Monday, July 28, 2014

Product review: MAXMADE 11000mAh Dual USB Power Bank/Car Jump Starter


MaxMade can be used as a charger for mobile devices and a battery to jump a car. The battery pack can be recharged in two ways either from the car port or from AC. It comes with a vinyl case that holds the battery, the jumping cables, the AC adapter and the car charger.

The power bank weighs 12.6 oz and is 6.125" x 3.125" x 1.125" in size. It is is rated as 11000mAh. Since some capacity is lost to inefficiencies such as heat you can expect to get about 9000mAh out of it. I was able to charge my Samsung Nexus phone with 3800 mAh extended battery 2 times from almost empty to full, with some power still left in the battery.

To tell how various battery packs perform I measure their performance with a current monitor. This allows me to compare different batteries to each other. I use Samsung Nexus phone and iPad Mini for testing to give me a Android and an Apple mobile devices. I test all my chargers using the same charging cables and starting all tests at same charge level of the phone to account for non-linear charging.

This battery pack behaved the same with my charging cable as the one that came with the battery. But neither of the ports gave me the optimal charge for my mobile devices. They were charged but not as fast as some of the other power banks. Note that you cannot use the power bank to charger your device while the bank itself is charging. This battery pack has bright and clear charge level indicators. The manufacturer recommends fully recharging the power bank every 6 months, this is important if you are keeping the power bank in the car.

TEST RESULTS:
Samsung Nexus phone:
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2A port: 0.98A/4.91V
1A port: 0.76A/4.85V
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet:
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2A port: 0.92A/4.79V
1A port: 0.92A/4.79B
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

The jumper cable output ports are hidden under a cover which has a picture of the car. The cover looks like a sticker, but it can be lifted up to reveal two ports. To test the jumper cables, I attached the volt meter to battery clamps. As you can see in the video the reading is 12.47V which is sufficient to jump a car. I now keep this case in my car and will update this review when I will have a chance to use it to restart a dead battery. To jump the car the power back should be more than half full of charge.

The battery pack also has a built-in flashlight. The flashlight is quite bright and has two modes: steady light and flashing light. It is one of the brightest flashlight I have seen on an external power bank.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

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