Why 99% of Power Bank Reviewers Are WRONG! (UGREEN Nexode 200W Test)

Hello guys, welcome to the TechDay

Everyday channel. And today I'm bringing

you my review and test of the Ugreen

Nexode power bank. This is the most

powerful model in the Nexode series

boosting a rated capacity of 90 watt

hours and a total output of 200 watts.

And since we are on the subject, I want

to show you today why 99% of power bank

reviewers are doing their test

completely wrong. I have seen a ton of

reviews claiming that PD protocol bank

is low quality because it overheats

after a short while, throw an error and

stops charging.

This applies to various brands including

this one. Honestly, I get the impression

that modern tech reviewers have no clue

about modern electronics. They don't

even know the basics of how they work. I

also want to emphasize that this review

is not sponsored. I bought this gear

with my own money just to show you how

foolish people are when they test these

devices incorrectly.

But all right, let's start from the

beginning.

If you are planning to buy this device,

make sure to check out the links in the

video description. The main advertised

advantage of this device is that it's

airplane friendly. [music]

With a capacity of 90 watt hours, it

sits right under the 100 watt hours

limit set by airplanes.

The device features two USB C ports and

one USB C A port. [music] On the back of

the box, we can find the specs for each

port. In short, USB C1 delivers 140

watts, USB C2 gives 100 watts and the

USB C A port handles 22.5 watts. Of

course, the power is shared dynamically

and cannot exceed a total of 200 watts.

Later in the video, I will test every

possible combination to show you how to

use this device optimally.

Inside the box, you will find the power

bank itself, user manuals in multiple

languages, and an extra accessory box.

Inside that, there is a carrying pouch,

and a USB-C to USB-C cable. After

plugging the cable into an e-marker chip

reader, it identifies as a cable

supporting the USB-C 2.0 standard at 50

volts and 5 amps.

The power bank features a large TFT

display, a single button, and three

ports I mentioned earlier.

The manufacturer claims a weight of 608

g and dimensions of 155 by 54 by 51 mm,

which perfectly matches my measurements.

The power bank turn on automatically

when it detects a device plugged in one

of ports, or via single click of the

button. On the main screen, we can see

the current battery percentage. Below

that, we can see the real-time power

output of each port, and the direction

of the energy flow.

In the top right corner, it displays the

remaining run time under the current

load. When charging the power bank

itself, this area shows the time left

until it's fully charged. The device

shuts down automatically about 2 minutes

after charging ends,

or by holding down the button for a

solid 6 seconds.

The charging process for connected

devices is considered when the current

drops below 200 milliamps. The device

also features an additional mode for

charging low power gadgets that draw

less than 200 milliamps, like

smartwatches or Bluetooth headphones,

called trickle charge. To active this

mode, just hold down button for 3

seconds. Once enabled, you will see an

icon in the top left corner. This mode

turn off automatically after 3.5 hours,

or you can hold the button for 3 seconds

again to turn it off manually.

As you can see, after connecting this

ESP module, the power draw is so low

that the device displays 0 watts. In

this scenario without trickle charge

enabled, the power bank would simply

shut down after 2 minutes.

To save energy while charging, you can

turn off the display with a double click

of the button.

>> [music]

>> You can wake it back up with a single

click.

Another single click change the screen

to show the current voltage and amperage

for each port. [music]

We also get a real-time power graph for

each port here.

Okay, let's move on the tests.

First, let's check which charging

protocol each port supports. As we can

see, the USB-C 1 port supports multiple

protocols such as Quick Charge 2.0,

Quick Charge 3.0, Quick Charge 4.0, and

Power Delivery 3.1 with a maximum output

of 140 watts.

The USB-C 2 port is similar, but tops

out at 100 watts for power delivery. The

USB-A port only supports Quick Charge

2.0 and Quick Charge 3.0 with a maximum

voltage of 12 volts.

So,

why are most YouTube reviews bad?

Because reviewers use an artificial

electronic load for testing instead of

actual real-world devices.

In the vast majority of cases, the test

looks like this. The power bank is

connected to an electronic load that

forces a continuous power draw using one

of the PD standards.

They locked the power at, say,

65 watts, 100 watts, or [music] 140

watts.

The PD standard doesn't work this way in

real conditions, nor was it designed

[music] to.

