Thanks! That 20k version looks a good size compromise. I may pick one up in January.
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Does anyone know of a high speed, low capacity bank? It seems like all the tech development is going into these 12k, 20k chargers. I just need to keep two phones too up over an 18 hour day. I’d love a 65w, 5k, small bank.
It’s definitely a trickle down tech thing. 6 months ago when I started these threads nobody was really even doing it below 20k. The fact that the Anker 12k is out now says the shift is already happening.
The Zendure 10k that I took on the race is 30w out and 20w in I think, but looks like it’s no longer sold in the UK. They did have a 5k model too - if that’s still available in US it’s worth a look.
I suspect it’s hard for most manufacturers to invest in input speeds for a powerbank when its capacity is so low that it doesn’t take long to charge anyway. You might have slightly better luck if it’s the output speed you’re looking for, but even then, most devices that require 65w from a powerbank also have big enough batteries that 5k mAh just doesn’t go very far.
sigh I bought a great GaN charger (plugbug slim), and now can’t find it! They are getting so much smaller that it’s getting easier to misplace them. I’ve stuck with the Apple USB-C chargers as they will take cables and are small enough to pack, but still big enough to make it harder to lose.
Do you know if the other Anker powerbanks can also charge Exposure lights, such as the less rapid Powercore series?
You can get mini extension cords so you can convert your brick to a cord. I hadn’t heard of these GaN chargers, I have an old 60W charger but it’s a heavy beast.
I don’t think so but I also don’t think I’ve tried the particular product series you’re talking about. I discovered the incompatibility with an even older Anker 20k unit and I think because Exposure pointed me to the Prime one I assumed that meant PowerCore had been ruled out already.
@mrussotto, for reference/shorthand in Apple terms, the 3-port 65w Minix GaN charger is nearly identical in size to the older 1-port 29w Apple USB-C charger. (Minix is very slightly smaller). So it’s a pretty significant difference.
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Thanks for the reply, I have ordered a couple of the Anker 533, which is part of the powercore series, so will test and update.
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Likewise, re weight as I am 5,2 height and 50k weight ,so everything I carry has to be super light for bikepacking. But I often ride 2-3 days bivvying and then stay anywhere I can find to charge up my devices. Phone, Garmin 820, and Garmin Oregon with OS mapping (Ordnance Survey, UK mapping organisation) Front and rear lights.
Usually I run out of power on the 2 Garmins, and try and preserve the phone battery for as long as possible.
The Garmin Oregon uses AA batteries which is great, and quite retro!
I don’t mind stopping at a cafe for 30 minutes to charge up ,but any longer is a frustrating waste of time, and money ,as I order more cakes and coffees to pass the time.
Do you think the 65w charger you mention would give enough for 3 days? Also what does it weigh?
Is anyone able to validate the choices I’ve made for a couple of upcoming bike packing races? One of which is ten days and the other will likely be finished in two.
For the shorter event I’ve picked this: Baseus 65w Gan Charger
During the longer ride I’ll need a few more ports so I’ve picked this: Baseus Gan Charger 100w
The devices I’ll need to charge via USB are Garmin 830, Exposure front & rear light. Using PD charge I can hopefully get my phone and powerbank charged a lot quicker than a standard USB plug adapter.
I live in England and I’ve had to purchase these items with an EU plug so I haven’t got a way to test them. I’ll have to check they work the night before and will throw in a couple of standard plug adapters I’ll take if it doesn’t work as intended (but will otherwise leave in my bike box).
Can you test by using a EU-UK adapter? Available for a few quid on Amazon.
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What a simple, logical solution.
Thanks
Plug adapter for home testing is the answer. 2 other things to keep in mind though:
- Each device has it’s own max charging speed, so your Garmin and lights are unlikely to charge any faster with a high wattage charger. (Seems like you’re probably already aware of this based on the fact you only mention your phone and powerbank when talking about faster charging, but figured I’d highlight just in case).
- Do all your tests with the exact cable leads and port arrangement you plan to use on the trip. Sometimes the incompatibility we’ve seen with powerbanks can extend to cable types and even specific ports on wall chargers too. Most obvious example is that my Wahoo will only charge from a USB-A to C cable and not from a C to C. Some chargers also don’t have the ability to output different voltage on the different USB-C ports at the same time, so it’s possible to end up well below the max wattage of either device or the charger because it can only go at the highest voltage which all devices share. I’m sure I’ve also heard of situations where with certain combinations of devices it matters not only which one goes into which C port on the wall charger but even which order you plug them in (is to do with the way the internal circuitry negotiates charging rates). I expect quirks like that will be gone in the next 5 years, but all this charging tech is still new enough that edge cases still encounter weird problems.
