Which portable chargers of Anker support passthrough charging?

#1

I found the comment from Anker support about the same question with this, and they said that they disable that because of technical issues.
But that comment was uploaded literally 2 years ago so I wonder Anker still doesn’t support passthrough charging.
(Except for Powerfusion)

#2

Correct no current chargers support pass through charging as it degrades the battery faster

3 Likes
#3

Yes, it is.
We recommend to not use Pass-Through charging too much or not at all; Since the power bank will wear down, heat up and increase the chance of your device that’s being charged, to get damaged.

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#4

As Anker themselves said, pass through charging isn’t great for the battery life of the power bank. Anker opts to not include the function at all. Some other brands include it, but don’t officially support it. Others put warnings in their user manual against using it often.

The main issue is heat. The power bank pulls in power while also outputting. The power bank stays at a higher draw rate for longer. That means more heat over a longer period. With enough use the power bank’s battery dies sooner than expected. That creates a bad user experience for you, and a reputation problem for the company.

My personal advice has been to use pass through charging sparingly, if at all. Stuck overnight at an Airbnb with only one outlet available? Fine, use it. Want to setup a single outlet charging setup at home? Not a good idea, get an outlet splitter instead. If you want to use it regularly and understand the risks, cool. But the average consumer isn’t aware of the issues. Sometimes it is easier to just not bother.

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#5

Yep, I think is more a problem of overheating.

1 Like
#6

Yes don’t do it. I would avoid even doing that over night on occasion. I tore up 2 portable pass through chargers (about 4 years ago) that way and I think it may have even damaged the phone I was using at the time.

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#7

For me the typical situation I would use this in would be overnight. I have a charger with only one port. If I come back to the room just before bed and need to head out the door quickly in the morning, I won’t have a chance to swap the charger from my battery bank to my phone. In this case speed is not critical. I wonder if you could run a circuit bypassing the cells to the charging circuit. It could run slower than usual or switch every ten minutes. It doesn’t have to be fast, just to be able to wake up and have everything ready.

#8

That’s really not so good, even if you are young.
Buy a WAKEY and get up 10 minutes earlier, so all will be fine

#9

Two products to consider:

  • Simplest: Powercore Fusion 5000. It recharges the phone then itself. In the morning you take the Fusion with you gives a typical phone one full recharge.
  • A dual socket Powerport, and a Powercore and plug both the Powercore and your phone in at the same time. You need to get the right mix of Powerport and Powercore for your needs.

There’s a wide range of chargers

Example combination


But there’s many combinations so have to discuss needs.

#10

That seems weird to me - Anker powerbanks do support High-Speed Charging, that may cause extra heat, but doesn’t support pass through at all, instead of limiting it to low power (5V 1A) or disable when overheated.
I’m using powerbank as a buffer between solar panel and devices in autonomous outdoor trips, and there is no high power needed. And after Chinese model died after 2 days of use I’m ready to pay any money for reliable solution. And I can buy a new one every month, but it should be able to take energy from solar panel and charge devices, adding battery capacity if income power is not enough, and slowly charge battery if there is a sun.