12 volt appliances

[Steve L.]

Originally Posted by Gorky

... I've considered using a lithium battery cordless drill for blending since you could recharge it like once a month when you have a 110 plug, and it would be useful for other tasks, but sounds messy and possible dangerous...

Well, if you don't mind your power tools smelling like margaritas...

[Gorky]

Actually, I'll bet with the proper adapter you could spin the blade of your standard blender with a cordless drill. The standard blender I have at home has a carafe/blade with a square hole that fits the square peg of the motor/base. So a square peg of the same size in a cordless drill would operate blender like normal.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Steve L.

Well, if you don't mind your power tools smelling like margaritas...

Have no problem making Margs without the use of a power tool &/or wasting battery power.

Simple pick up an old hand crank ice crusher from a thrift store. Or you can go higher tech and get a larger Vortex hand crank blender.

Have field tested both and Trust me they both work like a charm!

[Darwin Maring]

Remove the hand crank and replace it with a model airplane engine.

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

Here is something to put on your 12v/120v stove-
https://smile.amazon.com/Hawkins-Cla...ressure+cooker
I bought my second one in May. It made great blackeyed peas in 15 minutes on Wednesday. I just love it!

[Casita Greg]

I like pressure cookers too. I have 2 Kuhn-Rikon, (large & small,) ones at home and a Fagor 6 Qt. for the trailer. Very efficient and quick.

For the trailer:
Fagor Rapid Express 6.3-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker - BedBathandBeyond.com

For the house:
Duromatic® Family Style Stockpot 11" 12-qt | Kuhn Rikon

Duromatic® Family Style Braiser | Kuhn Rikon

[David in Maryland]

I'm no math whiz, so I can't cite the equations, but I do know that anything 12 volt that produces heat by use of a coil, like heaters, hairdryers, coffeemakers, etc. are big drains on a battery. It's basically a controlled short circuit. That's also why incandescent lights draw so much more power than LEDs. Appliances with motors aren't much better, if at all.

Having said all that, I was looking into 12 volt televisions and stumbled onto My 12 Volt Store. All kinds of nice toys to look at, some promising, some not so much. From my browsing, they do seem to have the best prices on the televisions.

[Paul O.]

Hot and under pressure? My instinct is to *not* trust anything like that, especially in a confined space, like my camper!

[steelypip]

Originally Posted by David in Maryland

I'm no math whiz, so I can't cite the equations, but I do know that anything 12 volt that produces heat by use of a coil, like heaters, hairdryers, coffeemakers, etc. are big drains on a battery. It's basically a controlled short circuit. That's also why incandescent lights draw so much more power than LEDs. Appliances with motors aren't much better, if at all.

The math turns out to be really simple - just multiplication. Here's an easy example:

My wife has a 1200 watt hair dryer I want to run on my battery (she doesn't really, but it's an easy example. Why not me? I don't have much hair these days...)

Power is amps times volts (P=IV). If power is 1200 watts, and volts is 120, then, sure enough, that's 10 amps. Glad your trailer has a 30 amp supply if you're also running the air conditioner and a coffee maker at the campground...

Now the bad news. The battery is 12 volts. So I need 100 amps to power the hair dryer from the battery. If the battery is 100 amp hours, I can have a theoretical maximum of one hour run time before I've completely flattened the battery.

In the real world batteries don't respond well to maximum loads like this, and you never want to discharge the battery below about 50% capacity for maximum lifespan. We won't get into inverter efficiency calculations.

The wattage draw for nearly anything can be found out. Often it's on the labeling or in the manual. If not, it's usually pretty easy to measure.

Basically, it's all about the work you're doing. Heating things up is work. Running motors that move something is work. Work over time is total energy used. Running a little LED light isn't much work, so a battery can do it for a very long time indeed. Example:

The 12V interior LED light strip I installed in the Casita draws 250 mA (0.25 Amps) at full brightness. How long will my 60 Amp Hour battery run it?

60 amp hours / .25 amps per hour = 240 hours. So yeah, not a big worry.

[Gordon in Idaho]

Hey David,

I think you'll find better prices here:
12v tv, Electronics - Newegg.com

And, steelypip..... that's a nice, concise, and practical explanation of Ohm's Law. Thanks.

