Off Grid Induction Cooking!

I live full time off grid with just a small solar power system so I use low power appliances for cooking.

I have an air fryer, electric skillet, toaster oven and sandwich makers that will all run off my 1000 watt inverter or power station and recently I was turned on to this great induction cooktop that also runs off low power and cooks at least twice as fast as a conventional electric or gas stove top.

It has preset temp settings or you can set it at the exact temp you want and it has a timer so no more uncooked or over cooked foods and safer if you forget and leave it on it will shut off. Also safer for seniors and kids because the cooktop never gets hot and it won't catch things on fire.

OK, I am very impressed with it and will save me using propane to cook and can be used off a small solar system or power station for camping or a power blackout to fix a meal for your families.

That is cool. My grandpa had a stand-alone induction cooker and he would use it instead of the normal electric range in his house. I have looked at the efficiency claims and some people have found them to be a bit less efficient than a standard electric coil in some situations. When the cooking vessel completely covers the coil, it can transfer around 83% of the supplied energy to your food. The induction cookers they tested transferred about 77% of the energy to the food. But the size of the cooking vessel didn't change the efficiency. The State of California did a study, and the results are in a pdf. But the fact that an induction cooker can do a true low heat, instead of the full on or full off of an electric coil, is a big advantage.

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:That is cool. My grandpa had a stand-alone induction cooker and he would use it instead of the normal electric range in his house. I have looked at the efficiency claims and some people have found them to be a bit less efficient than a standard electric coil in some situations. When the cooking vessel completely covers the coil, it can transfer around 83% of the supplied energy to your food. The induction cookers they tested transferred about 77% of the energy to the food. But the size of the cooking vessel didn't change the efficiency. The State of California did a study, and the results are in a pdf. But the fact that an induction cooker can do a true low heat, instead of the full on or full off of an electric coil, is a big advantage.

I think you might have read that backwards?

"Induction cooking is often considered one of the most efficient cooking technologies.
With this technology, up to 90% of the energy consumed is transferred to the food, compared to
about 74% for traditional electric systems and 40% for gas."

That is how it starts off, but after testing actual cooking appliances they found different numbers. I was citing from their Table 2, which has their test results.

I've been looking at induction cooking for a long while. The potential is huge. But the single burners I see are far too tiny to solve the cooking problem, unless your focus is cooking two eggs in an 8 inch pan.

Have things improved? Watching this thread closely.

The thing I love about induction cooking with cast iron is the even heat.     no cold spots or hot spots in the pan, just even heating with my induction cook top.

I have been waiting for DC induction cookers   for us who live off grid, they have them in India.....

https://www.greenmaxtechnology.com/solar-dc-induction-cooker.html


This is also used in welding  to heat metal so it is easy to work with.

LeMar,   love your Youtube channel and your bike chariot you have for your dogs :-)      

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:That is how it starts off, but after testing actual cooking appliances they found different numbers. I was citing from their Table 2, which has their test results.

I have done some testing with my inverter, and what I have found the size of the pan makes a huge difference.        It would be interesting to compare different induction cookers to see how they compare with efficiency.

Mart Hale wrote:The thing I love about induction cooking with cast iron is the even heat.     no cold spots or hot spots in the pan, just even heating with my induction cook top.  

I hadn't thought of cast iron cookware. What sizes work well together -- cast iron base vs. induction burner size?

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

Mart Hale wrote:The thing I love about induction cooking with cast iron is the even heat.     no cold spots or hot spots in the pan, just even heating with my induction cook top.  

I hadn't thought of cast iron cookware. What sizes work well together -- cast iron base vs. induction burner size?

In my limited testing I  was puzzled when it was not pulling much energy.       Then I came to realize the amount of energy it pulls is in direct relation to the size of the pan,     smaller pans pull far less watts with my cooker,    I have only tested with one of these, so not an expert, I just love to play.

I would also imagine the amount of magnetic metal in the pan woul also be a factor,    now that I think about it more I wounder how thin verses thicker metals would play a role.......

I also was wondering if I used insulation on the bottom of the pan, say a welder's blanket how would that affect the out come....

LaMar Alexander wrote:I live full time off grid with just a small solar power system so I use low power appliances for cooking.

I have an air fryer, electric skillet, toaster oven and sandwich makers that will all run off my 1000 watt inverter or power station and recently I was turned on to this great induction cooktop that also runs off low power and cooks at least twice as fast as a conventional electric or gas stove top.

It has preset temp settings or you can set it at the exact temp you want and it has a timer so no more uncooked or over cooked foods and safer if you forget and leave it on it will shut off. Also safer for seniors and kids because the cooktop never gets hot and it won't catch things on fire.

OK, I am very impressed with it and will save me using propane to cook and can be used off a small solar system or power station for camping or a power blackout to fix a meal for your families.

Lemar,  question for you...

The power box you have your induction cooker plugged in, is it an pure sine wave inverter?            I ask because my pure sine wave inverter died, and I tried my inverter cooktop on mod sign wave, and it does not work for me. with mod sign wave.

Mart Hale wrote:

LaMar Alexander wrote:I live full time off grid with just a small solar power system so I use low power appliances for cooking.

I have an air fryer, electric skillet, toaster oven and sandwich makers that will all run off my 1000 watt inverter or power station and recently I was turned on to this great induction cooktop that also runs off low power and cooks at least twice as fast as a conventional electric or gas stove top.

It has preset temp settings or you can set it at the exact temp you want and it has a timer so no more uncooked or over cooked foods and safer if you forget and leave it on it will shut off. Also safer for seniors and kids because the cooktop never gets hot and it won't catch things on fire.

OK, I am very impressed with it and will save me using propane to cook and can be used off a small solar system or power station for camping or a power blackout to fix a meal for your families.

Lemar,  question for you...

The power box you have your induction cooker plugged in, is it an pure sine wave inverter?            I ask because my pure sine wave inverter died, and I tried my inverter cooktop on mod sign wave, and it does not work for me. with mod sign wave.

Yes, it is pure sine wave and most power stations are pure sine wave. My solar power system also has a pure sine wave inverter.