How to distinguish an original power bank from a fake. How to distinguish an original Xiaomi Mi Power Bank from a fake. End with buttons, indicator and USB

Chinese company founded four years ago Xiaomi in such a short period of time she was able to obtain the title “ Chinese Apple"and release several really high-quality smartphones. And this is not sarcasm - everything is serious. Why is she so famous? In fact, this is one of the first producers of, so to speak, a new wave from the Middle Kingdom. Others include One Plus, Oppo, Gionee and MEIZU. They stand out because they offer serious smartphones at half the price of comparable devices from famous brands. But unlike its colleagues in the shop, Xiaomi began actively expanding its business and model range devices. In addition to smartphones, she now has a tablet phone, tablet and even accessories in her assortment. For example, external batteries are so popular today. It is about them that we will talk about in this article, namely, about Xiaomi Power Bank.

Chinese monolith

Xiaomi No wonder they call it the “Apple of China.” The company really produces interesting and quality devices, plus I was able to create one of the best shells for Android - MIUI. Yes, she borrows ideas from colleagues and competitors left and right, but ultimately we, as consumers, only benefit from this. Take, for example, its new external batteries with a simple name Power Bank.

As you can see, there are two models that are completely identical in design, but differ in the capacity of the built-in batteries and, accordingly, in size. But it is the design that is of particular interest. It seems to me that if Apple produced external batteries, they would be very similar to these devices.

Monolithic aluminum body with plastic inserts on the front and rear edges, inside of which decent batteries from LG are hidden. 2600 mAh(or from Samsung, there are some like this):

The assembly is of very high quality - nothing creaks, plays or dangles inside the case. The body itself is a little rough due to anodization, fingerprints do not remain on it, and it is comfortable to hold in your hand - it does not slip.

As for the inserts on the edges of the device, the plastic is of high quality, and it is also in no hurry to collect fingerprints. On one of the faces the battery capacity is indicated, and on the second there is a large button, a status indicator of four LEDs, USB port for connecting chargeable devices and micro-USB for charging the battery itself.

It is worth noting that the button is used only for informational purposes to find out the amount of charge remaining in the Xiaomi Power Bank. When the device being charged is connected, the accessory automatically starts supplying power.

About electronics and counterfeits

You will be surprised, but the Chinese are so harsh that they counterfeit their own brands. This is another argument in favor of the fact that Xiaomi is an unusual and outstanding company, whose products have become very popular and evoked a positive response from consumers. There is nothing surprising about this. The company really uses high-quality components and its products are reliable, all devices, even inexpensive external batteries.

In particular, if you take apart the older model with a capacity of 10,400 mAh, you will see very interesting electronics. For example, battery charge/discharge controller Texas Instruments BQ24195:

This chip is designed to work with a set of batteries with a capacity of up to 18650 mAh and supports the load up to 4A, which is almost twice the requirements used in in this case set of 10400 mAh batteries. The conversion efficiency is 92% when the device consumes while charging 2A, and when the battery itself recharges the gadgets, the output it gives 2.1 A(yes, yes - you can quickly recharge not only smartphones, but also tablets), and at the same time the efficiency is 91% . For example, the average value for this type of device on the market is within 75–80% , and we’re not talking about basement gadgets, but about branded products from world-famous companies. In general, Xiaomi Power Bank electronics are designed for a maximum discharge current of 9A! As you can see, it was done with a substantial margin, but that’s not all. The battery also contains an 8-bit microcontroller ABOV MC97F1204SMBN:

Due to it, the function of automatically activating recharging when connecting devices is implemented, plus control of light indicators (that is, the chip measures the remaining charge level and displays the corresponding value on the LEDs). It will also turn off the batteries in case of overheating (there are corresponding sensors) or any other possible incidents (for example, a short circuit).

Temperature sensors and ultra-reliable electronics are also used in the younger brother with 5200 mAh

Not only did Xiaomi not skimp on matches, the company’s engineers used some of the best components for this type of device, and with a huge margin at that (including fairly thick connecting wires, the cross-section of which was also selected with a multiple margin).