Basically just try to test all that equipment in as close as possible to real race conditions. If you want to get scientific about it then it’s worth adding a USB voltage tester to your basket when you buy that plug adapter.
usb c - USB C charger with C8 input? - Hardware Recommendations Stack Exchange has all my knowledge about lighter weight figure 8 GaN chargers – two came to market within the last two months. Properly certified too, unlike most listed in this thread, I do not want to light my home on fire but to each their own. Hopefully the community will add a few more although I am not holding my breath. Another source is GANchargers | A collaborative database on Sortabase but what they have there are all too big for me. Right now I see no charger I would want to buy despite the new additions. I so wish Rocstor made their chargers available with a port instead of a fixed cable. If you are OK with C5/C6 couplers (“Mickey Mouse”) then HP and Dell have options for you.
At least 45W power output at most 300g power bank? - Hardware Recommendations Stack Exchange has all my knowledge about lighter weight 45W power banks. I bought today a 4Smarts 45W as that’s the only thing available in Europe. The Zendure SuperMini X3 might be an option to those across the pond. There’s mention of even higher wattage yet low weight power banks there as well, however AFAIK nothing is available right now.
Hope this helps.
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Update on the Anker 533, it does charge Exposure lights but only with a USB A to USB C adaptor as seen before, it does seem to do inline charging if you plug things in the correct order as well. Using the recharge time on the power bank screen, it’s mildly infuriating trying to plug things in the right order to achieve the fastest charge rates!! It occasionally seems to renegotiate wattages by itself feb after everything seems hunky-dorey too… This is using Anker USB C cables and a Anker 335 fast charger plug (67W).
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Much better to get yourself a dynamo hub. I run an SP dynamo hub with a home made small switch unit, that goes in the end of my tri bars (just use them as a way of taking weight off the hands). The switch enables me to toggle between charging the garmin and running my front and rear dynamo powered lights. Works a treat, and unless you are doing routes where you average speed in < 7 mph you should be ok. I have just purchased the Garmin Solar, so am keen to see how that stacks up too.
Dynamo is great for the right event/trip, but the big leap with GaN chargers is that if you’re stopping in civilization anyway then it might actually be better to top up at high speed in short bursts when stopped.
Your SP dynamo hub is 3w (if I googled the right one)
A lot of us are looking at 65w chargers and batteries.
That means 1h of charging from the wall on the latest tech is the equivalent to trickle charging a powerbank from a dynamo (without ever activating the dynamo lights) for 21.67 hours (consistently above 7mph as you say).
So if you’re going to stop for at least an hour a day near a wall plug anyway then dynamo is dead.
If you’re going off grid for days at a time or racing something like the Silk Road Mountain Race then a dynamo is still essential.
I tried to do a weight comparison at one point taking into account all of the various savings/penalties from each system in terms of lights, backup batteries, etc. and I think it was inconclusive or nearly a wash.
So it’s really about what kind of bikepacking you’re doing. I originally started this search whilst prepping for a pretty gnarly gravel race which even has a competitor in a YouTube documentary talking about turning around and going backwards on the route to try to roll downhill fast enough for long enough to get the dynamo to put enough charge in her Garmin to be able to get to the next checkpoint and have the gpx evidence to maintain her qualification in the race. (In fairness this is evidence of bad battery usage planning probably more than it is evidence of choosing the wrong charging system).
GaN is the way to go for that race. Dynamo is probably still your best chance at winning TCR, and probably your only chance of finishing Silk Road. Horses for courses…
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All valid points but I haven’t come across a charger as small as the typical wall / direct-plug-in-the-socket charges. If there was (and maybe is) then indeed this would be a more versatile option and believe me, I stayed in quite some interesting overnight stays while bikepacking.
But if there isn’t… well - I never would take my big cord based anker charger with me on bike packing races. Always the smaller one. Now with my new iPhone I took the opportunity to buy a GaN one with now 3 sockets (2 USB-C and one USB-A). I reckon this pretty perfect for my bikepacking racing needs: Garmin and iPhone go to the 2 USB-C sockets, a lamp or something different to the USB-A (I still have quite a few lights with Mini-USB ports).
Thank you for this very informative thread and all the updates @alexfthenakis, this helped me a lot.
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