Power Banks 101: Capacity, Charging Rate & Safe Use

The power bank was first unveiled at CES 2001 when a student pieced a control circuit and a few AA batteries together. Thus the power bank for smart phones was officially born!   Capacity Power banks have already become the new hot item on everyone’s promotional sourcing list and for good reason. Most smart phones need lots of juice to power everything from cameras, heavy data usage, downloads, and much more. As of October 2014, the Droid Turbo included a battery size of a whopping 3900 mAh. To give you scale, the iPhone 6 only has 1810 mAh of power. As battery sizes increase, the need for power banks is becoming clear for anyone who is active on their phones during the day. Charging Rate Power banks currently range from 550 mAh all the way up to 30,000 mAh. Standard value options range from 2000 – 3000 mAh and can normally charge your iPhone 5 or 6 around 50% of full charge within 3-5 hours. It should be noted that if the phone is used while the phone is charging this may slightly decrease the power charging speed and thus affect the time to charge. Safe Use This is the most important part of Power Banks 101. Like USB flash drives, just because a casing looks the same does not mean it is a comparable product. Many suppliers do not have certifications that are a must when sourcing these potential dangerous battery products. Power banks that have not been certified with UL and MSDS should never be used because they may not have short circuit protection, over charging protection, or temperature protection, all of which are important when considering the safety of not only your clients but your business’ reputation as well! A few points to always remember when using your power bank: If you continue to use the power bank while charging, disconnect if the power bank or phone becomes hot. It should be noted that most power banks will either become warm or cause the phone to become warm, but they should not be “hot” to the touch. Never lay your power bank and phone to charge on any flammable object. As seen in the above, if your power bank DOES overheat you will have more to worry about then a melted charging cable. Always make sure to use UL approved charging cables when charging. As seen in recent news reports, many low quality cables have melted when paired with smart phones and power banks. Important Certifications MSDS A MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is a document that contains information on the potential hazards (health, fire, reactivity and environmental) and how to work safely with the chemical product. It is an essential starting point for the development of a complete health and safety program. All suppliers should have this available for distributors to review whenever needed. Click here to view MSDS for our power bank batteries. UL UL (Underwriters Laboratories) Listing means that UL has tested representative samples of the product and determined that it meets UL’s requirements. These requirements are based primarily on UL’s published and nationally recognized Standards for Safety. For packaging, the UL logo may be used alone as long as the product (as opposed to any Listed component in or connected to the product) bears the complete UL Listing Mark. Click here to view UL definition for our power bank batteries.