Wanting to understand "Power Banks" and what I'll need....

[MavicFlyer2]

I just purchased a HP Omen 16" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics, a 16" 144Hz 2K (1920x1200) display, with 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB storage. Quite the power hungry Laptop !
I'm needing a Power Bank for out in the field to live streaming to YouTube with a Mavic 2 Pro using OBS software.
Does anyone know of a good Power Bank that would help me out ? Thanks !

 

[Jim Martin]

Nice laptop
I don't think the typical power bank would keep that beast alive for more than a few minutes. You might want to look at portable power stations. Amazon still has some good deals, including half off on several DJI portable power stations.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I agree with the post above that you may need to be looking at portable power stations, I have a fairly beefy Anker power bank I use for my laptops and handheld gaming consoles (Steamdeck/Legion Go) and laptops only has 100W max per USB-C port. From what I can see, the spec sheet for your laptop lists a PSU of 230W, for reference this is the power bank I'm using:

Anker Laptop Power Bank (25K, 165W, Built-In and Retractable Cables)

Triple 100W USB-C Ports for Multi-Device: Designed for multitaskers, featuring three USB-C ports each delivering up to 100W, allowing you to power a MacBoo

www.anker.com

It looks like they have slightly more powerful versions at 140w but that would likely fall short. I think you'd need something more like this:

Anker PowerHouse 535 - 512Wh | 500W

Long-Lasting Portable Power Station With a 10-Year Lifespan: With our proprietary long-lasting technology InfiniPower™, combined with LiFePO4 batteries, ul

www.ankersolix.com

 

[anotherlab]

You don't need a gaming laptop to live stream to Youtube. OBS runs nicely on a M1-based Macbook and would draw a fraction of the power needed for the Omen.

 

[Occams Razor]

Yes, you are going to be burning through a lot of power. Can you provide the power requirements for you laptop? Also, how long are you planning to run for a session? My guess is you are going to need something that provides several hundred watt-hours like a Jackery or Ecoflow power station.

 

[mavic3usa]

Yes, you are going to be burning through a lot of power. Can you provide the power requirements for you laptop? Also, how long are you planning to run for a session? My guess is you are going to need something that provides several hundred watt-hours like a Jackery or Ecoflow power station.

I have a few of each of them and the Ecoflow is at the bottom of my list until the most recent River 3. I'm a big fan of Anker and DJI power stations.

 

[moldorf]

like people have said, a power bank won't supply enough power...you'll need a power station

now, I go out camping a lot in a small 5th wheel. It doesn't have an inverter, just a converter so when boon-docking, only 12V power. I take my drone(s) and I have a pretty powerful ASUS laptop that I use for editing. So I needed a smallish power station. I got this one from Jackery:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082TMBYR6?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

now, it's a small power station. It only has 293 watt hours of capacity. Running the laptop for an hour or so drains 90-120 of those watt hours and if the laptop is chugging along in a conversion/edit, it can drain a little more. So, that's the downside. The upside is the unit is small, only weighs 7 pounds, and can be recharged by a type c USB line (besides grid power)

but those are some of the considerations you have to gauge: power consumption, recharge process and time, size, weight. It doesn't do much good to drain your PS down if you need to get back to grid power in order to recharge. Many of these units can only be recharged with house current. Some can be with a 12V system like a car or RV; and some can also be recharged with a solar panel

you also need to be cautious about the actual power supply. If you're running electronics you want to be very sure the 110v supply is true sine wave. I've seen some cheaper power stations I'd be very skeptical are true sine wave power and that can fry your laptop

for instance here's another Jackery PS:

Jackery Explorer

it has a capacity of 1,070 watt hours. But it weighs 24 pounds and can only be recharged with 100-120V grid power...unless you want to also buy a solar panel and carry it along too

people have mentioned the DJI power stations. They are reported to be really good.

here's a DJI model

1024 watt hours. Now, they claim it can be recharged using a car battery. But if you try and recharge it more than a top-off, I'd bet it will drain your battery and you'll have to call triple A. It also weighs 33 pounds. That's not a weight I'd want to cart around

 

[Felix le Chat]

like people have said, a power bank won't supply enough power...you'll need a power station

now, I go out camping a lot in a small 5th wheel. It doesn't have an inverter, just a converter so when boon-docking, only 12V power. I take my drone(s) and I have a pretty powerful ASUS laptop that I use for editing. So I needed a smallish power station. I got this one from Jackery:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082TMBYR6?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

now, it's a small power station. It only has 293 watt hours of capacity. Running the laptop for an hour or so drains 90-120 of those watt hours and if the laptop is chugging along in a conversion/edit, it can drain a little more. So, that's the downside. The upside is the unit is small, only weighs 7 pounds, and can be recharged by a type c USB line (besides grid power)

but those are some of the considerations you have to gauge: power consumption, recharge process and time, size, weight. It doesn't do much good to drain your PS down if you need to get back to grid power in order to recharge. Many of these units can only be recharged with house current. Some can be with a 12V system like a car or RV; and some can also be recharged with a solar panel

you also need to be cautious about the actual power supply. If you're running electronics you want to be very sure the 110v supply is true sine wave. I've seen some cheaper power stations I'd be very skeptical are true sine wave power and that can fry your laptop

for instance here's another Jackery PS:

Jackery Explorer

it has a capacity of 1,070 watt hours. But it weighs 24 pounds and can only be recharged with 100-120V grid power...unless you want to also buy a solar panel and carry it along too

people have mentioned the DJI power stations. They are reported to be really good.

here's a DJI model

1024 watt hours. Now, they claim it can be recharged using a car battery. But if you try and recharge it more than a top-off, I'd bet it will drain your battery and you'll have to call triple A. It also weighs 33 pounds. That's not a weight I'd want to cart around

Concur. Make sure the output from any off-grid power source is pure sine wave.

 

[DARKSeifer]

You will need at least 1Kwh of juice; something like the Ecoflow Delta 3 Plus, for example; where you can also charge the drones, of course.

You can also pick a 200W solar panel, and you won't run out of juice while it's sunny. Don't pick portable panels larger than 100 or 200W because they are too big and bulky to move around. 2x200 or 2x100 are better than 1x400.

There are also alternator chargers for the car that can charge the power station up to 800W or so. If you use the car to move around long distances, it will be as useful as the solar panels.

There are also bigger power stations that have 2Kwh, 3Kwh and more, but are extremely buly. The Delta 3 Plus is the compromise between AC power (1800W), capacity (1000Wh) and manageable weight.

Smaller power stations like the River 3 could also be an option, as long as you feed them constantly with a solar panel; but the Delta 3 Plus or similar is the best option for droning, or droning + laptops + cameras + other things. The smaller ones are better used for less demanding stuff like charging the phone or powering a 4G router.

If you need extra juice, you can always pick additional generic 12-48v lithium batteries and plug them directly to the solar input of the power station with an XT60, or through a DC to DC converter; they are way cheaper than picking a "bigger" power station.

My current setup for the go is a Delta 3 Plus and a 12v 1Kwh generic lithium battery; and it's plenty of juice to fly all day on location without even planting the solar panel.