Induction cook top

Folks it takes about 600 watts of solar to nearly eliminate generator run time. Cost of panels are as low as $0.28 per watt. Cost of a decent solar system is about 4 tanks of fuel for my RV.

Induction cookers are interesting because other than when they first start the wattage "bounces" going up and down many times per minute. I don't think there is surge so a Nuwave2 can be run on a 1500 watt pure sine wave inverter. A xantrex 2000 watt inverter is $347.50.

If two AGM 12 volt jars are used the maximum draw per cell is only 75 amps.

It is possible. How practical it is depends on how long you need to do it between battery charges, and how much battery capacity you have. Two batteries doesn't say much, as batteries come in a wide range of sizes and capacities, and designs optimized for different discharge rates.

Each induction burner will draw 100 to 180 amps from the battery bank through an inverter (probably needs to be at least 2 KW). That is close to a starter load, but the dual purpose batteries often installed in RVs can handle that load pretty well for a short time.

If you have a fully charged pair of the dual purpose batteries usually installed in RVs, you might draw that for about 30 minutes from Group 24 size before the inverter cuts out for low voltage. About twice as long for Group 29, twice again for a pair of the big heavy 4Ds.

If you have a pair of 6V true deep cycle batteries in series, you might get substantially more time, still depending on size. For 200-240 AH GC-2 size golf cart batteries usually installed as alternative to Group 24 12 volts, up to two hours drawing 75 amps, maybe 45 minutes drawing 150 amps. This type of battery is at its best drawing at amperage loads 1/10 to 1/5 the number of the AH rating, and will go down faster at higher loads. GC-2, for example, is optimal at about 25 Amps. For consistently higher loads, a larger battery bank is usually installed, so that the highest long term load is no more than 1/5 of the total AH capacity. If you want to run your induction range from GC-2s, you should probably have eight of them installed.

Of course, you probably have other loads using battery capacity, either directly or drawing through an inverter for 120 AC loads.

Bob Vaughn wrote:
I guess those with residential refrigerators and induction ranges can just forget about dry camping unless they want to spend a bunch more money...

Yeah, pretty much. Spend lots of money on a generator OR a bunch on 6 MORE batteries to go with the two that came with your unit. Modern conviences come at a cost..... Maybe some day they'll have affordable alternative means but for now it sucks.

Dan

I guess those with residential refrigerators and induction ranges can just forget about dry camping unless they want to spend a bunch more money...

If you are dry camping, relying on an induction cooktop is kind of marginal with only 2 batteries and no generator. At a minimum you would need a 2000 watt inverter and that wattage would draw about 170 amps from your batteries. I don't think that convention deep cycle batteries could deliver that much amperage. You could compensate by using lower power levels but that would require longer heating times.

Perhaps a better approach would be to buy a Coleman (or equivalent) camping stove that uses butane cylinders for dry camping. Those stoves are simple and reliable but you would want to provide ventilation when they are in use.

We have a Summitt SINC2B120 in our MH. It has two burners. The back on is 1800 max and the front one is 1300 watts max. The front burner has 6 power levels or about 216 watts each. The back one has 8 power levels or about 225 watts each.

We never use the back burner because the front one cooks so fast. The fron burner we used on level 6 once for a short period to get it hot fast then back down to 3 or 4. With our pans it's faster then our gas stove. We use pans that cover the burner area but no more or less. That's the most efficient. We also generally try to keep the height of the pan as short as possible. The higher parts of the pan aren't being heated by induction but they represent a thermal mass you'd have to heat up (waste energy).

I haven't timed it but I'm sure we could heat two fried eggs on setting 4 in less then 5 minutes. That's 864 watts for 5 minutes or the same as 72 watts for an hour or 6 amp hours.

What type of RV. They are putting the induction cooktops in new ones now. Roadtrek does it, but they usually have more than just a couple of batteries. They also have solar and a generator. Another thing to consider is that the wattage is "up to". They also do not maintain that wattage for long periods of time. They cook faster, so usage time is less than a traditional electric cooktop.

might be an all electric 5th wheel

No Solar panels either?

With no generator how are you going to charge the batteries while dry camping?
I would buy a unit with a generator or hook up to Elec etc.