shopping for induction cooktop

[Seminole Wind]

i have heard (not seen in person) that some of the induction cookers can be set to a temperature instead of a wattage. does anyone know of a portable one that has this option?

 

[tx2sturgis]

That sounds reasonable but I wonder if different types of cookware would produce different amounts of heat (into the food) for a given input wattage. 

Dunno.

Even the simple act of putting a lid on a pot or pan while cooking increases the temperature retained inside.

Calibrated cookware, maybe?

 

[4k4000]

i have heard (not seen in person) that some of the induction cookers can be set to a temperature instead of a wattage. does anyone know of a portable one that has this option?

I read a Duxtop user guide which states that you can switch between Temperature Mode and Power Mode. Basically choosing one or the other. However, the video I referenced shows the user first selecting a wattage (300 watts), then selecting a temperature. So that seemed to indicate that you can set the power and temp independent of each other, but the unit operates based on the combination of those two settings.

 

[4k4000]

Even the simple act of putting a lid on a pot or pan while cooking increases the temperature retained inside.

True!

 

[Seminole Wind]

That sounds reasonable but I wonder if different types of cookware would produce different amounts of heat (into the food) for a given input wattage. 

Dunno.

Even the simple act of putting a lid on a pot or pan while cooking increases the temperature retained inside.

Calibrated cookware, maybe?

yes every pot would be different. and even the same pot will change based on what is in it. where i would find it real handy is that it takes a lot of heat to bring a pot to a simmer then much less heat to keep it simmering and as the volume of liquid reduces then it takes even less heat to keep it simmering. when simmering down a sauce and waiting for it to reduce this would be handy. no more worries of boil overs and scorched bottoms. i guess i need to get to where i can see that video

 

[Weight]

The temperture sensor is under the cook surface and can only make a rough guess at what the pot temperture could be. There are many Amazon reviews talking about this disapointment.

 

[4k4000]

I got the iSiLER CHK-CCA02 (touch controls without knob) from Amazon. I tried it out with three different compatible pots and pans. All heated fine, but the unit makes a high frequency electronic buzz/zap type noise (similar to a bug zapper but softer and continuous), which seems to get worse at higher power settings. So I returned it.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to try another induction unit just yet. Was considering the Nuwave, but this experience has left me disappointed with the technology. (I also didn't like the fan running which would be an issue with all of these.)

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

4k4000, wre you running the cooker plugged into a wall socket (115volts AC) or thru an inverter? I've heard they buzz" unless using a perfect sine wave type inverter.

 

[jeanmarie]

I'm shopping for a portable countertop induction cooktop. I searched the forum and found threads discussing general use, but didn't find any reviews of specific units.

I'm considering the IKEA TILLREDA but after watching some reviews on YouTube it seems like the fan is kinda noisy. I also found an Electric Induction Cooktop, iSiLER 1800W Sensor Touch Portable Induction Cooker Cooktop on Amazon which someone there reviewed as "less noisy than most". I wonder if they are all the same or if the noise isn't as bad in real life as it seems in the videos.

And also I'd like to get a generally high quality unit that will be reliable. Maybe someone with experience can comment. Thanks.

We had Nuwave burners, 2 individual burners, for nearly 5 years. They worked well and we had no trouble with them. But due to space requirements, our electrical system, the need for hookups or a generator to use them, and my own cooking preferences, we have changed to a 2-burner propane stovetop.

 

[4k4000]

4k4000, wre you running the cooker plugged into a wall socket (115volts AC) or thru an inverter? I've heard they buzz" unless using a perfect sine wave type inverter.

Wall socket.

 

[optionsexplored]

Does anyone have numbers on how much amp hours are used making meals? We are considering induction but battery usage is a concern. I have no idea how much typical use might draw.

Thanks.

 

[maki2]

It is all just basic math and it can be done using spread sheets. You just have to set up the sheet with the calculations for wattage to turn it into amp multiplied by the length of time. It won't take you all that long to set up a simple spread sheet so that you can find out how many amp hours any recipe will use. Each induction cooker might vary slightly just look at the wattage ratings for high, medium, low etc. Then look at the recipe which says how long to cook at what temperature setting. Enter the values from the recipe into your spread sheet.

