Why Are Power Bank Charging Cables So Short?

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Why are power bank charging cables so short? Do you ever wish that you had a longer charging cable? This blog post explains it concisely and in plain English. Power banks are widely used by mobile subscribers, for various reasons. For Apple iPhone owners, it is almost a requirement, because of the poor battery life of those devices.

Some individuals have to be on the field, without access to power supply, for extended periods. There are other reasons. Whatever your reason for using a power bank, what you will find is that they come with a short USB charging cable. Some people prefer using the long USB cables that come with their phones, but they will be better off using a short USB cable instead. Why?

power bank charging cable short

So, why are power bank charging cables so short?

Longer USB cables have a longer length of wire inside them, and this implies more resistance. Physics people understand this better. The longer the cable, the more resistance it offers, and the more the resistance, the more current it saps.

In simpler terms, this means if you use a longer USB cable, your power bank will run down faster and deliver less charge to your phone than if you use a shorter USB cable.  That, dear friends, is why power bank charging cables are so short.

If you doubt that, try the experiment yourself. Use a long USB cable on your power bank. Note how long your power bank lasts. Then subsequently use a shorter USB cable, and also note how long it will last. Before each trial, make sure the power bank is fully charged, so you can get more precise results. After this discovery, I duly, kind-heartedly cuddled my old Nokia short USB cable for use with my power bank.


The old lady creaks of age, worn and tear, but I fastened her with a masking tape to hold its ends in place. This cable or any other short USB cable you can find is ideal for use with power banks. There is less wastage of energy, and you want as little wastage as possible with a power bank.

Short USB Cord vs Long USB Cord

In summary, here are the pros and cons of the two different types of cables.

  1. Short USB cords are good for charging a phone with a power bank. This is to reduce loss of charge, due to resistance, between the power bank and the phone.
  2. Long USB cords are more suitable for charging your phone from a wall socket.

Do not forget that the longer the cable, the more resistance there is to the flow of current from one end to the other. This resistance produces some loss of power, meaning that using a long cable wastes some energy stored up in your power bank. If you are using a power bank, you will want to use the shortest USB cable available.

Now you understand why power bank charging cables are so short. If this article has been of help, do use the sharing buttons below and spread the knowledge.

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