Auto-Switch between charging battery and devices

#1

Hi,

I’m looking for a USB power bank to install in our car. It will be charged with a 12V USB charger, which only runs when the car is on but is permanently attached. The devices however will also be attached permanently. That appears to be a problem, at least with the Anker PowerCore Elite 20000 I’ve bought: As long as the input gets power, devices are not charged (which is okay, I don’t need pass-through), but when the input power stops, it does NOT start to charge the attached devices. I have to pull and reconnect them.
I’m looking for a product which is able to automatically charge any attached devices once the input power stops.

Do you know of any?

In case you’re wondering about the use case: Basically we have a mounted tablet in the car which will be connected to the battery. I need the battery and not only a charger because although we only use the tablet when the car is on, it will connect to the home wifi when parked. On that wifi it will automatically sync media from our Plex server. Over wifi this can consume significant time and power. That’s why a battery would be very useful.

Thanks!

1 Like
#2

Correct there isn’t a passthru battery with Anker.

These are your options:

  • buy non-Anker battery with pass-thru. I warn you, they tend to be small and/or expensive.
  • buy a tablet with a huge internal battery - these do exist - which is able to run off internal power when engine off and recharge directly off 12DC through the appropriate car charger (to match the tablet). For example the battery inside the Lenovo Tab 4 10 is good battery life.
  • buy two large batteries and swap between them.
  • buy the Anker Powerhouse as an example large battery.

I just yesterday ordered a replacement battery for an old tablet a 9000mah for a Nexus 10 and before I successfully replaced the 5000mah in a Nexus 7 tablet, as these were dying with aging batteries.

2 Likes
#3

My older powercore 16000 has pass through and my powercore 20100 don’t but as soon as I pull the charging lead out it automatically starts charging the connected device(s)

#4

The Fusion supports pass through and SUPPOSEDLY the upcoming PowerCore+ II will later this year, although it has yet to be confirmed by Anker.

#5

Pass through would be a nice gimmick, but it’s not my main feature. What I need mostly is that the battery switches seamlessly from charging itself to charging the devices when the input power stops. That’s what’s not working with the PowerCore Elite 20000: It will simply stop charging itself and not begin to charge the device. I have to pull out and reconnect the device in order to start charging.

I asked that question on Amazon too and supposedly the Anker PowerCore+ 10050 supports this? Can anyone here confirm this?

Alternatively I’ll go with the suggestion above and skip the battery, only relying on the Tablet’s battery. Not ideal but I need a solution which doesn’t require messing with the plugs every time I use the device.

Thanks!

#6

Ok I took a risk and got one to try it out… No luck. When the input power stops, the PowerCore+ 10050 does not begin to charge already connected devices.
I have an older competitor product which does this fine. You can switch between charging the battery or devices without ever touching the wires. But I need faster battery charge so was hoping for a higher end Anker one.
Looks like I’ll need to go the charger-only route without battery then.

#7

I don’t know if this would help you but there are devices made for dash cams that draws power directly from the cars battery, if the battery reaches a preset cut-off voltage it stops powering the device. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61nSUeAMHfL.SL1080.jpg

I believe tablets use more power than a dashcam so I can’t tell you how long it’ll last before it gets cut off.

I’ve been looking into getting one of these for a dashcam but I have yet to go though with it.

I just found this too, but that price tho. :astonished:

#8

Hi @Matthias7 ,

Thanks for bringing the issue to us via this post and email.

I am sorry that we actually have removed the pass-through function for almost all of our portable batteries, (except our Anker powerhouse and PowerCore Plugin), which means when the battery itself is being recharged it cannot charge the connected devices simultaneously. You can consider like, we set two switch for our battery: one for recharge, another one for discharge, and they work independently. That’s why when your car is on, the Powercore is not charging your devices.

Based on this, when the input power stops, our Powercore needs external factor to activate its discharging ability. For example, you can press the power button or reconnect the cables to start charging the connected devices.

We recognized it is inconvenient for some of our customers, then why we removed the pass through function? It is because when pass-through charging, it increases charging times for both the portable charger and your device, risks significantly shortening the portable charger’s lifespan.

Hope it helps. Should there be further concerns or questions we could address, please feel free to contact us via "support@anker.com".

Best wishes!

#9

OK, in that case looks like this simply won’t work. At least I know that now and can pursue other alternatives. THanks

2 Likes
#10

I’m looking for a similar in-car solution, with sync pass-thru and automatic charging switch-over. Did you ever find a solution?

If so, what was it?

#11

@rivy @Matthias7 check out myweego.com they look dorky but they have charge through, auto detect device, and they sell attachments to charge in the car.