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.
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.
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?
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.
Sounds like it may be this issue:
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.
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):
@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.
@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.
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)?
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).
As related advice already available, just remove your Librem 5 back cover again and:
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.
“… 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.
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.
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.
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.
Product ASIN: B005REEWYY tells us that it is manufactured for lithium HV (LiHV) batteries. Therefore its termination voltage logic will stop charging of some inserted battery at 4.35V.
Firstly, such intelligent external power supply will not bring Librem 5 battery to explode while … Purism thought up front about this (BPP-L503 battery probably having BMS integrated within it, making it to be the one of PROTECTED type – just my unofficial guess).
Secondly, many internal components of the Librem 5 are to be provided with 3.3V and engineers that made this product (with add-on components like M.2 cards) allowing max. input voltage of 4.20V, so there should not exist any reason to insert some 1S LiHV that fully charged provides +/− output of 4.35V (or even 4.4V).
@frank, please refer to this post: External battery charger for Librem5, and to few surrounding ones.
Only universal battery charger, known to me that here related battery fits into it, and that will terminate (although just partially, and therefore connected battery should not be left there for extended period of time) charging at 4.2V is this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33059035109.html.
P.S. Just putting few simple thoughts here that are to be followed, as nothing here needs some expert explanation why is necessary to differentiate 1S lithium-ion 3.7V batteries from 3.8V batteries, etc.
Thank you. I have ordered the charger from aliexpress. It is very reasonably priced.
The web site mentions that the charger is only for 3.8V LI ion batteries and not 4.2V,
but the order says I got 4.2V Universal Wall Travel Charger.
Bit of a worry as the Librem 5 battery says it is 3.8V
This is from the web site.
Intelligent Universal Wall Travel Charger for Cell Phone PDA Camera Li-ion Battery with USB Port Fit Mobile phones, Digital cameras, Mp3 Mp4 players, Hand held gaming devices, PDAs and many more rechargeable lithium-ion batteries at 3.7 volts
Automatically stop charging when fully charged,.LCD screen indicates connection and full charge. Input: AC 100-240V 50/60Hz Output: DC 4.2V 800mA, USB Port Output: DC 5.2V 1300mA (USB)
Just compatible with 3.7 Volts Batteries, Not for 3.8V or 4.2V!!! Otherwise, the battery can not be filled
Yes, any batteries rated as 3.8V will not be filled up to 4.35V (100% of their capacity). Meaning this universal battery charger is manufactured for 3.7V and it will (although not precisely) stop/terminate charging at 4.2V.
P.S. Main difference between charging battery within Librem 5 is that charging of inserted battery will terminate charging at 4.20V (I’m quite sure). Anyway, battery charged with this external charger you should not leave charging there unattended nor for prolonged period of time (overnight for example) as it still provides some small current to inserted battery (rise battery voltage slightly over 4.20V, but this is just my coarse guess as I actually never had time to test it exactly, as occasional voltage measurements (after recharge completed) might/should be done right after charged battery taken out as full).
