My name is Lorenz and i am 12 years old, and i recently looked at my powerbank with built in cables and noticed, that this type of powerbank has a huge problem: if the cable wears out or gets damaged otherwise, the whole powerbank becomes e-waste.
So i have an idea for a fully repareble “Fair Bank” where you can just swap the built in cables if one of them gets damged.
And here is how it works: on the back of the powerbank, there are 2 or even 3 built in cables, but they are not soldered to the Mainboard. Instead, there is a small connector on the outside of the power bank, where you can click in the cables and maybe hold it in place it with a little screw, so it doesn’t fall off.
On one side of the powerbank there are also two normal USB-C and one USB-A slot where you can plug in normal cables and also charge the power bank itself. And here is the best part: there are different types of cables - micro USB or lightning for example - wich you can just click on to the powerbank. That means, if someone gets a new phone and it has a USB-C slot instead of lightning or micro USB, They don’t have to buy a whole new powerbank. Instead they just buy an USB-C Cable for the Fairbank. So, instead of spending 50 euros on a new powerbank they just buy the cable for much less money.
And one more Idea: Maybe you could build the powerbank so, that the litium cell is swappable to. So if it looses its power over time, you just buy a new one and don’t have to throw away the plastic housing. And you could make the normal USB-C and USB-A slots swappable too.
I built a little model of the powerbank and attached some photos of it so you can see what the FairBank roughly looks like. (Sorry, i only glued the USB slots onto the model. Please just imagine, they are flat built into the hosing.)
There is no need for you to delete anything. Your post might get merged with other similar ones in the future if there is community consensus that this is the best solution. I hope you don’t mind.
However. I think there’s a misunderstanding. The topic you linked is about a powerbank housing where you can click in old Fairphone batteries. I think my Idea is very different from that. Instead of putting an old fairphone batterie into an powerbank housing - wich, I think is a great Idea - My Powerbank is a normal powerbank with the difference, that it has swappable build in cables and USB slots. But i still think its a good idea for reducing e-waste. In my first Post, i couldn’t atach more than one photo. This time: here is a link to google drive where you can look at the photos. Photos Product Idea: The FairBank - Google Drive
Hello again. I was thinking about ho to hold the cables in place. I build a midel if a little mechanism wich could do that. I attached a video of it. Here is a short explanation about what you can see in the video: The long black thing is a cable, and the 4 little black squares on the powerbank and the cable are magnetic contacts, that snap together. I think the rest of it is self explanatory. Link to the video:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xd7lcd332BiKyz5Iuwp-PdVFfEO5JmfL/view?usp=drivesdk
That’s XTAR PB2 Charger - XTAR . You can use your own 18650 and 21700 cells. Though it’s not Fairtrade and it’s not repairable (past the point of exchanging the cells).
What’s the problem with cable-less powerbanks? There are plenty of them out there. If you’re into repairability, you definitely want a cable-less one…
I think that powerbanks with inigrated cables are very useful. Ypu can not forget a cable and this is very good if you are for example yousing it to charge your devices at school or universitsy. I know what i am talking about. I have a powerbank with inigrateted cables for school myself, and it is very practical if you don’t have to carray around an extra cable
@Adri_F yvmuell is right. It doesn’t exist. But I also think it would be so cool if it would exist. Do You like the Idea? And is anyone here who would also buy the FairBank if it would exist?
I was thinking about the capacity and the cell type of the powerbank. A Fairbank with 15000 mAh and LiFePO4 cells (which are really great because they are not as bad for nature as other cells) would weigh about 400 g. Because this is way too much for a powerbank you would want to carry around in your pocket, I was thinking of NMC cells. With 15000 mAh they would only weigh 200 grams. What do you think?
@Knirbs your inventive mind is great! I like what you’re proposing, and I’ve been looking for something like this myself - with replaceable batteries - but haven’t found anything satisfactory. Personally I prefer not to have an integrated cable but that is a minor point, the main thing for me is a powerbank with replaceable batteries. It would fantastic if Fairphone could make an accessory like this - I’d buy two!
@madbilly Thank you for your feedback! I only have one question: why do you prefer powerbanks without built in cables? If you don’t need the cables they are just on the back of the powerbank clipped in, and if you need them, they are there to charge your devices.
Just because then I can always find a cable - assuming the powerbank has USB-A ports on it. A tethered cable is okay, but I’d need a bunch of adaptors which are easier to lose and harder to just buy in a shop if needed.
I think I’d also be concerned about the constant strain on the tethered cable and also of it’s contacts on to the PCB. The Fairphone 4 USB-port has a weak-point here which is caused when a heavy cable is connected, and that’s only when a cable is connected, not continuously.
I like what you’re proposing, and I’ve been looking for something like this myself - with replaceable batteries - but haven’t found anything satisfactory. Personally I prefer not to have an integrated cable but that is a minor point, the main thing for me is a powerbank with replaceable batteries. It would fantastic if Fairphone could make an accessory like this - I’d buy two! 
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