A Closer Look

EBL MP500

The EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W feels quite sturdy and thanks to the 45° angled corners, the force of impact in those regions is kept to the minimum. As such, if you were to bump into anything, the odds are much lower that you would dent the surface the EBL unit has hit, or worse, crack the shell of the unit itself. All the connectivity is located on one of the larger sides, while the other is completely solid, with just the EBL logo. On the underside, you will find all the usual legal details and a serial number sticker. The EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W also sports little rubber pads, which are good to keep it in place nicely.


Both sides of the unit have an orange panel with a vent. Like any other battery pack, active thermal management is very important to keep the cells and electronics cool during use, as such these vents are needed and it looks like the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W has a tunnel setup.


On the scale, it clocks in at 6.4 kg which is very much in line with other units of this capacity. This is no surprise as the bulk of weight comes from the batteries and those individual cells are all essentially the same size and power density in most of these power stations.


One unique element of the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W is the fact that it has a collapsible handle. This means you can easily stack things on top of it, say in the trunk of your car when preparing a road trip. The handle is made of solid plastic, but the underside is rubberized and feels quite comfortable to carry. On the top surface, there is a wireless charger that is capable of providing up to 10 Watts to your mobile phone for example. Having this is a very nice touch, as you can bring one USB cable fewer on your trips for example. An LED light embedded above the IO side of the power station is meant to light up the area around those plugs, which will come in very useful during late night camping activities. The location and shape of the light is also much better than some of the other implementations we have seen.


The IO Panel can be segmented into six distinct areas. The first, is the top left corner which has a red power button and the light toggle switch. The one for the light has a secondary function that strobes the LEDs in an S.O.S. signal in case of an emergency. In the center, at the top row, there is the LCD screen, which is backlit so that you can easily see it in a dark environment. It sticks to the basics, but provides a general capacity state indicator as well as four separate values - three of which are for outputs, with the one in the top left corner visible only if the unit is being charged. Having those separated numbers is quite useful, as some other brands just offer one total number instead. Lastly, in the top right corner, you can find the PV and DC input plugs, allowing you to charge the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W via solar or DC inputs like your cars cigarette outlet.


The bottom row is dedicated to outputting electricity with two DC outs and one Cigarette lighter out, each with a max capacity of 14 V at 8 A, meaning you could provide up to 112 W of individual output this way. In the center, it is all about USB, with three QC 3.0 capable USB-A port and one PD 60 W capable USB-C output. this means you could charge something like your laptop with that connector and your phone or tablet with any of the three QC equipped ones. Lastly, there are two AC outputs, which are grounded and are capable of pure sine wave output, which means that they provide clean power. Note how it doesn't mention a specific maximum output number for the AC outlets? That is due to the fact that it is more of a global capability of 500 W, as such, should you draw 60 W through your USB ports, there is 460 W remaining for AC output for example.

EBL Solar Apollo 100 W

The solar panels we received to use with the Portable Power Station 500 are capable of delivering 100 W of charging. Folded up, these can be easily carried, thanks to the handle up top and EBL has also added holes on each corner in case you would like to hang it up somewhere.


Inside the attached pouch, EBL lists the specifications of the unit alongside several three emoji states to let you know which scenario is best for the panels. These are IP65 water resistant, but not water proof. As such EBL communicates that they should not be left out in the rain or soaked in water. The unit comes with a permanently attached MC4 cable to which you may connect any power station that features that wiring as well.


A fold out stand is present on each of the two halves, so that you may prop the whole thing open at an angle that faces the sun. These panels are held in place by strong Velcro pads, which makes for a bit of a frustrating fumble to make sure they keep detached when placing the unit. Other brands use magnets, which work just fine and are far easier to handle. The cells in the panel also look quite different that those we have seen before. You can clearly see the wiring that is connecting it all together, which is something that is not visible on other brands.

EBL Fireproof and Waterproof Power Station Bag

Lastly, EBL also sent us their fire- and waterproof bag. They communicate that it fits all of their power stations along with those of some competitor brands. The main purpose of this product seems two-fold. On one hand, it gives you a little extra protection against fire and water, which may sound nice. However, if you think about it, if your vehicle or house catches on fire and the EBL unit burns with it - the negative effects of the added incendiary force of the battery packs are most likely the smaller of your worries. On the other hand, if the EBL power station catches fire, it will likely do so in an explosive fashion, so that bag won't make much of a difference either. That said, on the other hand, it does come with a lot of pouches, so that you could keep all your wiring for it in neatly packaged up in one place. Unfortunately, as it is universal, unless you go with the EBL Portable Power Station 1000, there is tons of empty room inside the bag for your device to to slide around, which defeats the purpose - especially as the unit has a handle anyways. EBL could have easily solved this by taking a look at how camera bags manage compartmentalization.