topic Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable in General Help

Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable

RonaldP307303 — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 20:18:45 GMT

I received the free gift portable power battery and was able to charge it with the included charging cable. There is no way to use it to charge either a iPhone or android phone with the 2 other adapters included. The instructions are garbage... Neither of the included phone adapters will fit into the power outlet on the side of the unit also used for charging it. The adapters also will not work with any of my phone cables either for the iPhone 12 or iPhone 16 Pro. The only cable that will fit into the female side port is the included cable with the USB end. The included adapters will not fit anything.

It there is a secret to making this work someone please send me the instructions otherwise this is just another useless "gift".

Re: Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable

SummerOnTheWay1 — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:47:22 GMT

📎 AARP @AARPConsumerCare , can you "help" Ronald @RonaldP307303 ? Thanks, Nicole!

➡️[*** RONALD

@RonaldP307303 wrote:
I received the free gift portable power battery and was able to charge it with the included charging cable. There is no way to use it to charge either a iPhone or android phone with the 2 other adapters included. The instructions are garbage... Neither of the included phone adapters will fit into the power outlet on the side of the unit also used for charging it. The adapters also will not work with any of my phone cables either for the iPhone 12 or iPhone 16 Pro. The only cable that will fit into the female side port is the included cable with the USB end. The included adapters will not fit anything.

It there is a secret to making this work someone please send me the instructions otherwise this is just another useless "gift".

Re: Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable

AARPConsumerCare — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:02:44 GMT

Thank you for your membership, @RonaldP307303. I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with your gift. Please reach out in a private message, chat, text or call us at your earliest convenience so that we can take a look into this with you. Here is our contact information: https://aarp.info/3epCObA - Diana G.

Re: Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable

RichardT794372 — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 18:45:41 GMT

I just got one and it has the same problem. The plugs don't fit, the instructions are not clear at all and it will not even fit a brand new high end android Motorola phone. Just fyi I'm not a technophobe I've worked in IT for many years and this is just plain confounding. Agree with the above this is pretty much useless. Thanks. rtownley

Re: Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable

AARPConsumerCare — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 23:49:28 GMT

I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble using your power bank, @RichardT794372. Send us a private message or visit https://aarp.info/3epCObA to contact us by chat, text, or phone, and we'd be happy to help you with your power bank. - Brandon C.

Re: Portable Power Battery Welcome Gift not usable

SWS42 — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:49:16 GMT

the enclosed instruction sheet is inadequate, contains factual and syntax errors, and uses strange wording to avoid mentioning Apple (TM) products or Lightning (TM) connectors. It simply doesn't narrate how to use this product. Here is my try to do so:

Charging the Power Bank SKU #AARP42944:
As in the figures, orient the Power Bank flat on a table with the LED in the bottom center area and the long edges to either side. (On mine, this is the UN-labelled face of the device with the LED.) Take the small end of the enclosed white cord and plug it into the charging port on the RIGHT-SIDE long edge [labeled "Micro Plug (Female)" in both figures]. Plug the large end of the white cord into a standard powered USB Type A socket (eg, a computer, a hub, an AC charger block, etc).

* Charging should commence immediately with the LED FLASHING RED once per second.
* When the Power Bank is fully charged, the LED will glow RED continuously.

Note: A 5VDC power source with a USB Type A socket should be rated 1 amp output for optimal charging of the Power Bank.

To connect the Power Bank to a device needing supplemental power or a charge:
(eg, a cell phone) Again, as in the figures, orient the Power Bank flat on a table with the LED in the bottom center area and the long edges on either side. (On mine, this is the UN-labelled face of the device.)

Directly to the left of the LED, find a small rectangular cut-out in the face. Grip the lower left corner of the device between your thumb and first finger and slide the hidden plug out of its storage cove with the thumb. (It slides in the same direction as the long edge of the device). This micro-USB plug will be on a short cord, which cord stows along the lower short edge.  

The two adapters for the corded micro-USB plug:
There are two similarly-sized white adapters supplied with the Power Bank device. One is found in the bubble tray packaging. The other is stowed in a cove in the lower short edge of the device, behind the previously-mentioned cord. (On mine, there is an arrow labelled "adapter on the flip-side face that points to this cove's location.) To extract the adapter from this cove, plug the corded USB-micro plug into the stowed adapter and pull it out. [Figure 2]

Upon examining the two adapters, one is a <micro-USB socket to USB-Type C> plug, typically used on Android-type phones. [Labelled "Micro to Type C Adapter" in the figures.] The other adapter is a <micro-USB socket to Lightning> plug, typically used on (older) Apple devices. [Labelled cryptically as "Micro to Adapter Micro Plug" in Figure 1.]

Stow whichever adapter you use most frequently in the adapter storage cove within the Power Bank, and keep the other adapter in a safe, well-known location. (It's small and easily misplaced, as I have already don twice!)

I hope this detail helps everyone!