MagFast - cool product or tom-foolery? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: maverickbna
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 31, 2020, 02:07:01 am
content: www.magfast.comCould this work, or do you think this is a scam? I opted for a free wall charging point, and would like to possibly order more if I can afford it in the future.??Thanks and cheers to Dave Jones for this great community!-Alex

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 31, 2020, 06:03:04 am
content: As blueskull indicates, there is nothing impossible about what they're suggesting - although I'm not convinced about the jump starting a car with such a small device (see  below for some dubious claims).The caveat is it costs a lot to build and certify a range of products like that for worldwide sales. It also takes a lot of time! It doesn't sound like they have a shipping product yet, despite crowdfunding it in 2017. Oh, and they seem pretty pricey compared to competing products...They are not on any of the popular crowd funding sites, but there are PR-style articles (first three links below) about the pre-order/funding so it appears they did a self-hosted campaign. Their website timeline seems to indicate shipping an earlier product, but I didn't come across anything in a quick search.Oh, and their team includes people from P3 International, who had a similar product to the main charger block. It has a pretty poor rating on Amazon . P3 appear to be the company doing the technical work. They're known fo the Kill-A-Watt product  so they do know who to deliver a product, but that doesn't mean Magfast will deliver.https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/magfast-family/https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/magfast-debuts-the-world-s-first-power-bank-with-three-qi-wireless-charging-coils-1028742282https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-500-amp-MAGFAST-power-bank-has-3-separate-wireless-charging-coils.446166.0.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/4309083618-P3-International-Wireless-thingCHARGER/dp/B01868OFJOhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_WattEdited for minor clarifications

author: Domagoj T
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2020, 07:18:08 am
content: I don't get it.You've got one type of charging port on your phone. Just carry the one cable you need (or carry two cables and you've covered basically every phone in the world). USB charging ports are everywhere, but even if you can't rely on finding one, a wall wart isn't that big.I have one wireless charger setup I use at home, and that is basically permanent installed. Hide the wires to your liking. For travel I use a wire and that's it. In car you also can have a permanently installed charger in the lighter socket, if your car doesn't have a dedicated USB charging port (and a good deal of new cars do).I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with this, so I wouldn't call it a scam, but certainly a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

author: maverickbna
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 31, 2020, 10:45:19 pm
content: I looked up the CEO and he previously did an Indiegogo (read SKETCHY) and did the thingCHARGER.I'm not familiar with their product, but apparently it was a failed kickstart campaign, and they apparently learned from their mistake and tried again.Want to give them the benefit of the doubt, or is it too many strikes?Greetings from the quarantined Seattle, USA...-Alex

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2020, 11:06:36 pm
content: QuoteDon't know about that small but I have a similar jump starter. Same cables, just a different format battery pack. It is amazing! Went through a period where the car battery was dying and I refused to believe it so got the jump starter instead of a new battery. Worked flawlessly a few times, and even started a big Merc that use main beams as runnings lights.Earlier this year my car suffered a fault where the fuel pump wouldn't go into sleep mode (apparently, it keeps running after engine-off to prevent airlocks while the fuel system cools down). Result was not just a flat battery but absolutely dead - not a peep out of it at all. The jump start had been left in the boot since the last time it was used, so hadn't been charged or anything, but it still got the motor going first stab of the starter. As I said, they are amazing things and I can believe this one might perform, at least on smaller motors.

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 01, 2020, 04:01:33 am
content: Yes, I have one of those starter packs as well - although it is reasonably big, has 6 x 18650's, and is rated for 200A (which I highly doubt). I've also used it on a partially discharged car battery and it helped.ISTR seeing 18650 lithium batteries that are manufacturer rated for peak currents of 50A or more. The Samsung ones I have are 30A. I'm sure really specialised ones (read expensive) can do higher.They quote a discharge rate of 500A, and you'd need 3 cells in series to start a car. So even if they could do 100A per 3 cell string, they'd need 15 x 18650 cells to get 500A. No idea of the dimensions of their device.