Converting to an induction stove top

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Some of you folks must have a lot of 8D batteries supporting your big inverters.
I have 3X4D supporting a 1800 watt inverter. watching the voltage while supporting the microwave, I get almost 1min before the voltage approaches 10.5 volts.

Old style batteries used to get shocking voltage sag if using anything pulling a real load
LFP don't noticeably sag at all
On a cloudy day, so no solar input I run the 1800 watt hot water system for its 1.5 hour cycle on battery alone with all the usual stuff running, and the batts sit happily on 26+ volts.
 
In my camper van, I swapped 2x6v FLA golf carts for 2x100a LiFePO4 with an inexpensive 2000w PSW inverter. I also have 2x160w of solar.

I can easily run a microwave (1100w draw) for 6-mins to cook potatoes. Or I can run a 700w electric tea kettle for long enough to boil a few cups of water. Or I can run the instant pot for over an hour to make chile. Or run an induction hob long enough to make rice. None of these were practical with FLA due to voltage drop Simi observes. Mind you, this is a tiny setup compared to what many install on their boat (myself included)

Ive had camper vans for over 30-years. Having solar and LiFePO4 is an absolute game changer.

Peter.
 
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If you go to a higher voltage inverter, like 48 volt, your batteries can be some distance away from the inverter. I originally had 3 banks of 8ds, 1 in the engineroom and the others about 15-20' away. Since moving my water tanks, I made 3 banks into one big bank of 12 8d batteries. When I'm on the boat alone, I can go 3 days before running a generator. I use induction for cooking and have Incinolet toilets. I also have alternators on the mains that charge the bank. So when running don't need a generator going. The inverter system cut my generator hours by about 80%.
 
I've run the vacuum cleaner (~1000w) on the inverter with reasonably full batteries before. My house bank is 415ah from 2x L16 6v AGM in series, so not huge. With the batteries close to full, the draw from the vacuum cleaner pulls them down to about 11.8 volts after a few minutes.

Yes, there will always be voltage sag under heavy load on a lead-acid bank (AGM, gel or flooded). But as long as the voltage doesn't drop below the minimum for the equipment being operated, it's not a big deal. Battery manufacturers will typically provide an end of discharge voltage curve based on load, so remember than 10.5 volts isn't necessarily rock bottom under a heavy load.
 
keep a mind that most inverters will cut themself off at around 10.5 volts
 
That piece of perforated steel sure packs down a lot smaller than a toaster. How does the toasting time compare between that and a conventional toaster?

I could get the plate red hot and the bread smoking in under a minute if I turned it up to #10. I set it at #1 and flipped it over "by smell." Took a couple of minutes. After I do it a few more times I'll know what to set the timer at. The timer is only whole minutes, so the temp setting will need to be low.

I have 4 Dyno 260A 6V batteries, so I have (or had) 520 Ah total at 12V when new. The batteries are 2017 best I can tell, so I guestimated that I probably still have 245 total usable amp hours to get to 50% SOC. Amp hours doesn't seem to be a problem, but voltage drop to the inverter would be if I ever used the induction top at full tilt for any length of time. I've seen the stovetop drop voltage to 11.4.

I've been thinking that could be avoided, and I could add 100 Amp hours, by getting a 120A lithium battery for dedicated use by the stovetop PSW inverter. I just bought a 120A lithium battery for my electric dinghy motor and have been really impressed. It came with its own LiFePO 10A charger. If I had a dedicated LiFePO battery (with a 120A BMS) sitting next to my stovetop PSW inverter, it would be more than enough for several days of cooking with no effect on the house bank.

Recharging the LiFePO at a marina would be easy, of course. Recharging underway would have the alternater running my house Xantrex MSW inverter with 120V going to the LiFePO charger, to charge the dedicated battery for the stovetop. Kind of roundabout, but I have all the gadgets. I would just need buy the battery and change (shorten) the PSW inverter source wires.

I'll put that on my list as project #26.
 
If you go to a higher voltage inverter, like 48 volt, your batteries can be some distance away from the inverter. I originally had 3 banks of 8ds, 1 in the engineroom and the others about 15-20' away. Since moving my water tanks, I made 3 banks into one big bank of 12 8d batteries. When I'm on the boat alone, I can go 3 days before running a generator. I use induction for cooking and have Incinolet toilets. I also have alternators on the mains that charge the bank. So when running don't need a generator going. The inverter system cut my generator hours by about 80%.

