Rookie coach here. When we went to our first competition in December, teams found they needed to recharge their batteries on both their brain and controller. One team didn’t have time to charge in between matches and a coach/mentor from another team was gracious & kind enough to loan them a portable battery pack/charger to use with their controller during a match. After discussion with my teams, we decided it would be a good idea to get a portable charger/power pack for each team (I coach 5 teams) so that it’s easier to make sure things are charged during the day since a wall plug isn’t always available in pits at venues to plug in a charging option. I happened to have an emergency charger in my backpack that my husband and I have in our storm kits, but I’d rather have something that can be recharged and not a bunch of emergency chargers like our storm kit chargers that will end up in a landfill when drained (we also have a solar one in our storm kit, but as we learned with winter storm Uri in 2021 when we had no power or heat for 3 days, sometimes it’s too cold to go outside and charge a solar charger.)
Does anyone have suggestions for a portable charger that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg but can work with the USB-A to USB-C cords? We are going to another competition in a few weeks, so I’d like to get these ordered ASAP. Thanks in advance for your help!
The ones I have were from Woot as a refurb/overstock. They look very much like this one Battery pack with three outputs from Amazon. The key feature that I like is that I can charge three things at the same time. That has been a bonus since teams “don’t need to wait their turn” to get a chance at the charger.
That being said, the controller batteries do last a long time, make sure they are fully charged going in to a competition and they will last all day and then some.
Yeah…it’s been a real fear. FLL teams a few years back had issues with charges lasting all day even with new battery packs, so I’m leary with counting on one charge for the day on any device.
The one did have a full charge, but I think they were using it alot on the practice tables so when they got to their 8th match of the day, it was struggling to keep running. Extra brain batteries are a little easier to handle (even though a bit pricey on top of getting new kits as new teams), but controller batteries take more to get to for changing out, so a portable charger will be helpful.
When I decide on one, I’ll post for anyone interested.
FLL teams a few years back had issues with charges lasting all day even with new battery packs, so I’m leary with counting on one charge for the day on any device.