I have to get on a very long flight here soon for work with a layover in the middle, and I want to make sure my Deck is up to the task. Does anyone have a battery pack they love?
Also I hear you’re not supposed to use a battery pack while playing. Does that hold up, even in one-off events? (Usually I’m very protective of my battery)
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I’ve been using Anker and don’t have any complaints. The model I have is PowerCore III Elite. It has two USB-A and two USB-C ports.
I don’t think there’s any concern about playing while charging. What I’ve been told is not to charge stuff while they’re in the overhead bin.
Thanks for the recommendation!
I have a Baseus 65w one, it can fully match the deck’s max charging rate of 45w and is pretty nice. It also can show what voltage and amperage it’s charging at, which is nice for identifying if something is fast charging or not.
Unfortunately it looks like it’s not for sale anymore, which makes me concerned that it might have the same battery cell safety hazard that forced Anker to issue a recall.
Well, out of all of the reasons to do a recall, that’s a pretty good reason…
I think you might be over thinking it. Your plane and layover location will have outlets that will charge quicker then the battery pack.
I’ve been to many airports where the all the outlets in an area are broken, plus you can’t assume the plane you get will have charging ports.
They have battery packs that can charge the deck at full speed, mine goes up to 65w output which is plenty to max out the deck’s 45w max. I can even use it for a dock with accessories.
Keep in mind that flight regulations limit the capacity of the batteries you can take on a plane. I believe you can’t bring batteries above 20,000 mAh.
Regulations limit the total battery energy you can carry on board, which would be measured in Wh. Usually the limit is 100Wh though some countries/airlines have different regulations for total vs individual capacities (e.g. max 200Wh total but each device cannot be over 100Wh).
For regular Lithium-Ion cells which are usually 3.6 to 3.7V, 100Wh is around 27 000 mAh. Always check the battery cell voltage though, since it’s pretty easy to claim any mAh the company wants since it’s not really a measurement of anything tangible.
Using a battery pack while playing is no worse than playing while plugged into any other charger, unless you’ve got the battery pack mounted to the deck itself, in which case you’d be adding heat. Personally I just keep a 10000mAh battery in my backpack on flights and run a USB-C cable from it to my deck. When the battery runs out, the deck stops charging so I unplug it. Simple as that. When able to plug in directly at an airport or via the plug between seats, I plug in the big battery and unplug it from the deck.
Make sure you have a fast charger so you can get the most out of short stops to top off the big battery.
Which one do you have/prefer?
In general I turn to Anker or Belkin for power banks, just make sure it can provide at least 25W of power.
Thanks!
Charging heats the battery, which adds to the heat that is caused while using the device. High temperature is bad for lithium batteries. Additionally, heavy load on the battery can mess with full charge detection, which can cause the battery to overcharge. Overcharging stresses the battery, which causes it to degrade faster. These won’t cause a lot of degradation, but if you want to prolong your batteries, you might want to keep these in mind.
But apparently, none of the above affects the Steam Deck. According to some internet posts, Steam Deck uses pass through charging. It means that while the device is connected to a charger, it will take power from the charger, and not from the battery.
What you should do, is to try to keep lithium batteries between 30% and 80% charge level. The closer to full you charge a lithium battery, the more it will degrade. And similarly, the deeper the discharges are, the more degradation is caused. Steam Deck has a charge limiter you can use to stop the charging at your preferred level.
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-415-how-to-charge-and-when-to-charge
EDIT: I have a power meter, and I just confirmed that Steam Deck, indeed, does take its power from a charger when one is connected. I charged the Deck up to the charge limit (75%) and then lowered the charge limit to 50%. After that, the charger was drawing about 0W while the Deck was off, about 10W while playing a 2D game (Hollow Knight: Silksong) and about 20W while playing a 3D game (FBC: Firebreak).
During charge, the charger drew 48W. The Steam Deck supposedly draws a maximum of 45W, which means my charger wastes 3 watts on a 45 watt load.
