Use and Performance

Even though the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W comes with a significant charge out of the box, we first plugged it right into the outlet using the included power adapter. It manages to charge at over 100 W, so on paper your unit should be fully charged in 5 hours. However, the reality is that things will slow down as it inches towards that complete mark, meaning you will probably get 80% in 4 hours and the last 20% will take several more.


As all power stations regardless of their total capacity are run on batteries, those will need active cooling. To simulate a heavy load, we pulled 400 Watts from the unit by powering up a gaming PC with a 3070 Ti and 12th Gen Intel i7 in combination with a 4K monitor and then fired up No Mans Sky for a bit of senseless universe farming and navigation. It did not take long for the EBL unit to kick into gear with the fan, measuring at 52 dBA and then going to full-throttle at 61 dBA. Neither of these metrics are mentioned anywhere in their marketing and the unit doesn't seem to have more "steps" in the curve, as such the changes in noise are sudden. The good news is that the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W stayed nice and cool, even after around 45 minutes of space exploration.


There is a bar with eight bright white LEDs built into the top edge of the unit. It should work extremely well in lighting up the area next to it when turned on. The wireless charging pad up top is very useful too, as it means that you can leave your phone cable at home. It can charge a device at 10 Watt, but you have to make sure to turn on the EBL Power Station first, then turn on the USB ports as well - otherwise it won't start charging.


Besides the AC outlet, you may charge the EBL power station by plugging it into the cigarette lighter outlet in the car. That is a great way to charge it while on a trip and driving to your next destination. It manages to offer 85 Watts in terms of charging speed with this method.


Lastly, As EBL also sent us their Solar Apollo 100 Watt panels, we took the opportunity to charge it in the brief sunny period we were fortunate to have up here in the Pacific Northwest. With almost a cloudless sky, this setup managed between 70 and 75 Watts of charging prowess.


Even though the unit has a comfortable & sturdy grip that may be folded down, you may also buy a fire resistant bag. This is meant to protect the unit from the temperatures of a house fire, which in turn could also mean that all the 3.7 Volt cells inside won't blow up in the process. While this could be good in theory, the trigger for battery explosion isn't fire itself but heat. As such, even if the bag itself doesn't burn and melt up to 1000°C, it will heat up just as much as its surroundings which will still cause the runaway reaction that results in explosive self-destruction of any battery cells within. As such, all it will do is buy you some time - which may be all you need to get clear in case the camper you are sleeping in catches fire.

The bag also features lots of extra compartments, so that you can take all the cables and adapters with you on the road. Unfortunately, as expected, that bag is actually a bit too big for the unit, so it stands to reason that it is meant for a larger variant of the EBL Portable Power Station line-up but may also be utilized for this unit. Much like most notebook bag manufacturers offer a single SKU and you may have to make do with a bit of extra room if your device is on the smaller end of the supported spectrum.