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Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

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Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#91

Post by gav »

usrusr wrote: post #28
NoiseBert69 wrote: post #4

You can learn a lot from the ultra light dudes. I replaced all my travel electronics to be powerable from USB-C. This saved me from a lot cables and adapters. Even re-soldered the cable of my electric shaver to use a USB-C PD adapter PCB. As long it's somehow close to the standardized voltages (5/9/12/18/etc.) there will be no problems.

And if soldering is beyond your optimization ambition, there's aliexpress where you can find small USB-PD adapters for most electric shavers. It's little niche innovations like this that drive my ordering flow, not saving a few cents.

For those that want to travel light the Panasonic MultiShape[1] is great as you can share one rechargeable base with multiple tools. It is annoying as it's not USB, but inexpensive cables are available[2] and work great.

[1] https://shop.panasonic.com/pages/multishape [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMGQWM1B

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#92

Post by NedF »

cenamus wrote: post #5

20Ah for 23 bucks? Seems like it's almost too good to be true. Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, would explain the price and weight.

> Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that,

This was openly crowdfunded in Japan. Please explain the lie/scam for us? How does Makuake rip people off?

https://www.makuake.com/project/haribo_dcglobal/

Is this comment anything more than the normal shit HN negativity?

Nihilism is so cool, thinking is so hard, if I try I might fail.

Sure you might be right. Just want to know where the scam is here?

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#93

Post by xp84 »

nerdsniper wrote: post #67
esperent wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that 20Ah figure always relative to the internal voltage of the lithium batteries, 3.7v? At least that's what I always assumed.

10 years ago most of these battery packs were relative to the 5V output voltage, so they advertised lower amp-hours. That stopped making sense with fast charging at higher voltages so they restandardized on 3.7V. But watt-hours would make infinitely more sense for all batteries.

Then the fact we’ve “standardized” on mah as the unit is just another in our long proud tradition, same reason we still use “Watts” as the main measure of light output, even when it has to be made up for use on LED bulbs.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#94

Post by semi-extrinsic »

madaxe_again wrote: post #13

This is great and all, but for me it feels like much more of an achievement when I reach the summit with 30kg+ of mixed gear and child on my back - and there’s nothing quite like the feeling of putting it all down and feeling like you might just float away. Then again I am the kind of masochist who used to run ultramarathons with a backpack full of rocks just for the jollies.

I've done the same many times with the 30+ kg of gear and kid, even once going up to resupply a friend on a multi-week trip. It's good fun for your quads. Helps to put some of the heavier gear in a pair of those large waterproof roll-top bags and sling them across your chest, gets your centre of gravity more neutral.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#95

Post by nicbou »

NoiseBert69 wrote: post #4

You can learn a lot from the ultra light dudes. I replaced all my travel electronics to be powerable from USB-C. This saved me from a lot cables and adapters. Even re-soldered the cable of my electric shaver to use a USB-C PD adapter PCB. As long it's somehow close to the standardized voltages (5/9/12/18/etc.) there will be no problems.

Fully committing to USB C was a wonderful move. It's much easier to pack for the day, but also for hiking, cycling and motorcycle trips. I wired my motorcycle panniers to have USB C chargers inside them.

Retractable C to C cables are also worth it.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#96

Post by chrisweekly »

Zanni wrote: post #2

Why your [ultra-light hiker] friend suddenly has [the world's lightest] power bank. I remember Colin Fletcher, years ago, writing in The Complete Walker about trimming the borders off his paper maps to save weight, which seemed like an insane over-optimization to me. But then, I'm not an ultralight hiker. I am impressed folks are getting their loads down to 10 pounds though.

Tangent: as a web performance consultant, I've sometimes used "shaving down half the toothbrush handle while carrying a bowling ball in your backpack" as a metaphor for misguided performance optimization efforts.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#97

Post by s0rce »

exabrial wrote: post #80

> Ultralight culture seems a little nuts to the uninitiated. I prefer "Durable, but as light as possible", not the other way around. Most ultralight gear breaks after a few uses or when it is mishandled in anything-less-than-perfect conditions, which, happens a lot outside.

My ultralight gear has been sufficiently durable for my backpacking and hiking, even off trail. I'm not hunting or repairing trails but stuff lasts a while. The only exception I've found is inflatable pads which get punctured but no more often than bicycle tire inner tubes and they can similarly be patched with some effort.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#98

Post by daveguy »

NedF wrote: post #92
cenamus wrote: post #5

20Ah for 23 bucks? Seems like it's almost too good to be true. Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, would explain the price and weight.

> Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, This was openly crowdfunded in Japan. Please explain the lie/scam for us? How does Makuake rip people off? https://www.makuake.com/project/haribo_dcglobal/ Is this comment anything more than the normal shit HN negativity? Nihilism is so cool, thinking is so hard, if I try I might fail. Sure you might be right. Just want to know where the scam is here?

Because 20ah for a 5v battery is ~357 Wh/kg which is more than the highest density lipo as of 2024 [].

Do you honestly think they are putting the most cutting edge lipo technology in a gummy bear branded battery pack?

I agree with your GP, it is unlikely.

Maybe at least consider the density vs SOTA before you accuse someone of being a nihilist.

[] https://www.cei.washington.edu/research/energy-storage/lithi...

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#99

Post by s0rce »

bawolff wrote: post #75

I thought the point of back country hiking was to get away from technology and society. Weight is of course a major consideration, but its not the primary reason im not bringing batteries on a hiking trip.

I use my phone for navigation and camera. I also use it to read before bed. The powerbank recharges the phone on multiday trips. The powerbank can also charge satellite communication devices and headlamps when needed. This is pretty common for many backpackers.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#100

Post by MobiusHorizons »

thegrim33 wrote: post #48
cenamus wrote: post #5

20Ah for 23 bucks? Seems like it's almost too good to be true. Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, would explain the price and weight.

Man it drives me crazy when people/products use Ah instead of Wh as a way to specify battery "capability". Without knowing more details about the battery, "20Ah" alone does not convey enough information to determine how long the battery could power a given load for. If I need to power a 100 watt lightbulb, will a 20Ah battery power it for an hour? 10 hours? 10 days? No way to know. Wh is the unit of stored energy, Wh…

Battery capacity is always measured in amp hours not watt hours, because it’s telling you more than just capacity. The rating is a measure of how many amps the battery can emit continuously for one hour. You can estimate how long the battery will last at different loads, but it won’t match up 1:1 because of efficiency differences depending on how fast the battery is discharged, and if it has a chance to recover between discharges. Basically watt hour measurements are path dependent, and using a fungible unit like watt hours obscures the meaning of the measurement.
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