Naturally, for basement offices there is real freedom here in terms of reducing the cost of production. Moreover, the fake will most likely be sold at the same price as the original, or even more expensive. But we’ll talk about the selfish issue a little later, but for now here are some tips for Xiaomi Power Bank buyers: so as not to run into a fake. Firstly, counterfeit batteries are not assembled very well, there are gaps:

Also note USB ports and micro-USB (bottom - original, top - fake): in the original the color of the plate for both ports is beige, in the fake it is bright white and black, respectively. The indicators of the original are quite miniature, while those of the fake are larger and rougher. The back edge is also slightly different - on the original the inscriptions are written clearly and neatly, on the fake they are blurred:

Naturally, everything is bad with the electronics in a fake battery: thin wires that heat up because of this, poor fastening of the entire structure, the cheapest components, the characteristics of which are suitable, as they say, but they even work with increased load, batteries from an unknown manufacturer.

The worst thing in this case is not that the fake will work less than the original. Fake devices are dangerous and often lead to fires, failure of charging gadgets and other troubles. That’s why it’s funny to read comments on reviews of expensive brand batteries when people say that they’ll buy a Chinese analogue that’s three times cheaper at three times the price. There are no miracles, believe me. And it’s better not to save on this kind of device, although the case of Xiaomi Power Bank is special. In addition to the fact that these devices are very reliable and well made, they also cost at least half as much as analogues from other manufacturers, but more on that later.

Xiaomi Power Bank at work

The batteries are compact and lightweight. The younger model can be easily carried in a pocket or small bag (55 x 91 x 21.9 mm, 155 g), although it is better to carry the older one in a bag or backpack, where it will take up minimal space (77 x 90.5 x 21, 6 mm, 250 g). Devices charge quite quickly. From a 2-amp charger this will happen in about 5–6 hours in the older model. But if the charger is weaker, for example, as included with the iPhone, then you will have to wait twice as long.

The gadgets performed excellently, and they not only actively charged our smartphones and tablets, but also Sony A7 and NEX-7 cameras. At the same time, there is no question of any heating of the battery - after all, high-quality electronics matter. Although please note that the delivery package is very modest and only contains a flat micro-USB cable 15 cm long, that is, it is quite short, so if necessary, do not forget to take something longer on the road.

High quality portable charger for your gadget!

The Xiaomi Power Bank portable charger is designed specifically to keep you connected. The gadget is designed for use in combination with smartphones, tablet PCs, music players and other devices equipped with a USB connector and batteries. You can buy Xiaomi Mi Power Bank in our online store at an affordable price.

Features of Power Bank

• Possibility to implement fast charging. Current indicators portable device– 2.1 A, thanks to which a smartphone, tablet and any other device charges as quickly as from a standard power source.
• Absolute safety. Devices from Chinese brand made from high quality materials, equipped with powerful, high-quality filling. The charger has all the necessary protection: from short circuits, high temperature, excessive loads. Xiaomi Mi Power Bank, when connected to a charging gadget, turns on automatically and turns off when the device has received the required charge.
• Comfortable operation. Chargers have compact dimensions, stylish, ergonomic design. For convenient control of the charge level, an indicator is provided to notify you of the need to connect the Power Bank to an outlet.
• Reliability and impeccable quality! The body of the device is made of high-strength aluminum, which protects internal components from damage due to drops, pressure, etc.
• Functionality. When going to work, school or for a walk, do not forget to take your Xiaomi charger with you. Thanks to him you can always stay in touch!

“I’m not rich enough to buy cheap things!” -

Baron Rothschild

You and I are not Rothschilds, but, you see, this phrase makes a lot of sense, especially today. We save money for something we really need, find it offline, online, compare it and... often, buy the one that is simply cheaper.

Sometimes we get lucky and we don’t buy a fake. But that's sometimes. How to protect yourself?..

Chinese manufacturer electronic technology XIAOMI, which is ahead of Apple and Samsung in its home market in many respects, is faced with another strong competitor - manufacturers of counterfeits. At one of the press conferences at the headquarters in Beijing, CEO The company stated that: “In 2014, sales of branded Mi Power Bank backup batteries reached 14.6 million units, which is less than half the expected volume.” Why? - Because of the huge market for fakes!

If you have ALREADY bought a power bank, let's figure out how to distinguish an original and high-quality one from a fake. By the way, maybe these tips will help you avoid a low-quality purchase not only external battery, but also other technology.

