My last 2 backup batteries (portable chargers for mobile phones) died before a year of usage. They’re cheap non-branded batteries I bought online. Luckily consumer protection law in Australia is strong, so I managed to get full refund on both batteries.
So I decided to get my next backup battery from a brand I trust. And my choice is this Sony Portable Charger CP-V3 CycleEnergy 2800mAh. Got it for $40 from JB Hi-Fi. According to Sony, it can retain 90% capacity at 1,000 charges. It comes in various colors (12 color choices in total), I choose white. The form factor is very compact, and it’s very light. It can be recharged using an included micro-USB cable (very short), or we can use our own cable.
There are two LEDs in this product. An orange LED is located next to the micro-USB port (input) and will turn on while we charge the battery. A green LED is located next to the USB port (output) and will indicate how much energy is left. Unlike some other backup batteries that require us to press a button to “switch on” the charging process, there is no button in Sony CP-V3. The output USB port act as the switch. If a cable is attached there, then the unit will charge. When we plug off the cable, then the unit will turn off to conserve energy. The first time we plug in a USB cable, the green LED will flash 3, 2 or 1 times indicating the remaining energy.
Sony CP-V3 provides 5V – 1.5A juice to our smart phones, tablets, or other devices that uses USB cable as charger. It means that it will charge a little bit faster compared to other portable chargers that only provide 1A energy. Because when we charge our smartphones on-the-go while using it actively, it can draw more than 1A or energy. So far I consider this as a good purchase, but let’s see how many months will this battery survive.
Hi, i resd this and it was a good review, recently bought this product, snd i plugged it in to my phone and it wont stop flashing green, but when i disconnect it from the phone, it stops flashing green and stays green. Is it the phone or charger?
I brought this cpv3 and.. My sony Xperia v not fully charged…it..only.. More 75
I have enjoyed this product bc it worked great for me until now. Tonight I went to charge my phone and it wouldn’t charge. So I put the charger on the charger and nothing. When I set my phone on it, it blinks blue and red. Do you know why? The Orange button only blinks once btw. Thanks
Hi. We recently purchased the Sony Cycle Energy CP-W5. I am having a very hard time getting my phone to lay perfectly on top of it so it will charge and the 1 out of 25 attempts that I do get it to charge, it only charges for a couple minutes then it just stops. Is it supposed to be this difficult to make this thing work?
Hi. My Sony batteries work fine without much effort. So I don’t think it should be difficult. However, I’m just a fellow consumer like yourself, so I’m not in any position to tell you what’s wrong. Trying to claim warranty might be a good start.
when the cycle energy is getting charged more than 7 hours and if it does not plugged out from charger…will it will effect the device
When I charge the sony charger the orange LED lights up and it will stay on for a few minutes and then go off.How do I know if my device is being charged?Besides the device doesn’t seem to get heated also on leaving it to charge.Apart from that the green led doen’t blink to indicate charge but the green led just permanently stays on,on plugging in the usb port of the charger.
I bought one of this, and never worked
Hi Robert,
I bought this model today and when I plug it to the laptop or to the socket the orange LED light stays on for about 30 seconds and switches off or it just blinks once and doesn’t come on again. And when I try to check the battery capacity…the orange light flashes only 3 times instead of 6 as indicated in their user manual which means it isn’t fully charged.
Do you have a solution to that?
(I used a apple adapter to plug it to the socket to charge.
Thanks,
Ronali
I bought cycle energy but I m not having green or orange indicators……its red and blue wen I plug it its showing red and I dnt know when fully charged it shows blue ………now I dont know if its fully charged or not? But it charges my phone only 50 % nd then it stops I never even got 100% ….. now tell me if the product is damaged? And if not tell me what to do to make it 100%
Hi i baught one of these it is showing maulfunction what does it means and what should i do
when i first charging this device after some time the orange light continue flashing..i should stop charging or what????
hi i bought Sony CP-V3 USB Portable Charger 2800mAh from e-bay and read the user guide 2 times, and connected the unit to my sony xperia L wall charger for the initial charge. wall charger gives 850mAh output and in the user manual it says that power bank will take 3.5 hour time to charge in 1A input, but with my sony wall charee with 850 mAh it took just close to 2 hours for the initial charge and the orange light gone off. i did it on yesterday 22nd June and still not used to charge any device. is my power bank charged well in the initial charge or am i done it half. the manual says charge the device before the first use.
Robert, many thanks for the informative site – bought one today and looking fward to check its performance
My device charged twice and it has never worked since. Simply won’t charge up anymore. I plug it in and the amber light will light up for 30 seconds to a minute at most then just turns off. I connect it to my phone and it doesn’t even recognise a signal. Waste of money.
How long with it store power before depleting if I don’t use it. I would hate to keep recharging it without getting a chance to use it.
Hello. I bought this recently, but it starts heating up when I use it to charge my Galaxy S4. I doubt this is normal, so I was wondering, if this is happening to you?
It does get warm when I use it for charging, but never to the point of worryingly hot.
