cold cos you're being a dick

I'm sorry but who actually uses this feature? Charging a power bank is nowhere near 100% efficient due to heat, battery chemistry etc. Charging a phone/tablet/whatever from a power bank is again not efficient due to heat dissipation and the makeup of the little batteries that make up the power bank. By using passthrough you are stacking these heat inefficiencies for absolutely no reason (other than maybe laziness/ignorance of basic electrical principles)

I'm an Electrical Engineer and passthrough charging makes absolutely no sense to me, as above it just isn't efficient and you basically have a £17.30 (£13.80) piece of high resistance wire bottlenecking your phone charging.

There are better power banks out there that are cheaper. In fact, with some of the deals that have been on here before you could get 2 power banks (double the effective capacity) for the same price. Is it really that difficult to just charge your phone and power bank separately/at different times? You save yourself time and money and there is much less chance of the thing overheating and exploding (sorry to worry any of you).

Cold from me...

Read the "PS:" note at the bottom of the post :smile:

Cold! Power banks ideally shouldn't cost more than £1 per 1000mAh. This shouldn't really cost more than about £12. You can get higher capacity power banks from Amazon (more trustworthy than Gearbest) for cheaper than this price...

TWITTER for 8% off

My Xiaomi from 2014 is still going strong. Their products are so good I don't believe i'll need a replacement for a long time yet.

Was that necessary?

I thought that was funny, maybe I have the quirkest sense of humour :smile::smile: Is it really offending?

Never heard of pass-through charging, just looked it up. Seems like it would slow down both the charging of the power bank and the charging of the device plugged into it. Doesn't seem that great then, I'd rather use two separate outlets. Anyway, I guess I'm not intellectually gifted then... lol

pretty sure the older 10000mah xiami which was 7 or 8 quid ages ago does pass through as well if can be sourced cheaply

the price is not the relevant factor here so no need to have a hissy fit
just saying that no need to get too excited by pass through

Bought new Xiaomi power bank 2 20000 version from aliexpress for £19 after new customer discount and Quidco. So this is cold I'm afraid

The power bank 2 that he is talking about has twice the capacity of your deal.

cold cos you're being a dick

I have the original version and this one. Worth noting that this has quick charge 2. It charges my zenfone 2 to 50% in about 30 minutes. It also charges itself faster on a QC2 wall charger. The throughput charge is also very useful. I also prefer the shape of this one over the original, it fits in pockets better. I've had the original for 2 years and this for 1 year. I'm very impressed, neither seem to have lost any charge and are still in great condition. It's a good deal imho.

£2 extra for double the capacity - that what is worth not old tech. Deal for v2 here
https://tech.aliexpress.com/store/2134163
Click on power bank priced at $29.99, choose shipping from China

I purchased two older model 10,000mah Xiaomi powerbanks from Gearbest last year.

One of them was real, using 3x 3400mah 18650 cells. (3x3400 is how 10,000 is derived). The other one was fake - subtly different in several ways and using 3x 2600mAh cells giving less than 8000mah total. (I tested capacity using an advanced charger). When I complained they simply sent me another fake one...not what I wanted at all.

At the time the deal was posted here, it went hot and lots of people bought it. I would imagine 90% of buyers got the fake one with lower capacity. Most don't have the equipment to verify capacity.

Xiaomi are highly counterfeited in Asia, especially headphones, powerbanks etc. The safest time to buy is immediately after product launch. After a couple of months the fakers replicate them and flood the market.

I'm sorry but who actually uses this feature? Charging a power bank is nowhere near 100% efficient due to heat, battery chemistry etc. Charging a phone/tablet/whatever from a power bank is again not efficient due to heat dissipation and the makeup of the little batteries that make up the power bank. By using passthrough you are stacking these heat inefficiencies for absolutely no reason (other than maybe laziness/ignorance of basic electrical principles)

I'm an Electrical Engineer and passthrough charging makes absolutely no sense to me, as above it just isn't efficient and you basically have a £17.30 (£13.80) piece of high resistance wire bottlenecking your phone charging.

There are better power banks out there that are cheaper. In fact, with some of the deals that have been on here before you could get 2 power banks (double the effective capacity) for the same price. Is it really that difficult to just charge your phone and power bank separately/at different times? You save yourself time and money and there is much less chance of the thing overheating and exploding (sorry to worry any of you).

Cold from me...

Doesn't take someone to be "intellectually gifted". Also, pass through charging is probably useless for the general public.
Cold from me.

Though I know pass through charging is helpful practically, but some reports suggest it reduces the battery life. I waited 2 weeks for the prime day sale to get the anker charger (£23 for 20,000 QC) and (£22 for the 20,100) without QC.
If anyone can wait, I would recommend to get that solely for customer service and better quality even if you dont get pass through charging. I also recommend looking into the current as anker (RAVPower too) has better surge protect against heat and even support quick charging for the powerbank itself. They are better qualities to pay for than through charging imho.

Well - think a bit more and there is one blatantly obvious use for pass through power banks.
Speaking as one electrical engineer to another - this Passthru powerbank is exactly what ive been looking for.

I have dash cams in my car. Currently hardwired, and has a permanent 12v feed to it.
the dashcams do have an auto shut-off feature once the voltage gets too low, but when i start the car up - the car battery will be on the low side, and the stop/start technology wont work as it senses the battery is too low. The ECU must only check the battery on the initial start-up as the stop/start will not work until the battery has fully charged and the engine is switched off and started again.

This is the ideal fix for this problem. I can connect the dash cam to a switched live via these passthrough batteries, meaning they charge up while the engine is running and the dash cam still records. When the engine is turned off, the dash cam is still powered and keeps recording (in case some idiot dings my car in a car park)

Sorry, slightly confused. Is this the v2 and does it have QC?

