Instant Pot with solar?

[VeganNomad58]

Who uses an Instant Pot on the road? 
I'm headed out in a few months and am used to cooking just about everything in mine.
Do you have a 3 or 6 quart ?
How much total power does it take?

 

[jimindenver]

There is a saying of if you have to ask how much, you probably can't afford it. I think that it applies to solar as much as it does money.

I do not use a instant pot but I have customers that do. They have 800 to 1000 watts of solar and either four 6 volts or at least 300 Ah of Lithium batteries. Consumption varies on size of pot, brand and what recipe they are cooking. There is also a big difference between cooking mid day while the solar provides the power or at night when the batteries do.

 

[mattvei]

check Bob's YouTube channel he had a guy on there that uses a 3 quart with a solar set up and they went through everything

 

[Uncle Todo]

I have yet to use it, but I have a 3qt Instant Pot I plan on using.
In case you haven't searched, there's a plethora of info on this, including a video from CRVL

https://www.google.com/search?q=van...69i57j69i64.4644j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

I have a Ninja Foodi that's used to pressure cook and air fry things. 600watts of solar and 280ah of lithium. With decent sun, I can get away with using it for a meal once a day. Cooking some barbeque chicken wings takes about 30% battery. Some days it's cloudy and I put off planned meals. Usually when I do use the cooker, I cook large portions since it uses so much power to get the pressure up to cook. It's possible, you just need enough capacity and/or be patient.

 

[maki2]

Go to the youtube channel Element Van Life he put out quite a few videos on cooking with an instapot. Hewas living in a Honda Element at the time so eoof spacce for solar and interior space for battery meant limits on his solar power generating abilities.

 

[casetorres]

There is a saying of if you have to ask how much, you probably can't afford it. I think that it applies to solar as much as it does money.

I do not use a instant pot but I have customers that do. They have 800 to 1000 watts of solar and either four 6 volts or at least 300 Ah of Lithium batteries. Consumption varies on size of pot, brand and what recipe they are cooking. There is also a big difference between cooking mid day while the solar provides the power or at night when the batteries do.

The Bob video about the instant pot:

 

[mpruet]

An Instant Pot will use a variable wattage.  I have a mini-3 quart instant pot that I take on me in my RV.  I prefer to keep my power consumption for the Instant Pot distinct from my house electrical system because the IP can be quite a power hog during phases while it is cooking. Instead I use a Jackery 1000 to run the IP.  The IP will use about 800 Watts when building pressure and then will drop to about 350 Watts while maintaining pressure.  When I cook beef stew, I consume about 1/3 of my Jackery’s capacity (about 330 Watt Hours).  While cooking the IP’s consumption will fluctuate between 300 and 800 watts, so the total power needed will depend on the length of time that is required.  My beef stew takes about 20 minutes pressurized.

 

[VeganNomad58]

An Instant Pot will use a variable wattage... The IP will use about 800 Watts when building pressure and then will drop to about 350 Watts while maintaining pressure... While cooking the IP’s consumption will fluctuate between 300 and 800 watts, so the total power needed will depend on the length of time that is required...

That is the information I was looking for! Thanks so much. I hadn't found a good source for the pattern of consumption. I heard from someone that it used more initially, so thank you for the details. 

 

[eDJ_]

These Instant Pot's and Air Fryer's have been a real game changer for lots of people.   In the past I carried a pressure cooker to use with my Coleman stove and when the PC wasn't in use it doubled as a storage vessel.  But the IP can do so much and I visit my Libraries frequently and new IP books are always showing up in the New Book section.

I've been learning to use mine at home for some time now. 

I traveled a lot with my family as a kid and Mom and Grandmother (old school Home Economics women)
always carried an electric skillet which doubled as a hot plate for sauce pans etc.  But they could bake cakes in the electric skillets.  Grandmother had what looked like a crock pot but was all aluminum and able to double as a deep fryer. 

While I'm not in my Van full time yet,  I'm learning about solar now to utilize some of these appliances so I won't have to pack a stove & fuel along so much. 

This site offers some old school Pressure Cooker info and recipes.  Stuff like Granny used to make.
 
