The Anker 535 Portable Power Station - PowerHouse 512WH Review

For the past few years I have been interested in buying a portable power station but I wasn’t sure which one to buy. This year I made up my mind, thanks in part to the availability of power stations with built-in Lithium Iron Phosphate or LiFePO4 batteries. While a typical Lithium Ion (or Li-Ion) battery is capable of going through 500 charge/discharge cycles before losing significant capacity, many LiFePO4 batteries are said to be capable of 2,500-4,000 cycles! That’s great!
I looked at portable power stations from Bluetti, Jackery, Goal Zero, Rockpals, EcoFlow and others but the one which really caught my eye was this Anker 535 model. It features a 512WH battery and a pure sine wave AC inverter which can output 500 watts continuously. Other outputs include three USB-A connections, one USB-C connection and a car power port for devices you’d normally plug into the DC output in your vehicle. It also has a built-in LED light for general “night light” or reading light use and that light includes a flashing “SOS mode”.
I purchased this a few weeks ago through Amazon although the same deal was available through the official Anker website. The retail price is $599 but I often see coupons which bring the price down to $500 and, when I bought it, the coupon brought the price down to $450. This device can be charged with solar panels if the panels output 12-28 volts. The unit charges at a rate of just a bit more than 100 watts. Even if you aren’t using solar panels with this, it comes with an AC charger and a power cord to charge from a car’s DC port.
If you are camping, traveling in an RV, wanting to use a laptop or a drone in the middle of nowhere, wanting to use a CPAP machine when you’re sleeping in the woods or just looking for a convenient back-up power source during a power failure, this could be a great item for you! If you want to go off the grid but still have power, try one of these.
Sometimes, when devices like this are sold with solar panels (or when they are simply sold as being capable of solar charging) they are referred to as solar generators.

[@randomrandomness8743]

Thanks for the review, I'm looking to get an Anker 535. As you say, the Bluetti and Jackery are very similar, but what I think will swing it for me is the 5 year warranty that Anker have with these, compared with the others: 2 years.

[@GulfKat]

Thank you so much! I went through 4-5 videos looking for the wattage and device usage explanation that you gave. Looks like I need to read the devices I plan to use and find their wattage consumption before plugging them in. Also I appreciate you making it understandable. Subscribed!

[@TomDougherty-co7hg]

Just ordered this exact make and model w/ solar panel for all the same reasons you've stated. Thanks so much for this posting, it's been a great help preparing me for it's arrival.

[@mica8076]

Thatnks for the thorough review!

[@sylvainster30]

I laughed so hard when you mentioned “hair dryer” 🤣🤣🤣 why would you want to power a “hair” dryer?? Very interesting video Greg and Thank you for the information on the LiFePo vs others. ✌🏼😎👍🏼

[@GoodTimekeeper]

Yes, as I was editing I thought the hair dryer example might seem odd. But we do have members of the family who use hair dryers here. (I’m not one of them.)

[@wayofthesamurai90]

I also own the 535, but it has 2 times 230V output. The inverter only draws 3 watt when switched on.

[@Wireless_Gadgets]

Great video, very informative about the battery pack and this topic!

[@pitbullash]

Just ordered this badboy for 420 euros :) im going to use it in my basement for 3d printing, because i have no electricity down in the basement! so 8-9 hours of printing before it going to get re-charged!

[@GoodTimekeeper]

I eventually bought two other versions of this when I saw them for sale as "refurbished" items at a significant discount. So I have the larger version with a 1024 watt hour capacity and the smaller version with a 256 watt hour capacity. I tend to use them all. The smaller one is not as versatile because of the lower capacity and the larger one is a bit heavy to carry around. But they are each good for the right situations.

[@Cyndor114]

Great video, I’m looking forward to your next video on making your play house, solar powered. I am also very interested in your next video on the harbor freight solar panels.

[@GoodTimekeeper]

I owe you a video about the solar panels and I hope to get it done this week. The Harbor Freight panels are a pretty good match for this smaller power station. Some might prefer the somewhat flexible panels available elsewhere but they cost more. I have made some major progress already towards setting up my off-grid power system for the playhouse and I am looking forward to sharing what I have learned as I have acquired the equipment.

