Chargers and battery banks for the Librem 5

[soulstenance]

I am wondering if there’s any info on compatible chargers and battery banks for the Librem 5. Aside from the included adapter, all of my adapters don’t seem to charge it well at all, including some official branded ones such as my Oneplus and Samsung adapters (both of which have fast charging technology that the Librem 5 doesn’t support). When I use these adapters, the charging light on the phone sometimes will light up, however, the battery icon will not indicate it is being charged. This leads me to believe that while the battery is indeed receiving power, it is not enough to outperform the battery’s drain. I also have a 10ah Samsung battery bank which has the same issue and will become worthless once I start to daily drive the Librem 5 in the future.

Now looking at the included adapter it appears to use PD 3.0. My main question, TLDR, is whether this is the only requirement for charging the Librem 5 or if there’s more to it than that? Can I buy adapters and battery banks that support this standard and have them “just work” with the Librem 5?

Here are some examples, specifically the car adapter since as of now I have no way whatsoever to charge the Librem 5 when I’m on the road.

UGREEN USB C Car Charger, 40W Dual Fast Charge PD3.0 Port Type C Car Phone...

UGREEN USB C Charger 30W Power Delivery 3.0 Type C and USB A Dual USB Fast...

[TacticalPandaLE]

I wonder if Purism would consider selling spare chargers for the L5? I know I wouldn’t mind having a spare that I knew was guaranteed to be compatible.

[soulstenance]

Agreed. Also car chargers and battery banks. Especially with the L5’s current deplorable battery life, having multiple ways to charge it would be invaluable. However if it’s as simple as finding a PD 3.0 compatible charger/battery, then one can easily pick these up off Amazon for a fairly reasonable price point.

[steve]

They do sell a power bank here: https://shop.puri.sm/shop/power-bank/
Though I have not tried it. It does have usb-c so maybe it privides enough juice to charge a librem 5?

With the one I have, the librem 5 will charge very slowly if it has just the modem switch on and the screen off. Far from ideal though.

I’ve kinda found that batteries (usb-a) is really only good for not draining the internal battery on the phone, and not really usefull for charging.

[soulstenance]

Very interesting, I did not know about that! This is unfortunate for me though:

NOTE for customers outside US: We will not be able to ship any orders that contain ONLY power bank(s), without containing a laptop and/or phone, due to regulations. Any such order will be cancelled and refunded.

[TacticalPandaLE]

So, I decided to take one for the team and give the Purism 20,000mAh Power Bank a try. Thanks @steve for costing me another $79.00.

A couple of points. First, I was disappointed to see that the Power Bank did not come with its own cable. I’ve got it charging now with the L5 cable, I just would have thought that for 80 bucks it would have come with one.

Second, it’s a little bit bigger than I expected it to be. Not bad for a laptop, but I wasn’t expecting it to be bigger than the Librem 5. Photo for comparison.

I’m curious the size difference between the 10,000 mAh Power Bank and the 20,000 one for portability’s sake.

[steve]

@TacticalPandaLE

Thanks @steve for costing me another $79.00

Happy to help! lol

Thanks for checking it out for us,
Is it able to charge the librem 5 at a reasonably speed or is it like the other batteries that basically just prevent the main battery from discharging?

[TacticalPandaLE]

It’s charging at a reasonable speed so far. In about a 2 hr span, it went from 25% to about 70%. Keep in mind, I was using the phone during part of this period, including watching a video/podcast.

One thing to mention, had an issue later on tonight (after I removed from the powerbank, used the phone for a bit, then went back to recharge). I could not get the L5 to charge, either with the power bank, or the regular charger. Removing and resetting the L5’s battery cleared the issue and it began charging as normal. I have absolutely no idea if it was related to using the powerbank or not.

[steve]

Sounds like it may be this issue:

Librem5 doesn't always recognize charger (#390) · Issues · Librem5 / linux

I’ve seen it very rarely, and most of the time by having a dead phone that’s plugged in. So I don’t think it’s related to the battery. If you see it again I ask you get the information asked in the ticket there.

[Quarnero]

@soulstenance

However if it’s as simple as finding a PD 3.0 compatible charger/battery

This very kind post explains the basics involved (where source means that if some unknown PD power supply used … it might make Librem 5 happy, but not necessarily):

@nicole.faerber

PD is very complex and like it was already mentioned here requires the source and the sink to negotiate the terms, the negotiate a so called “contract”, where the source tells the sink which different voltage levels it can provide and also at which rate (current). Then the sink, in this case the laptop, picks one that suits best and confirms this back to the source. If both are happy, current flows.

