# 18650's inside your backup battery packs



## JW Flynn

Heya guys, the cat bumped my damn backup battery pack off the table the other day ( don't fret, even tough it was made and bought in china, it is still working, lol )

Just thought I would share what I have found to be on the inside with everyone... I was expecting something similar, but not this many, hehe

Reactions: Like 4


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## Andre

Wow, a lot of batteries. Could go camping for a few days with that.

Reactions: Like 2


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## johan

JW Flynn said:


> Heya guys, the cat bumped my damn backup battery pack off the table the other day ( don't fret, even tough it was made and bought in china, it is still working, lol )
> 
> Just thought I would share what I have found to be on the inside with everyone... I was expecting something similar, but not this many, hehe
> 
> View attachment 24642
> 
> View attachment 24643
> 
> View attachment 24644



I've got exactly the same unit, just in metallic blue color

Reactions: Like 3


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## JW Flynn

Andre said:


> Wow, a lot of batteries. Could go camping for a few days with that.


used to use this pack allot with my S4, but since I upgraded to the note 4 the battery life is so damn good, I find myself charging this pack to charge other units every now and then only not to cause damage to the batteries... lol.. 

lol, sometimes I even charge it, then charge my t max s80 (a 20W 5500 mAh mod) and the wife's battery pack that does still get used every now and then, even though she also has a note 4... but she is hectic on the games on that thing, hehe


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## Yusuf Cape Vaper

You could make a pretty cool parallel box mod out of that thing  battery life for years 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Reactions: Funny 1 | Optimistic 1


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## JW Flynn

exactly what I told the wife and her reply was an immediate NO!!! LOL


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## Ashley A

20,800mAh with 8 cells makes it 2,600mAh each. Wonder if those are Smurfs. Could be a cheap way to buy a lot of batteries. I expect they should be high drain if they're made from charge things rapidly.


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## JW Flynn

Ashley A said:


> 20,800mAh with 8 cells makes it 2,600mAh each. Wonder if those are Smurfs. Could be a cheap way to buy a lot of batteries. I expect they should be high drain if they're made from charge things rapidly.


I have no idea, actually checked and there are 0 markings on there, unfortunately...


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## DoubleD

Any idea what cell were used? like brand?

Edit: you guys are too fast for me today


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## JW Flynn

DoubleD said:


> Any idea what cell were used? like brand?


nope, unfortunately not, no markings of any sort on these.. and the device actually still works, so not prepared to strip it completely just to see if it has some indication under the sleeves....

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## Silver

Dont those battery packs deliver like 1 or 2 amps only?
Does that not suggest these are low drain batteries?
Just guessing

@johan, what do you think they would use for the cells in these things?
Just sounds strange to use high drain batts if they only need to push out 1 or 2 amps
Am i thinking right?


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## JW Flynn

Silver said:


> Dont those battery packs deliver like 1 or 2 amps only?
> Does that not suggest these are low drain batteries?
> Just guessing
> 
> @johan, what do you think they would use for the cells in these things?
> Just sounds strange to use high drain batts if they only need to push out 1 or 2 amps
> Am i thinking right?


sounds about right... when comparing what a usb port on your computer would output, I think the max on one of those new charging ports is also only around 2 amps... so in all probability these are low drain bats... but even if it where only as little as 2 amps per batt, that would amount to 16 amp... you would be vaping for days, lol...

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Ashley A

Silver said:


> Dont those battery packs deliver like 1 or 2 amps only?
> Does that not suggest these are low drain batteries?
> Just guessing
> 
> @johan, what do you think they would use for the cells in these things?
> Just sounds strange to use high drain batts if they only need to push out 1 or 2 amps
> Am i thinking right?


I think think the amp output is limited as almost all the devices being charged have a rated charge input of 1amp or 2.1amp for higher end devices like the ipad or Note 4. But I think high drain might be a possibility to allow it to be completely discharged when charging other things and recharged safely as normal batteries won't cope well with that. Plus I'm sure bigger powerbanks like this can charge multiple devices at once needing better batteries. I'm sure someone can test it and give us the answer.

How much are these powerbanks btw?


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## johan

Silver said:


> Dont those battery packs deliver like 1 or 2 amps only?
> Does that not suggest these are low drain batteries?
> Just guessing
> 
> @johan, what do you think they would use for the cells in these things?
> Just sounds strange to use high drain batts if they only need to push out 1 or 2 amps
> Am i thinking right?



I've tested a few before I bought this exact unit. You're correct, 2.1A output (USB-2), but that is limited by the internal voltage regulator. What the current capacity is of the individual cells, I don't know. (2 x series) x 4 parallel, even if their individual current rating is only 1A, you have basically a 4A source, and that is more than an adequate safety margin on the USB port. If the 20800mA is correct, which I highly doubt, the individual cells should be 5200mAh - I don't know of the existence of such an 18650 battery cell. They obviously use the maximum regulated current (2.1A) per hour over tested time period to get to 20800mAh. Irrespective of the misleading mAh rating, I can charge my tablet 5 times before the charge bank is depleted.


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## JW Flynn

I think they where in the range of 300 to 400 in china(cant remember, got allot of stuff over there, hehe).... got it while I was there on business... so have no idea what they are going for over here...

