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Me and the wife are heading up to Scotland soon for around 9 days away in the van that doesn't have a leisure battery or hook up. Looking to buy a powerbank with a good capacity (26800mha) to charge phones etc whilst away. Anker seem to be the expensive market leader - are they that much better than the others, and does anyone have first hand experience of any of them? Cheers
Seeing as you've only got the engine battery I'd be buying a battery booster for the van as a backup - most of these also have USB ports for charging your phones.
Two birds, one stone.
What else is running off the van battery? If it's just for starting the engine, then just charge your phones from the fag lighter socket, there's no way two mobiles will drain a vehicle battery
The problem with budget power banks is that they might use reclaimed cells or cells of other dubious provenance, and they can be rubbish. At worse they can be a fire risk. Anker aren't that expensive all told, so get one.
What else is running off the van battery? If it’s just for starting the engine, then just charge your phones from the fag lighter socket, there’s no way two mobiles will drain a vehicle battery
Nothing. We could be parked up for days on end so charging via the fag lighter is only really an option when we're moving.
Seeing as you’ve only got the engine battery I’d be buying a battery booster for the van as a backup – most of these also have USB ports for charging your phones.
Wasn't even aware of these...will look into them...cheers.
We could be parked up for days on end so charging via the fag lighter is only really an option when we’re moving.
Is the fag lighter socket not 'on' when the ignition is off? Ours is.
I've had good success with a pair of Charmast powerbanks. It's worth looking for ones that are quickcharge/PD for in and output. That way you can get a meaningful top-up during a cafe stop.
a battery booster for the van
This. Don't mess around. I was surprised but ours does USB. It's this one from Halfords
are they that much better than the others, and does anyone have first hand experience of any of them? Cheers
Anker basically invented the whole concept of portable powerpacks, so are rightfully considered the best.
It might be worth looking into installing a second leisure battery at some point, as well as investing in the other options like a battery booster and a couple of decent high-capacity power-packs - those you can stick into a rucksack or other bag for when you’re out and about.
I’ve got two, an Anker PowerCore Essential 20,000, and a Charmast 23,800, the Charmast one has a power readout, the Anker doesn’t, both seem to work perfectly well, the Charmast one I carry around, it was bought for work for the occasional use if I had to take a car offsite, and the car charging was compromised, either the 12v accessory wasn’t working, the USB ports were too far away to plug into, were too low powered for my phone, or all of the above! That was for satnav use, not a BT connection.
I have 3 Ankers at different sizes. They are just great. If you think they are pricey look round a sevice station
You can also buy huge ones with inverters
https://campingsecrets.co.uk/best-camping-power-pack/
Why don't you invest in a battery solution?
Something like this or an eco flow river etc will run a fridge or a heater, laptop etc. Has a built in inverter so usb, cigerette lighter and 240 sockets.
https://www.kiravans.co.uk/products/totalpower-500-portable-inverter-litium-ion-battery
Can even charge it by solar (available separately) or from the car when running.
Will last for days/weeks and as its portable you can use it elsewhere.
I like that.
It's s bit of a jump in price though 😬
There are some quite stupendously over engineered solutions to a simple requirement on this thread.
I've had an Aukey powerbank for years, it's fine. A quick look on eBay has 20AH ones for about twenty five quid.