Portable Battery Bank with USB PD 45w?

[Warlock5822]

Im not very good with posts so I'll get into it hard and fast....

 

Im going back to university after being away for a couple of years, I still use a surface pro 4 because it works as I need it for one note and prefer  to take all my notes and annotate slides with the stylis, only problem is the battery life. Unfortunately there arent alawys a lot of pwer sockets available in the lecture theatres and I have up to 7 hours of sitting in lecture theatres in a day and I havent got  the faith that the tablet battery is going to last.

 

My GF who is with me at the university and also uses a surface pro 4 to the same effect is having a similar issue, where she gets the majority of the way through the lecutre before the battery gives up and she has to take the final notes on scraps of paper....

 

So I've not discovered that PD battery packs are a thing capable of providing the ~12v 3A or around about the 36w needed for a surface pro 4, which also requires a USB-C to surface charger connector. I've seen some packs on Amazon.co.uk by brands like RAVPOWER/AUKEY for around £40 which doesnt seem too unreasonable but each have varying reviews.

 

Wondering if anyone has any experiences or recommendations on the PD battery packs, what to look out for and what to expect etc.

[TomvanWijnen]

I got two of these half a year ago and they work really well! I don't have a device to test its maximum charging capabilities, but it does charge quite quickly too (likely at 45W (or 60, but my charger isn't specifically made for it so it could be doing something slightly less because of that)) so I assume that 45W charging works as well, and everything else I know works really well!

 

Xiaomi 20000mAh Power Bank 3 PLM07ZM USB-C 45W Two-way Quick Charge Extenal Battery
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/lSX0ZUz2

[ThePointblank]

The Aukey and RAVPOWER banks are pretty decent quality battery banks; I personally have a RAVPOWER 20100mAh USB PD battery bank myself. It works just fine to charge my camera, which is picky about the types of power sources being used (it only accepts USB-PD or the optional OEM USB charger).

[Warlock5822]

I'd just come across the Xiaomi ones most have decent reviews, I've been looking on amazon. 

 

And recurring names are Aukey and RAVPower but either way coming across actual reviews online and YouTube either using them for laptop or high wattage charging is difficult. 

 

Think if I get myself one I'll have to grab a USB ammeter and record the actual battery capacity to see how close the come to the labelled capacity. 

[TomvanWijnen]

30 minutes ago, Warlock5822 said:

Think if I get myself one I'll have to grab a USB ammeter and record the actual battery capacity to see how close the come to the labelled capacity. 

I have a USB ammeter so I would try mine, but the USB ammeter is USB A, while the only high power charger I have is USB C, so I can't test it unfortunately. What I can say is that I've never had a thing charge my phone faster lol - though that obviously wasn't anywhere near 45W.