“Small but has a lot of juice, I am using it to power a sizable pixel effect and it is holding up just fine with the high draws. Time will tell re-longevity but at a reasonable price it's no big loss if I have to replace it.”
“See below for low current use.
Works fine so far
The powerbank is compact and easy to tuck away if wanting to use it as a stand-alone supply for a project or whatever. It will also slip in anywhere if you want to carry it around with you.
Although there’s no mention in the manual (which is basic, and their web site worse), the bank needs a minimum current load of around 0.13A. Less than that, it will shut down. Initially, it will supply the current, but shut down after around 10 - 15 seconds.
This may mean that some projects etc. may shut off just after starting, or give problems with any project connected to it where the current drops below 0.13A at any point.
An example of this is using the Skully kit with Weather as the boot-up (main.py). The white display meaning cloudy was running and all OK. As soon as the display changed to the flickering blue of ‘Slight rain’. power was then lost as the Skully was only using about 0.1A, compared to a higher current for the cloudy white display. Incidentally, because Weather uses very little current when it starts and tries to connect, it’s possible that power may cut off before the full running if the connection process is slow.
The following helpful reply from Hel at Pimoroni gives a way to get around the limitation. I tried this with a current of 0.07A (the lowest I could go to on my test) and the bank stayed on for the whole 33 minutes that I had it connected.
“I believe there's a secret low current mode we found on these powerbanks (though it's not mentioned in the booklet) - if you hold down the button until the lights flash one by one it should keep putting out power even if the current draw is low. Might be worth a go!””
Ahoy! Thanks for the review!
I believe there's a secret low current mode we found on these powerbanks (though it's not mentioned in the booklet) - if you hold down the button until the lights flash one by one it should keep putting out power even if the current draw is low. Might be worth a go!
Hel