The core principle of the PD standard is

continuous communication between the

power source and the device being

charged.

The power is also kept as low as

possible by adjusting the current.

Device utilizing PD are designed to draw

maximum power only for short burst when

it's [music] truly needed.

There are no consumer devices that

continuously draw maximum full power

non-stop. When a power bank or charger

starts to overheat, it signals the

connected device and the current [music]

is throttled to lower the temperature.

When a power bank or charger starts to

overheat, it signals the connected

device and the current is throttled to

lower the temperature. When you use an

electronic load with locked power for a

test, this communication doesn't happen.

And that is exactly why these power

banks overheats and shut down after a

short while.

I have seen plenty of reviews for this

specific power bank claiming it shut

down after a few minutes even under a

modest 65 PD load, which is total

nonsense. I hope this makes sense to

[music] you now. According to the specs,

we can charge the power bank with a

maximum of 65 watts using either the

USB-C 1 or USB-C 2 port. As you can see,

the real charging power is indeed 65

watts for each port, though the reading

on the device display is a few watts

lower than reality. As I mentioned

earlier, the charging process is shown

on the screen with the remaining time to

a full charge in the corner.

>> [music]

>> Pass-through charging is also supported,

meaning you can charge the power bank

and your devices at the same time, which

can be pretty handy.

Next, I tested all possible port

combinations during discharge.

>> [music]

>> Everything matches the specifications.

Most importantly, the USB-C 1 port

delivers a true 140 watts, and it's

possible to charge two devices at 100

watts simultaneously using USB-C 1 and

USB-C 2.

Just keep in mind that when using the

USB-A and USB-C 2 ports at the same

time, their shared power drops to just

20 watts. You need to remember this if

you want to charge your devices as fast

as possible.

A great example of testing the maximum

output of the USB-C 1 port is this 140

watts USB-C soldering iron. The device

draws maximum power only while heating

up, which takes just a few seconds.

After that, the power consumption drops

to around 10 watts. In this scenario, we

get the maximum heating speed for the

soldering iron without overheating the

power bank.

The same goes for using USB-C 1 and

USB-C 2 simultaneously. The initial

power for each port hits 100 watts and

then immediately drops to the minimum

required. My next test involved

connecting two Dell laptops with

completely drained batteries. After

turning the laptops on, I maxed out

their CPUs to force them to draw as much

energy from the power bank as possible.

As you can see, the combined power draw

at the start is around 140 watts. The

power bank ran until it was completely

empty without a single issue. It didn't

overheat, and it throttled the current

whenever it could to cool itself down.

The discharge took about an hour. Like I

said, the laptops were under maximum

load the entire time, and their

batteries still managed to charge to

about 55%

and that is exactly what a properly

executed test should look like. For my

next test, I drained the power bank to

zero and it it back to 100% to see how

much energy it can actually take in. I

intentionally discharge it to zero at

around 65 watts, so it would get really

warm. When charging started, its initial

temperature was 47° C. As we can see,

the charging process took 1 hour and 40

minutes. The result was 4.17

amps hours. The charging voltage stayed

at 20 volts throughout the cycle, so

it's easy to calculate that the charger

transferred about 84 watt hours to the

power bank. Keep in mind though, that

some of this energy was lost as heat

during the process. Notice that at one

point during charging, the device

clearly throttled the input power from

65 watts to 50 watts to lower its

temperature. The manufacturer claims a

capacity of 90 watt hours, so as you can

see, there is a discrepancy here. I

wouldn't worry too much about it though,

as advertised battery capacities usually

deviate quite a bit from reality. Next,

I discharged the power bank to zero at

around 40 watts, measuring how much

energy it could actually deliver. The

result was 3.59 amps hours at 20 volts.

So, the real output energy is 71.8

watt hours, which is about 20% lower

than what the manufacturer claims.

All right, time for a summary. Um, in my

opinion, this power bank is the perfect

solution for people who travel a lot by

plane. Um, its high output and capacity

allow you to charge large devices on the

go, like a laptop, and honestly, it will

handle two laptops at the same time with

ease. From my perspective, it's also the

ultimate power source for a high-power

USB-C hot soldering iron. And working in

the field with a setup like this is pure

joy. I also think it makes an awesome

gadget gift. A power bank like this

always comes in handy.

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