[soulstenance]

@TacticalPandaLE To be fair, I own a Samsung battery bank that is 10ah and it is roughly the same size as the L5. Granted it does also have wireless charging built in but I digress. I don’t think it’s too farfetched for a 20ah battery to be slightly bigger than the L5. Not coming with a cable is a bit unfortunate though they probably assume you already bought a relevant device and thus have a compatible cable.

[soulstenance]

@Quarnero This is very interesting. So perhaps not all PD technology is created equal. This seems an odd and unreliable choice for charging the Librem 5. I wonder why they didn’t go with the more universal QC or even just good old fashioned regular 2 amp charging.

[frank]

Occasionally my Librem 5 does not charge. I need to remove the battery and after 5 secs install the battery and the phone reboots. One time the battery was so discharged that I could not reboot the phone. Removing and reinstalling the battery did not re-enable the phone to charge.
The I remembered that I bought a spare battery when I purchased the phone. The spare battery had enough charge and it rebooted the phone and I was able to charge the batteries.
I would have been really stuck without that spare battery.
All I want is the ability to charge the Librem 5 battery independently of being installed in the phone. I cannot find anything that will charge the Librem 5 battery standalone , ie not installed i the phone. I use a battery charger for other batteries I have. Would it be possible to adapt a battery charger to charge a Librem 5 battery, (a battery that is not installed in the phone)?

[amarok]

@frank

All I want is the ability to charge the Librem 5 battery independently of being installed in the phone.

[MyL5] Australia/New Zealand

Today I tested … external charging. The charger that I bought is: https://www.amazon.com.au/Onite-Universal-Battery-Charger-High-Voltage/dp/B005REEWYY It has universal AC voltage, independently adjustable positive and negative pin position, auto-sensing polarity, and adjustable battery width. So, mostly idiot-proof. It seemed to work with the battery for the Librem 5, although charging is quite slow. Like the phone charger itself, it has pins for a US AC socket. A good thing I bought a 2-pac…

[gondolyr]

There’s practically no details on the store page so I can’t make a judgement call on whether or not the TSA would allow the 20,000 mAh power bank. Anyone know if either of them are TSA compliant? I’ve seen top 10 lists online that list banks with larger capacities, though that doesn’t confirm if Purism’s power banks are within the 100 Wh limit (or 101–160 Wh with airline approval).

[Quarnero]

@frank

I would have been really stuck without that spare battery.

As related advice already available, just remove your Librem 5 back cover again and:

@dos

charging extra batteries can be easily done via the phone itself. If you use a powerful enough power supply with high enough input current limit, you should be able to take the battery off while keeping the phone fully operational, powered from USB. Then you can just put the other battery in and it should simply start to charge.

@frank

Would it be possible to adapt a battery charger to charge a Librem 5 battery, (a battery that is not installed in the phone)?

You can make this or similar charging set (just make sure that termination voltage stays at 4.2V): Battery for Librem 5. Also, ISDT UC2, or more expensive ISDT UC4, might be implemented as chargers as well, but I do not have them. Anyway, by using pogo pin connectors (therefore called “battery holder” for + and − poles), as shown within my here linked post is where you’ll need to start to build some reliable external battery charger by yourself.

[Quarnero]

“… independently adjustable positive and negative pin position …”

As linked universal charger specs are: “Output: DC4.35V -600mA(Battery)”, it is not to be used with the Librem 5 battery. Yet, its pogo pin connectors are just about the very same ones that I recommended within my previous post.

[TacticalPandaLE]

Here is a picture of the listed specs if that helps.

[frank]

I know how to replace Librem batteries. I do charge my spare battery using the phone.

I think you missed the problem I had… Does not happen often , but I had the NOT CHARGING problem 3 times now.

1. My phone battery was completely drained.
2. The phone DID NOT CHARGE, WHEN I connected the charger.
3. I could not REBOOT the phone, to attempt to fix the NO CHARGING.

The only way to fix the NOT CHARGING PROBLEM, is I believe to reboot, but I could not reboot as the battery had no charge,

Luckily my spare battery had enough charge to reboot the phone and I now have a resolution to my issue.

However I do not want to constantly remove the back to charge the spare battery.
I would prefer a standalone battery charger.

[frank]

Ok I will give it a go.
Onite-Universal-Battery-Charger-High-Voltage/dp/B005REEWYY

Just one concern. Qoarnero is quite vocal that the charger is not to be used with Librem 5 battery.
Can anyone clarify, this issue please.