Toasting a Slice with Solar Power

[Farther]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Your percolator used right will beat out most electric coffee makers for a good tasty cup of Joe.

Oh, the horror! You certainly have lived a deprived/depraved life. . I'm very fond of my Chemex and Fire-Maple kettle.

[godspeed]

We have an Escape 21 with 200 watts solar and dual batteries and the 1500 watt inverter. We bought a 2 slice toaster on amazon that uses 800 watts and a Nespresso Pixie that uses 600 watts for 2 cups of coffee. This all runs on our 1500 watt inverter. Batteries are back up in minutes with full sun. We do not use both at once.

[Ginger]

Ok, i'm going to ask a question that I know could bring an avalanche of discussion. My husband probably knows but he's not here. We have factory solar on our 2017 but no inverter. We have never used it,but if we wanted to it would run the lights and anything small we plugged into a one of the DC slots,right?

[padlin]

Sort of, it charges the batteries and runs whatever on 12vdc. If nothing is running, it'll just recharge the batteries. If it's cloudy or night, then the 12vdc stuff runs off the batteries.

[godspeed]

Yes all your 12volt lights and usb ports run of the 12 volt system and the solar then recharges the batteries. Here is a small inverter that plugs into the 12 V cigarette lighter socket on your escape that we use to power the TV and DVD player.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KQ4Q2L5..._YM4TCbBS3NNGR

[BobG]

I wonder why no one mentioned French Press? It is what we used on boat even when connected to shore power.

[Coco]

The Coleman Cooktop Coffeemaker is great, BUT... make sure you have protection for side wall. Blistered kitchen sidewall on Casita. Had Casita resurface wall, then used cookie pan as buffer.

[cpaharley2008]

Too me, solar power cooking is this....https://offgridcookingwarehouse.com/...ssory-package/

[marsman]

Well folks I just got back from my cross country trip, drove from Sudbury Ontario to Chilliwack, picked up the new 5.0TA and hauled it bnack to Sudbury. Spent a total of 5 days and 4 nights boondocking in the trailer and hear are the results of living on solar power (By the way we had mostly sunny to partly cloudy weather, daytime highs were 9-11C and night times were around the freezing mark with the coldest night dropping 3 degrees below freezing.

Furnace and fridge ran fine the whole time. Every night when we stopped except for one day when it rained a lot the batteries were fully charged. We have a mini drip coffee maker that brews 4 cups per pot, each time we brewed a pot we used about 7-8% of the battery, each time we toasted 2 slices of bread at about the 6-7 level on the toaster (we like our toast dark), the batteries went down between 9-11%. On one morning we started the day with about 94% power, we had used lights and charged phones and tablets the night before and the battery level had dropped to 84% but by the time we woke and got to breakfast about 11am the batteries had nearly topped up. That morning we made two pots of coffee and four slices of toast, plus the furnace had been running and the batteries level dropped to 52%. By the time we stopped at WalMart late in the afternoon at about 7PM the batteries were back to 100%.

Overall I am thoroughly impressed with this system, you need to carefully manage your power consumption but if you're in a spell of sunny weather you can use your trailer for entertainment during the evening and enjoy a late breakfast the next day!

WOW!

[TesaLD]

Missed you at the rally Jim! And totally dumb question here - we have 2 solar panels and an inverter. However, I do not know what buttons to push to get the inverter to power the 110/120 outlets when not on shore power. Thanks!!

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by TesaLD

Missed you at the rally Jim! And totally dumb question here - we have 2 solar panels and an inverter. However, I do not know what buttons to push to get the inverter to power the 110/120 outlets when not on shore power. Thanks!!

While Escape has used a number of different inverters & solar controllers, if you have the stock GoPower Inverter & solar controller they used in my 2017 trailer, there is a button on the solar controller that you touch & hold for a second or two to turn on the inverter.

[EdColorado]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

While Escape has used a number of different inverters & solar controllers, if you have the stock GoPower Inverter & solar controller they used in my 2017 trailer, there is a button on the solar controller that you touch & hold for a second or two to turn on the inverter.

And after doing that, at least on my ETI inverter, you need to wait about 60, or so, seconds before the 120v power becomes available. I didn’t know that until Dave at ETI told me my inverter was not broken, it was operator error.

Ed

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by EdColorado

And after doing that, at least on my ETI inverter, you need to wait about 60, or so, seconds before the 120v power becomes available. I didn’t know that until Dave at ETI told me my inverter was not broken, it was operator error.

Ed

Some of that delay - probably most of it - is likely due to the transfer switch, rather than the inverter itself.

