Introduction: The BEST Portable Power Supply System!
Hey everyone! It's been a minute! Thought I would show you the system I have created for always keeping my electronics (and those around me, whom are in need of a quick charge for their phone) going, no matter where I am. I'll start off with some quick pictures to help you understand what I'm talking about, and then at the end of this 'ible, I'll embed a video of me explaining everything in much more detail. Quick note: I absolutely suck at video editing! So please bear with me, as it isn't the best shot, but it has a LOT of good info on HOW my system works, and why I chose what I chose. I hope you see something that you like from my system that you might want for yourself. Or you can just straight up copy it piece by piece. It has served me well for a while now, and I'm basically "off grid" when it comes to charging up my devices. Now, onto some pictures!An
Step 1: My Gear, and What It Does
The first picture is my gear, and you can see I've labeled some of the items, with the name and model.
Second picture is the inside pouch of the Anker PowerPort Solar Panels, so you can see the 2 USB outputs. This is really handy for getting the most out of the free energy from the sun!
The Third picture is a closeup view of my Anker PowerCore 13400mah battery pack. You can see the micro USB input, and the 2 USB outputs. This is a FANTASTIC battery, and actually charges my phone faster than a charger from a wall outlet. I can charge my LG G3 from completely dead, to full 100% charge in about 30 minutes, and I can charge it almost 4 times! You can see I've customized mine with some string, and a couple USB covers, as well as a belt clip I epoxied on. I keep this on the side of my Hidden Woodsman haversack, and I work construction. I don't want the USB ports getting clogged up with sawdust and such. It's REALLY ugly, but it works. Haha.
The Fourth picture is of the unique 18650mah battery that came with my Atactical A1S flashlight. It can be recharged via direct micro USB on the side of the battery itself. Or I can charge it like normal, in a battery charger. Very interesting design, and I love having that option available to plug directly into my Anker Solar Panels or my Battery Pack without having to grab a separate battery charger (the next item pictured). I want to get more of these types of batteries, in various sizes (AAA, AA, 13400, CR123, 18650, etc...).
Fifth picture is my ThinkTop Intelligent battery charger. It says OzTouch on the front, but it is on Amazon under ThinkTop. WEIRD! Anyways, it is a great little battery charger! I can use it to keep practically any rechargeable battery topped off and fully charged via my Solar Panels, or my Anker Battery Pack via the micro USB input. The cool thing about this particular charger, is it has a USB output too. If for some reason my battery pack was dead, and my solar panels broken, I could stick any battery inside this thing, and drain that battery to give my cell phone a bit of juice! Very handy little piece of gear, and works great at detecting what type of battery you have.
Sixth picture is my Magnus Innovation ATLAS headlamp. It uses the same 18650 batteries as in my Atactical A1S flashlight, and actually came with 2 of them when I purchased it, giving my system 3x 18650 batteries! I basically always have a spare handy! This headlamp is great because you can use it as a secondary battery charger for the 18650 batteries since it has a built in micro USB charger input. I love having redundancies in my system!
And for those of you who are like "Hey JD! This is all well and good for people who have Android devices and such, but what about us who have iPhones?!" Relax fam, I got choo! They make Lightning adapters for micro USB cords. I have 1, just in case some Apple fanboy/girl asks if they can borrow my battery pack. Actually was out to dinner with a friend, they were complaining that they needed to charge their iPhone 6S Plus. I hooked us both up to my Anker battery pack. They were like "Wow, that's handy." As they say in the Boy Scouts, "Always be prepared."
Step 2: Final Thoughts
As you can see in my AWESOME hand drawn diagram, I tried to make sure everything is cross compatible as much as possible, and I have all my basis covered. Practically everything can charge everything else. Having so many option available, and having so many redundancies makes my system the best one I have seen anyone make, and I'm not just saying that because I did it.
One thing I have since added since I originally shot the video, is an Anker PowerCore Fusion 5000 2-in-1 battery pack. This thing has 2 micro USB outputs much like my PowerCore 13400mah battery pack, so I have another portable battery pack just in case I need it...BUT... it also plugs into the AC wall outlet, to act as a wall charger! So instead of relying on pure solar, if I'm near an AC wall outlet, I can use that instead. And the best thing about this charger, is if it isn't being used to charge a device for 30 seconds, it automatically charges itself! How cool is that?! My one gripe, is it has a pretty small charge available (5000mah), and I can only charge my phone about 1.5 times. But the flexibility if allows me to be anywhere, and use AC wall power, really makes my entire system the best I've seen. Again, not just because I did it, but that it is the most comprehensive and cross compatible.
I'm not sponsored by Anker in any way, in case you're wondering why all my chargers are Anker products. They simply work FANTASTIC, are built like tanks, one and all, and they charge my devices FAST! They plain, flat out work!
Now the video. I explain basically everything I did here, with a little more info thrown in. Take a look, and if you enjoyed the vid and please click Like, Share and Subscribe! That helps me out a LOT! I know I'm not the best at video editing, but I'm learning! Thanks everyone!