You have a realist, idea set up.
I am a bit surprised you can only go 3 days.
At what voltage do you start your generator and how long does it take to recharge your battery bank?
 
Hi, I'm late into this discussion so can only add my own experience when I changed our hob to induction.

I found that when we used more than one hotplate, the hob would stop working and start flashing its lights at me. I found the culprit to be our generator which didn't have a Hz controller to ensure a constant Hz. Instead, as the load increased, the generator rpm would start to reduce, causing a slight reduction in Hz, making the induction hob assume something is wrong, and stop working.

I resolved the problem by increasing the generator's Hz to the hob's upper limit when one hot plate was in use, so when more were activated, the reduction in Hz remained within the hob's operational limit.
 
The induction stove top does want clean healthy juice. So does a microwave, but a MW will continue to sort-of work with dirtier juice.

I finally got to try a waffle iron on the induction top. As I suspected, the lowest setting (#1) was sufficient. At higher heat settings I was able to burn the waffle. The waffle picture won't get me on the cover of Good Housekeeping, but perfectly serviceable. Again, the timer on the induction burner saved me from over-doing a waffle while distracted (by eating the first one).

Don't worry about overfilling or spilling on the stove top. Batter doesn't cook on to the burner.

I have to remember to hold my phone sideways.
 

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I give up. Even when I rotate them before posting they go the same direction.

I read here and successfully tried the idea of a small horizontal crop of sideways photos to magically make them magically appear correctly here. Some times I just get lazy and let you all turn your screens sideways.:flowers:
 
I'll try it.

It works. Now I just have to remember to do that every time I post a picture.
 

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:angel:
 
Another way to rotate the photos (if on a PC) is to open it in an image editor (even MS Paint will do) and just save it again. Then it'll save in the correct orientation. From most cell phones (and some other cameras), the photo is always stored in 1 orientation and there's data added to the EXIF data on the image file telling the viewer which way to rotate it for display. But the forum software ignores that instruction when you upload the file, so some images end up sideways.
 
I found the perfect non-skid silicon pieces for my stove top. They are intended to be used in the bottom of a 9 inch cake tin to make removal of the cake easy. Very thin (I assume the closer the pan is to the induction coils, the better). They can handle high heat (not red hot cast iron) and have a fiberglass netting cast inside for strength. Best of all they are "stickier" than the regular silicon hot pads I was using. The have so much "sticktion" that you must set the pot down right in the bull's-eye. No sliding the coffee pot just a little. Easily meets the 30 degree test shown above.
 

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It turns out that amperage anxiety got the better of me. As I mentioned in post #126, I thought that having a separate lithium battery for my new induction top would be a good idea. It is a 120Ah battery, so about 100Ah usable. I can recharge it quickly in several different ways, with varying degrees of efficiency. The battery services only the pure sine wave inverter for the stove and I haven't seen any noticeable voltage drop. I haven't tested how many days cooking I can get without recharging.

There is still some concessions made to amperage anxiety. The big one was monitoring that separate battery. I found an inexpensive blue tooth unit that, although geared towards lead acid, gives me good information on the state of charge of my lithium. I also bought some nifty battery connectors. I had used them before to connect my other lithium battery to the electric motor for the dinghy. They clamp on quickly and have a built in insulating battery terminal cap. I once accidentally shorted the LA battery in the dinghy for a hot second. Not good. I wanted to make sure that the lithium battery tucked away in the galley was also protected. They are only brass plated steel and have rusted some when used on the dinghy.
 

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Having just spent 9 weeks onboard with the induction stove top, I learned a few things. Right now I have it set up so that a dedicated 120A LiFePO4 battery runs the PSW inverter that runs the stove. I only had a little 10A LiFePO4 charger onboard, so it was really slow to recharge the battery when one of the great things about lithium is that they can recharge fast. I may have to look into a DC to DC charger. Maybe even one with solar. That would likely make the SOC in the stove battery a non-issue.

But this post is just to show what we did in the baking department. Fresh bread in northern BC is harder to find than fresh produce (which is not easy). Baking bread on the induction stove top was not that difficult. Still takes an hour, but it was at the induction burner's lowest setting. Puts out a little steam, but we generally baked when underway so that doesn't cause a problem. Making English muffins and fresh tortillas is simple on my perf-plate toaster. They have polka dots, but not a big deal.
 

