How to Choose the Right Promotional Power Chargers for Your Needs
Tips on Choosing the Right Promotional Power Chargers For Your Particular Marketing and Branding Needs
Austin, Texas: Although I have written several posts about what mAh is (milliampere hours) and what it means when determining which promotional power chargers to order for your event, this time I’ve broken it down a little bit further this time – as there still seems to be quite a bit of confusion in the marketplace about how to choose the right promotional power chargers for your target audience and budget.
Which Promotional Power Charger of Power Bank is Right for Your Trade Show, Promotion, Gift or Event?
Key Terms:
* Milliampere hour(mAh) – a mAh is used to describe the energy charge a battery will hold.
* Amp output is a measure of how fast your device will charge
mAh: What mAh is right for your promotional power chargers?
* 2200 mAh Power Chargers – standard required to charge most pre-2015 smartphones. This will work on all makes and models–iPhones, Androids, Kindle Fires, etc.
* 2600 mAh Power Chargers – optimal for the newest smartphones, including Samsung Galaxy models and Apple iPhone 6 and later.
* 4400 – 5200 mAh Tablet Chargers – Best for charging iPads and Tablets.Start looking for dual input on these if your budget affords it, so that you can choose more than one device at a time.
* 8800 – 11,000 mAh Tablet Power Chargers – Ideal for dual input, such as for charging a laptop and a cell phone at same time.
*12,000 mAh Power Chargers – When you simply want the maximum charging power (and bragging rights–lol!)
What is best Amp rating for you?
Most promotional power chargers under 4,000 mAh are single port and have 1 Amp. Many of the higher price power banks have dual ports for multiple devices, one of which is 2.1 amp and the other which is 1 amp.
1 Amp Single Port Power Chargers: If you plug a smartphone (Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) into a 1 amp power charger, it will charge the phone just as fast as if you plugged it into a standard wall jack using the 1 amp charger that came with the phone.
Dual Port Power Chargers: Most dual port promotional power chargers have two charging ports: a 1A (amp) and 2.1A port. If you plug any smartphone into the 1 amp outlet, it will charge the phone just as fast as if you plugged it into a wall jack using the 1 amp charger that came with the phone. The 2.1 amp port is for tablets, as they have larger batteries. The 2.1A outlet will charge the device more than twice as fast as the 1A outlet. As long as the power bank as a decent charge, it won’t be any slower to charge the iPhone 5 using the power bank than it would by plugging into the wall assuming the same USB amperage port is being used.
Safety Testing & Certifications
Lithium ion batteries tend to run very hot – and unless they are constructed with the necessary safeguards they run the risk of catching fire.
In fact, there have been many product recalls lately from imported power chargers and power banks from companies skimping on use of proper parts and assembly techniques. So many that the airlines are considering some type of bans on carrying these batteries in bulk in their cargo bins in the future.
The main component of a power bank is a lithium ion / lithium polymer battery. Although these types of batteries are commonly used, the safety of battery product is always the utmost concern.
Power Bank/ Power Charger Safety Can Be Addressed on Two Fronts:
1. Battery Quality: Grade A is a general concept used to denote a very good quality battery. The real test is whether or not the battery has a UL Certification. Though our power banks have many certifications, our most popular power bank batteries have passed the UL 1642 test which is a set of rigorous Electrical, Mechanical, Environmental, and Fire Exposure Tests. UL is the most widely accepted certification that denotes a battery’s compliance with recognized safety requirements in North America.
2. Protective Circuitry: The Protective Circuitry or PTC is considered a “Safety Valve”. It protects the equipment, the charged device, and user. PTC prevents Internal and External Short Circuit, Abnormal Charge/Over Charge, forced Discharge, and more.
It’s easy to reduce the costs of power banks by cutting out the cost of battery certifications and protective circuitry.
The potential risk of fire and the added product liability that using non-certified chargers presents to businesses and organizations makes it imperative to pay a little bit extra for peace of mind and insist only on chargers that are are FCC,CE and RoHS certified.
Does this certification cost extra? Sure. Testing is not cheap.
Is it worth every penny? You bet–especially from a potential litigation point of view. We also run UL testing on many of our batteries for even more assurances.
It goes back to the cost vs. value scale. Do you want the cheapest power charger or the best value?
These certifications show that they have passed all necessary tests to ensure your promotion is a success — and not a fiasco.
Be sure your promotional power banks have been tested and are FCC / CE / RoHS certified. (We have certificates available upon request). This means they have built in short circuit protection systems and are tested to meet the standards for air transport.
How Long Do Battery Chargers Retain Their Charges?
Any battery will lose a bit of power over time, but this one has such a large capacity that I can’t imagine the little discharge would be an issue. When I travel, I take one and always “top off the tank” before I go.
Battery Quality
The other important factor to consider with a promotional power bank is longevity. How many times the battery can be charged and discharged before no longer functioning?
Most of the batteries in the promotional power chargers that we sell at Geek Tech Branding have been tested to yield 700 – 1000 cycles…some even higher.
That means your power bank will be with your clients and prospects for a long time–and your brand and message will be right there with them.
A quality promotional power bank or charger can give you a relatively low cost per impression– meaning a very high return on your investment. According to a study, the average imprinted power charger gives you over 1,000 impressions--think about the ROI of having someone view your logo 1,000 or more times–each time they charge their phones.
Promotional power banks are a very popular gift item for trade shows, employee gifts, Holiday gifts and for incentive and referral programs. Just be sure to order the right chargers for your needs.
We welcome any other question you may have so that we can help you to choose the best promotional power chargers for your budget, target audience and needs.
Editor's Note: Since this article has been published, there has been a temendous growth in wireless phone chargers--for almost all late 2016 and 2017 smartphones--including iPhone8 and iPhoneX. Here is a link to an article about these new wirelsss chargers with Qi technology.
