Do you want 45W PD Powercore?

#1

I only have one PD device, a work supplied Windoze laptop, it comes with a proprietary charger but recently got a 60W PD Powerport and it worked (30W did not work), so I can travel for work a little more compact :slight_smile: so now I’m curious if I could get a Powercore for it too.

Anker does not do anything above 30W as far as I can tell, but you can buy them from other brands, a quick “45W PD” search found this example easily

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So I’m wondering why Anker isn’t doing anything up at this 45W range.

So let’s give some encouragement, if Anker would build it, would you buy it? What price, say with a 45W portable charger would you pay? The example from the competitor is $100 so shows it can be built at that cost.

  • I don’t need this
  • I would pay $130-$150
  • …$100-$130
  • less than $100

0 voters

My view is I’d like to have it but I’m more interested in a decent 60W 3-4 port PD charger than the Powercore but these would become a system, where the laptop and the imagined Powercore would be both plugged into the imagined Powerport 60W and one of the ports is given priority - the laptop - and any spare wattage would go to the second priority port as that is the most efficient use of the wattage (recharge device 1st, recharge a recharger 2nd). As the 1st port asks for less power (laptop charged) then more can go to the 2nd port

So an intelligent 60W 3-4 port Powerport which is tested and works will the imagined Powercore, would then be a laptop intelligent portable system.

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#2

Was able to grab one from Mophie when they went on sale recently. Don’t really think I would need another.

#3

At this momentI don’t have any devices that needs 45w but I’d still buy it just for future proof

#4

45W USB-C PD is good for most 13/14-inch laptops with USB-C. Some (MacBook Pro being a prime example) want 60W when running demanding software or video games. But if you don’t regularly get your laptop’s fans running then 45W will work. It’ll also charge a 2018 iPad Pro at full speed. And of course a well designed 45W power source will support all of the smaller devices Anker’s current 15-30W power banks support.

#5

At 45W that would be awesome. My daugthers have Mac books, ipad Pros, and I know a 30W will work but I would prefer the 45w

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#6

Even my shiny new S10+ has only 15w charge, and in “powerbank made”, it gives 9w.

Obvs Samsung don’t think you need more power to charge a 4k battery. I think they’re still nervous after note 7, when it comes to batteries.

Not sure what it.means by quick charge 2 tho, as if the Q3 is the standard now, with Q4 knocking at the door. Must be a different atandard‽

#7

Well the more I debate this with myself, I spent a day with my

  • 45W PD input laptop
  • 18W PD input tablet
  • 10W input OnePlus (DASH proprietary) phone
  • Spirit X (it was raining) buds
  • smartwatch (it was raining and phone isn’t waterproof so I use this for navigation and answering calls and seeing texts)
  • 60W PD Powerport
  • and my Fusion 5000…

You see I’m reluctant to carry the laptop on long power-sensitive trips so I debug systems when I don’t really need much power.

So the reason for the tablet is it is for long times power-stressed situations, I prefer it to spend days moving with as it lasts a long time on its internal battery, works with my all my Anker stuff (any Powercore, any Powerport, at 10W 5V 2A). The laptop though is 8 hours if I’m gently using but drops to like 6 or less if I’m heavily using, so the laptop needs Powercore more than the other items. It will not work less than 45W. So that means the lack of a 45W Powercore is making me either go without a laptop or carry a laptop+tablet.

So imagine I then had used imagined 45W output Powercore, and it then needing recharging, well I’d really want to recharge it at the same time as recharging (or keeping charged) at any time near a power outlet. So ideally you’re talking 90W, but those are huge, so I think about 60W because the chance I have both a near-flat laptop and near-flat Powercore will be rare, so an intelligent 3-4 port Powerport would be the core of my system, and it just needs to recharge my laptop 1st priority, and any spare energy recharge the Powercore 2nd priority. Once the laptop is full it will likely drop its needs to be a lot less than 45W so then the Powercore if it were nearly flat would get 45W.

That’s the crying need.

Cost. I’m seeing we’d be comfortable paying for such a system, an intelligent 60W Powercore + 45W Powerport in the $100 region. I’d probably buy that. I’d need the Powercore tested with the Powerport, its an expensive crossing of fingers.

#8

Wow you already have the S10+? How are you liking it? What color did you get? Here in the US they should start shipping sometime this week

#9

If you go outside of Anker there are several 45W USB-C PD power bank options. The Jackery from your original post. Also ZMI, RAVPower, mophie, and J-Go Tech have models. Any would fully power your device list except the OnePlus phone. Nothing but official DASH products can fast charge those. You’d probably want 26,800mAh with so many devices. Your current 60W wall charger would fast charge the power bank.