In our material we will look at how to distinguish fake XIAOMI and (another leader in the Asian Power Bank market). But first of all, let's look at what you get by purchasing a fake Power Bank:

• The batteries have a significantly smaller capacity than stated by the manufacturer, which means that you can charge your smartphone/tablet not the promised, for example, 10 times, but much less (it is not at all uncommon for the actual volume of a purchased external battery to be overestimated by 10(!!!) once)
• The service life of counterfeit batteries is greatly reduced since only in branded PowerBanks of market leaders, manufacturers use effective electronic protection against improper charge/discharge
• Poor assembly results in poor connection of the wire with which the smartphone or tablet is charged, as a result of which the charging process is constantly interrupted, which means it kills the battery of the smartphone or tablet. But you will be guaranteed a nervous life: place it at the right angle, do not touch it while charging, place the cord on tape or glue so that it does not fall off, and much more.
• Poor material and, again, assembly affect appearance: seams, joining, scratches, etc.
• Not complete set or supplied with defective wires, adapters (by the way, even a low-quality charging cable can shorten the service life of both the Powerbank and your smartphone/tablet)
• In the end, collected somewhere underground electronic filling A Power Bank can generally damage your smartphone or tablet.

How to distinguish a fake Power Bank from the original?

• Hologram

The original PINENG is packaged in a branded box. On the PINENG box in the old design there was a hologram, it shimmered; on the boxes with the new design there was a blue sticker with a QR code and a closed digital code (click on the picture to enlarge).

At the bottom of the QR code there is a protective layer, under which there is a code, by entering which on the manufacturer’s website, you will recognize the original Power Bank in your hands or a fake (click on the photo to enlarge).

Original XIAOMI

Packed in a box, on which also, under protective layer, you will find a code with which you can also check the originality of the purchase on the manufacturer’s official website.

• The declared power is very different from the real one

You can find out this using a special one. It is worth noting that even an original Power Bank for example with 20,000mAh will not show all 20,000 because this value is a measurement taken under ideal laboratory conditions. But the difference between the declared and received power of the original Power Bank will not be large.

In addition, you need to keep in mind that the capacity indicated on the box and the Power Bank itself is the capacity of the batteries at a voltage of 3.7V. Since almost all modern mobile gadgets are charged at 5V, in order to find out what capacity we will get at the output, a formula is used that takes into account the conversion of 3.7V to 5V and the coefficient useful action batteries from a specific manufacturer.

If you try to derive a general (simplified) formula, you can calculate it like this:

Actual capacity = Specified capacity * 0.85

For example, if the Power Bank says 20000mAh, we get:

Real capacity = 20000 * 0.85 = 17000mAh

In this simple way, without involving many variables unknown to us, we can find out approximately what capacity should be at the output.

Knowing this value, we can approximately calculate how many times we can charge our gadget from a given Power Bank, for example for the iPhone 4S:

17000mAh / 1500mAh (capacity iPhone batteries) = 11.3 times

• Full set

Original PINENG and XIAOMI are supplied in branded boxes with instructions and cable.

The box from PINENG used to be white or Brown, the company now officially supplies its products in black packaging - this is international packaging.

• Build quality

All body seams are smooth and fit together well. The cord fits tightly into the USB and microUSB connectors. All ports are working.

• Working LED flashlight

for those Power Bank models that have it, for example . Also, if the description of the external battery talks about display backlighting, you should definitely check this point.

• Logo

There will always be a company logo on the body of the original PINENG, XIAOMI.

However, as we know, even global brands sometimes have defects (which is why every year thousands of cars from the most famous brands are recalled for revision).

At the same time, one thing is important: how does the store where we bought this or that item react to such force majeure?

For example:

Some jobs no longer exist after a month (this is especially true for the numerous online stores today)

Others take the “it’s your own fault” attitude

Still others take a very long time to respond, wasting our time and nerves.

Xiaomi is a fairly young Chinese company, just over five years old. But it is already being called the “Chinese Apple” for its many high-quality products with excellent design. Moreover, they manage to combine these qualities with an excellent price. But that’s not about that now. The popularity of Xiaomi products is so great that almost immediately the Chinese themselves began to counterfeit them. That is why it is necessary to be more than careful when choosing where to buy Xiaomi products and their subsequent check.

How to recognize a fake Xiaomi

First of all, no matter where you buy goods - in Russia or China, do not rush to the cheapest prices. Find and read store and seller reviews on Aliexpress. It is best to find a topic on the product you are interested in on specialized forums - good sellers are usually discussed there.

Secondly, upon receipt of the goods, it must be checked for authenticity. Here Xiaomi itself took care of the buyers - on the company’s website there is a special section for verification, and on the boxes with the goods there is a unique secret code. The code is covered with a protective layer that can be erased with a coin.

