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I've been perusing the HK based ebay seller's wares and lots of them seem to be selling the same old familiar light heads but with USB connectors, which I'd not seen them do before...
I'm assuming this is so you can run a light from a power bank, which would actually be quite convenient in terms of charging, carrying spare batteries etc...
But is anyone currently using such a setup?
What effect would things like current/voltage limits on a bank have on the operation of a light?
It's so dirt cheap I'm almost certainly going to order one just to try out, thought it was worth asking first though.
you will need a high amp powerbank
i tried it with 2 different 2.1amp power banks i have with a light which runs from a 2.1 amp output plug.
The light did not light and the powerbank immediately shwoed zero power.
once plugged into the power again the pack showed fully charged.
wasnt my best experiment ever..... might work with a 5amp output
Probably ok in the dry, but USB isn't really designed for outdoor use, so might struggle in the wet. Not sure what the advantage is.
i tried it , was plenty bright enough but the usb connector  wasnt great on the bike , ended up cutting the connector off and  and using it with 4 recharable aas in a battery holder, worked really well , handy if you already have plenty of aa batteries,
Might be ok inside a frame bag type thing though. .
Don’t is my experience. I had 2 lights powered in this manner and ended up adding an extra kilo in power banks.
Some of the better ones you can charge and use a device with a totally flat on board batteryat the same time, but with something like a light, I'm not sure a power bank would be able to supply enough juice, a mobile phone yes, but a high powered LED light, your milage may vary.
Stick to buying the light heads. Then buy the Pannovo/solar storm battery packs, and buy your own 18650 batteries from a UK supplier. Far more reliable. You can either charge using a magicshine charger (get a UK sourced one) or a smart charger (where you have to take the batteries out). Far better long term solution than USB/chinese batteries
As noted above USB isn't really designed for outdoor use: there's the problem of water ingress and subsequent erosion of the contacts (worse in the mini-B & micro-B connectors because the contacts are closer) but there's also stress on the cables where they enter the connector block which over time leads to the wires inside breaking so rendering the cable useless. Small cross section cables are worse for this.
The EU has a ruling that all mobile phones must use a micro-B USB connector for their charger port but there's nothing to say that this should apply to other devices. There's no reason other than inertia of introducing a standard weatherproof USB connector. Up to USB-2.0 there's only four wires/connectors required. There's plenty of four pin waterproof connections around, just needs everyone to agree on one suitable for consumer electronics.
Shame, I did sort of suspect current might be a bit of a problem, hence the question...
I've already got lots of regular 2.5mm jack/18650 battery pack powered lights and torches but USB power packs would be pretty convenient in terms of charging,the couple of smaller USB charging lights own have impressed me I was hoping to find a similar, cheap solution for offroad night rides.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I think I'll just invest in better chargers and batteries instead then.</span>
Nevermind.
The EU has a ruling that all mobile phones must use a micro-B USB connector for their charger port
Clearly apple didn't get that memo. Nor any of the manufacturers now using USB-C