Live review: Fake Anker Powerport 10

While browsing for interesting phone chargers I found this fake “Anker Powerport 10”. It looks almost 100% identical to the original! So I decided to give it a thorough test. Follow along while I test the unit in my live style review!

Live style video review

I did one of my live style video reviews of the unit. Follow along while I test the unit and see how well it performs, as with the last charger, I was surprised in the end!


Observations

As you were able to see in the video, this charger isn’t that bad at all. It’s certainly not of the dirt cheap Chinese knockoff quality I’ve seen before. I’m not saying that it’s as good as the original Anker Powerport 10 (watch my review here) but it’s not half bad either!

As you were able to see in the video I also took a look inside of the unit and even there it pleasantly surprised me. Sure, it’s not the best board layout or soldering but still, it can be much worse. They’ve even used a spark gap and decent high and low voltage separation.

Available using lots of different names?

While searching online for the model number it turns out this charger is available from a lot of different brands. From what I can tell, they are all the same product.

Names I was able to find where Amstar, Bonscien, Gracetop, XinBoxin, HLS, Branco and Preto. They all seem to be selling the exactly same charger, that’s also probably why it’s a fairly decent product. From what I’ve been with Chinese manufacturers, they’ll sell dirt cheap products with no name and they will sell decent products (even though a knockoff) using some sort of name.

Get it yourself!

As you’ve been able to tell by now, I quite like this charger for the money. Check out below for more info but if you want to get one, you can do yourself over here.

Some photos

They look 100% identical from the outside
They look 100% identical from the outside
From another angle
From another angle
I just had to open it up. After 20 minutes I finally managed to pry it open
I just had to open it up. After 20 minutes with a Dremel I finally managed to pry it open
p1080173
The USB parts are nicely spaced on the PCB
p1080174
Power input with a fuse and the way the switch is connected
The back side of the PCB. Nicely laid out, cut out slots, tinned lanes to up power capacity, not too shabby at all!
The back side of the PCB. Nicely laid out, cut out slots, tinned lanes to up power capacity, not too shabby at all!

Voltage and Amperage graphs

As always I’ve tested this charger with my EBD-USB in various configurations. Since this charger does not support Quick Charge all tests will be 5.0v only.

Single port tests

Only EBD-USB, 5v, last port

singlelastportWow, just like the previous (but horrible) charger when using a single port it’s able to output up to 4.0Amps. That is the max the EBD-USB can handle! That would certainly work well with fast charging technologies like dash charging, etc.

Only EBD-USB, 5v, first port

singlelastportUsing the first port on the other side of the charger doesn’t change a thing as was already suggested by the PCB layout.

Multiport tests

Let’s see how well it does when really stressing it!

3x 2.0Amps + EBD-USB in last port

3x2testerlastportWell, that apparently doesn’t change a thing. It’s still going strong all the way up to the maximum Amperage the EBD-USB can handle.

4x 2.0Amps + EBD-USB in middle port

4x2testermiddleportAgain, same results, no real voltage sag to speak off, excellent!

5x 2.0Amps + EBD-USB in middle port

5x2testermiddleportAnd here we discover the maximum the charger is able to handle. Again, as in the video it outputs a total of 12.5 Amps before it cuts off, well above the rated 10 Amps of the charger.

Conclusion

I’m taken by surprise with this charger. I bought it because I figured it would be a cheap Chinese knockoff and it to be horrible. But it wasn’t, actually, it performed REALLY well, and getting the thing open was a real task, so they even didn’t cheapen out there.

Sure, a brand charger is still better technically I think, but from my testing and observations, I am unable to find any obvious faults with it.

Need a 10 port charger that can deliver a decent amount of Amperage? Get one here!

One thought on “Live review: Fake Anker Powerport 10”

  1. Would be interesting to open the Anker charger to see the differences.

    And let’s never forget a USB “charger” is just a 5V power supply with USB sockets.

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