Power bank
Also known as: portable charger, USB battery pack
A portable USB battery that recharges cameras, mics and phones in the field, or powers a camera directly for recordings longer than one battery lasts.
Updated
What it means
Action cameras carry small batteries, and Battery life at high resolution is often well under two hours. A power bank is the bridge between that limit and a full day outside.
It does two jobs. Between runs it refills spare camera batteries, a Wireless microphone case and the phone that controls everything. On a fixed setup it can feed a camera directly, which turns a short-lived GoPro Hero 11 or Insta360 X5 into a camera that records a whole match or a long time-lapse.
Capacity is printed in milliamp-hours at the internal cell voltage, so the usable energy delivered to a device is always lower than the label suggests.
How it works in practice
Pick USB-C with Power Delivery. It charges modern cameras and phones faster and negotiates the right voltage, while older USB-A ports trickle slowly. A short, good cable matters as much as the bank.
For Self-filming on a tripod, run the camera from the bank and leave the battery inside as a buffer. Gimbal cameras like the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 have a sealed battery, so a bank in a pocket with a cable to the handle is the usual way to extend a session.
Keep the bank warm in winter, inside a jacket rather than in the pack, because cold cuts its output like any lithium battery.
What to watch out for
A camera powered by cable usually has its battery door or port cover open, which removes its waterproofing. Rain, spray and snow then go straight to the contacts.
Airlines limit lithium packs: larger ones need approval, and none may go in checked luggage. Check the watt-hour rating printed on the case before a trip.
Running a camera on external power adds heat, and Camera overheating still stops recording at high frame rates. Charging the bank, the camera and a Spare battery at once from one weak wall plug can leave everything half full the next morning.
How RawClip handles it
Long recordings powered from a bank are welcome in RawClip: an entire match or a long ride can be uploaded as it was filmed, and the model drops the dead stretches. Chapters split by the camera go in together, and clips are ordered by recording time.