In my video, “How To Prepare Your Computing Devices For A Hurricane,” I talk about USB Power Banks. (The video is at the end of this post if you haven’t seen it yet.) The picture above shows three of mine (I have more.) which are all fully charged. Since I’m sitting here writing this post as we await Hurricane Isaias, I thought it would be a good idea to have them at 100%.

If you didn’t watch the video or just didn’t understand how a USB Power Bank works, I’ll explain more fully in this post.

The most common USB Power Banks consists of a number of ports. (See photo above.) First, there is a micro-usb port. You use this port to insert a power cable and get the Power Bank charged up. The other ports are USB-A ports you can use to plug in smart phones, tablets and other devices that need charged and have a USB connection. Some USB Power Banks have different ports such as an iPhone charging jack and/or an Android port.

These units allow you to charge devices multiple times before they give out. This could be a lifesaver for communicating during a power outage. Although my video talks about using these devices during a hurricane, the truth is, you should have at least once of these for other times. Here’s a perfect example: one day, Joyce was getting ready to walk Gus in the morning, as she normally does. As she was gathering her gear for the 3-mile trek, she realized she had forgotten to charge her phone overnight. The phone had very little battery life left. Since it’s extremely important that she be able to call me from her walk if there’s a problem, we used a Power Bank to charge her phone as she and Gus ambled through the neighborhood. The bank fit in her pocket with a cord running to her phone which was in the other pocket. It worked perfectly!

Whether you adore or despise smartphones, tablets, etc., they are definitely an integral part of today’s life. Don’t put yourself in the position of not having what you need simply because a battery went dead. If you don’t own at least one USB Power Bank, click on the button below and get yours today.

Note: if you purchase after clicking one of our links, Keystone Computer Concepts may be compensated.