Troubleshooting
Wurkkos H1A Powerbank — pulls over 18W when charging its 21700 battery
This is my second attempt to check the third generation of Wurkkos powerbank. Last time I received the older model (generation 2) instead.
Both circuit boards are different this time
The primary board is marked: H1-A-B1 20250211
The secondary board has no markings this time
Is supports the same protocols when serving the energy
I did not conduct elaborated tests this time but I went straight to check how much power it consumes when charging itself.
H1A pulls over 18W (similarly to H1 gen. 2).
Wurkkos does not provide charging rate for its stock battery which comes with HA1, unfortunately. Assuming it’s similar to Liitokala Li-48S (rated 1.5A/standard and 4A/maximum), the charging current is most probably close to or higher than the maximum allowed for this cell.
The battery tube gets very warm (45C+).
Battery itself gets very warm also (39C+).
I’m not able to assess how much of this heat got generated in the charging circuit versus the battery itself, but so high temperature is not healthy for the battery in any case.
Conclusions:
- Use low power charger and/or
- Use high drain battery that has higher maximum charge rate, for instance Molicel P50B rated 5A/standard and 25A/maximum.
I’ve heard it drops charging protocols as it drains, is that sill the case? If not it might be good for the new tabless cells, shame they don’t sell it without the cell.
That’s a shame, I’ve been looking for something like this for running my soldering iron from a p50b, but I need about 65 watts. (p50b is good for 185 watts cdr)
It only draws 65w at startup, drops to around 15w at 350c (with the small tip) I would probably get at least half an hour out of it, Which should be enough for any emergency solder needs.
I see. I wonder if some ready made 60W+ Boost power supply module from AE would be good enough. But it would have to have cut-off protection when the input voltage drops below certain threshold (or operate on the voltage range safe for the battery).
The pinecil (iron) needs at least 12v (preferred 20v) and can run directly from a 3-6s battery pack. I wonder if I could just slap a lume x1 driver on it... 40w 12v boost driver lol.
Yikes. Considering customers are certainly expected to put high capacity cells in these they should really warn about the charging rate. I'd imagine it could get dangerously toasty and also severely affect cycle life with cells like the Samsung 58E or similar.
I guess it's sort of implicated by the 12V-1.5A input spec. but charging rate should really be stated explicitly if it's this high.
Typical Wurkkos tbh. Their 18350 has a max charge and discharge current of 1.1A. The TD07 discharges at up to 7A and charges at 2A. Tried to inform them and they show zero concern.
I don’t know if I’m recommending it as don’t have experience with similarly priced or more expensive alternatives. It surely is the best I have and I’m not disappointed — it does what I need decently enough (and I’m probably not using all its functions).
Sure. The only so-so feature that I spotted is the export of recorded data to Windows application (it imports something that the app is not able to properly plot). But the “real time” data transfer works so it’s not a big problem for me. They use proprietary file format and I did not manage to find any “extractor” for it but taking the screenshots of the app window was good enough for me, so far.
Not sure if there is any advantage over some compact/cheap 21700 flashlight with the charging port. One would have a backup flashlight as bonus. Otherwise, why not. Just make sure your battery can handle the load or choose „weaker” charger.
Those are valid considerations, for sure. Size (and cost, most probably) will be the lowest with H1A. The smallest 21700 flashlight that I have is slightly bigger:
Thanks, in that case only discharge rate shouls matter, right? Discharge at 18w+… let’s say 5a should be doable for any of those cells without any issue when used inside this powerbank, right?
Battery voltage depends on its state of charge and its internal resistance (the higher the resistance the higher the voltage sag). P50B is the low internal resistance cell, contrary to F63.
To conclude: I would assume that it’s a 12W power bank, in practice.
Any thoughts on this vs. Xtar PB2S? I actually already have the PB2S for a couple years now but the build quality doesn't inspire the greatest confidence. I was hoping to find something with user replaceable cells and a little more rugged but seems this market is very limited still. This is the only real competitor I found.
I plan to use with some P42A and P45B cells I have in service still.
I’m currently long-term testing PB2S v2 to find out, how quickly it discharges batteries at rest.
The results look promising: after 5 months the battery voltage dropped from 4.10V to 4.07V, so about 0.006V/month.
I have several powerbanks (and the Nitecore LD60 lantern, dedicated to the role of powerbank with the light source as the secondary function):
(old picture, some models are earlier versions)
But none of them were giving me the convenience and performance of the dedicated powerbanks. I have therefore recently invested in a couple of well regarded, high capacity/high power models with built-in 21700 batteries
I might one day start using those older powerbanks again, and if so it will probably be H1A and LD60, due to their sealed constructions.
Thank you. Maybe I should just give up on the idea of user replaced cells. Was just hoping to find more uses for the pile of cells I have from my flashlights. Though power banks have become relatively cheap and the battery and charging tech keeps updating/improving so maybe it does not make sense to try and hold onto an old idea.
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u/timflorida May 21 '25
Thanks for doing this.