 3A, but some are rated for 5A. If your charger and laptop both support charging at 5A then it is worth getting a compatible cable. In most cases however you’ll get 3A charging with a total power delivery of 30W from the typical power bank designed for laptop charging.
Now, what if you have a laptop that doesn’t support charging via USB-C? Then you’ll need a special power bank with a 12V laptop output. This is a non-USB port that works with a proprietary cable provided by the power bank maker.
You Can Jump Start a Car With Special Power Banks
It’s true! There are some specialized power banks out there that come with an attachment that allows you to jump-start your car. These are more expensive than your run-of-the-mill power banks and are best left in a safe spot in your car.
They can be a real lifesaver, since not only can you get your car started with them, you can also juice up your phone to call for help if that doesn’t work. Now, to be clear, you can’t use any power bank for this purpose, but the basic power bank technology is the same.
Limited Lifespans Are The Order of the Day
One of the reasons that some people are none too happy that modern devices don’t have removable batteries is that a lithium battery is the one component that has the shortest lifespan. While the rest of your phone might work for decades unless you physically damage it, the battery will almost certainly be out of puff within a few years.
Lithium batteries gradually lose their charge capacity with every recharge. It’s not like an on-off switch where the battery will work one minute and then stop the next. The total amount of power that the battery can store just gradually becomes less until it really starts to drop off.
These days you can expect most lithium batteries to go through around 500 full charge cycles before starting to lose a noticeable amount of power. That’s a full recharge cycle. If you, for example, charge your power bank from 50% to 100% twice, that only counts as one full recharge.
You also can’t expect power banks to hold their charge indefinitely. So make a point of topping them up every few months if you haven’t used them.
Never Worry About Running Out of Power Again
Perhaps one day we’ll finally get that super-battery breakthrough that science journals are always promising. Some type of super-capacitor or room-temperature superconductor technology that will run a smartphone for 100 years.
For now, we’ll have to make do with battery technology that’s not quite magic, but definitely usable. Thanks to power banks, we can enjoy slim, attractive devices while also having some way to top them up when away from mains power or a car’s charging socket. No more FOMO or battery anxiety. As an informed power bank user, you can enjoy the benefits of having as much power as you need on tap. Wherever you are!
