DJI POWER 500 - OUTSTANDING DRONE CHARGING ON THE GO
SOMETHING WE DID’NT KNOW WE NEEDED
It is always interesting to try and keep up with the constant evolution of tech, that we need, think we need, or just simply want. One thing is for sure that it is never ending and evolving. In the 5 years we have been doing business as a swiss army knife type of company doing everything from real estate media creation, wedding cinematography, and small business branding videos not once did it cross our mind that we needed a portable power station to use on site or on the road. We first saw the DJI Power 500 on a YouTube short promotion from DJI’s official page and did not think much of it and kept scrolling. The almighty algorithm gods must have assumed i would want this because it began showing me more from other reviewers and techies in my feed over the next couple days. I eventually watched a video of it and thought hmm, maybe this would be cool, and there is one significant reason why.
WHAT IS THE DJI POWER 500
“The DJI Power 500 is a high-capacity battery system designed to provide efficient and reliable power for a variety of DJI devices. With a focus on versatility and performance, the Power 500 is engineered to support various DJI drones, cameras, and other equipment, making it an essential tool for anyone serious about aerial photography, videography, or surveying”
The Power 500 features 512Wh of portable power, making it an excellent power station with two wall plug outlets, two 100W USB-C ports, and two USB-A ports at 24 watts. Overall, it performs wonderfully, and you could leave it at that. However, DJI did not stop there. The Power 500 also includes an SDC port, which changes everything for drone flyers. This new port allows communication via a proprietary cable specific to the drone, enabling direct power transfer to the drone’s batteries without conversion, ensuring the fastest charging possible. After a few days of testing and real-world use, we found that this significantly decreases charging time.
ADDED PIECE OF MIND
It really hit me how amazing this thing is when we were hired to film a roofing installation. The client requested we catch a majority of the install over 3-5 hours essentially creating a progress video of the process. We started flying at 8a.m. and were pretty much up in the air constantly. I usually try to bring drones down at 30 - 40 percent battery so as I did I would place that battery on the DJI Power 500 as I loaded up the next one. I found that when charging the battery at around 40 percent the Power 500 instantly started communication to the Air 3 battery and delivering what was requested on the Air3 batteries end, showing its percentage as it charged. The battery was quickly charged from 40 percent to 100 percent in less than 30 minutes.
The fact of just being able to carry this around to jobs and not have to worry about running out of batteries while working is great! The total weight of the 500 is around 16lbs as well, so having this much power in something relatively light is perfect. Also to mention it runs very quiet, even while working out of the trunk of the car on a hot sunny day. The fan inside the unit is almost unnoticeable and non-intrusive. By the end of the day we were up in the air for a total of about 5 hours and charged our Air 3 batteries about 6 times from 40 to 100 percent, our remote controller once and our Osmo Pocket 3 battery adapter once. This left us with about 63 percent left in the tank of the Power 500. Consider us impressed.
ALL YOUR DEVICES AT ONCE
We have since put the DJI Power 500 through more paces. Charging our laptops, Ronin RS3 Pro, Camera batteries and many more things all at the same time and it handles it with ease. The power station has a max output of around 1000 watts and we never got anywhere close to that even with so much being juiced at the same time. It was cool to see how the unit added up all the power delivery it was sending to each individual device. We also tried to power our studio Amaran 200x lights and it did it no problem, estimating it would run each one for about 2 hours or so at 80 percent brightness.
On another test I hooked up our soundbar and 65 inch tv to see how it would estimate usage and it was looking to power it for 3 hours. So many possibilities outside of its intended use for charging drones and camera gear. If it came to using a power station around the house though I would probably look more towards a DJI Power 1000 or possibly an even cheaper 1000watt Jackery since the DJI power stations are geared more towards drones and such. The other brands also offer more ports and plugs.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The short conclusion is if you do any kind of aerial photo and video work, this thing is a must. Whether you work in real estate, video production, weddings and all the other hats that can go along with this industry, the DJI Power 500 is an added piece of mind to your kit. Its small footprint, and only weighing roughly 15lbs, it can easily go along with you everywhere and be hidden on jobs while still serving its purpose giving you a place to retreat to for charging. At the time we purchased and typed this up it was on sale for USD $379. A very small price to pay for how much it offers.