(Last Updated On: December 4, 2018)

At times we’re surprised by what power banks are able to accomplish because they can have many different features to them. Some power banks have different charging speeds and then there’s the special charging tech behind the charging speeds like USB-C or QuickCharge.

There are some power banks that are made for the outdoors because they’re shockproof and waterproof to protect themselves against dangers that would normally damage other power banks. There’s also solar power banks that recharge using their solar panels.

In this case, though, this is the RAVPower 14,000mAh Car Jump Starter power bank that’s able to jump start cars and still has the ability to charge devices like smartphones and tablets. There are also some other features that make it stand out.

Power

Power Capacity:

The power capacity of the RAVPower Car Jump Starter starts at 14,000mAh and it’s going to change quite drastically because of the inefficiencies during charging because a conversion of energy is taking place.

This can be attributed to the batteries that it uses with Lithium Polymer batteries and then the usual loss of energy through the charging cable. As a result, you’re going to be left with about 8,000mAh of Output power capacity that you’ll actually be able to use.

How well it charges Smartphones

Power Capacity for Smartphones

Yes, we know that’s a lot of power capacity that missing from the initial one but you should know that many other power banks on the market basically have the same kind of conversion rate. So it’s with an 8,000mAh Output power capacity that you’ll be able to charge most smartphones about 3 times or more.

If your smartphone has a battery that’s 2,000mAh then it’s going to be getting 4 full charges. so even with the Output power capacity being lower than the initial one, it can still provide lots of charges to a smartphone.

How the Power Bank fairs against Tablets

Moving onto charging tablets, it still does a great job because if you’re charging an iPad Mini 2, then the RAVPower power bank will do a full recharge and still have about 1,500mAh of power capacity left. Or if you’re charging an iPad Mini 4, that’s going to leave about 3,000mAh of more power capacity to use.

Ultimately, if you do decide to charge tablets with this power bank, that’s entirely possible but the best experience is to charge it with Mini tablets rather than Full-Sized ones.

Full-Sized Tablets

If you choose to charge Full-Sized tablets like an iPad 12-Inch series then, unfortunately, you won’t be able to charge it to its full power. This is because the Battery capacity of the Full-Sized tablet is 10,307mAh and as a result, using the entire power capacity will charge the iPad to about 80% of the way through.

Devices	RAVPower 14,000mAh Element Car Jump Starter (Output Capacity = 8,000mAh)	Phone Capacity	RAVPower 14,000mAh Element Car Jumper Left Over Capacity after One Charge # of Full Charges for the Device
iPhone SE	8,000mAh	1,624mAh	6,376mAh Left Over 4.9 Full Charges
iPhone 6	8,000mAh	1,810mAh	6,190mAh Left Over 4.4 Full Charges
iPhone 6 Plus	8,000mAh	2,915mAh	5,085mAh Left Over 2.7 Full Charges
iPhone 6s	8,000mAh	1,715mAh	6,285mAh Left Over 4.6 Full Charges
iPhone 6s Plus	8,000mAh	2,750mAh	5,250mAh Left Over 2.9 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S6	8,000mAh	2,550mAh	5,450mAh Left Over 3.1 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge	8,000mAh	2,600mAh	5,400mAh Left Over 3.0 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S7	8,000mAh	3,000mAh	5,000mAh Left Over 2.6 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	8,000mAh	3,600mAh	4,400mAh Left Over 2.2 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S8+	8,000mAh	3,500mAh	4,500mAh Left Over 2.2 Full Charges

Jump-Starting Cars

The power capacity is still high enough to jump starts car that has either a 5L Gas Engine or a 3L Diesel Engine up 20 times. With that said, the power bank must be above 60% power capacity to jump-start a vehicle, so there’s actually enough power to use.

Output Charging:

There are 2 USB charging ports on the power bank and each of them has a charging rate of 5V/2.1A. That’s not the amazing part, though, what is the amazing part is that the Max Output for the charging ports is 4.2A. So you can use both of the charging ports at their max charging speeds at the same time.

A charging speed of 2.1 Amps is very helpful for charging smartphones and tablets because most smartphones will be able to charge at their max charging speeds, except for smartphones that are compatible with Quick Charge because this power bank does not feature Quick Charge technology.

Tablets will be able to charge near their max charging speeds because tablets like iPads have a Max recharge rate of 5V/2.4A, and this power bank comes close to that at 5V/2.1A.

Car Jumping Charging:

The starting current of jumping a car is 280A and the Peak current is 550A. That’s enough power to jump-start cars that either has V6 Engines or V8 engines.

