Yes this is written in the owner’s manual, use every 3-4 months minimum and store in a room temperature. “Keep the electrons moving”
No its not so much brand specific but the decay of the Lithium structure can occur within the cell in varied ways some degrade performance, some render it useless. There is also how it was wired internally, cells in parallel, once cell can die, you lose capacity but it still works, cells in series, one dies whole product dead. For this reason I always in this forum tell people to buy multiple smaller Powercore than one big one as then a dead cell has least chance of being within a many-cell otherwise working product.
For these reason just own the minimum number of Lithium products you need to cause them to get used every few months minimum. If I want a newer model, typically for higher Wattage as my devices move from proprietary chargers to USB, then I gift away my older products to people who I have encountered who would benefit. I’ve gifted away about 80% of all my Anker Powercore over the years. There is one out there 4 years old I witnessed still be used today.
In addition to lack of use, they age due to being used many times - actually the best way for a product to die is to use it so much you worn it out, better that an die unused. But a cell dying this way has 500 charge cycles so even if used every day is 18 months. They age if kept too cold, e.g… freezing, or too hot e.g. under sunshine. That is also why you never ever merge a powercell with a solar panel in one product.
So in summary:
- own the fewest number of Powercore to cause them frequent use, no worse than every few months, if you buy another, give another way to someone who can benefit. With this in mind, use your Powercore in public, someone then asks what it is and says they have a need, they can are on your lift to gift older ones to.
- store at room temperature
- buy the smallest Powercore to cause it to get used regularly, and then multiple for capacity, e.g. someone buying a 20000mAh Powercore would get life out of two 10000mAh Powercore and rotate between them as then if one of the 4 cells goes it makes one 10000 caput rather than the entire 20000.
At time of writing I have:
- 26800 - my oldest product. It’s too big to carry but every few months it gets used at home. Primarily for capacity in case of a long power outage at home. This is over 3 years old and still working fine.
- 10000 PD - in my backpack
- 10000 PD Slim - currently my most used as I have it under my phone / tablet while walking
- 20000 PD Essential - which reminds me, I not used it for a while, might use it today instead of the 10000 PD Slim.