It won't be perfect science but it will get you close.

 

[optionsexplored]

I guess what I'm struggling with is I have never used induction so I don't know if "cook on medium" on a 120v induction is the same as a typical range, gas stove, etc.

Thanks for the spreadsheet idea, I had one for total power but I'm refining it for "run time estimate" now.

 

[geogentry]

I worked in restaurants for almost two decades, and in one place I worked we had small 1 burner induction stoves.

A lot of what you're asking, length of time to cook something and efficiency is very dependent on what pan you use. Since the stove uses magnetics the amount of iron in the pan will directly affect both how long it takes to cook something and how you have to adjust the burner. We did try using cast iron, without using Extreme Caution it was very easy to crack the top of the burner as it was made of glass. We did eventually get pans designed for use with induction stoves and it seemed with those pans that the cook time and settings of the burner were analogous to normal gas burner.

Sorry I can't give more specifics but we really didn't run an in-depth study as to efficiency of the burners.



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[optionsexplored]

Thank you, very helpful geogentry. Was the cracking due to weight of the pan and
/or hitting the glass top during use? Or something else.

 

[geogentry]

The cracked tops were from two causes. One of course was carelessness. Set the pan down to quickly, too hard, you got a crack top. The other cause was kind of interesting. If you put a lightweight pan that does work on the cooking surface and turn up the heat too high the pain will actually seem to levitate slightly and bounce around. It was really amazing to watch until it cracked the top.

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[optionsexplored]

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[optionsexplored]

I did find some usage number numbers on a post in case it's useful for anyone else
https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showpost.php?p=418595&postcount=11

 

[XERTYX]

Rather than start another thread I'm gonna bump this one. I've read thru some search results on the forum and this one is the most recent. If need be the mods can move this into electrical instead as I'm gonna get technical, and hope ive calculated everything correctly. 

I havent even considered using induction as they draw so much current. HOWEVER. . . I was scrolling thru amazon and they offer their own home brand 1800 watt for $58...

1800 watts is insane off of batteries. But they claim it has selectable wattage 200-1800. I know that they do cycle even on the 200 watt setting much higher so a 2kw pure sine wave inverter is needed and AMPLE wiring for such a load. Ok.

For kicks I looked on YouTube and found a guy doing an experiment on how many watts it takes to heat 1 quart of water and he was measuring with a killawatt meter.

He repeated the experiment with the pan uncovered and made a spreadsheet along with the physics of how many watts in theory are required with 100% efficiency blah blah blah.

120 watt hours covered, and 140 watt hours uncovered were his results. But puekert effect will come into the equation with such a high load. He was on shore power after all. So I googled a puekert effect calculator. 

Based on 400ah battery with the max load of 1800 watts the calculator says that you can run it for 0.364 hours with only 25% drain on the battery. Nearly 22 minutes. That is also my adding 10% loss into it for inverter inefficiency. So that's 100ah battery capacity reduction. Also the calculator didnt have a field for the number of batteries in the bank and having more batteries actually takes a little bit of the bite out of the puekert effect. 

Pretty huge. But that's assuming it was using 1800 watts consistently over 21+ minutes but it will be cycling high and low. I'm hoping to be able to squeeze 500 watts of solar panels on the roof of my build. It doesnt need to be stealth. So on a sunny day I should be able to replenish 100ah of capacity. So I'm thinking I may want an induction cooker.

 

[maki2]

My understanding is that the power that determines high heat and low heat is done by timed pulsrs of energy. The amount of power to createc a pulse does not vary, it how quickly the pulses come that varies. So if you are talking about what inverter you need then the answer is you need one that can handle the rating of the unit. Turning the unit down to low heatheat does not change the current it takes to produce each and every one of the pulses. Those pulses are each one of them exactly the same amoiunt of power. High heat is more of them closer together, low heat the are spread further apart in time. This is much different than how heat is controlled on one of the coils on an electric stove, skillet, crock pot, etc.