WHAT can I do with the USB-C cable included in Powercore 10000 PD+ box?

#1

I have the Anker Powercore 10000 PD+ (Model: A1236GZ1, Model family: A1236). It’s a special model released in mid-2019 and is an improvement over both the 10000 PD and 10000 Redux. It’s not documented anywhere on your website but I found a thread about it: [New Release] PowerCore 10000 PD+ (with PowerIQ 2.0)

In the 10000 PD+ box, there’s a 90cm cable. With zero documentation about what that cable is capable of… It’s just a generic black cable with the “Anker” logo imprinted on one side of the connectors. No model number anywhere. No details about it in the powerbank manual.

My questions:

  1. Is this charging cable PD capable (Power Delivery).
  2. If it’s PD capable, how many watts can it handle?
  3. An easier question that sums it up in laymans terms might be: Is this capable of rapidly charging the powerbank in ~3.5 hours or less (as the manual says when rapidly charging), when the cable is paired with a good PD wall charger?

By the way, Anker, you have some of the worst documentation I have ever seen. Your product pages are a useless mess and I have to always look up your products on Amazon to get more details, that’s how bad your website’s lack of details is. You don’t list all products on your website. You don’t list specifications. You don’t link to easily downloaded PDF manuals. And the manuals themselves are full of errors. I would think someone with your level of income could afford to do a better job with documenting your products. My product weighs 203 grams but the manual in the box says 190 grams. The box includes a 90cm cable, but the box says 30cm, etc. It’s such a shoddy job that you almost look like a low quality brand even though you make the highest quality powerbanks in the world. New Years Resolution for 2021: Document your products better? :stuck_out_tongue:

#2

I forgot to mention: The included 90cm cable is USB C to C. It is completely black. The only marking is the word Anker. It doesn’t have the USB PD lightning bolt logo anywhere, but I don’t know if that logo is optional or is required for PD cables, so its absence may not mean anything.

#3

It is a 60W PD cable.

  1. Yes
  2. 60W
  3. Yes, this needs 18W PD input, 18 < 60 so the cable is not limiting factor. You need at least 18W PD charger. e.g. Nano.

Anker’s documentation has always been towards the wrong, awful, inconsistent. Fair comment!

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#4

You could use to charger your devices

1 Like
#5

Thank you so much for your detailed answer. :slight_smile:

I had also emailed Anker who confirmed everything (except the max cable wattage), and I will quote their answer here for future readers:

Thank you for your email.

The portable battery comes with a USB C to USB C cable;’

It takes 3.5 hours to be recharged fully with a PD wall charger ( such as Nintendo switch, USB C Macbook wall plug ) using the supplied USB C to USB C cable and the recharging time will be 9 hours if you use a normal 2A wall charger such as an iPad or Samsung wall plug.

The included USB C to USB C cable capable of doing the “3.5 hour fast charging” (via PD power delivery) the powerbank from an 18W PD wall charger;

The included 90cm cable is “PD Power Delivery” compatible; The cable is USB-C to USB-C 2.0 cable and it supports the basic 18W fast charging.

Have a nice day!

#6

18W cables do not exist.

The different USB versions have different data rates, as per connecting devices (e.g. harddrive to PC) but there is only 60W or 100W power levels. This matches 3A or 5A.

As the Powercore here is not >60W, the cable is sufficient to not be the limiting factor.

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#7

Thanks a lot for adding that information! I learned something today.

So USB-C PD specifies 3 A (60 W) and 5 A (100 W) as the two cable standards. Confirmed here:

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#8

There’s speed, then there’s power.

Speed:

image

When Anker replied USB 2.0 they meant if you connected two device with the cable (say PC with a drive) they’d have a max communication of 480Mbps.

USB Power Delivery is something else, that’s pins for power, not data. That then has the limits of 3A or 5A via emarker chip in the cable.

For the purpose of recharging a Powercore 10000 PD+ , you don’t need anything above slowest speed for data and doesn’t need to do 5A.

Most people here won’t care about speed as they are using cloud and Wifi but those making high resolution video very much need to know exactly what speed is all the hardware including the cable when they are moving around many GB or TB of data.

For 5A cables, most here similarly won’t need more than 3A, but with high end laptops and use of hubs, you are seeing folks need 100W PD chargers, to feed hubs and laptops. They do need 100W cables. Most don’t yet as most laptops out there are still using barrel plugs (not USB) and tower PCs which don’t input from USB power.

#9

The lightning bolt on a cable signifies that it is a Thunderbolt cable. Doesn’t have anything to do with the Power Delivery.