Input Charging:

Strangely, the RAVPower power bank isn’t recharged through a traditional Micro-USB input port and it’s actually recharged through a DC Input. It’s with the DC Input that you can either use the 15V Wall charger or 15V Car Charger to recharge the power bank.

The recharge rather when using either of these recharging options if 15V/1.0A and that result in the power bank being recharged within 5-6 hours, which is a really short charging speed in comparison of being recharged using a Micro-USB input.

Similar Power Bank

Design

Size and Weight:

One of the most important things to remember about Portable Car Jumper power banks is that they’re large and heavy. This stands true for this RAVPower power banks.

This is because it has a length of 6.7 inches, a width of 3.3 inches and a thickness of 1.4 inches. The weight of the power bank is 1 pound. So you’re not going to be holding this power bank, like, ever. As a result, you should have a power bank in your car.

Functional Components:

Almost all the functional parts of the power bank are on a single side of the charger.

On the long side is where you’ll find the power button, the 2 USB charging Output ports, the DC Input port, the ON/OFF Switch for jump-starting and the jump-starting ports.

On top of the power bank is where there’s the LCD Screen that shows the power capacity in a percentage manner and the Output charging speeds. On the short side of the power bank, is where there’s a LED flashlight.

Charging automatically starts when you plug a device into either one of the two charging ports, but the power button still has some key features to be used with.

The power button can be pressed once to turn on the LCD Screen to check the power capacity when you’re not actually using the power bank. Also, to use the Flashlight, you have to hold the power button down. The flashlight has 3 main features which are Solid Light, SOS, and Flash.

To turn from different versions of the flashlight, simply press the power button once the flashlight is on.

To use the Power Bank as a Car Jump Starter, you need to lift up the flap to show the Jumper sockets, and then plug the Jumper cables into the sockets. Once that’s done, connect the Jump cables to the battery of your vehicle with Red being Positive and the Black being Negative, then switch the Jump Start Switch on the power bank to ON.

Just wait until the Jumper cable’s light turns from Red to Green and then Start your car.

Build

Structure and Material:

The power bank is very well made even though it’s made of plastic it’s still durable. It has a thick plastic casing that makes it withstand bumps and hits while it’s in your car and you’re driving around.

The Jumper cables have Copper clamps and the outside housing is made of plastic.

Tech:

On the tech side, the power bank makes use of lots of charging tech like Short-Circuit, Over-Current, and Over-Charging protection to make sure that you and your devices are safe during charging.

Reliability

We think it’s very reliable to have this power bank within your car at all times because you never know when you might come back to your car and it has a dead battery. In those times, you have to call Triple A and that can cost a few hundred dollars.

Or you can simply use this power bank to save you those high costs, anxiety and being stranded, to instead, being confident that you can start your car up.

Also after you start your car up, you might notice that your smartphone is low on battery power. Well, look at that! The power bank that you used to Jump Start your car can also charge your smartphone!

This is what reliability is and we think that this RAVPower portable charger is going to be very useful in those unexpected times.

Then there are the 2 methods of recharging the power bank with either the Wall Charger or Car Charger. This way, you can have the wall charger at home and have the car charger in your car at all times so if the power bank does need recharging, you can do so while you’re driving.

Similar Power Bank

Summary:

Power:

The power capacity of the RAVPower power bank goes quite a lot lower than its initial power capacity losing about 6,000mAh. Even so, the 8,000mAh power capacity is still useful to charge smartphones lots of times and also to charge tablets a single time while having a little bit left.

For Jumpstarting vehicles, there has to be at least 60% of power capacity left. With that said, it can jump-start a car potentially up to 20 times.

Design:

It’s a large and heavy power bank, so your best bet is to just place the charger in your car. The use of an LCD screen is really nice because you can tell the power capacity in a more accurate manner. Using the jump starting part of the power bank is actually quite easy.

Build:

It has a strong build and takes moving around, hits and bumps while it’s in your car and you’re driving around.

Reliability:

We think that everyone should have a power bank that doubles as a jump starter because you never know when you might need it and when you do have it in a time of need then that’s when it will be able to save you.

Not only for jump-starting your car, which is the main reason why this power bank was made, but also to charge devices like your smartphone.

Specs of the RAVPower 14,000mAh Element Car Jump Starter:

• Capacity:            Advertised: 14,000mAh            Output Capacity: 8,000mAh
• Output:

Per Port: 5V/2.1A

Max Output: 4.2A

• Input:   15V/1.0A Via DC Input
• LED Power Indicators: LCD Display
• Size: 6.7 x 3.3 x 1.4 inches
• Weight:  1 Pound

Conclusion:

The RAVPower Car Jump Starter has proved itself to be very resourceful because it can jump start cars lots of times and the same goes for charging smartphones.

Although the conversion of power capacity during charging could be better.