geem
Well-known member
I have just upgraded it to1020w
Inverters
- Thread starter doris
- Start date
Daverw
Well-known member
Vango Sizzle Double Induction Hob https://amzn.eu/d/4HOh8zz
geem
Well-known member
I think those are 800w. We now have a pair of 2000w induction hobs. We are limited to 3000w on the inverter so need to ensure we don't use them both on full power. It's amazing how much quicker it is to boil a kettle on a 2000w induction hob compared to using a gas ring. Quite happy to lose the gas
Daverw
Well-known member
Yes 800w each, we chose them because of this, they work well and are still quicker than gas, we find at home we really use ours above 800w setting anyway. They also are slightly smaller and fitting on top of the lift up covers I have over the gas burners
Gustywinds
Well-known member
Very neat and cheap enough and small enough to try out without removing the diesel hob. Pity Amazon France only seem to have the single one so I’ll wait until our next trip home.
Daverw
Well-known member
I think I’ve seen them at decathlon so my be worth a look
geem
Well-known member
We use ours regularly at 2000w to boil the kettle, etc. We plan to install a panasonic combination oven this winter. I will gimball the cooker and install a single 2000w induction hob on top. The second hob lives in a shelf at the back of the cooker. This one will only come out when at anchor, if we need it. My wife has become a dab hand a cooking with a single induction hob over the last 18 months, since we don't like cooking with gas in the Tropics. The gas really heats the cabin up.
Now we are back in the UK, we are also finding the induction hob great as it produces no condensation unlike the gas cooker.
dgadee
Well-known member
What battery systems are you using for electric cooking? I would imagine a large bank is needed?
geem
Well-known member
We have been using 385Ah of lithium @24v but it's getting increased to 560Ah @24v. It gives us equivelent to over 2000Ah of lead at 12v but only weighs 85kg. My 4 Trojan T105 lead batteries that we used to have, weighed 112kg but we only had a usable 225Ah at 12v (assuming 50% depth of discharge). So with lithium you get 4 times the capacity for 75% of the weight, in my case.
dgadee
Well-known member
Yes, I looked into Lithium (earlier post) but the need for power to my water maker via the invertor meant that I would need to have an expensive b2b charging system. Not really worth the expense or hassle.
I will stick with gas.
geem
Well-known member
For lots of people gas and lead batteries is fine. Our problem is that the heat of the tropics is very hard on lead batteries. Replacing batteries in the Caribbean is expensive. I think now, more people have lithium cruising the Caribbean than lead. Thr liveaboard life is hard on batteries as well. Since I build my own batteries, the cost of lithium is lower than lead but you do need to do the upgrade to the rest of the system that can be as expensive as the lithium batteries. It's not the same for everybody. A couple of friends added lithium to their Jeaneau and Beneteau yachts with minimal expense. They already had large solar installations, mppt solar regs, smart shunt and 12v watermakers. They simply added lithium, and didn't bother with dc/dc chargers as they run off solar alone. They aren't electric cooking yet, but when they do, they will add dc/dc and larger inverter. Both friends who took a little bit of persuading to go lithium now describe it as a game changer. They are now telling everybody else to go lithium
They both liveaboard for the winter and return to Canada by plane for the summer, leaving the boats in the Caribbean
noelex
Well-known member
Energy production rather than energy storage is normally the limiting factor in determining if electric cooking is viable, but there is still a need for a reasonably sized battery bank.
If you have a 12v battery bank below about 500 Ah (if lead acid) or 300 Ah (if you have lithium), any large amount electric cooking is likely to be difficult when away from shore power or without a generator.
At lower settings electric cooking is not a very high current draw so doing some types of electric cooking will be possible with more modest systems.
Portable induction cooktops are inexpensive so if you already have a reasonable sized inverter and some spare energy production you can dabble in electric cooking with little cost or installation hassle. However, there is little point unless you are producing excess electrical energy. If you need to run a generator (or run a generator more) to replace the energy, then propane is a more suitable cooking method in my view.
geem
Well-known member
I would add that when you convert to lithium, you often see a doubling of your solar production since many cruisers often say their batteries are fully charged by midday. Having the batteries just sat on float all afternoon wastes a lot of solar production
dgadee
Well-known member
Is there some way to use this to heat the water?
geem
Well-known member
We heat the water off the inverter and immersion heater. It takes about 500Wh to heat water in the Caribbean for showers for two.
geem
Well-known member
When we converted to lithium, we went from harvesting about 2kWh to about 3.5kWh per day.
200w of solar is enough to make hot water for us
Seven Spades
Well-known member
I have had boats of different sizes and in my experience it is not worth having an inverter unless you are going to stay at anchor for extended periods and cruise in locations where obtaining gas is a pain. If you are mainly marina hopping then you probably don't need one, you can use shore power when you arrive and gas to make tea at anchor.
If on the other hand you are seriously cruising then your plans ought to change. I would strongly recommend a lithium conversion along with an inverter and an electric kettle. When we started using an electric kettle we halved our gas usage. Adding lithium will mean that your capacity can increase many fold and you can use of for an electric kettle, charging lap tops and phones but also you can keep for fridge running all the time. Lithium charges so efficently that as soon as you start the engine power pours into the batteries and they will charge with short power usually in under three hours.
If on the other hand you are seriously cruising then your plans ought to change. I would strongly recommend a lithium conversion along with an inverter and an electric kettle. When we started using an electric kettle we halved our gas usage. Adding lithium will mean that your capacity can increase many fold and you can use of for an electric kettle, charging lap tops and phones but also you can keep for fridge running all the time. Lithium charges so efficently that as soon as you start the engine power pours into the batteries and they will charge with short power usually in under three hours.
noelex
Well-known member
Lithium batteries are great, but don’t feel with a lead acid battery system that electric cooking or electric hot water heating is not viable. Providing you can produce the energy (this is usually the greatest stumbling block) and have a reasonably substantial electrical system, electric cooking and hot water heating are not difficult.
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dgadee
Well-known member
Do you feed from the inverter directly into the boat's 240v supply? I keep them separate.
geem
Well-known member
I have a rotary switch that switches between shore power and inverter. Once switched to inverter, it will power all the circuits in the boat except the battery chargers. They are inhibited via the rotary switch.
We have a second smaller inverter that serves a single double socket in the nav station for small loads.
