Just Simple Power Bank

Thu Sep 3 '20 Announcement
over 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 03, 2020 at 01:10:42 PM

Dear Backers,

Hope you are enjoying your summer (or winter if you live in Australia)! Sorry for the long wait since our last update. We are on our 5th and the last iteration of the product and everything is coming together Very Well! We are experiencing a little delay because of the design reiteration process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this delay would cause you! I will explain where we are and the reason for this delay in this update.

Functional Unit Testing

We last shared with you that we have received the non-functional unit from the factory to check the overall product aesthetic. We improved the design and shared with you the changes. Three weeks ago, we received a functional unit and did a variety of testing to make sure the product meets all the specifications. We are very happy with the testing results. Below is a short summary

1. The output of USB-C, Qi-wireless charging, Apple Watch and Built-in cables met our specifications.
2. The input 18W for regular use and 30W for pass-through charging met our specifications.
3. Battery capacity met our expectations
4. The recharging time is accurate, 3.5 hours or less from 0-100%
5. The suction cups quality exceeded our expectations - very strong and stable.

Things Needed to Improve for the Last Iteration

Although we are very happy with this unit we received, we still identified three things we have to fix before we move to full mass production. These will be the last changes we make!

For the past three weeks, we have worked with the factory and provided solutions to the following

1. Need easier access to the built-in cables

Currently, the built-in cables are not easy to pull out. This would be inconvenient for users who use built-in cables a lot. After discussing with the factory, we decided to make the handles of the built-in cables slightly bigger.

2. Accident shut-off of the Qi-wireless charging port due to firmware error

We have solved the issue by debugging the firmware and validated in the PCBA

3. Need to Calibrate the battery percentage indicator. Current not accurate, need to change the firmware

We did a detailed battery percentage calibration process and eliminated the problem

We will receive hopefully the last iteration of the functional unit on Monday. We expect this unit to have solved all the issues we identified so we can start mass production next week.

Delay and Reasons for Delay

This being said, we are very sorry to announce that we are going to have an additional 21-30 day delay. We apologize for the one month delay due to our planning!

First of all, Lang and I were supposed to travel to Shenzhen to oversee manufacturing, but because of the global pandemic, we couldn’t leave the US. The solution we came up with was to ask the factory to send us each product iteration. We approve every step before they move to the next stage. Waiting for products to be shipped to the US took longer than we anticipated.

Also, to create the best product we could ever come up with, we decided to have additional iteration and we want to receive the additional sample before we give the factory the final go-ahead.

We sincerely apologize again for the delay. I’m hopeful that all the iterations will be worth it. We don’t want to deliver a mediocre product so please stay with us for just a little bit longer!

If you have any question or concern, please email us at [email protected]

Best Regards,

Just Simple Team

Tue Jul 14 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 12:40:55 PM

Mon Jul 6 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 06:52:40 PM

Below is the result of the injection plastic run. 

 

 

Getting Ready For T1

Now we are done with T0. We are getting ready for T1  -  A small batch of functional units will be manufactured to test the entire manufacturing process (injection molding, spray paint, PCB, PCBA, and product assembly) as well as to identify any electronic issue by going through various testings. If we identify any major issues during this T1 phase, we will go back to solve the issues and start a T2.  After all testings and verifications, we will be ready for mass production! Believe it or not, mass production is the easiest part if you did the prior processes right!

As for now, we are still hoping to ship in August, which is coming soon! We will push another update once we receive the T1 units on our hands in the US.

 

Backerkit Survey

Many of you have reached out to check if you have completed your survey. You may double-check your own survey in this link below. https://justsimplepb.backerkit.com/ 

We will lock the order details on July 14th EST. After that, no product color preference or add-on purchases could be changed. After that, we will charge the add-on purchases with credit cards on file if you made any add-on purchases. 

As for address changes, we won’t lock down the address info until two weeks before we ship the product. You may change your address anytime before then.

There are about 50 of you who haven’t responded to the survey. Fingers crossed you are all staying safe and doing well. Please fill out your survey within the next week!

 

Again, we appreciate you so much for supporting our project. We had some bumps on the road but now we can see the finish line. I wish the best for you and your family. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Best,

Just Simple Team

Mon Jul 6 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 06:46:47 PM

 

Dear Backers From Around the World,

 

How are you? We are experiencing a crazy time together. Hope you are still keeping safe. Thank you for staying with us thus far. I can’t wait to share with you our progress. We have reached two critical milestones in June and we are a lot closer to the finish line. I'll jump right in!

 

Injection Mold Tooling is finished! 

 

We have completed the injection molding tooling process. For those of you who are not familiar with what it is, Injection Molding is a critical manufacturing process for producing parts in large volumes. After a product is designed, molds are made from metal to form the features of the desired part. Then for mass production, you can inject plastic materials molten by heat into a mold, and then cooling and solidifying them repeatedly. 

 

Below are the pictures of our molds! We apologize for the lighting and the resolution of the pictures! Just want to share them with you so you could be a part of this process and share our excitement!

 

 

 

 

To be continued in Part II

 

 

 

Fri May 29 '20 Announcement
almost 4 years ago – Fri, May 29, 2020 at 11:05:54 AM

Backerkit Survey

Backerkit survey is important for us to be able to deliver the right product to you at the right address. As of today, we still have 108 backers who haven't filled out the survey. If you are not able to find your survey in your inbox, please reach out to us.

While you can still edit your survey result now, we will need to lock in the following info on the following dates

• On June 18th, we will finalize all the add-on purchases.
• On June 30th, power bank color preference will be locked in.
• 3 -4 weeks before the product gets shipped out, we will confirm your shipping address with you over emails.

Our Funding and Refund

All of our funds have now been committed to the injection mold production and product production (we still need to pay extra out of our own pocket to meet the minimum quantity requirement). While I understand some of you may have changed your mind about backing the product, we don’t have any cash reserved for refund. However, if in the case where there’s any product quality glitch with the unit you receive, we will move mountains to work with you on that issue, so don’t you worry! It's just that we hope you can understand we are trying our best to push this project forward by putting more of our own money into this, so hope you could support us till the end!

Our Updates & Communications

Some backers have expressed they want to see more frequent communications while some have reached out and said they prefer updates only when there are major changes with the project. Although it's impossible, we still want all of our backers to be happy! We will try to balance the requests. And please keep in mind, you can always reach out to us at [email protected]

If you have any question or concern, please reach out to us!

Best,

Just Simple Team