Refrigerator on DC eats up a lot of power and is less efficient than propane or 120 volts. Propane, at least, doesn't need the electrical heater, so would be the best way for off-grid. Both Norcold and Deometec have3-way 'fridges, I think. With an Engel you'll have lower power consumption than either. Less than 1.5 amps or as low as 0.5 depending on size.
VernM
GMC Conversion van/Wells Cargo MiniWagon trailer
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Well, Induction cooking is not new, its actually been around for quite some time, over 15 years. These cooktops run on 220 volts and draw ALOT of amps, have you priced one? Well over $1000.00.
We put in a Sears Kenmore 4 burner induction cooktop into the stick house 22 years ago for $500. You'd think it was brand new since the surface stays cooler than the pots and pans. Easy to clean and really hard to burn yourself let alone set anything on fire. It shuts itself off if you let a pot boil dry. The 220v is used to make it really fast to a boil.
A propane burner transfers 35-40% of the heat to the pan and the rest to the environment. An electric resistance heater does 60-70% but is slow to heat, hard to adjust quickly. The magnetic induction transfers over 80% and is instant on-off between full power or a simmer. That's why we put one in the van. The Japanese and Koreans love them; ours is a Sunpentown 1200w online for $129.
Since we mostly drycamp without our portable generator we use the 700w nominal (1100w actual input) microwave and the mag cooktop with a little discretion. We are also supporting the continuous 18w average draw of the fridge. The lighting is very efficient and mostly its just the stereo and laptop use to consider. We get about 4 days in camp with our 420 ah battery bank.
But any grocery errand we run or trip to the river or other mileage will quickly dump amp-hrs back into the bank and allay any concerns about a second bag of microwave popcorn.
Note that the energy content of the upcoming Chevy Volt with a bank equal to 14 of our batteries is equal to 1 gallon of gasoline. With that in mind, we mostly heat water and cook outside on propane burners and a propane bbq.
On the rare occasion that we have shore power in camp we turn into wastrels that cook everything in the micro and on the induction cooktop while leaving--gasp--four 10w xenon lights on at once. (It is actually good to plug in twice a month on the road to let the Prosine's charger top off the battery bank.)
If I didn't have a boat rack and liked to park in full sun, a couple of solar panels would mostly eliminate the 5% of the time I want my gen along.
Personally, we love the drycamp sites and hate the noise of any generator. Extra batteries buy you extra days of quiet.
If you're running air conditioning you need substantial power from shore or gen set. If you need the cold air a Yankee might get away with 10% of the year on shore power and skip the big gen.
In cool weather if you need pollen-filtered air then you might look at running an a/c on fan alone or perhaps modifying a Fantastic Fan to push its air through a carbon filter like the cabin filter on the Sprinter. We could not keep all our doors closed and depend on a quality antihistamine instead.
My 5'3" wife can carry the Honda eu2000i (2000w) gen herself. It's prime virtues are its low noise and its light weight. They are so easy to handle that many folks will buy two for a slaved 4000w output to run an a/c. But we could live without our gen completely without cutting off many options. A night at a motel or a week on shore power could be tolerated. A gen set and roof a/c take up room and weight--your needs may be different than my limited ones.
Dan
02 Freightliner Sprinter 2500 long tall home brew conversion
A 3 way fridge run on 12 V is very inefficient. An all electric fridge, available on Sportsmobile, is very efficient running on 12 V.
Apparently induction cooktops aren't new. But apparently there has been some kind of a breakthrough in the technology, since there are small portable units for around $100. I read about it on a site somewhere touted as new technology , but I must have misunderstood and it's just a breakthrough.
By the way, for people who have induction cook tops, what kinds of pots and pans can you use on them?
Thanks for the info about the storage compartment under the floor. How do I know if my DYO plan would allow one?
Can you get a built-in conduction cook top on a Sportsmobile?
Thanks all
* This post was
edited 08/23/08 07:52pm by dogcomestoo *
dogcomestoo wrote: A 3 way fridge run on 12 V is very inefficient. An all electric fridge, available on Sportsmobile, is very efficient running on 12 V.
Apparently induction cooktops aren't new. But apparently there has been some kind of a breakthrough in the technology, since there are small portable units for around $100. I read about it on a site somewhere touted as new technology , but I must have misunderstood and it's just a breakthrough.
By the way, for people who have induction cook tops, what kinds of pots and pans can you use on them?
Thanks for the info about the storage compartment under the floor. How do I know if my DYO plan would allow one?
Can you get a built-in conduction cook top on a Sportsmobile?
Thanks all
I had the impression that most 3 way fridges when not running on propane used the electricity to heat an element to power the same gas absorption mechanism. Hence something like 2x or 3x as much wattage compared to the electric-only models.
If a magnet sticks to your pot, it'll work on an induction burner. Cast iron works great. Copco enameled steel pots and pans are also good. The nonstick-coated steel frying pan that came with my Sunpentown is fairly light but great to cook with.
My single burner happened to fit nicely in the recessed top of my propane locker so I stopped trying to install it somewhere. It sometimes follows us to friends' potlucks as it does well as a warmer or extra cooking unit. When we stay at powered sites we'll use it on the picnic table as well as for the inside kitchen.
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