Canine
Well-known member
You aren't going to have the induction cooker on full blast for the full hour, but it is still good to round up. Lentil soup is better the longer it cooks, so a thermal cooker would help a lot in conjunction with a pressure cooker. Here is my thought: Start the soup in a pressure cooker. Then after 15 minutes or so transfer that to a non-electric thermal slow cooker. Her is a link for one (should you make an actual purchase, please go through one of Bob's Amazon links so he gets a little $$$ from his Amazon business):
http://www.amazon.com/NFI-A800-Non-...13767595&sr=8-1&keywords=thermal+cooker+tiger
This will save a lot of energy and slow cooking it will make it that much better. An insulated cover that does the same thing is also available. It wraps the pressure cooker itself so you wouldn't need to transfer the soup from one pot to another. It is much cheaper and takes up less space than another large pot. And I've heard they work very well.
I have a Jet Boil. It boils water FAST and does it more efficiently than any camping stove. You can technically cook in it, but it is really made only for heating water. If you use this, it will not heat up your house as much as the open flame of a propane stove. Less concern for carbon monoxide, too. I have little concern for carbon monoxide even from a propane stove, but if I can minimize my exposure, then I'm all for it. Anyway, it is an extremely efficient and cheap way to heat water. You can heat water in the Jet Boil first then use electric for the cooking part.
I tested to see how much fuel I would use and it lasted two weeks. I heated water for a shower every day. Heated water for shaving every other day. I boiled water for a couple of dehydrated meals when camping. All of this for $4.00 worth of fuel! One small canister every two weeks! Incredible.
Also, I read of a guy that used two inverters for his set up. When hooked up to batteries, an inverter will still have a phantom draw. Larger ones more than others. So if he were to use an induction stove, he would have a switch that would connect the large inverter then use the cook top. When done, he would disconnect the large inverter via the switch. For his lights, computer, and stuff he would use at any time or all the time, he would hook those up to a smaller inverter and leave it connected all the time.
MPPT charge controllers are more efficient, but are more expensive initially than standard charge controllers. Well worth it though.
As you can see, my suggestions are more about being as efficient as possible rather than adding more panels. You need a certain number of panels and your roof will hold only so many panels. Heating and cooling with electricity is expensive, but it is doable to a point.
I, too, am entertaining the though of an induction cook top. As has been said, batteries dislike having huge loads placed on them. I'm looking at an 800 watt unit. Yes, it will take longer, but 800 watts to boil water is still a lot of power for a single person in my opinion. For cooking larger volumes, I would wonder if 800 watts would be enough. 1500 watts would be nice, but sacrifices need to be made until solar technology advances even more.
I'm going to get a 300 watt electric immersion heater to see how long it takes to boil water and will use a Kill A Watt meter to see how many watts it takes. I may be surprised. My 1000 watt hot pot boils 4 cups of water in 2 1/2 minutes using 100 watts. That's pretty fast. If I can drop the watts used even more, that would be significant. I don't have a lot of expectation, though. Still, it's worth a try.
One last thought. When converting DC electricity from the batteries to AC using the inverter, energy is lost in the conversion. Using DC as close to the battery as possible will be more efficient in a 12 volt system.
http://www.amazon.com/NFI-A800-Non-...13767595&sr=8-1&keywords=thermal+cooker+tiger
This will save a lot of energy and slow cooking it will make it that much better. An insulated cover that does the same thing is also available. It wraps the pressure cooker itself so you wouldn't need to transfer the soup from one pot to another. It is much cheaper and takes up less space than another large pot. And I've heard they work very well.
I have a Jet Boil. It boils water FAST and does it more efficiently than any camping stove. You can technically cook in it, but it is really made only for heating water. If you use this, it will not heat up your house as much as the open flame of a propane stove. Less concern for carbon monoxide, too. I have little concern for carbon monoxide even from a propane stove, but if I can minimize my exposure, then I'm all for it. Anyway, it is an extremely efficient and cheap way to heat water. You can heat water in the Jet Boil first then use electric for the cooking part.
I tested to see how much fuel I would use and it lasted two weeks. I heated water for a shower every day. Heated water for shaving every other day. I boiled water for a couple of dehydrated meals when camping. All of this for $4.00 worth of fuel! One small canister every two weeks! Incredible.
Also, I read of a guy that used two inverters for his set up. When hooked up to batteries, an inverter will still have a phantom draw. Larger ones more than others. So if he were to use an induction stove, he would have a switch that would connect the large inverter then use the cook top. When done, he would disconnect the large inverter via the switch. For his lights, computer, and stuff he would use at any time or all the time, he would hook those up to a smaller inverter and leave it connected all the time.
MPPT charge controllers are more efficient, but are more expensive initially than standard charge controllers. Well worth it though.
As you can see, my suggestions are more about being as efficient as possible rather than adding more panels. You need a certain number of panels and your roof will hold only so many panels. Heating and cooling with electricity is expensive, but it is doable to a point.
I, too, am entertaining the though of an induction cook top. As has been said, batteries dislike having huge loads placed on them. I'm looking at an 800 watt unit. Yes, it will take longer, but 800 watts to boil water is still a lot of power for a single person in my opinion. For cooking larger volumes, I would wonder if 800 watts would be enough. 1500 watts would be nice, but sacrifices need to be made until solar technology advances even more.
I'm going to get a 300 watt electric immersion heater to see how long it takes to boil water and will use a Kill A Watt meter to see how many watts it takes. I may be surprised. My 1000 watt hot pot boils 4 cups of water in 2 1/2 minutes using 100 watts. That's pretty fast. If I can drop the watts used even more, that would be significant. I don't have a lot of expectation, though. Still, it's worth a try.
One last thought. When converting DC electricity from the batteries to AC using the inverter, energy is lost in the conversion. Using DC as close to the battery as possible will be more efficient in a 12 volt system.