To check the authenticity of any Xiaomi product, go to the website chaxun.mi.com, select English language and enter the 20 digit secret code.

Then click “Verify now” to check. If your device is a genuine Xiaomi device, you will see something like this:

The product being tested is Mi Power Bank, an external battery. It is also clear that this code was entered only once on the site and no one before us tried to check it. From this information we conclude that our product is indeed genuine.

If you have any questions –! Be careful and don't fall for fakes!

Today we received an external battery for charging phones and other gadgets produced by the popular Chinese brand Xiaomi PowerBank 10400 mAh. This model is the middle one in the line of their power banks - there is also a lightweight version for 5200 and 16000. If younger brother outwardly thinner, but longer, then the older one is slightly narrower, but much longer and heavier. Therefore, I purchased the 10400 model for personal use as optimal ratio prices, sizes and capacity for everyday wear.

Equipment of the original Xiaomi Power Bank 10400 mAh

By the way, about gravity. We are accustomed to the fact that cheap Chinese batteries have a significantly lower capacity than indicated on the label. And the main signal for this is their light weight. For those who don’t remember, I already once ordered an extra battery for a Samsung phone and just fell for this trick.

The same story is possible with PowerBank from Xiaomi - of course, this is a serious brand and the original charger fully corresponds to the quality expected of it. However, there are many fakes on the market that can leave less pleasant impression. Let's unpack and take a look at original device and note those elements by which it can be distinguished from a fake.

In the official delivery we have the following equipment^

• the battery itself
• small flat micro USB cable
• and instructions.

There is no power adapter, so you can use any 5V/2A adapter - the option from the same mobile phone will do.

How to distinguish an original Xiaomi Power Bank from a fake?

First of all, let's look at the packaging - on the side of the branded box there is a sticker with a hologram and a protective layer, under which there is a 16-digit verification code.

Using it on the website http://chaxun.mi.com you can check whether this device is original and how many times a check was requested using this code on the website.

Our copy turned out to be original.

The second accessory worth looking at is the charging cable. In the branded kit it is longer - 22 cm. Also, the fake often has an embossed image of the Xiaomi logo - it is not on the original.

Externally, the powerbank is a solid-body box made of strong anodized aluminum gray. The coating is rough and does not try to slip out of your hands, although the security of the battery is also high - according to the manufacturer, it can withstand weight up to 50 kg.

Overall it creates a very pleasant impression of a high-quality, reliable device. This can be said about all Xiaomi brand devices, which despite being relatively low cost have an imprint of “glamor” on them - with all technical advantages They are simply pleasant to look at or hold in your hands.

Hidden inside are 4 18650 capacitive batteries manufactured by LG.

At the same time, in the original device, the assembly of all parts is done so well that the side plastic edges do not play and nothing rattles inside. On the main side panel we have all the indicators and controls. This:

• power button
• 4 LEDs - battery full indicators
• micro USB connector - for replenishing energy reserves on the most portable charger
• and regular USB for charging devices.

Here you can notice another difference with the fake - on the latter, all the elements are made less carefully.

The power button is only needed to check the remaining capacity of the power bank - it is signaled by LEDs. When you connect your phone to charge, the device turns on automatically.

Another way to check for lice is to connect the battery to itself - from micro USB to large USB. The fake will begin to charge itself, but the original will not.

And finally, let's look at the opposite side, where it is printed Technical information about PowerBank - the stamp on the fake one is brighter.

How long does the charge last?

We could check how many times this portable charger can be used on two devices - Apple iPhone 5S and iPad Mini. On an iPhone with less than 20% discharge, it lasted 6 times, with the average time ranging from 50 minutes to an hour. The iPad can be charged 2 times - both in just over an hour.

It is also worth noting here that interesting thing- despite the fact that the battery capacity is stated in large print as 10400 mAh, this value refers to the case if output voltage was equal to 3.6 Volts. But on USB connector standard voltage is 5 Volts, resulting in

the actual volume is almost halved to 6650 mAh.

Moreover, all this is absolutely honest, but unobtrusively indicated by the manufacturer in small print on the sticker. Can you imagine how small the volume of a 5200mAh charger really is?..?

As additional accessory for external Xiaomi battery you can purchase a silicone case, which is produced in several color solutions. It will not only give a bright appearance, but also protect the phone and other objects from scratches that can be caused by the sharp edges of the PowerBank.

That's all - buy, the main thing is to carefully inspect the battery before purchasing and read reviews about the seller. Good luck!