Gordon

[David in Maryland]

Originally Posted by Gordon in Idaho

Hey David,

I think you'll find better prices here:
12v tv, Electronics - Newegg.com

Oh yeah - Between Amazon and Newegg I'm somehow always broke. Go figure. Newegg's got 'em beat on Naxa TVs, but they don't carry anything over a 24" screen. I'm figuring the Jensen 32" will be mine one day.

[Darrell in Al]

Late to to party on this. I have a few 12v cooking things the lunchbox cooker and hotpot for boiling water. I only use them if I'm driving the lunchbox cooker makes chicken and rice really good... Have to shut off after a hour or so running let it cool down or burn food. Fixed that and few other things in it.

[David in Maryland]

Reading up on 'em, it turns out the Jensen TVs have a bad reputation. Poor quality and lousy service. So, now I'm looking at Majestics.

[Shelia]

Care to share recipes, Darrel in AL?

[stevebaz]

I do not care to cook in my Scamp 13. When we use the stove its mostly to boil water. We are a big fan of boiling meals in a bag and reuse that water to clean dishes. I am a messy cook and need far more space than whats available in the Scamp, so 99.5 % of the meals are cooked on the portable stove or BBQ out side. Cooking outside is much more enjoyable anytime than cooking inside the Scamp. The stove top is more convenient for a tea pot to boil water.

When we have 120 volts AC we cook as much as we can in our New Wave oven. It doesnt heat up the trailer, Doesn't smell up the trailer or make any kind of mess on the inside of the trailer. everything is contained within its plastic dome. We use it both inside the trailer or plugged into an outlet outside. We bought the new wave Oven for the home and got the so called small one for free. The small one stays in the trailer but sometimes we bring the large one for group camp outs. The new wave oven has changed the way we cook 60% of our meals.

For 12 volt use its just the Fantastic Fan over head and my DVD player so I can watch movies at night. Of course charging phones and tablet when necessary. And allot of led lights in the trailer.

[KenjiFox]

The best 12v cooking device out there is the Max Burton Digital Stove to Go. Hands down, it rocks. I've had to repair mine a few times, but that's just due to extreme amounts of use! I have over 1000 cooking hours on mine easily.
The non stick coating is long gone from the bottom of the removable pan too, but that's also not an issue for me. The fact that it has temp control alone puts it miles beyond the typical "lunch box" cooker. I also own one of those from the cheapie "Road Pro" brand. It works great but will quickly burn things and it's a B!*# to clean. Max Burton is a higher quality brand. Koolatron also. The digital one doubles as a super awesome crock pot too since you can set the temp between 150 and 350 in 25 degree increments.
The REMOVABLE pan is a snap to clean, and you can use it over a traditional stove as well so long as you pop the plastic lift covers off.
It also stays cool on the outside. It of course takes a fair bit of power at about 150 watts so it's best used to have a meal cooking while driving.

Highly recommended by me as far as 12v cooking items go.

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by David in Maryland

Reading up on 'em, it turns out the Jensen TVs have a bad reputation. Poor quality and lousy service. So, now I'm looking at Majestics.

Lots of good toys at Roadtrucker.com . Really like the 12V RCA tele with DVD player I picked up there - wide viewing angles.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by KenjiFox

The best 12v cooking device out there is the Max Burton Digital Stove to Go. Hands down, it rocks.
The non stick coating is long gone from the bottom of the removable pan too, but that's also not an issue for me.
Highly recommended by me as far as 12v cooking items go.

Well, it might be highly recommended by you, but then, I don't subscribe to eating carcinogenic PTFE (Teflon) flakes in my food. FWIW, I don't, and never will, own a teflon coated pan. If you like eating teflon flakes, go right ahead, but it's not in my diet.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Casita Greg

Well, it might be highly recommended by you, but then, I don't subscribe to eating carcinogenic PTFE (Teflon) flakes in my food. FWIW, I don't, and never will, own a teflon coated pan. If you like eating teflon flakes, go right ahead, but it's not in my diet.

You are about ten years behind the times. Suggest you read up on this topic.

[Casita Greg]

You can eat all the teflon you want Glenn. It's just not a part of my diet.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teflon-c...ly-carcinogen/

And how about this from 2016, not exactly ten years ago.
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/04/tefl...egacy_partner/

Perhaps you should do a little reading...

None of this has anything to do with the original post regarding 12 volt appliances, so we digress...