Hey /g/, questions about these "USB power bank" things.
Can most of them power a device while they are also plugged in to charge the power bank itself?
Are Li-ion ones susceptible to catching on fire too, or only LiPo ones? Is there an easy way to tell the difference without tearing them apart?
Picrelated is one I'm thinking of getting. I am hoping it uses something like standard 18650's, because I think that they have low fire risk compared to LiPos, and I just don't know if these things will run while also plugged in for charging. Never had a need for one before.
>>47834928
bump
>>47834928
None of the one i have will. I have shitty off brand ones though. They have a good charge thought so they work
>>47834928
Some of the more expensive ones will, however it's bad for the battery to charge and discharge at the same time. Kills it quicker.
Why would you wanna have something plugged into it AND it charging though?
Like if you're charging this device, then there's presumably a wall/AC power right there. It'd be better to split that and charge both this gizmo and your other gizmo off the wall.
>>47835647
This. Most of them use trickle charging which takes forever to charge the pack but this reduces the lost of energy when you're storing it. Bought the PNY one and it's been working great. Charged to 100% and didn't use it for a week. When I did it was still at 100% percent. Also why do you want to charge the pack and use it at the same time? Do you only have one outlet?
OP here.
>>47835686
Acting as a UPS for a video camera. I had some items stolen from my apartment, set up a camera, and for the last week the camera has mysteriously lost power on three occasions -- even though other computers in the house did not lose power.
So, I want to put the camera on a UPS. And also to set up other cameras on battery-only in better-hidden locations.
>>47835813
Oh. Yeah these aren't designed to act as a UPS.
>>47835813
What crappy camera are you using that you're trying to power with a powerpack? Think you should look at the bigger picture here of why the cameras "mysteriously" lost power. Have a sneaky feeling you're just trying to take voy-shots of people in public.
>>47835831
Yeah, I know they aren't. But if they *can* work as one, then that's fine by me.
>>47835929
Shove your sneaky feeling up your skirt, Columbo. I'm trying to catch my landlord stealing from me.
>>47836087
I apologize if it seemed that I was accusing you of less than repeatable usage of a camera.
Just one more thing before I go. You state about losing power only to the camera, yet... lets see here "even though other computers in the house did not lose power". That means you were using a computer to transfer this information from the camera to this "device" that lost power. Any other person would use their computer to not only record but show you live what's going on. Many programs are out there that would warn you when there is motion which the second he opens the door you would catch.
>>47836227
>I apologize if it seemed that I was accusing you of less than repeatable usage of a camera.
Oh, no worries, it's a great idea actually, and I think I'll start building my shoe-cam tonight! If you knew where I'm residing, you'd be totally jelly of the vids Imma gonna get.
>That means you were using a computer to transfer this information from the camera
Not exactly. It's on a computerized DVR that saves onto a microSD. There's no easy way to network it to other machines; the wiring would be too blatant and would point right at both.
Thinking about it, though, you have a point there, I could get another cheap cellphone and SIM, set it up to dump data to a cloud server, and worry a little less. I'm not sure what the monthly cost would be, but if I don't get unlimited data and get very limited voice, it might be affordable.
Regular internet is not available, it's 3G or nothing, and 3G here drops in and out pretty frequently, sometimes for hours or longer. So it's not 100%, and the power outage thing is really more important to me. When power goes, the camera dies, and someone could come in without any worries; it wouldn't matter if the camera was networked or cloud-storaged or whatever.
Worst case, maybe I'll just recharge the batteries every night while at home sleeping, and power the cameras up during the day while gone.
Anyway, thanks for the shoe-cam tip!
My limefuel lite 15000 can do that.
>>47836883
Thanks! I'll try to find that one. The capacity is also about what I want, it should last about 18 hours.
>>47834928
Get it op that one is gud
How many sheckels does the jew want?
>>47838105
About tree sawbucks.
>>47834928
My Anker didn't when I tried to charge from both ports while it was also plugged into the wall. Or one of the devices didn't charge, I forget. But bottom line is trying to charge two devices while the Anker itself was plugged in didn't work as hoped.