[@manuelramirezmagic]

Great video !!! Thank you 👍

[@johncar2129]

Hi there, BY FAR, I really enjoyed the explanation of the product by you. I have a question, you mentioned the Harbor Freight solar panel. Which I just got today. Can I leave the solar panel attached to this Anker product and not worry about an OVER CHARGE? Do you know by any chance. I do plan to basically leave it connected to a solar panel in a shed everyday. Thanks!

[@GoodTimekeeper]

According to the readout on this Anker device, when it reaches a full charge it just stops taking in electricity. So it appears that it will not overcharge. But that’s when I unplug the charger or solar panel. I haven’t tested keeping it plugged in all the time.

[@johncar2129]

Thank you! Probably will do that at first, disconnect it once it charges. Then maybe leave it plugged all the time. Really appreciate the video and your reply. Thanks!!!!

[@danielcascallar9220]

Hi Greg, I am looking for this power station to connect a portable refrigerator to use it on weekend trips in my minivan. When the refrigerator reaches the chosen temperature, the compressor turns off. If the station is in energy saving mode, will it turn itself off and on every time the compressor turns on and off? And if it is not in energy saving mode when the compressor turns off it will continue to use those 16W??? Thanks and regards

[@CarlHudson]

Good luck 👍

[@ytpremium7649]

I need to power my portable digital piano for 3-6 hours Rated 120V 15W Which do you recommend the 521, or 535?

[@cerealfibre6938]

Is the picture of the World Live behind you, Greg?

[@GoodTimekeeper]

That’s the display from a Geochron Atlas 4K device running onto a 4K monitor. It looks really nice and, yes, it’s a live representation of the time and the daylight/night locations. Some of the stuff I recorded is shown out of order in the edit so the world map display might jump around just a little.

[@cerealfibre6938]

@@GoodTimekeeper I like it.😊😊Yeah, it is jumping a little.

[@anniedrake6385]

Perfect

[@alisadim81]

Great video Greg What 2 Casios are you wearing? Best Regards

[@GoodTimekeeper]

Those are two GW-M500 watches I bought for $22 each when they were on clearance at Walmart stores.

[@alisadim81]

Thanks A great informative video are there any new Casios coming down the pike?

[@kris2487]

So you don't have to buy the ones that are called solar on their site? You can just plug a solar panel in somewhere in this device?

[@pitbullash]

Thats correct! the only thing you should know first is maximum wattage solar panel your powerstation can handle.

[@Zkpe02]

I bought a 300 watt inverter so I could use the charger brick in my truck…it will charge your Anker much faster, just like charging at the house…

[@MykolaBuga]

How much time does it take to charge Anker 535 from 0 to 100% ?

[@johncar2129]

Hi, sorry, another question. So I got the Harbor Freight solar panel, but the connectors do not fit for this Anker… The only thing would be: connect the solar panel to a cigarette lighter connector, then connect the Anker cigarette wire to the back of the Anker. I tried that, but it didnt really charge, the battery indicator did say the battery was “charging.” However, it remained on 60% for a long time and never went up. So how do u charge yours using the Har Frei Sol Pan…thanks!!!

[@GoodTimekeeper]

I bought the portable, folding solar panel from Harbor Freight and it came with an SAE to 8mm DC adapter which works with the Anker 535 already. I also bought the non-portable 100 watt panel which just has their SAE connector. I bought Harbor Freight’s 6-piece adapter set and none of them can connect directly to the Anker 535 but I used their female car socket and plugged Anker’s car charging cable into that. It worked. But I also went online and ordered an SAE-to-8mm cable and that works too. So far they all have the right polarity to charge the Anker 535 but that might be something to check when using SAE connectors and adapters. Some SAE cables even come with a small adapter to reverse the polarity if needed. But I didn’t need to use that.

[@johncar2129]

Ohhh ok, will have to order the SAE to 8mm. Thanks again!!!

[@Zkpe02]

If you have several units, you can daisy chain them together plus use solar…just an idea…

[@anthony64924]

Power loss will be greater than negligible from doing this

[@k-d321]

What's up with putting the battery on your shoulder 😅😂

[@jacobsebastien3910]

He holding it like a 80's boom box Lol

[@k-d321]

I guess so. LoL

[@billlyl3725]

I want a stop sign inverter so I always get a green light. 😗

[@yorusuyasoul69420]

This is enough to charge the rangeman smart watch 🤣🤣

[@michaelk487]

Anchors a good company

[@markhernandez3860]

how long per charge ?