Can I use a crockpot?

[chovy]

Thinking of getting a Hamilton crockpot 4qt for cooking chili.

I’m off grid and power consumption is always a concern.

I have 500ah lithium batteries and 600 watts of panels. However with my current draw I usually have to run the generator for 20 minutes at night

How much would a crockpot destroy my power usage?

 

[Ex-Calif]

According to a couple of specs I looked up a crock pot will draw from .5 to 2.0 amps in use.

I think it would be fine for 4-6 hours, easy.

 

[rjwilliams11741]

You might want to look into the "Instant Pot" or Crock Pot's "Multi Cooker", as they combine the functions of a crock pot with a pressure cooker.

 

[touchracing]

Or you could save electricity by using the stove top.

 

[Lou Schneider]

According to a couple of specs I looked up a crock pot will draw from .5 to 2.0 amps in use.

I think it would be fine for 4-6 hours, easy.

You have to be careful comparing 12 volt amps vs. 120 volt amps. There's a 10:1 difference between them for any given power.

The numbers you give are for 120 volts. Multiply by 10 for the amp draw from a 12 volt battery, or 5 to 20 amps. That's 60 to 240 watts.

Then multiply by the number of hours the crock pot is on. If you cook for 4 hours that's 240-480 watt-hours or 20-40 amp-hours at 12 volts.

If your solar is currently maxed out, you'll have to run your generator that much longer to replace the power.

 

[John From Detroit]

FOr practical purposes. (not precise but close enough)
Divide watts of the device by 10 to figure 12 volt amps
(NOTE this is not the same as multiplying AC amps by 10)

Why use 10 and not 12? Conversion loss, wire loss and other losses make 10 much closer to the mark.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The unknown in this calculation is the crock pot thermostat. You may cook for 4 hours, but the heater in the pot almost surely does not run the the entire 4 hours. Once the pot heats up, the thermostat just keeps it simmering, cycling on/off as needed, so the watt-hour consumption will be less than 100% of the rated watts x hours. The heat elements may be on only 20% of the time, or maybe as much as 80% or 90%. The LO heat setting obviously consumes fewer watt-hours than HIGH.

As a guestimate, I would estimate the heater runs 100% for the first hour and then a much lower rate for the rest of the cooking time. Maybe 30% if on the LO heat setting and 80% on HI? That's purely a guess - I have no data to support it other than casual observation while using my crock pot. A Kill-O-Watt device would give real answers.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

I have a 'real' crock pot and checked it at home with a kill-a-watt meter. On high it draws 230 watts, low is 186 watts. It never cycles, so at least this model has no thermostat. The 'insta pot' style cooker I have does cycle based on the mode so it would depend what you're cooking and for how long to come up with a power usage total.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Domo]

Solar crock pot - in Boy Scouts we could cook biscuits using a solar oven... Hmmm... have to try it for an afternoon cooking! Thanks for posting the question!

 

[chovy]

The crockpot isn’t solar lol. I have solar on my trailer.

 

[Ex-Calif]

You have to be careful comparing 12 volt amps vs. 120 volt amps. There's a 10:1 difference between them for any given power.

The numbers you give are for 120 volts. Multiply by 10 for the amp draw from a 12 volt battery, or 5 to 20 amps. That's 60 to 240 watts.

Then multiply by the number of hours the crock pot is on. If you cook for 4 hours that's 240-480 watt-hours or 20-40 amp-hours at 12 volts.

If your solar is currently maxed out, you'll have to run your generator that much longer to replace the power.

You're right that I was thinking in 12V (I've done that twice now) but even so 240W for 4 hours won't kill a 500 a/h lithium battery in my estimation. It should be like 1120a/h unless I am calculating wrong.

2 amps X 6 hours = 12 amps X 110V = 1320W / 12 =110 amps

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

My usage experiment proved that while it's possible to run a crock pot off of battery for some period of time it's eminently more practical to put a 4Q enamel pot to simmer on the propane stove, provided of course one has a propane stove. Using a crock pot while underway has some merit though, I really like the idea of having dinner simmering away in a crock pot with the alternator feeding the inverter. We've used a crock pot while on shore power though so we take one along, they're a convenient way to make a number of meals but I wouldn't go through extraordinary measures to run one off of battery, the stove is simpler and it works.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM