Newbie has electrical question

[Kahkeetsee]

I'm in the planning part of living in my small car, which I have done in the past by necessity and am now planning to do by choice. Because I want to be organized and as minimal as possible, I want to have as little as I can get by with. I have a cigarette lighter plug in with a USB and regular 2 prong electrical, and have charged my cell phone and laptop using those in the past. However, with regards to the 2 prong, would I be able to plug in a hot pot or small appliance (regular 110 V) or do I need to buy the 12v appliances? I'm looking for something very simple as I am mostly a one pot meal type of person anyway, and wondered if I could plug in a small crock pot (and/or a hotpot)? The idea, if feasible, would be to have the appliance plugged in cooking the meal while I drive so as not to run down the battery. I've read the blog from Bob as well as looked on this thread but didn't find the answer. Since I'm not setting up a "mini studio" in something like a van (at least at first), I'm looking for an option that doesn't require an additional battery inside the car, isn't too expensive, and doesn't drive me to eating out. Would love to hear from people more knowledgeable than I. Thanks.

 

[SternWake]

Running a crockpot while driving is a possibility, but likely not through your current inverter or its intended cigarette plug receptacle.

Look for the wattage on the crockpot. Anything generally over 90 watts is going to be too much for a cigarette plug and its wiring to handle. Options exist in this regard. Dedicated thicker wiring and a quality ciggy plug receptacle can handle passing 150 to 200 watts at the upper limit..

Also 90 watts continuous on a regular car sized starting battery will drain it in a few hours, and starting batteries were not designed for such cycling duties and will fail prematurely. It is possible that idling the vehicle while cooking will not allow the alternator enough rpms to produce enough current to negate the crock pot draw.

I'd recommend carrying a 'portable jumpstarter' if you go this route.

Some interesting New products exist in this classification.

http://www.amazon.com/AntiGravity-M...1-1&keywords=antigravity+micro-start+pps+xp-3

http://www.amazon.com/PowerGo-Unbel...im_auto_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=13AH0CSQJ60CZHS290TE

http://www.amazon.com/PowerAll-PBJS...im_auto_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QNTESXTJG14K4BT92BZ

 

[Kahkeetsee]

Thanks for your reply. That's what I was afraid of, after reading about some of the 12V appliances....so a small expense, but better than a battery, or damage to the car somehow. Thanks.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

There are some interesting methods of thermos cooking and I believe Bob is doing a blog segment on the subject. Of course, you've got to have a way of making heat to for the meal to cook in the vessel under its own power, so to speak.
We have a 5' widemouth, 72 oz insulated Thermos-like "Bubba Keg" that works very well for passive cooking. The super wide mouth makes it easy to fill, serve from, and clean.
http://www.amazon.com/bubba-sport-active-black-charcoal/dp/B008BM9PRI/ref=pd_bxgy_k_text_z

 

[compassrose]

You might want to think about using a single/dual burner stove and a pressure cooker instead of a crockpot. Even using an electric pressure cooker with a small dedicated inverter instead of a crockpot You get the same results as a crockpot but much faster. We use a 5L stovetop pressure cooker. I am thinking about getting an electric one (AKA "multicooker") to supplement it as we often have two PC recipes that would be nice together but only one PC. We use the PC so much that I am thinking of giving away my crookpot that I got last Christmas. And you can still pressure can (in pints) in a PC if you choose to.

A friend has recommended the Power Cooker ($79.80 @ Walmart). Electric pressure cookers do not bring up to the same pressure American PCs do. They go off European standards. So times are ever so slightly off (like by 1 or 2 minutes) .

Many websites with pressure cooker recipes...
pressurecookingtoday.com
pressure-cooker-recipes.net
missvikie.com has the most info on PC cooking

 

[akrvbob]

Are you going to be stealth parking in the city or traveling? Your best choice for cooking is use a backpackers stove (butane is very fast, easy and you can get the canisters anywhere) because they are small and light. http://www.amazon.com/MSR-11792-Pocket-Rocket-Stove/dp/B000A8C5QE/

In nearly every city there are parks where you could find picnic table and cook on it. On the road it's easy to find a place to cook. Lots of people love the butane stoves like this one but it is bigger than the backpaking type and the bottles of butane are harder to find:
http://www.amazon.com/MSR-11792-Pocket-Rocket-Stove/dp/B000A8C5QE/

The cigarette lighter plug is very limited in what it will run. To run larger 110 volt appliances you need a bigger inverter wired directly to the battery. Then you can run nearly anything while the engine is on.

One 12 volt cooking appliance I love and you might like is a 12 volt Roadpro oven. Great little oven!! Very useful:
http://www.amazon.com/RoadPro-12-Volt-Portable-Stove-Black/dp/B00030DLEE/
Bob

 

[highdesertranger]

well I don't want to disagree with bob, but the butane cartridges are not easy to find in the boonies. the small towns I visit don't have them. if you are in an area were they cater to backpackers or a big city that is a different story. were I go even the small propane cylinders are few and far between and expensive. for the price of 3 or 4 of the 1 lb bottles you could fill a 20 lb bottle. highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

A Trangia 28-T Mini stove/cookset is the way to go.

Fuel is found at any auto parts store.

I have had one for 30+years and cook inside van or truck cap in poor weather.

http://www.amazon.com/Trangia-32750..._sbs_sg_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M3J03M4Q7SKTVY6HY4B

http://www.amazon.com/28201-Gas-Lin..._sim_sg_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1653WYZQRD6Q0YTGY02X

 

[arizonatruck]

Even as big as the battery is in my f250, I don't run much off the starting battery and I don't like to run my 6.7 liter engine very long as it is very fuel inefficient at idle, which is why I plan on solar and deep cycle house batteries. For cooking I prefer either gas or wood. But inside a small car is probably a bad idea.

An idea, but maybe not the best, would be a solar panel on top of the car, with a charge controller and deep cycle battery. This way you can have extended time with electricity without having to consume a whole lot of fuel. I knew a guy that had two solar panels on his truck with two deep cycle batteries. That was his main electrical source. He also had it hooked up, but isolated by a switch of sorts, to the house battery for charging while driving or to charge a the dead starting battery that he had only once.