Reactions: Agree 1


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## johan

I can't remember what it cost me, but it was less than R400 at the Huaqiang Bei Electronics market, in Shenzhen.


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## JW Flynn

johan said:


> I've tested a few before I bought this exact unit. You're correct, 2.1A output (USB-2), but that is limited by the internal voltage regulator. What the current capacity is of the individual cells, I don't know. (2 x series) x 4 parallel, even if their individual current rating is only 1A, you have basically a 4A source, and that is more than an adequate safety margin on the USB port. If the 20800mA is correct, which I highly doubt, the individual cells should be 5200mAh - I don't know of the existence of such an 18650 battery cell. They obviously use the maximum regulated current (2.1A) per hour over tested time period to get to 20800mAh. Irrespective of the misleading mAh rating, I can charge my tablet 5 times before the charge bank is depleted.


From what I could pick up it was 4 in parallel X2 and then these two packs where in series


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## johan

JW Flynn said:


> From what I could pick up it was 4 in parallel X2 and then these two packs where in series



Exactly the same as what I said: "... _(2 x series) x 4 parallel_": 2 x series [3.7V] = 7.4V & 4 x parallel [ie 2A each] = 8A

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Ashley A

How long does a 20,000mAh powerbank take to charge? Sorry for hijacking but I think you guys have the experience here.

I received mine this morning at 9am and it's been on charge on a 2.1 amp wall charger since then and it's stilllll charging. The indicator lights showed that it was charging from halfway too at 9am so not even completely drained or low.


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## JW Flynn

I never really took the time to time how long it takes to charge... I did once see that it does take a long time, but usually I leave it over night...


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## johan

Ashley A said:


> How long does a 20,000mAh powerbank take to charge? Sorry for hijacking but I think you guys have the experience here.
> 
> I received mine this morning at 9am and it's been on charge on a 2.1 amp wall charger since then and it's stilllll charging.



All depends on make and type of internal battery cells used and how depleted the cells are, but on average a 20000mAh power bank should take 5+ hours to charge at 2.1A.


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## Gazzacpt

Ashley A said:


> How long does a 20,000mAh powerbank take to charge? Sorry for hijacking but I think you guys have the experience here.
> 
> I received mine this morning at 9am and it's been on charge on a 2.1 amp wall charger since then and it's stilllll charging. The indicator lights showed that it was charging from halfway too at 9am so not even completely drained or low.


Well 20A at 2A an hour I would imagine over 10hrs


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## johan

Gazzacpt said:


> Well 20A at 2A an hour I would imagine over 10hrs



If its 100% depleted yes.


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## Gazzacpt

johan said:


> If its 100% depleted yes.


Ah, yes. Normally the onboard charge circuit also starts slowing down to a trickle closer to full capacity?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Ashley A

Thanks guys. All makes perfect sense now. Overnight charging should be best but decided to charge it up immediately since you never know when loadshedding will hit.

On the positive side, I'm guessing it's genuine capacity if it's taking this long to charge since I found a lot of advice against these big powerbanks as most appear to be fake capacity ratings while trying to get the answer earlier. 7 hours and counting now...


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## kev mac

JW Flynn said:


> Heya guys, the cat bumped my damn backup battery pack off the table the other day ( don't fret, even tough it was made and bought in china, it is still working, lol )
> 
> Just thought I would share what I have found to be on the inside with everyone... I was expecting something similar, but not this many, hehe
> 
> View attachment 24642
> 
> View attachment 24643
> 
> View attachment 24644


Would it be worth buying a $13.00 laptop pack on eBay for instance ?


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## zadiac

If you don't know what the amp rating of those bats are, stay away.


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## kev mac

zadiac said:


> If you don't know what the amp rating of those bats are, stay away.


I saw a video on this somewhere and if I remember correctly it was in the 20 to 30a range, but i'll play safe than sorry.


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## ET

kev mac said:


> I saw a video on this somewhere and if I remember correctly it was in the 20 to 30a range, but i'll play safe than sorry.



Depends if you will be getting proper amp batteries and what you want to use them for. The one battery pack i dug open only had 3 amp cells, half were dead, but the working 4 i got outa there powered my old evic, back in the day. These days even regulated mods draw way more than that


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## Xhale

weirdly, as I like following convention I went exactly the opposite way. The little power banks can be bought empty, and you put in your own 18650..so I bought a 4bay unit for boychild to use, and we stick our vape batteries in there.
he uses it, and when it is flat he wanders to the vape battery charger and gets himself another 4 cells, so the power bank itself never goes on charge..if it is flat it is half a minute to slap in another 4 batteries (and we know what batteries we have). As it is 4 cells in parallel (this one is)..he can put in one battery if e.g. he just wants a backup for his phone while visitng a friend)..or we can stick in 2 or 3 or 4 cells to add capacity. I used the panasonic ncr18650b cells, 3400mah each.

I did this because I didnt want random 18650's around the house catching fire as they do, and we can charge our own good batteries in our own good charger.
it works lovely...and was cheaper than buying a power bank that comes with batteries already.....as a vaper we got 18650's everywhere

Reactions: Winner 1


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