FWIW a 30W Anker PowerCore would extend the run time of your laptop. Because its charger is 45W doesn’t mean it draws 45W all the time. Heavy draw occurs when less than 80% charged and running hot. If you aren’t taxing the laptop you can get away with less. Similarly if you plug in while at 100% it could last longer. I’ve plugged my 13-inch MacBook Pro (61W original charger) into an Anker PowerCore+ 26800 PD while it was at 100%. It didn’t start losing battery charge until the PowerCore had run out. I was doing work on a website, including some light Photoshop work (no rendering).

Anker’s Atom PD 4 offers two USB-C ports up to 100W total. But it isn’t the most travel friendly design, more of a desktop charger. Maybe a future GaN using charger will get 90-100W output to the size you want.

I don’t think your $100 price is realistic for Anker. Anker’s 30W wall charger and 26,800mAh power bank retails for $130. Even the Jackery you linked is $120 for 45W wall charger and power bank. You could buy a separate 60W wall charger for ~$35 and 45W power bank for ~$60-70. But not from the same brand.

I would also like to see Anker join the 45W power bank ranks. But I imagine it is an issue of resource management. Fewer customers need to charge a mid sized laptop on the go vs those with small laptops or phones and gaming devices.

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#10

The S10 uses the same outdated fast charging standards Samsung has been using with their USB-C phones. It supports Quick Charge 2.0 and Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging. The Samsung standard is essentially a slower version of Quick Charge 3.0. For Anker products you would need one that supports PowerIQ 2.0 to fast charge that phone. Otherwise it’ll be more of a regular charge speed (up to 10W like you’ve seen). Anker PowerCore II series supports PowerIQ 2.0. Or an older model Anker power bank with Quick Charge 3.0 would also fast charge.

#11

Correct, but when I plugged in a 30W to a fully charged laptop, the laptop bawked. Yes I know a 45W max device doesn’t need max power all the time, but for example i suspect it is the 20 Volts need, my 30W did not have the mode with 20V so could never work for the modes the laptop wanted which probably mandates 20V. So its not just wattage.

That point of dropping power is where I see an intelligent use of the power budget.

Correct, I am ducking the issue by traveling with lower power devices to be able to last a long time without wall power.

Agreed and yes I think a bundle with a simple 45W would be more realistic for $100, a bundle with a smart 60W charger would be a higher cost. The bundle point is these need to be tested compatible with each other.

#12

Not until the 11th but hopefully sooner.

#13

Weird, most good quality 30W chargers offer 20V/1.5A. I have seen some Windows laptops set to discourage non-original chargers. Dell gives a low power/performance warning. HP laptops use to be coded to flat out refuse non-HP chargers. So much for the USB-C open standard revolution :unamused:

I hear you. Plus no back and forth issues with support if there’s problem.

#14

I have this:

The laptop would not work with it. So its not just specs on paper it has to be proven to work in real world.

This worked for me

So I suspect my laptop does a test my charging tech can do 45W and if it doesn’t then reject it, even though most of the time it doesn’t need 45W.

My point is that Anker does need to verify its own products cross-compatible, so their Powercore and their Powerport work together. Particularly when its higher cost items. I believe that is why Anker has been tending to bundle chargers at the higher end.

But the portable battery pack I referenced had a very important feature - it was 45W input so 3 hours recharging. That is also very important for certain types of events, like full-day conferences where power is against a far away wall and so you’re moving the battery between the wall recharging and the laptop recharging. 3 hours recharging places it also possible to share with another laptop if both laptops can share 45W. Currently I solve that via a tablet and a cheaper ($20-$30) Powercore which is what I have been doing for years. Current tablet is 18W with keyboard

#15

I suspect you’re right the laptop is gatekeeping. The Nintendo Switch does something similar in dock mode. If the charger doesn’t offer specifically 15V/2.6A (or more amps) it won’t turn on video output. The Switch never draws anywhere near that much power. It is Nintendo’s way of trying to keep you using their charger instead of a lower outputting phone charger. It protects the user experience (and thus Nintendo’s reputation).

I agree matching input and output for 45W power banks is important. I know a few 45W output power banks, including RAVPower, only support 30W input. And at 20,100mAh or more capacity 1/3 less input makes a real difference in charge time.

#16

at this point i don’t need it but it would be nice to have the option to buy in the future.

#17

I had another effort at debugging my laptop’s obstency. I have a USB C meter and the Anker 60W was fluctuatin between 0A and about 2A @ 20V as the laptop being used, but the Anker 60W 5-port was being ignored, kept at 0A 20V. Regardless of if booting linux, in sleep, powered off. So the electronics, the firmware, is blocking. It is not blocking for your assumed reasons of non-brand, it seems to be insisting on a charger capable of 45W even if it never needs 45W. :rage:

Windows error:

The experience just makes me skeptical of logic, common sense.