Presto Vintage Pressure Cooker Recipe Booklet

 

[jacqueg]

I still use an ordinary pressure cooker on my Coleman, as I don't want to buy another battery and add more solar panels just in order to run an IP. Maybe on the next van...

My favorite pressure cooking book (and the author does include advice about using her recipes in an IP) is this one...https://www.hippressurecooking.com...   Includes things that granny never heard of!

For times when I don't want to use the pressure cooker, I am starting to learn about the RoadPro that my daughter's sweetie gave me.

 

[VanFan]

I traveled a lot with my family as a kid and Mom and Grandmother (old school Home Economics women)
always carried an electric skillet which doubled as a hot plate for sauce pans etc.  But they could bake cakes in the electric skillets.

I carry an electric skillet.  Sometimes I think about replacing it with a hot plate to save a bit of space, but it can be super convenient.  After leaving a corporate job to homeschool kids, I did in-store food demos on weekends for giggles, pocket change, and to get out of the house.  There I learned to sub-divide the skillet to prepare multiple items at once with minimal clean-up.  For that, it's great--especially for breakfast.

One day, maybe I'll try an IP.  Is is fairly easy to downsize recipes?

 

[tripper]

I love insta pot cooking. I have the 3 quart model, IMHO it is too small, it is not large enough to cook entire packs of beans, the 6 quart is a lot more useful. I have plenty b if solar and 150 ah lithium, I only use the instant pot on sunny days and try to use it before 2pm so batteries can maintain charge. I have a stove top pressure cooker also that doesn't require electricity.

 

[StarryNights]

I have the 3Qt model that worked well boondocking this past winter and wasn't a battery killer. Last night hooked it to Kill-a-Watt to check consumption, but was in house so had no inverter loss. 2 cups brown rice + 2 cups water; set for 19 min on steam.

- Heat up: took 11 min mostly showing around 640 watts. Used 0.10 kwh

- Next 19 min cooking showed mostly 0 watts with only a few short 30 sec of 600+ watts to maintain temp. Used 0.02 kwh.

- Total usage for the 30 min = 0.12kwh.

Remember, there were no Inverter losses here. Next time will measure use in Van. (I have shunt and current meter.)


Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[StarryNights]

This is somewhat technical and is an update on last post.

Took measurements in van using solar charged battery to power an inverter.
Used 3qt Instant Post to cook 2 cups brown rice with 2 cups water, setting it to cook for 19 minutes.

In van, was evening; no charging taking place, turned off refrigerator, inside temp 80F. Van has a 24V system with a 200 amp LiFePo4 battery. (12 volt users - divide volts by two
and double the amps)

For the technical, here are several measurements. Others can skip to
summary:

Starting measurements before turning on InstantPot: Battery 98.9% charged, 26.7 volts. There was a small .02amp draw somewhere.

When turned on inverter (3000 watt) saw about a 2.1 amp draw.

Start InstantPot: Kill-a-watt showed about 645 watts, sometimes a little higher or lower, and this continued until it reached cooking pressure at 11 minutes 50 seconds and turned off.

At this point Kill-a-watt showed 0 watts and had used 0.11KWH. The current meter showed battery at 93.7%, 26.48v and returned to a 2.01 amp draw (just inverter usage).

During next 19 minutes noticed two times InstantPot turned on for maybe 30 seconds to maintain temperature.
After 19 minutes, cooking done and InstantPot turned off. Kill-a-Watt showed total of 0.12KWH used.

Battery was at 92.5% and 26.54v (seems battery recovered some)

Cross check: Current meter showed 28.3 amps draw when InstantPot was heating up. So, 28.3v x 26.48amp = 749 watts. Inverter efficiency is about 88% which if just the InstantPot 645 watts is considered would be would calculate to 732 watts. Close enough.

Summary:
• Total Power used to heat up and cook was 0.12KWH over the 30 min 50 sec.

• The get the InstantPot up to cooking temperature took 11:50 and used 0.11KWH, or nearly all the total 0.12KWH usage.

These measurements were taken by Kill-a-Watt meter on the AC outlet and so does not account for inverter losses.

• When supplying AC current, inverter is about 88% efficient so for 645 watts AC, the battery would need to supply 739 watts to inverter.

• Inverter draw when idle was about 2.1 amps (would be 4.2 amps in 12V system) which is about 55 watts.

