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Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

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258 points arnon | 1 comments | 21 Sep 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.218s | source

https://archive.ph/1G2Ut
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mbesto ◴[21 Sep 25 22:58 UTC] No.45327428[source]▶
This is a very poorly researched article. A few things worth considering:

- 20,000 mAh is the rated capacity. Anyone who has tested 18650 batteries (which are the cells typically used in these battery packs) knows the rated capacity != tested capacity.

- Watthours is more important than amp hours

- Tested watt hours as typical loads is more important than amp hours

- It's very normal to see tested capacity to be roughly 70~80% of rated capacity.

- This commenter said they got "At 18W average, I pulled out 55.4Wh" on the Haribo [0]

- The generally considered "gold standard" for ultra light batteries in this range is the Nitecore NB20000 Gen 3, which regularly tests around 56 Wh.

So yes the conclusion is correct - you get roughly the same amount of capacity for a typical load (18W phone) for a cheaper price and slightly less weight. Very curious what battery cells the Haribo uses.

[0] - https://old.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/1li5rxw/20000ma...

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coin ◴[22 Sep 25 00:12 UTC] No.45327839[source]▶
> Watthours is more important than amp hours

I'd go a step further and say that amp hours is meaning less since voltage is not specified. The only valid battery capacity unit of measure is watt hours. While most battery packs use a single 3.7 lithium ion battery, Apple's first gen MagSafe battery pack used two internal batteries in series, throwing off everyone's amp hours only comparison.

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nwallin ◴[22 Sep 25 00:57 UTC] No.45328092[source]▶
> The only valid battery capacity unit of measure is watt hours.

I would also accept Joules. But yes, the unit should be a unit of energy.

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greesil ◴[22 Sep 25 01:37 UTC] No.45328295[source]▶
I prefer to use British Thermal Units (BTU) for my battery capacity.
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1. eesmith ◴[22 Sep 25 07:49 UTC] No.45330312[source]▶
Today I learned there are multiple BTU definitions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit lists Thermochemical, 59 °F, 60 °F, 39 °F, and International Steam Table.

Though as the difference is at most 0.5%, it's probably won't affect your battery buying experience. :)

Measuring by TNT equivalent is more standardized. "This battery stores 50 grams of TNT."

Ummm, on second thought, maybe don't use that term at the airport, .. or in secure areas, ... or near the police, ... or in public, ... or on social media or anything else tapped by the NSA or other authorities.