I have been working on my own “Power Bank” for recharging my cell phone. I went to the NOCCC Computer Club meeting last Sunday and to the Mobile Computing meeting. Ben, who started this meeting, decided that he wanted to buy some ‘power bank’ USB chargers for himself, family and friends. He could’ve got then from Amazon but they don’t take PayPal, which he insisted on using. So he bought them from Alibaba. The one catch was the minimum amount he could buy was 10. At that price they were $18.42 US. apiece. After he was done with what he needed, he had 5 left over, which he offered to us for $20.00 apiece. So I couldn’t resist buying one.
It is from China of course and the instructions are a very rough translation of Chinese into English. The battery capacity is 8000 mAh or about 1 amp for about 8 hours. It says power bank on it, but gives no company name. It’s about the same width and thickness as my Samsung Galaxy S4, but it’s more than an inch taller. I charged it up before I left, but I didn’t use it on my phone; instead we charged her almost dead iPhone. While she was talking on it for about an hour. By the time we got back home the iPhone was at 50% charge, even though Bucket Mouth was blabbing away most of the time! (I’m probably going to get in trouble for saying that!)
So it works okay. It has a 5mm white LED next to the on/off switch, but I haven’t seen it light up yet. I didn’t read anything about it in the instructions. But I was looking on eBay and Amazon to find one like it (because I refuse to buy anything more from Alibaba) and many of the others have a built-in flashlight. So this LED may be a flashlight but I don’t have the power bank to find out. Bucket Mouth thought it was so great that she ‘borrowed’ it, and from past experiences, I know that I may not be getting it back! Oh, well, I guess I can call it a Xmas present. 😉
My guess is that I could press and hold down the power button for a few seconds and the LED would turn on like a flashlight. I’ll have the call Bucket Mouth and ask her to try it. Later, if her phone isn’t busy…
Your blog was entertaining. I saw that Richard Miller, who also bought one, had the light on. He asked me how to turn if off, I didn’t know, and still haven’t had the time to figure it out. He succeeded, so he may be able to tell us. A lazy way to learn, but good networking.
Brand name: S.M.X
Place of Origin: Guangdong China.
I need more time to research this, on my other computer, but will if you like to know more.
It may be nice to have a BM in your life…
powerbanks & chargers are great promotional products, imprinted with your logo, name or brand in france