how does the x2 button work, what does it enable you to do, the user guide only shows it being pushed, I cannot find anything on the internet about it. Is it to charge 2 things at once or to send twice as much juice through the cable, not clear.
I just received mine today, feels really well built and charges great as it is.
[New Release] PowerCore Essential 20000 PD
1 Like
Already italicized! 
What x2 button?
ITS NOT ENOUGH
If it fooled me, are there other idiots that may be fooled? (Probably not)
2 Likes
I think it means press twice (x2) for 2s each time, still dont know what it does apart from turn one of the lights green, i guess i want to know what does it mean when the green light is on.
1 Like
@steven_clegg This would enable trickle charge mode on the PowerCore to allow charging of connected devices with a low power draw requirement…
1 Like
Guys should I get this or the powercore 20100 ? they are almost about the same price ? what the difference ?
1 Like
Hi @monzer.kj, sorry for my delayed response. PowerCore Essential 20000 PD is a much better buy than PowerCore 20100. This uses USB-C and Power Delivery, whereas PowerCore 20100 uses micro-USB and does not support fast charging.
1 Like
Does anyone who owns a Wh measuring capable USB A and C meter and this Powercore please do a test.
I don’t own such a meter (yet) but I did the next best thing of temperature, an indirect measure of efficiency, and I am in growing confidence these Powercore deliver more energy when you use their Type A port than their Type C port.
I did my research on the electronics, and you cannot have two different voltages at the same efficiency, you have to tune to one best voltage, and then the other voltages have to be less efficient. I reckon the Essential PD are tuned for 5V and less efficient at 9V.
TBH, I am fine with 5V output, I was always more interested in recharge input that output.
This gives me an excuse to get a Wh measuring meter…
2 Likes
This gives me an excuse to get the PowerCore Essential 20000 PD …
2 Likes
Do you own a Wh reading meter? I’m checking reviews.
1 Like
I just ordered the battery. And this:
Arrives Friday. The things I will do for you and this forum … (thanks for the excuse) …
3 Likes
Impressed!
So there are 3 inefficiencies:
- the Powercore cells to the USB port. A meter can measure this if it does Wh.
- the cable, easy, just measure W out for different cables, I have a A and C meter.
- the device USB port to itself. I can never measure this directly but can infer it from the above.
Your choice of meter can only go to 60W, I’m pretty sure Anker is moving soon to 100W.
1 Like
Is there another meter that you recommend from Amazon? Preferably under $35?
1 Like
I think I had one… Still look for it today
Not yet.
I made an error, when i wrote
3 to 20V DC; Current: 0.05 to 3A (USB-A); 3 to 20V DC; Current: 0.05 to 5A (USB-C)
It can do 100W PD, I saw the 3A but that’s just for Type A.
So I have had go back into electronics to figure out why the Anker PD4 was so bad, PD itself.
The devices (laptops mostly, but soon tablets) are moving to one or two PD ports and nothing else, they are pushing if you need more then just buy a tower instead or a hub.
DC-DC conversion contains an inefficiency related to the difference between cell voltage and supplied voltage, and so must tuned for an ideal voltage, with other voltages being less efficient.
Put these together and PD will not be an any-any Voltage, you cannot just use Watts. So you’re going to find laptops only taking 20V, possibly also 15V, and a range of Amps. Laptops then need 45W-100W, so you’re going to need a 5A cable. If you need more ports then a hub, it will need 100W and give out less, say 85W.
The older mature converters and laptops used a simpler cheaper method, a barrel non-USB port expecting a fixed voltage, they used a voltage close to cells, so a 18V laptop battery would only work with a 20V input. The transformer used inductance only, AC step V/A down/up, diode to rectify, capacitor to smooth. The ratio of input to output voltage physically fixed by ratio of coil turns.
So if you insert say a 45W USB charger doing 15V 3A it may not work.
So any USB meters have to go to 100W, 5A 20V to debug future power issues.
Anker’s challenges then become obvious:
- For portable PD chargers, they have to decide their most tuned Voltage, and the other voltages are less efficient.
- I suspect they tuned the 20000 PD for 5V, 9V is less efficient
- For wall chargers you can see their problem, they need to tune for 20V to make a 100W charger but they cannot then output say two 45W at 15V, it would have to be 20V, but a device may only accept 45W 15V.
1 Like
I like how “your choice of meter” became “our choice of meter”! 
Anyway, I was wondering about the 60W/100W last night, whether you got the 60W from a datasheet somewhere (I found 2 different datasheets but neither specified maximum wattage) or whether it was simply calculated from 3Ax20V for USB-A, in which case USB-C should allow for 100W.
It’s been a while since did this stuff. I did firmware QA for SmartDrive from 2007 to 2009 and was a PM for an electronic components aggregator (company: Supplyframe; product: FindChips) from 2012 to 2015. Which basically means I know next to nothing about electronics. But it’s always interesting to learn.
1 Like
the electronics involved:
- AC/DC a pair of coils wrapped around a metal, the ratio of coils is the ratio of voltage and current. You see the coil here
-
Alternating current through a wire makes an alternating magnetic field which induces an alternating current in the neighbouring wire. If the output coil has more/fewer coils than input then the voltage goes up/down and current goes down/up. Very old technology.
-
Diode. This turns AC goes positive-negative-positive into positive-zero-positive. Here:
You need 4 Diodes.
- Capacitor. This smooths out current from up/down to flat.
DC-DC is more challenging as you don’t begin with AC, so you have to make AC. So you need a very fast switch on/off to make a rapidly plus/zero/plus current and then it similar to AC-DC. This is where modern electronics take over.
You see the additional ICs in this teardown
The efficiency is a function of voltages
Therefore you tune the efficiency for your most common voltage, and the other voltages less efficient.
I have a suspicion the Anker Powercore 20000 PD Essential is tuned for most efficient 5V and less 9V, but with the meter this can be measured if its true by the ratio of Wh quoted vs measured.
I also have a suspicion my tablet, which takes 2A 5V or 2A 9V, is also itself more efficient at 5V, as its cells are 3.85V. I cannot measure its efficiency directly but I can infer it from the ratio of Wh measured in vs full recharges.
Efficiencies of a Powerport is not that critical usually as it not storing energy. It’s efficiency matters more at higher Watts, so the tuning issue is more critical at higher Watts. This is why Anker only really offers 1 port PD at higher Watts, because if they tuned a 60W Powerport for 20V, but then split the power across 2 ports then each is 15V so the efficiency altered.
You can see a more detailed teardown of the Powercore 26800 PD
and then it goes deep into the IC and there the efficiency
And right there is my point. In this 26800 case, they picked serial 2x3.8V to make 7.2V so the output voltages nearest to 7.2V, the 5V and 9V are more efficient than the 12V and 20V.
If Anker ditched their Type A ports altogether and so tuned for higher voltage, you’d get more energy out.
2 Likes
I cant wait to try this. I want to compare my older 200000 to this new powercore.
1 Like
It is a good value portable charger.
2 Likes