Power banks are very essential to smartphone owners, when shopping for one in Uganda, you should be wary of fake products which have far less capacity than they claim on their packaging or could have a faulty battery that has potential to explode at anytime.
There are many suspicious power banks listed for sale, usually having tags that depict very high capacities and surprisingly very affordable. To determine whether these products are legitimate, buyers have to be very vigilant on the brands they buy.
But how is battery capacity is measured? Do the units milliamp-hours (mAh) reflect accurately the capacity of the power bank you are buying?
Understanding the Power bank mAh rating
In the western market, and many other countries, power bank manufacturers are required to print the device’s capacity in watt-hours (Wh) on their packaging in addition to mAh. Not only power banks, but smartphones and laptops also comply with this standard, listing Wh when stating battery capacity and never just mAh alone.
This is because the mAh measurement is dependent on the voltage of the power draw, while the Wh reading is an accurate measurement of capacity at any voltage. Lets say the capacity is stated in mAh on power banks and other devices, the standard used is usually 3.7V. This means that a 10,000mAh device will be able to provide 1A (1,000mAh) over a period of 10 hours at 3.7V.
It should be noted that at higher voltages, this “capacity” measurement would decrease. At 5V, the same power bank would only provide 7,400mAh. The accurate capacity measurement for this device would be 37Wh, as this number reflected the actual energy capacity of the cell, instead of the time it can supply current at a certain voltage.
To put thins in perspective, Watt-hours (Wh) is equal to amp-hours (Ah) multiplied by voltage (V). Using this formula, the Wh capacity of the 10,000mAh power bank mentioned earlier is 37Wh. This figure will not change, no matter the voltage at which the mAh is calculated, as it reflects the number of hours the device can provide 1W of energy.
Power banks in Uganda and a number of other countries prefer to use mAh, however, operating under the assumption of compliance to an industry standard of 3.7V for calculating capacity, as this is the de-facto voltage standard for most mobile phones and tablets.
How to avoid fakes
There are a number of cheaper power banks for sale which are dishonest about their capacity. Whether they have calculated their mAh using a voltage which is lower than the 3.7V or have simply misstated the capacity, it is important to beware of equating these devices with those labelled correctly.
- Always avoid “no name-brand” devices which are significantly cheaper than the competition, as well as cheap power banks. If it seems too cheap to be true, it usually is. The brand names only appeared on their packaging once they were shipped.
2. Most genuine power banks sold come with a sticker on the packaging which can be scratched off to reveal a 20-digit code. Entering the code on the company website would confirm the genuine product.
3. An original power bank like those made by Xiaomi called Mi support pass-through charging. What it means that the power bank will also charge a mobile phone connected to it while it itself is being charged. Only necessity is that the input charger must supply enough power and as such, charging via a PC’s USB Port will not help. The fake ones do not have this capability and it will just charge itself and won’t pass on any current to the mobile phone connected to it.
4. Genuine power banks have a printing in grey-ish ink which is lighter and clear. It is also well textured which can be felt by moving the fingers over it. Fake ones usually have darker and blurry in black ink and sometimes unclear printing.
5. If you are still not able to determine the originality, open up the power bank and check the inbuilt batteries: Original ones will have branded batteries from international brands such as Panasonic, Samsung and LG. Locally produced or counterfeit batteries which are generally of pink color.
Do you have any other way of spotting a fake power bank? Leave a comment below.
