New PowerCore Slim 10000 user has questions

#1

Got the device, charged it up, and tested with my Moto X Pure Edition phone.

Wondering if my plans for use make any sense.

The phone battery seemed to be failing. As soon as I disconnect from the charger and tried to do anything, it crashed. As long as it was connected to the wall plug, it worked fine, but was no longer a mobile phone.

All the advice I got was the battery on that phone is not user-replaceable and the repair shop I called said they don’t even try with Moto phones because they are too fiddly. So just buy a new phone.

Which seemed like a big waste. The phone still works fine. So I thought I would try one of these Anker devices as a sort of extra battery. A little clumsy, but cheaper and less trouble than a new phone and might work. And the phone does not go into the landfill.

So it looks like it works, but I have not tried it on the road.

Questions:

  1. Does my plan make sense? Anybody see anything that could go wrong?

  2. Should I be using the trickle-charge option or not?

  3. Has anybody else used an Anker device for this same situation?

  4. Any other new-user advice?

Thanks.

#2

The use of a Powercore to make an old phone, with old battery, last through the day is a common one. A well used old phone the battery would be half the capacity of when new.

The viability depends how long your phone can last without the Powercore. You’ll have moments of the Powercore disconnected, such as when you unplug it at home to then connect phone to wall socket, or if cable wobbles loose. Keeping the two connected continuously in a pocket / bag is not realistic.

If the phone can last minutes, ideally many minutes, without the Powercore, then you have a viable option, but if it lasts seconds then you’re going to find the phone shutdown too easily.

Trickle charge - depends on the phone - some phones don’t need trickle charge as the phone pulls enough power anyway, some phones do need it. It certainly does no harm to use trickle charge in this context.

Remember the 2/3rds rule (*). Roughly 10000 will deliver effectively 2/3rds of 10000 which is around 7000mAh which for the phone you mention is just over two phone recharges, the phone when new was showing as around 7 hours use so you’d expect roughly 16 hours of usage from the Powercore 10000. Roughly 2 days typically.

* Losses in Powercore + cable + phone take about 1/3rd of the power away

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#3

Thanks a lot for the info. The phone will stay alive for at least a minute or three after disconnecting from the wall plug, as long as I don’t do anything like start the camera. So this should work!

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#4

If you are good at 3d modeling you can take the dimensions of the phone and the powercore and design a case. Then you can print that case on a 3d printer and use it to kind of mount the powercore to the back of the phone.

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#5

It should work

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#6

I just rubberbanded the phone and the powercore together. Kept the phone alive all day on an outdoor adventure yesterday.

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#7

Glad it worked for you.

This idea is also useful for a backup phone, if camping / hiking with a newer phone, there is always a small chance your phone gets damaged (taking photos, navigation, etc) and you should always be carrying a Powercore 10000 anyway for a busy day. If you keep an old phone, even if its battery is old and dies quickly, as a backup phone in a waterproof bag with the Powercore, you have a fairly robust backup. This makes most sense if the backup phone is a smaller one as it’s barely ever going to get used.

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#8

I had a LG phone that had a bad battery. I was able to get several hours of standby but when the phone was active the phone drained down in less than hour. I used several powerbanks and kept several more on hand to keep my phone running. Your plan will work. Just will get old fast.

Keep in mind, most phones aren’t designed to last more than a few years. The hardware may last for years, but the manufacture won’t support it after a few years. After that, apps stop working, the phone becomes to slow to use, and the phone is no longer getting security updates.

These older phones make great backup phones. I keep an old iphone 4 and an old LG phone as backup (one for my wife and one for me). My wife are getting new phones for Christmas so our current phones iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will become our backups and the others will be retired and sent off for recycling.

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#9

So imagine the reverse argument.

Suppose you were entering a phone-hostile situation (say mountain biking, rock climbing, pick-pockets) and a smash can break the phone.

Suppose the app you needed worked on the old phone.

Would it not be better to use the old phone for this so the old phone is smashed and not your new phone smashed?

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#10

That only works if your older phone supports those apps. I actually use several apps for hiking/rock climbing/backcountry exploring and wont load on my LG and my iphone 4 the IOS version is so old its wont install. But, When I upgrade my Note 8, then it will be a backup and be used for those times i dont want to risk loosing my new phone.

Another thing to think about. When backpacking, even the the smallest amount of weight matters. If I were on a multi day hike with 50 to 60lbs of gear with me I wont be carrying a second phone. I’d carry a large cap powerbank that is lightweight and GPS unit with emergency sat communications as my secondary device. My phone would be for other things.

#11

Back when my iPhone 6s Plus started failing to hold a charge for more than a few minutes, I did something similar with two Powercore slim 5000s.

I used the two batteries daily, as 5000mah doesn’t last long when sustaining a worn-out phone.

A trick I used to keep both batteries charged- I mounted both to the back of my phone, using command strips. It probably wasn’t the best way to do it, but I would charge one powercore, while the other was powering my failing iPhone with a 4-inch lightning cable. I would use the power bank with the most charge, while charging the drained one whenever possible.

Command strips (attached to a phone case/power bank) made it possible to take the batteries off, if I ever needed to.

This setup worked for several months, until my phone experienced a “percussive maintenance-induced permanent shutdown.”

Good luck with your Powercore 10000! Hopefully the larger capacitor will allow one battery to last quite a while.