Can You Charge And Use A Power Bank At The Same Time? It Depends On This One Feature

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A good power bank can be a lifesaver for keeping your phones, tablets, laptops, and other devices charged any time you're off the grid. They're great for providing your campsite devices with electricity, and it's certainly useful to have one around in the event of a power outage. But you might have occasionally wondered if power banks might have some on-grid uses as well.

Say you've just gotten home from a camping trip and you've plugged your freshly depleted power bank into the wall to recharge. You might look at all those AC and USB outlets on the bank and wonder if maybe you can use it as a sort of standing power brick, using the power bank as a central hub to charge and power your devices while the bank itself draws power from the grid at the same time. This would certainly be handy, as most power banks typically have a lot of different connectivity options, and it would spare you from needing to juggle individual adapters and trying to make them all fit on a single crowded outlet.

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is going to vary from power bank to power bank, depending on whether or not they have a feature called "pass-through charging," AKA "pass-through power delivery." Those that have this feature can power devices as they charge, while those that do not are only able to perform one function at a time.

Basically, pass-through power delivery simultaneously sends electricity to the power bank's battery and to any devices that are connected through any connected pass-through ports. Some devices might have all of their ports connected to the passthrough system, while others might only have a limited number of pass-through ports. By splitting the electricity in this way, the power bank is able to charge its battery and any connected devices at the same time, while being able to control and monitor the internal flow of the current.

The downside to this is that splitting the current limits the amount of electricity that can reach each destination. Direct power delivery (plugging your device directly into the wall) enables a higher power transfer than pass-through. Some power banks may have smart functionality built-in that prioritizes the flow to charging devices until they are full, while others try to balance both at once, causing both the power bank's battery and the battery of the connected device to charge more slowly than they would on their own. So, while pass-through charging is perfectly safe, it isn't quite as efficient as charging your devices directly.

If you already own a power bank and want to find out if it has pass-through charging, then you may wish to check your owner's manual or look up the specs listed on the manufacturer's website.

Fortunately, there are several options available from plenty of major power bank brands. Anker, for instance, is widely acknowledged as one of the best power bank manufacturers on the market. Most of Anker's power banks don't offer pass-through charging, but the company's PowerCore Fusion series supports it, as do the Laptop Power Bank 25,000 mAh, Zolo Power Bank 10,000 mAh, and the 733 Power Bank. Belkin's BoostCharge Plus 10K USB-C Power Bank and BoostCharge Magnetic Wireless Power Bank 5K offer it as a feature as well. Then there's Baseus, which has the Magnetic Power Bank 20W, PicoGo Ultra-Slim Magnetic Power Bank, Magnetic Foldable Power Bank 20W, and Adaman Laptop Power Bank that all offer pass-through charging.

Plenty of other brands may offer a handful of models that have pass-through charging, but it's still not considered a common enough feature that you should expect it if it isn't explicitly listed. Those who wish to get a power bank with pass-through charging should thoroughly search the product description listed on the manufacturer's website for any models they're interested in to verify that they offer it as a feature.