If not, anyone got a link to the v2? Thanks a lot

I have a silver one, and they are great better than those with battery cylinders, a lot thinner.

Nothing wrong with the Xiaomi's at all and really well built & finished, and genuine (seem to remember there was seals you could check with the Xiaomi website on the boxes) - but there maybe be trouble with the regulations and getting through the postal systems. Have both the original and the new version - as another poster says the shape of the original is better - stands on its end for easy use with the Xiaomi LED light (the switched Mk 2 version is best), or the wee USB fan, etc while the newer version being slimmer, is more portable and better for carrying.

Also bought the handy silicone protection sleeves for each type - the MkI a great tight fit - a genuine Xiaomi, the one for the MkII unit was really an poor fit, though it didn't say it was a proper Xiaomi part, so my fault really, and was as cheap as chips.

Also have the RAV power 3 output port model, that was a special deal for £20 at the end of March - it's great but heavy! It's £28 odds now.

You could use passthrough power banks for this purpose, but why on earth would you? I can't see them lasting more than a few months (if that) in a hot car constantly being overcharged (unless you only make short journeys?), this is speaking from experience. You would be better off with a higher quality/capacity power bank, there are many out there, and charging the power bank when needed. Yes, it means a bit more effort setting up each time etc. but will save you A LOT of time and effort in future not having to keep buying the same thing every few months.

I'm not bashing I'm just saying this really isn't that good a deal. I currently have a 20,000 mAh (can't remember the brand for the life of me) set up which lasts me a few days of heavy use, more if I don't use my car, although admittedly I turn it off at night as my garage is plenty secure :smiley:

£11.47 at Tomtop with code XM10000 according to the Telegram message... Can't seem to find that deal on here though :disappointed:

If you have NEVER needed pass-thru charging, then you will never understand. The inefficiencies that you have gone on about nobody cares about them. We do not care about longevity of these powerbanks against portability and convenience. I use mine as a UPS for my Raspberry Pi which I NEED to be very mobile (moving it from room to room) without having to shut it down (same for Amazon Echo, Universal remotes/IR blasters etc...) and also car dashcam when I need to run it for long and to make sure it continues running even when the car gets parked.
Using the power-banks with pass thru DOES NOT mean that you keep them connected to mains every-time, you may only have to charge the powerbank during the night when the connected device is drawing almost nothing, meaning most current goes to the powerbank, but this comes with the benefit of not having to power-cycle your connected device.
Then on the issue of bashing pass-thru charging, a lot of people do not realise that this feature's efficiency and usefullness DEPENDS on the nature of the circuitry employed. Its not clever to bash all pass-thru charging power banks.

To explain this in a much easier way, imagine having a usb charger that has got 2 ports. You can connect the chargre to your phone, to charge your phone on one port, then connect the other usb port to your powerbank to charge it.
Now imagine having a single device that contains a usb charger and powerbank (already connected to one port) in a single packaging, with the other port (from the charger, just passing-thru to the output port of the packaging)
You will only then need a circuit to make sure if the inside charger is connected to mains, the phone uses pass-thru port to charge, if not, the phone takes charge from the inside power-bank.

NO, you are comparing different items. The powerbank which is exactly the same as this one, on Ali-express is the following (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/10000mAh-Xiaomi-Power-Bank-2-External-Battery-18W-Quick-Charge-Ultra-Slim-for-Mobile-Phones-Fast/2134163_32819374388.html?spm=2114.12010608.0.0.QCt11z)

which costs $20 but also with longer, unreliable post (unlike Gearbest's Sweden Post). Generally, as it is evident here, the power bank could be much cheaper at Gearbest with free postage codes, than at Aliexpress. comparing something else different may mean a lot of other factors in play so not a good idea, eg. the 20000mAh from Aliexpress is NOT v2, no QC and largely FAKE, from experience, see Voodooboard's post above.

Do we actually know how this power bank works? If as you say, it checks for a mains source of power before using the battery then that's a useful feature. If as others have described it always charges from the battery while the battery is charge from mains then that seems like a fire hazard. Plus I don't believe that people wouldn't care about the longevity of this considering is priced on the high side for a 100000mAh battery pack.

I hear you mate, my comments about people not caring about longevity, are similar and echoed by general use of mobile phones whilst on the charger. A lot of people including me, use their phones (playing games, music or even calls) whilst the phone is being charged (connected to a mains charger or even powerbank)
Effectively, the phone battery will be charged at the same time as being discharged by the phones's circuitry that will be drawing current from the battery as you play games.
The same behaviour is also common with LAPTOPS, people use their laptops whilst connected to mains charger (the battery will be charging and discharging at the same time) and you probably are also guilt of this :smile:
This behaviour, as you correctly highlighted, reduces the phone's battery life, BUT a LOT of people do not care. like me, they rather choose to enjoy the convenience, over loss of a few months of battery life. They buy a new battery or a new phone when that one packs up....

Oh man, you just simply can't take it that this deal sucks... I'm not comparing products, just simply state that for +£2 one can double power bank capacity hence no brainer really...

If we could find out just how intelligent the charging circuitry is in this then that would be useful. In the case of phones and laptops it's pretty advanced and charging speed will be limited if a battery gets too hot or once the battery gets to around 90% charge when in use. Also, if you're using these devices then you're present to deal with them in the event of thermal runaway for example. However if you use this battery pack as a UPS unattended then it's possible it's asking for trouble.

I got an e-mail today saying the 10000mAh Anker I ordered for £14 will be delivered to the pick up location monday so I'm trying to decide if I should cancel and go for this instead. It would be nice have a power bank that charges from USB C like my phone although I'm not a big fan of quick charge as this new phone has a fixed battery and will likely be knackered in no time by the heat.