There are so many really good capacity power banks out there for much less these days. However this battery pack is not quite as cheap as others (RRP A$59.00), but it is local stock (at least in Australia anyway). Cheaper brands (usually with higher capacities) need to usually be imported and bought from overseas, like in China.
I managed to nab one from a Samsung Store for much, much less. For the sake of explaining, Samsung Pay were doing a promotion for a month, through June and July (for the first 3,000 people, nationwide). All Samsung Pay users had to do was load any eligible payment or loyalty card into the app and purchase any item at their nearest Samsung Store and they would get a bonus ULC Battery Pack. Now, the sales rep was nice enough and told me that (1) there was no minimum purchase, (2) pointed me to the cheapest item and (3) they still had stock of the power bank left! At the end of it all, I walked away with a micro/C USB cable and a ULC Battery Pack, all for the sweet sum of A$14.95. Great deal, am I right?
SPEC RUNDOWN
| Manufacturer | Samsung |
| Manufacture location | China |
| Product name | ULC Battery Pack (10.0A 15W 2Port) TypeC |
| Model number | EB-P1100CSEGWW |
| Release date | 2018 |
| Compatible devices | AFC* for Samsung devices or any device that charges over USB |
| Colour | Silver |
| Finish (appearance) | Aluminium, matte texture |
| Form factor | 71mm x 141.8mm x 14mm (220g) |
| Box contents | Battery pack, manual (multi-lingual), USB-A to -C cable (20cm) |
| Connection (in) | 1 x USB-C (Normal: 5V ⎓ 2A, Fast: AFC* (9V ⎓ 1.67A) or 12V ⎓ 1.25A) |
| Connection (out) | 2 x USB-A (Normal: 5V ⎓ 2A, Fast: AFC* (9V ⎓ 1.67A) or 12V ⎓ 1.25A) |
| Battery | Li-ion |
| Capacity (rated) | 10,000 mAh @ 3.85V |
| Capacity (usable) | Normal (typical; 5V ⎓ 2A): 6,300 mAh, 31.5 Wh AFC* (typical; 9V ⎓ 1.67A): 3,100 mAh, 27.9 Wh Fast (typical; 12V ⎓ 1.25A): 2,300 mAh, 27.6 Wh |
| Price (RRP) | AUD$59.00 [as of July 2019] |
* AFC = Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging Protocol
OPERATION
Operation for the power bank is pretty simple. Though unlike other power banks that feature a USB-C port, you can only use the dual USB-A ports for charging devices. For some strange reason, the USB-C port is only reserved for charging itself so it does not output anything. A little strange in my opinion.
Beneath that are the indicator lights telling you how much charge is left in the power bank:
- 4 lights: 70-100%
- 3 lights: 40-70%
- 2 lights: 20-40%
- 1 light: 5-20%
- single flashing light: 0-5%
Both ports can be used simultaneously so you don’t have to look out for which you’re plugging into.
Once your devices are plugged in, just press the only button on there and you’re good to go!
COMPATIBILITY
Charging devices
For those of you who have Samsung devices, you can make use of Samsung’s AFC protocol allowing their handsets and devices to fast charge (since the S5). This power bank also caters for devices that don’t use AFC, don’t “fast charge” (I’m not including 10W charging here) like iPhones, for instance, and quick charging (equivalent-ish to charging speeds of Qualcomm’s QC 2.0).
Literally anything that can charge over a USB cable, you can charge with this power bank.
Charging the power bank
You can fast charge this through the only USB-C port on the bank. Through testing it myself, you can fast charge the power bank through AFC. For those that don’t have an AFC adapter wall adapter, QC 2.0 seems to work just fine to quick charge it too.
HOWEVER, being a USB-C port, I tried to charge it through USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) and the power bank didn’t respond at all (i.e. didn’t quick charge). So that’s bad news if you have, say, only a MacBook charger or something similar. It just means you might have to leave it charging overnight if you want to use it the next day.
VERDICT
The build quality for this power bank is great: metallic feel, quality aluminium finish, solid feel in the hand. But a lot of other power banks feel this way too, for much less (think Xiaomi). For A$14.95 it’s a complete steal (with an extra cable!) but for A$59.00 I can’t say the same.
I do love, however, the power bank is 10,000 mAh and not a crappy size like many other mainstream “branded” power banks sold in retail store in Australia. The physical size of the power bank though is a little on the larger size for my liking though, comparable to carrying around the size of another S10+.
It’s also great to see Samsung AFC built into the input to fast charge itself but don’t like how it doesn’t accept USB-PD to fast charge itself. I can, however, see why the USB-C port is reserved for input only, as this wouldn’t change your setup using the stock wall adapter and cable out of the box if you’re running a Samsung flagship from the last 3 years.
Overall, great power bank option for those with Samsung devices (or just looking for a good quality one you can get on the spot) but I personally wouldn’t pay the A$59.00 price tag.
Yours truly,
Unofficial Tech Support 