I don’t see it on the WeatherFlowSHOP yet so thought I’d share some pictures of the Hub Power Bank I just received from WeatherFlow. It comes with a short USB-A to MicroUSB cable and a 74Wh power bank with pass-through charging. It has four indicator LEDs on the top and a power button on the side. Plugging a hub automatically powers up the HPB without the need of pressing the power button. Pressing the power button with nothing plugged in lights up the LEDs to indicate charge level.
Overall it has a nice feel to it and should power a hub for 8 days or more considering my Anker power bank from several years ago would keep the HUB running for 4 days and it is half the capacity of the HPB.
MODEL NUMBER: WF-TWSPBM6
CAPACITY: 20,000mAh 74Wh (Why is Ah used for capacity? It is very misleading without the voltage!)
INPUT: 5V, 2.0A (MicroUSB or USB-C)
OUTPUT: 5V, 1.0A on USB1; 5V, 2.0A on USB2
usually the mAh ratings for powerbanks are for the 3.7V voltage of the internal battery. It’s useless info because the actuale internal batteries are not specified. The 74Wh is the only useful number.
But I’ve seen it for all types of Li-ion batteries with no nominal voltage specified either. It is madness, really. The Ah capacity of a battery is fine for SOC figuring and even works reasonably well for SOE but they should all be displaying the energy capacity as the primary value and possibly the Ah capacity as secondary. /rant
I purchased something very similar to this from Amazon… seems to be a bit more flexible with more ports for use with other devices. My goal was to use it as a mini UPS for the Tempest hub in a vacation home (unattended). The main feature I looked for was the ability to provides power to the devices attached to it while it is being charged itself. Here’s the link to it for those interested: 30000mAh Power Bank, 18W PD USB C Portable Charger with 3 Outputs & 3 Inputs
I got the idea from you! I just received one (ES983S Solar Power Bank/Charger) today (March 20th). Very nice. It will come in handy for upcoming Nebraska “Storm Season”. . .which you have already encountered several times over!
Excellent. I tested it out to see how it would power the hub and it worked just fine. Spring Severe Weather Season is starting to ramp up here in the deep South. 26 tornadoes in Alabama this week.
I just received mine and came looking for instructions and found this thread.
I had already plugged it in and am using it to begin testing it but did not notice the power button until reading your post.
If anyone knows of instructions some where I am the type who actually likes to read them…
I can not read what type of cells are in it.
If it is happy kept on charge at full voltage permanently waiting for an outage or if an occasional cycle might benefit it?
Since plugging it in to charge with a hub connected a few hours ago it is flashing between 2 and 3 lights.
And has choices of different amperages using different plugs.
cheers Ian
Since this was purpose built for WF I’m hoping WF specified that the always charged voltage was maybe only at 90%SOC or so to help prolong the calendar life of the cell. It is designed to be left plugged in all the time so I wouldn’t worry about trying to cycle it every so often.
My first test surprised me. I was expecting that it would behave as an uninterruptible power supply UPS but it does not.
When I turn off the charging power the output turns off for a moment. The hub powers off and then restarts.
I wonder if those of you who bought similar from other suppliers if the same happens with yours?
cheers Ian
It isn’t supposed to work that way. I just tested mine and with either output and either input, when power is removed the hub is power cycled.
@dsj, this isn’t supposed to work this way, is it? Neither of my other power banks cut power to the plugged-in device when the input power is removed. One is an Anker and the other is a Samsung.
Remind me, are you just concerned with having power for a string of overcast days? I know in my case I cannot get enough sun on the sunniest of days. So the solar power bank/charger does not look workable for me. I ordered the Tempest HPB today.
Since mid-January I have not had to pull my Tempest down to charge at work. Those high times will be coming to an end soon.
the powerbank only powers the hub, not the tempest. So it doesn’t help if you have power problems with the tempest during long periods of overcast days.
To solve power problems with the tempest, there will be a power booster available sometime in the future (before next winter).
@hartsock.dana . . . if you’d like to become a tester for the power booster…send a message to WF support. Tell them your situation and they’ll get in touch with you. Your Tempest would a good “candidate” this coming summer, I’d think. You could test at your house instead of having to drag the whole ensemble into your work every day!
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