I Need a New Battery! Mregb YD-819?

I suppose you have to be a pretty old gamer to get the reference from Return to Zork. I really don’t need a new battery, but I wanted one. Technically the 75 kWh battery in my car will keep my phone charged over any foreseeable power outage.

Readers may remember that my last power bank purchase did not go well. Armed with a little more sophistication, I took another visit to Amazon for a battery whose weight was not totally at odds with the capacity in the device description.

Power-Bank-Solar-Charger – 42800mAh Portable Charger, Solar Power Bank, External Battery Pack 5V3.1A Qc 3.0 Fast Charger Built-in Super Bright Flashlight (Orange)

It arrived today for a price of $28.79 (41% off). The black version is $26.99, the blue $35.99 and the deep black $46.61!

The weight of this one is 1.32 pounds or about .6 kg. With a theoretical maximum energy density, it’s capacity would be 32362 mAh, which is less than the advertised 42800, but still something serious. Interestingly, the product box, replete with photos and features, never mentions the battery capacity. (The instructions inside and product labeling do say 42800 mAh.)

The box contains the power bank, a wrist strap, a carabiner and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable. One might get the impression from product photos that the power bank is smaller than it actually is. It’s big, 7.48 x 3.94 x 1.02 inches (195 x 102 x 29 mm) to be specific. It’s advertised as IP67 dust proof and water proof.

According to the User Manual, this is a real power distribution USB source with a maximum input capacity of 18W and the same for output. It can charge at 5, 9, or 12V. It says solar charging is at 5.5V, 300 mA. The pack came 50% – 75% charged.

It has two USB-A power out ports and one USB-C for power in and out.

The device is pretty simple, and the manual is short. It does go into some detail about the limitations of solar charging, lowering the reader’s expectations.

One of the issues with power banks is the inability of some of them to supply low-power devices, like an MLA-30+ biasing tee. I’ve tested this Mregb YD-819, ifrogz IF GLT2-BK0 and my Bscame BS01. They all work OK.

Comparisons

I’ve owned a few power banks over the years. One was given to me as an extra bonus when I bought a phone (it fell apart). Here’s the accumulation plus an emergency weather radio with an advertised capacity of 42800 mAh.

Table of things that charge other things:

The prices are all over the place with sales popping up, like over 40% in the one I bought.