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A lot of our electronic equipment like smartphones, flashlights, USB power banks, etc. can be USB charged – hence I’m carrying an USB charger cable in my EDC pouch, but not an USB power supply (which is carried in my bag, which i don’t always bring with me).
The idea of the cable-without-power-supply carrying is to have a way to charge the smartphone, etc. in an emergency at any accessible USB port, especially when not a home.
To be very specific: it’s a short USB A to USB C cable, to which an USB C to Micro USB adapter has been attached to to allow charging of USB C and Micro USB devices. Also an USB C to USB A adapter is added to allow the usage of not-yet-common USB C sockets.
I’ve used this to charge my smartphone using an USB A from a car radio (5 Volt, 0.5A) and an hotel TV (5 Volt, 1A).
Question: what USB ports of devices have you used to charge your equipment?
Examples that come to my (computer nerd) mind: VoIP desk phones, PCs & laptops, printers, copy machines, etc.I’m sure there are plenty more devices with USB ports that can be used for charging … I just don’t recognize them, hence this thread
Lots of flat screen tvs have a powered port on the rear. I’ve used one before on an old phone so not sure if they will support fast charging.
If I’m on the move long enough to need a power refill, I always have my backpack, so there’s that.
On the other hand, if that wasn’t the case, I think I would rather carry a small USB charger just for the peace of mind it brings to not having to find a suitable host to leach from.
Then there’s the privacy side of things… to depend on connecting personal- or even business critical devices to any USB host you come across doesn’t appear to be a good idea. You can of course use a cable where the data bus is disabled, but that could again lead to any number of charging issues with hosts that require power negotiating.
Very valid point! All Android smartphones I’ve used during the last 4+ years have the option to select “Charge only” or “allow access to data” when plugging into an USB port of a device such as a laptop, PC or smart-TV – so the data should be protected from accessing/reading.
As opposed to using a dumb cable, you could use a USB Data Blocker, commonly known as a “USB Condom”.
Here is the first Amazon listing to come up that demonstrates this kind of device: PortaPow USB Data Blocker
Allowing access means certain protocols, modes and areas are unrestricted, not allowing access does not imply inaccessible, it just raises the threshold. More often than not, that’s enough.
They are hard to come by these days, mainly because the ones without removable batteries have gotten so cheap that there’s no reason to pay more for this one. But I still prefer to be able to take the battery out.
ThruNite used to make this device, and it is still listed on their website… But it’s basically discontinued although you can find them around on the Internet for sale.
https://thrunite.com/thrunite-c2-3400-mah-compact-portable-charger/
It except a standard 18650 button top cell of any capacity and will charge whatever you want pretty much until the voltage on the cell drains down to around 3.4V. So you won’t get quite all the capacity out of the cell, but you get a lot. they are just trying to protect the sale from overdischarge.
I find that it will charge my older iPhone one good time basically most of the way up.
One of the reasons I like this set up, it basically functions as a battery holder so that if I don’t need to charge a mobile device it’s also holding an extra battery for my flashlight if I need to use the battery for that. By the same token it is also serving as a charger for my flashlight battery if I need to charge the battery on the go, since my flashlight is an older model without the built-in USB charger. So it works out as a good system because it allows me to have two batteries on my person at all times conveniently and be able to use one of them to charge a mobile device if I want to or use this device to recharge the battery if I can find a USB port or a car charger.
For that reason I always keep a micro USB cable with me in addition to my lightning cable. And that allows my system to work.The entire set up including a small car charger and a small cube phone charger Plus a set of standard Apple earbuds all fits in a little pouch that slides under my back pocket and still leaves room for my flashlight so it’s a pretty compact system.
Xtar PB series of powerbanks take removable lithium ion batteries.
If just want a single cell, may aswell just go for a cable version, like the Folomov A1. Magnetic contacts for either end of a lion battery, will charge devices at 5v 1A
Just out of curiosity, do you know how to tell different versions apart? I understand that V3 was the best
I do not… I have purchased two of them and they were materially the same. I imagine both of mine were later versions but I’m not sure.
I sometimes use a folding solar panel, about the size of a paper notebook, about 3 times as thick.
I keep it under the driver seat.
Not EDC, but im always near my car.Always have battery banks and multiple USB cords in my car as well.
So I guess I’m missing the point a little bit. I don’t understand why you would want to MacGyver a solution when there are so many ready-made products on the market that I’m sure you could find something that fits your needs. I mean, if I’m in a situation where I need to charge my phone remotely more than a couple of times, chances are there’s no power to run an “uncommon” way to recharge my battery bank. It seems like carrying a standard wall charger makes more sense because electrical outlets are everywhere. And if you come across a generator or some other form of emergency power, then you could just plug straight into that. I guess what I’m asking is this: why spend time hunting for a way that *might* work instead of carrying a way that *does* work?
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Fully agreed, and IF space permits I DO carry a small wall charger (UGreen 20W USB C PD 3.0).
When space is very limited a short USB (C) cable may still fit – and this is “just in case you need to charge your phone” (not: “I’m sure I will need to charge my phone”) and then you may need to “hunt” for USB A sockets … which would be useless if you don’t carry a charging cable – or would not be needed if you can carry a wall charger or an USB power bank.
So, not a frequent case – more “last line of defense”.
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