Robert, how would i know if the device is already fully charged?
When it’s fully charged, the orange LED will turn off.
To check the remaining capacity, plug in a USB cable to the output port, the orange LED will flash 3 times if full, 2 times if between 35% to 70%, 1 time if less than 35%.
Can I use my iphone charger to charge my sony portable charger
I believe so. I also use my iPhone wall charger to charge this Sony Portable Charger.
can i charge it from the socker, like phone, or i should only charge it from computer?
assuming you have a wall charger from a good brand (not those cheap low quality chargers), then you should be able to charge it from wall charger safely
i have bought this sony cycle energy but when i use it.the green light does not flash its always green.As u said it does not indicate status when i plug my usb cable
I just tried using this unit once. I had a feeling that afer being fully charged to 100%, my phone discharged much more rapidly than when I charge it using the wall charger. Was it just me feeling it or is this for real? Thanks.
This model (CP-V3) does not charge even a 1650 mAh battery fully. it is mentioned on the label at the back of the pack that the output is only 1500 mAh. So, it charges my Galaxy S Plus only 90-95%. Please let me know if anyone else is facing this issue.
The battery capacity is 2,800 mAh. It does say on the package that the output is DC 5V Max 1.5A 1500mAh 7.5Wh. It means, it is capable of delivering maximum 1500 mAh per hour, provided that our device “draws” power at 1.5A (iPhone draws 0.5A, Samsung Galaxy S4 draws 1.5A). It does not mean that the entire capacity is 1500mAh.
My iPhone 5S battery capacity is 1440 mAh, and I have tested that this Sony battery is capable of charging my iPhone from critical power 3%-7% to fully charged 100% twice. So the capacity is indeed 2800 mAh. The trick is to disconnect the cable as soon as it hits 100% as this Sony battery will continue draining power as long as the cable is attached.
Your Samsung Galaxy S plus battery is 1650mAh. Theoretically it should fully charge your phone once, then the remaining power should be able to charge the phone again to about 60%. Unless if you heavily used your phone heavily during the charging process.
If you don’t use your phone heavily during charging and this battery only manages to charge your phone to 90%-95%, you might have a defective unit. If it’s still within return period, you might consider to return it, or swap it with a good unit.
Dear Robert, thank you for your reply. I do not use the phone when it is charging yet it does not charge fully. It stops charging at 90-95% from 0-5%. I shall visit the service center soon for a replacement.
I got a replacement from Sony Service Center and got a brand new packed unit. When I tested it, it also gave me the same result i.e. around 1500-1600 mAh backup. I tested it with Galaxy S Plus and even with Sony Xperia ZL. Please advise what may be the problem? Thanks.
First, I’m not associated with Sony in any way, I’m just a customer like yourself.
I can’t tell you the “cause” of your problem, but I will offer few guesses.
First, have you fully charged the battery after you get it? The battery we have out-of-the-box has some juice in it, but not full.
Second, what is the wall charger you use to charge this battery? I have my suspicion that maybe somehow you failed to charge this battery to its full capacity. This is often caused by cheap non-branded wall charger. I use genuine Belkin charger and so fat it worked fine.
hi, i just gotten a sony cycleenergy charger 2800mAh. when i charge it for 6 hours, the orange light keep flashing and when i charge it to my phone, it does not work at all. My samsung phone is 3500mAh. Is it the charger’s problem or because it can’t support my phone’s battery?
the charger should be able to charge your phone, giving 2800mAh out of its capacity of 3500mAh, so it won’t charge your phone until full, but it should charge until around 80%
i have bought this sony cycle energy but when i use it.the green light does not flash its always green.i hope this is normal
Does this come with a pouch to store it in?
Also you said it turns on when its plugged in, but does it still stay on if you leave the cable connected to the battery, yet the other end disconnected from the phone?
I was thinking of getting this for my mom. I have yet to see a small battery charger like this with a built in cable which I would prefer.
It doesn’t come with pouch. When we finished charging, we need to disconnect the cable from this battery. Simply disconnecting the other end (the one near our phone) will not stop the discharge process. So far this battery works fine, other than this little extra to always detach the cable after charging.
Which device do you use to charge this with? Also, does it fully charge your device and if so in how much time? And lastly how long does it take to charge Sony Portable Charger?
I use it to charge my iPad mini and my iPhone 5S. iPhone 5S battery capacity is 1560mAh, this battery is 2800 mAh, so it can charge almost twice. I haven’t measured the time required to fully charge the Sony portable charger.
I just bought this exact product, you mentioned in your reply/comment that you use it on your Iphone 5s (Which ihave) But My cord doesn’t fit in my phone!!
Backup battery is designed to be usable with various devices and it’s not possible to provide all the possible cables for every device in the market.
The cord included with this battery is used to charge this battery (from computer or from wall charger).
To charge your iPhone using this battery, you will need to use your own lightning cable.
Hi Robert,
I am sure it is a great device, would it work on for my Samsung galaxy grand?
I can’t possibly test it with devices I don’t have, but it should work with most smartphones and tablets.