• My 100amp 24V battery (equal to a 200 amp 12V battery) went from 98.9% to 92.5% over the total 30:50 the InstantPot was on.

• Although the InstantPot used next to nothing during the 19 minute cooking period, the battery went from 93.7% to 92.5% due to drain from the Inverter.

Conclusion:
• The 3 Qt InstantPot uses about 645 watts continuously to heat-up, but once hot, almost all power used will be from inverter loss.

• Since many inverters are about 88% efficient, the battery needs to supply 735 watts DC for it to produce 645 watts AC .

• The inverter may be using about 50 watts at idle when on with no load.

• Those with 1000 watt inverters should be able to use the 3qt InstantPot without major impact on their battery.

• For food requiring 20 minutes or less to cook, one could probably just disconnect the InstantPot once it reaches temperature; maybe add a couple extra min.

Comments? Anyone with different experiences?

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[Sasnak]

While in my RV I use a little 1.5 quart Hawkins Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker. Works great and only requires a little cooking fuel. At my stick and brick I use a instant pot a lot but to me it’s not worth beefing up my entire electric system to use on the road.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07NSX6F23?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[Axel]

I use Insta-Pot recipes, but do it all in old fashioned stovetop pressure cookers over a propane flame. It can be done with about 99% of the IP recipes. Have two cookers - 2-quart and a 8-quart. They've served me well for decades, and I don't have to have a big solar/battery system. Why complicate things with a large and expensive system when doing it the old fashioned way works just as well (albeit with a little more attention).

Keeping it simple, with less cost and maintenance, makes van living much more enjoyable to me. My system consists of 150 watts of solar and a 110 amp AGM battery. Powers LED lights, fans, charging, small TV, radio, propane detector, and a swamp cooler when it's hot. In marginal conditions I add a moveable 50 watt panel. My thinking is: only use electricity when there's no practical alternative.

 

[jimindenver]

It is interesting what people do not take into consideration.

One thing is what you can do when you build a system to run something but are not running it. In my case I wanted to run a air conditioner. What I can do with the power generated by a system big enough to run a air conditioner is amazing. I did not build it with those things in mind but I'm not going to cry that I can run them.

Also while it is wonderful that there are many ways to do something, you never know why someone wants to do it differently than you do. In my case one of the things that my system allows me to do is run a small dual burner hot plate for cooking. Yes my propane stove in the trailer works fine and doesn't burn a lot of fuel. That said the smell of the exhaust makes me feel bad, gives me headaches and I feel like nodding off if the vent fan isn't running. So I save on propane and my health because I wanted to run a air conditioner.

Some people just do not want to use propane at all. They don't want open flames in their rigs. They don't want to buy it. They don't want to worry about it. Finding a way to cook without propane makes this lifestyle possible for them.

So just remember that there is no right or wrong unless what you are doing does not work for you. Allowing others to do it differently might even teach you something that you did not know.

 

[Axel]

When people say something here they're only giving examples of what they do, to offer alternatives of what's being discussed. Alternatives that people may not have thought of. Nobody is attacking anyone here. It's only an opinion. Nobody is "not allowing" anyone else do it as they want, for their needs!

For me, me personally, I would rather stick with a simpler setup that's more redundant than all electric. For example, not depending on electricity for my cooking or heating (in my opinion) makes my setup more robust in terms of not breaking down and leaving me in a lurch or in danger if the electricity fails. If my power goes out it's merely an inconvenience, not a disaster. Just my opinion - take it how you want, but it's not an attack on the way YOU want to do things.

 

[Weight]

One thing is what you can do when you build a system to run something but are not running it.

I need my microwave for reasons of health. Therefore I designed my 12 volt system to enable a 1000W microwave. This allows other 120V appliances that add to my quality of life through convenience. I need my propane furnace as I travel during cold weather. This allows me a second fuel source for high heat open flame cooking. I do use both. But food prepared in the microwave and reheated foods are predominate during my days on the road when time is premium and restaurants scarce.
I may very well look into an Instant Pot for the van as I do use one when I am in S&B. Thanks for taking the time to report your findings about power use.
I find using propane for cooking requires daily maintenance while the battery requires monthly attention.