bought this CELESTRON ThermoCharge 10 Handwarmer / Battery Bank for $75 CDN locally. I wanted a long lasting handwarmer for the L.R.R.P.R. webbing Stormtrooper hand-warmer pouch i recently bought. As well I wanted a backup battery bank for my cell and my hi capacity 18650 batteries i use (headlamp). They are micro USB rechargeable - so they connect right to the battery bank with a small micro USB cable. front view back view. Pretty exciting i guess...... The handwarmer unit has a 10000 mAH li-ion battery (most likely 2 x hi capacity 18650's (EDIT: 2 x 26650's) ). The batteries are NOT accessible unless you unscrew 4 super duper tiny access screws on the bottom plate. (something i have not done yet , but may , just to check things out ) oval shaped aluminum main body, plastic caps on each end (top one unscrews) and rubber seals. A Paracord lanyard with a cheap aluminum small carabiner allows you to tether the unit to your pocket or pack etc. there is one push button on the top of the unit. It requires a lot of force to press it down. (it pushes on another rubber button underneath the sealed cover.) top view, showing access hatch bolt and on/off button unscrewing the access hatch bolt the top hatch flips up, showing a 1 amp & 2 amp OUT USB outlets. As well you can see the on/off button. This one under the hatch is very easy to push on/off. There is a click when you push on it. A large usb IN charging port can also be seen. I would have preferred this to be a MICRO USB, to match my cell phone charger cables side view showing the battery meter (blue leds 4 total) and the on/off led (red) So i got it home,threw it on the charger for several hours (they ship 75% full) and then turned it on. Takes about 2 minutes to feel any heat. Then it gets fairly hot, but not uncomfortable. Its rated for 12 hours heat output, i got about 14. (temps tapered off a bit near the end but were consistent for about 12 hours). Its supposed to be water resistant, but i would still throw it into a small ziploc freezer bag, esp up here in the BC rainforest. So, its a battery powered hand-warmer, its simple on off design, has the extra feature of being a battery bank. So for that i'll give it a 8/10 my issues with the device is the fact that li-ion batteries and heat DO NOT MIX well. Having experienced thermal runaway and subsequent explosions (violent discharge of flame and toxic chemicals and toxic smoke (lethal to the cats, harmful to humans).......I QUESTION is it a good idea to have 45 degs of heat tightly enveloped around two extremely energy dense batteries? 10000 mAH is a LOT of highly compressed energy. I would hate to use this device on say a hypothermic hiker, in the critical heat loss zones (inside thighs, armpits etc) and suddenly the batteries decided ENOUGH.....KABOOM! the resulting medical emergency and toxic/hazardous materials in the wounds...... plus blast damage flesh injuries - scare the hell out me. yet its been approved by both US and Canadian safety agencies......(CE, FCC (FCC??? why them?) ROhs, so maybe im over-thinking the safety aspect here....but still....... If this unit had a accessible battery port, to allow one to change out the 18650 (EDIT: 2 x 26650's) li-ions in the field (away from chargers) for fresh ones,I would give this unit a 9/10. As well if this unit had a bigger bolt on the top cap (something rubberized for cold fingers to grasp) and the lanyard clip was mounted on the body rather than a tiny bolt, it would have gotten a much higher score from me. Also its pretty heavy, approx 1lb I only give it a 8/10 total - which i feel i being very generous. My hands were cold when i typed this and the unit worked so.......... field test this weekend using the unit in the L.R.R.P.R. webbing hand warmer pouch. UPDATE: I could not resist removing the 4 bottom cover screws. The unit actually has 2 non replaceable 26650 li-ion batteries it. Jeebus! thats an INSANE capacity battery, i would not want to be around when 2 of them decide to burst (short circuit, overheating etc). The heating foil tape covers 70% of the battery compartment, and contacts the aluminum shell to disperse the heat , thus creating the hand warming effect. Perhaps the battery housing is a thermal type plastic and keeps the battery temps down.....
^ i'm a gear Bro-Ho........love gear, testing gear....etc..... noticed something today with this hand warmer......the normal 12 or so hours runtime dropped dramatically. Then when i went to charge it , it seemed to stay on 1 led mode for over 6 hours..... hmmm......i'll see what happens after charging it overnight. Failing that, its going back to MEC for a FULL refund.
Interesting piece of gear. We use battery packs all the time but have never seen one with a built in handwarmer. Will be looking forward to your updates.
Update: seems I had a faulty ( low voltage ) USB port on the computer, plugged into a wall charger and it charged up fine.
Update: Charging mode: plug in your USB cable and the Phone starts charging automatically. A green led lights up to indicate charging. You cannot use the hand warmer feature during charging......it switches off the hand warmer mode and goes into charging mode Charging times: Plugged my iPhone into the 2amp Out port at 0420 hours. Phone was at 15% Will post total charge time when done
Update: About a month after the last post above here, the USB charging ports failed. I was unable to charge any external devices from the battery pack. It still was functional as a handwarmer. about a month after that one of the li-ion batteries rapidly vented while the device was being used as a handwarmer. By rapidly venting I mean complete and utter destruction , extremely dangerous release of heat and toxic chemical smoke. Thankfully it was not in my pocket. I was able to kick it into a deep snowbank away from us. I returned the melted, charred, burned device to the store I bought it from (Mountain Equipment Coop) and got a full refund . The clerk said I was not the first one to return one of these, many others had failed. I'm surprised they still carry this item.... My rating goes down to 1 out of 10. Heat and li-ion batteries simply do not mix. The potential for thermal runaway is too great.