[yangstyle]

Originally Posted by TesaLD

Missed you at the rally Jim! And totally dumb question here - we have 2 solar panels and an inverter. However, I do not know what buttons to push to get the inverter to power the 110/120 outlets when not on shore power. Thanks!!

On our 2018-21 with the go power inverter that Escape installed it has a rocker switch on it. Middle is off, one direction is on and the other direction is controlled by the remote panel, in our case by the dinette. On the remote panel there is a button that says AC and you hold it for a few seconds and it will switch on the inverter as long as the rocker switch is set for that. Escape has a series of videos on their you tube channel now and this operation is on there. It is a very good resource.

[TesaLD]

Thanks for all the advice! I will look more closely and check out the YouTube videos too.

[hayleyadams]

Hi guys,

I’m probably not on the right page but this is the most relevant search I can find!
We’re new to camping. We live in AUS. We have an older camper trailer.
What I need to know - What solar set up would I need to buy to be able to use it for things like the toaster and kettle and phone chargers?

We borrowed my partners uncles generator for this camping trip and only used it a handful of times to use the kettle and toaster so buying a generator seems expensive for what we need.

Thank you,

Hayley

[UncleTim]

Nothing is going to be cheap unless you cobble something together.

One 180 volt solar panel, a controller and two 6 volt batteries completes the circuit. But you still need a power inverter. And then you might want to mount all of this.

Here are some cheaper alternatives. I use a power station to run simple things and recharge batteries. Hook one up to a portable solar panel and you are off to the races. Just make sure to buy a device that is capable of supplying the power your toaster needs. It will be somewhere around 1500 watts.

This should get you started.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jackery+5...s_ts-do-p_1_11

Here are the best ones.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bluetti&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

If you want an education, go visit Professor Hobo.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVs...qwIq_gd0rTJF9g

[UncleTim]

Okay, I'm gonna show you guys how we do coffee on white water trips. I think this is the best way, and on most trips they usually put me in charge of all coffee and tea for the entire trip.

Get a simple carafe, and silicone Melitta filter holder. These can be hard to find. They are invaluable. I got mine on eBay.

They take #6 Melitta filters and all you have to do is boil some water, meter out the right amount of coffee (8 oz coffee per 40 oz of water is how the Buddhists taught me). I vary that a little, but I like it fairly strong. But not bitter, ever.

If you are careful about how you meter out ratios, this method uses a trickle of energy, produces the best coffee possible and you can do it anywhere with minimal humidity increase (just cover the water pan). It ain't the machine, it's the person. This is how we do it.

One last point. When you perk coffee, you are boiling it. In a sense you are burning it over and over. That is what is responsible for the percolator taste. Coffee does not like to be burned. This method brings the water up to around 203° out West (around 5,000 feet high, 29.1 barometric pressure) and then never approaches that level of heat again. Hence the need for a good carafe. You never burn coffee this way!

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by hayleyadams

I’m probably not on the right page but this is the most relevant search I can find!
We’re new to camping. We live in AUS. We have an older camper trailer.
What I need to know - What solar set up would I need to buy to be able to use it for things like the toaster and kettle and phone chargers?

We borrowed my partners uncles generator for this camping trip and only used it a handful of times to use the kettle and toaster so buying a generator seems expensive for what we need.

For phone charging a good battery in your trailer should be all you need.

Use your propane stove for boiling water and making toast.



Stansport Folding Camp Stove Toaster $5.29

For phone charging install some 12 volt powerplugs and use car adapters for charging.



Blue Sea Systems 12V Sockets $9.98

Solar is going to be the most expensive way to get 120 volts. Solar panels only charge your 12 volt batteries. You need the solar panel and charge controller, that will run you around $300. Then you need an inverter to convert the 12 volt DC power to 120 volt AC power. For an inverter capable of powering a toaster or a kettle you'll need at least a 1500 watt one which will add another $250+. You'll also likely need to upgrade your trailers batteries to handle the load of a large inverter add another $200+.

So as you can see solar is NOT the inexpensive solution.

If you really need an electric kettle and toaster, I'd look at a WEN 56235i Super Quiet 2350-Watt Portable Inverter Generator $430 direct from WEN.

[Allan Bornestig]

Hey Uncle Tim.
We have been using the Melitta pour over for ages.Not in the house anymore but out camping , hunting and whenever we are outside.It is so simple and make such good coffee I am surprised that a lot of people do not seem to know about it.And it is very quick too.
Have a Happy and safe 2021.