If you’re traveling with your iPhone to a place without power outlets, an external battery can be a lifesaver. And if you’re going to be there a long time, you’re going to need a bigger battery. So just how big of a portable battery can you get? Here’s what my research found.
The Turcom 33,600 mAh External Battery Pack
The Turcom 33,600 mAh External Battery Pack and Powerbank Charger ($140) is the largest capacity portable battery that I could find that recharges the iPhone. How big is it? This baby will completely recharge an iPhone 4S/5 around 15 times. 15! And it weighs about 1.8 pounds.
The Turcom comes with a built-in USB port, so you’ll need to bring your own USB lightning cable or 30-pin connector for the iPhone/iPad to charge. The battery also comes with several adapters for charging various brands of laptops. The Turcom will recharge an iPad 4 around 3-4 times (the iPad has a much bigger battery than the iPhone and thus gobbles up more juice).
How to measure a battery. The simplest way to measure the capacity of a battery is by milliamp hours (mAh). The more mAh, the longer it can power a device. The Turcom’s 33,600 millamp hours of storage is the most I found short of hooking your iPhone up to a car battery (which I don’t recommend). Car batteries start at around 45,000 mAH (truck batteries are around 100,000 mAh), so 33,600 mAh is impressive for a 1.8-pound package. Most of the biggest external batteries for charging electronics like somewhere in the 20,000-26,000mAH range.
