Charge through power banks

[Mike]

So iv just tried my zendure power pack as a charge through for phone however it doesn't so it. When the wheels stops the power bank charges the phone when the wheel moves the phone stops charging and the power bank charges from hub. So has anyone found a good one that charges from hub and also passing charge on to phone as I move?? Don't want a massive battery something smallish if they are out there ta

[Bearbonesnorm]

I know the Zendure is listed as pass-through but I never had much success. I think the most efficient way is to charge a power bank then use that to charge the phone.

[lune ranger]

I've got and used successfully a Cinq5 Smart Power Pack for charge through. I used it when I still used an Edge 800 gps on long rides.
It works fine for smoothing out power supply from a dyno to a jumpy device like the Edge or a smart phone.
It has a tiny battery though, something like 2700mah as I recall.
It is also very spendy for what you get even if it does have various light functions and other blah.
In its favour though it does do true pass through charging and I've seen a number of threads on here where people state other power banks don't do as advertised.
I'm no expert but as Stu says it's better (more efficient?) to charge a power bank and then charge the device rather than pass through. At least that's what folk say on here.
I don't use the Garmin any more and usually use 2 x 5000mah cheapo power banks on multi day off grid trips.

[rufus748]

Mike, I gave up having tired numerous pass through batteries. They worked at home on the mains but not from the dynamo.
Kerrie, (klite) reckons it's more efficient to charge through rather than charge the battery then charge the GPS due to the power the battery loses whilst it's charging (or something like that..)
The cinq5 gets great reviews and I've considered one, but the price is prohibitive

[Bearbonesnorm]

Kerrie, (klite) reckons it's more efficient to charge through rather than charge the battery then charge the GPS due to the power the battery loses whilst it's charging (or something like that..)

Interesting. Not my understanding prior but Kerry knows his electrickery.

[Adventurer]

I’ve tried many pass through charges but I find that some don’t allow at all, some don’t like the stop start of dynamo.

I’ve finally come down to one that has good reviews for working with solar panels and being able to manage the stop start nature of power input. It also allows pass through.

It’s a nitecore F1

https://www.nitecore.co.uk/Shop/Product ... ource.html

I normally carry 2 as they are very light and just carry a number of the 18650 batteries. I carry two as I had an anker fail on me and when miles from anywhere can cause an issue. Luckily I could power my iPhone straight from the dynamo via the sinewave converter.

Use this system with my iPhone 7 and it works well.

I’ll have to post a picture on my Twitter to show my setup.

[Javi]

I've had 3 zendure chargers, models A2 and A3.
Contacted Customer Service when I had problems on the A3 and got replaced under warranty.

When charging the A3 or using charge through we suggest using a 2 Amp or 10 Watt USB wall charger and not a PC or laptop.

That was I was told, so I only plug it on the mains.
Still my favourite though

[whitestone]

There's some loss of charge whenever you transfer charge to/from a battery, the batteries undergo a chemical transformation to store and release charge and that transformation requires energy. Typically (depending on the battery type, its charging circuitry and how you charge it) you'll lose around 10%, it's why batteries being charged warm up, if the transfer process was 100% efficient then this heating wouldn't happen.

Basically a battery has an internal resistance, not much but it's there, so the charger has to overcome that resistance before it can top up the battery.

[Asposium]

http://blog.ravpower.com/2018/06/pass-t ... ks-charge/

http://blog.ravpower.com/2017/10/danger ... batteries/

Their advice is to avoid pass through charging.

[pistonbroke]

For me, the c 10% loss of efficiency isn't an issue, my powerbanks are mainly there to provide a smoothing of the output to my gps so when I'm going slow, the unit isn't constantly powering off and needing restarting. If I was riding constantly day and night over testing ground such as on the HTR then the total capacity of the powerbank would be a factor. My gravel bike setup is based around a Lovemud dynamo working through a kemo switch/rectifier that's wired to a 2,000mAh Juice Cube and then then to my gps, if I throw the switch it cuts out the powerbank and powers a Revo light. My mountainbike setup is the same in principle but the dynamo is an XT one and the powerbank is a Portapow 10,500mAh unit, both the powerbanks allow pass-through charging but are difficult to get now. Both setups cost about £50 without the light and gps obviously.

[whitestone]

Mike, I've posted before about my use: basically two 10,000mAh batteries; one is "sink" and charging from the dynamo; the other is "source" and powering whatever device. Swap batteries as and when the "source" runs out of charge. Doing it this way gets round the stop/start problem. Two smallish powerbanks also give you a bit of redundancy should one get damaged or die.

[Asposium]

Mike, I've posted before about my use: basically two 10,000mAh batteries; one is "sink" and charging from the dynamo; the other is "source" and powering whatever device. Swap batteries as and when the "source" runs out of charge. Doing it this way gets round the stop/start problem. Two smallish powerbanks also give you a bit of redundancy should one get damaged or die.

^
Exactly my view
Non pass thru packs tend to be cheaper for a given capacity

And carry a small mains charger for cafe stops

[USB-C Input Only] Anker... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072155XVX
At the time the USB-C version was cheaper than the USB mini version; not USB-C PD so no real advantage

[Bearbonesnorm]

I asked Kerry from K-lite for his thoughts on charging with a pass-through set up, this is what he says.

what is pass thru??.... what people think it is... is not what it actually is,let me explain...

What people think it means is DUAL USE>...'dual use' means....getting charged and being used at same time ... like a UPS on a computer. It keeps device / GPS going no matter of which power input you use.

NOW what pass thru actually means is ... passing input power directly to OUTPUT and NOT charging battery first ... then draining it right away ... as you can loose up to 20% in chem reaction to charge a USB cache battery...so pass thru, avoids this loss and a battery is much happier when it's very low ... as it just gets bypassed to device .. when battery is very low, it labours when asked to provide current to device, this can damage battery and another reason for pass thru. Pass thru capability is hard to test for....and often impossible to know if it's included on your USB cache battery

On paper it does look better to charge phone directly from dynamo powered USB charger ... this avoids the up to 20% losses when charging. HOWEVER, in the real world...
socket damage due to rough roads is better done on a cheap USB cache battery rather than a $1200 iphone.

A lot phones won't sit in FULL power saving mode when on the charger, and any fancy electronics are better hidden behind the electronics of a USB cache battery...so its better to charge a USB cache battery....then phone at night when stopped for all the reasons above.

People think pass thru is DUAL USE>>...pass thru is actually power shunting direct to device, so testing for dual use will NOT prove pass thru is there or present. as they are actually different things.

Double charging is to be avoided, if possible....as is direct charging from dynamo powered USB charger. as is using the socket in your fancy phone while moving.

Happy new year...hope this helps.

K