Instant Pot on Solar

[Vermilye]

For anyone interested, I have a 3 quart, 700 watt instant pot. Yesterday I pressure cooked a chicken thigh & potatoes for 20 minutes & used 3 amp hours from the batteries and about 1 directly from the solar panels. (a total of 45 amps draw when it was on; well under a 50% duty cycle). I was surprised at how little it used - a practical cooking method when dry camping.

[jadams]

Wow, I was wondering about using an Insta Pot when not connected to shore power. Please share the make and model of your Insta Pot. Thank you.

[GaryandEllen]

Jon can you help me understand how the solar calculation works. I'm picking up my 21 in a couple of months and it will be my first time with solar. How do you get 45 amps draw when you only cooked for 20 min? It sounded like you were using 3 amp hours from the batteries and 1 amp hour from the solar panels for a total rate of 4 amp hours for only 20 minutes. If you cooked for 30 min wouldn't that be 2 amps total?

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by GaryandEllen

Jon can you help me understand how the solar calculation works. I'm picking up my 21 in a couple of months and it will be my first time with solar. How do you get 45 amps draw when you only cooked for 20 min? It sounded like you were using 3 amp hours from the batteries and 1 amp hour from the solar panels for a total rate of 4 amp hours for only 20 minutes. If you cooked for 30 min wouldn't that be 2 amps total?

The 45 amps was the estimated 12V instantaneous input current to the inverter when the Instant Pot was drawing current, 35 amps coming from the batteries & 10 amps from the solar panels (480 watts worth of panels in late afternoon sun).

Since it switched off & on while cooking, the amp hour used is not based on 45 amps at 20 minutes, but what was actually measured by my battery monitor. I checked the solar panel output, and it was running at about 10 amps, while the battery monitor showed 35 amps coming out of the batteries when the cooking element was on.

While the Instant Pot rated at 700 watts @ 120V, my inverter only produces around 109 volts, which lowers the actual wattage. Doing a rough calculation, when running on the inverter the Instant Pot is drawing around 578 watts.

The total of 4 amp hours is a rough estimate since the solar panels were putting 10 amps back into the batteries when ever the heating element was off, but 4 amp hours is a pretty close estimate.

As to brand, it is an Instant Pot Lux Mini, 3 quart rated at 700 watts (the smallest I could find since I travel solo).

[stephen99]

The Instant Pot is a great way to cook when you have solar. We only have 260 watts of solar but as long as there is sunshine the batteries will recharge within a short time. The biggest draw with the IP is the initial heatup. Once it gets up to pressure it only cycles on once every 4 or 5 minutes.

[StillCampin]

I used a KillaWatt meter with my 3 qt mini while making yogurt. I have not done the calculations to get battery amp hours but have some numbers:

Making yogurt using the boil method requires heating the milk to 185°F, cooling it, then incubating for hours.

For 1/2 gallon milk, not long out of the fridge, it used .24 kwh for the heating cycle. Then 10 hours of incubation, which cycles the heating element to maintain approx 105°F, took another .32 kwh.

Today I made a chicken & rice dish. This included sauteing onions & such, 8 minutes @ pressure & natural release of 6 minutes. During the saute & pressure build time my Trimetric showed approx 45 ah out of the battery. Nice sunny day but my 2 rootop panels only contribute about 7 ah at the same time - less to begin since I started at 100%.

Cooking & heating water for cleanup (via electric kettle) used about 4% of my battery capacity (300) plus whatever solar put back during the same hour.

My standard draw, no inverter on is 1.5 ah. Add 1-2 for my 300 watt inverter charging electronics. Add about 2 for the 2000 watt inverter wired "whole house" (plus actual usage).