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But this post is just to show what we did in the baking department. Fresh bread in northern BC is harder to find than fresh produce (which is not easy). Baking bread on the induction stove top was not that difficult. Still takes an hour, but it was at the induction burner's lowest setting. Puts out a little steam, but we generally baked when underway so that doesn't cause a problem. Making English muffins and fresh tortillas is simple on my perf-plate toaster. They have polka dots, but not a big deal.

Impressive and helpful. I have been looking at induction burners and your post helped solidify some ideas. On a recent trip to Europe, the house we rented had an induction cooktop. It took awhile to get used to it, cooking at a LOWER temperature caused eggs to stick in a non stick pan. :eek::socool: Which was unexpected to say the least. Once a bit more heat was used no sticking. And of course the cooktop heated up very, very fast.

The idea to use that metal "screen" to toast is a good one. :thumb:

Thanks,
Dan
 
Great idea! We are doing the same thing. What induction stove oven did you go with?
Inductions cooks so well compared to propane or even electric.
 
This is my favorite thread on Trawler Forum. Thanks, Marco! Such great ideas. Can't wait to dump my cracked two burner Princess and upgrade to induction.
 
This would seem to be the likely group to answer my question. In getting rid of propane on the boat, are there good alternatives for a BBQ? Thanks.
 
This would seem to be the likely group to answer my question. In getting rid of propane on the boat, are there good alternatives for a BBQ? Thanks.

For flat top griddles there are certainly viable electric options. Electric grills exist, but I haven't personally used one (outside of the griddle style ones).
 
BTW - for those seeking space saving pots and pans, I spotted these T-Fal "Ingenio" with detachable handles at a Mexican department store. Looks like they are available via Amazon. They seemed pretty sturdy - handles attach securely.

https://a.co/d/68fz5ME

Peter
 
induction

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But this post is just to show what we did in the baking department. Fresh bread in northern BC is harder to find than fresh produce (which is not easy). Baking bread on the induction stove top was not that difficult. Still takes an hour, but it was at the induction burner's lowest setting. Puts out a little steam, but we generally baked when underway so that doesn't cause a problem. Making English muffins and fresh tortillas is simple on my perf-plate toaster. They have polka dots, but not a big deal.

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what material is that screen used?

cannot be aluminum.
 
BTW - for those seeking space saving pots and pans, I spotted these T-Fal "Ingenio" with detachable handles at a Mexican department store. Looks like they are available via Amazon. They seemed pretty sturdy - handles attach securely.

https://a.co/d/68fz5ME

Peter

We've been using a set of nesting stainless pots/pans -- apparently at one time also a Cuisenart product -- with detachable handles for about 25 years. At the time, we got them from a boating magazine/shopping thing -- Welcome Aboard, or some such. I think now they're available from Magma, the grill people.

Over time, I've augmented with an additional glass lid or two from Cuisenart; all same sizes, etc.

Last I checked, because I've been thinking about conversion, they have an induction-ready version too...

-Chris
 
We went for decent stainless pots and pans (with thick heat spreading, induction compatible bottoms) on the boat. They're not a nesting set with removable handles, but I selected based on a set that nests fairly efficiently without needing the deal with removable or potentially flimsy handles.
 
what material is that screen used?

It is steel perf plate. You get to choose the hole size and placement. About $8 for a square foot.

A couple things keep coming up about induction. Yes, you need ferric metal in order to get hot. But cookware manufacturers are coming up with some new ideas. They now have aluminum pans that have a pattern of steel plugs in the bottom. The plugs heat up and transfer heat to the pan. I don't know if they are as efficient, but would certainly be lighter than some of the cast iron I use.

The brand stove I bought is Furrion, which claimed to be made to handle vibration in an RV. Since the stoves seem to be all solid state, I don't know how much of that is puffery. I got mine for a great price, but there has been a price drop since and $150 now seem a fairly common price. Some come with fewer controls, some more. The "temperature" setting doesn't react fast enough to make the use simple. If you need to simmer something, one would think that a 180F setting would be perfect. But the unit seems to sense temp too slowly. It will boil fairly hard before settling down to 180F. Then once it drops below 180, it will come back on with too much power, boil a bit, then settle down. A really big pot might help, but the temp hold settings are not more useful than the simple power settings.

The timer setting seems to be a great idea for a boat. Think of having a microwave without a timer feature. I use the timer almost everytime I use the stovetop. As I noted before, the power settings, at least on mine, tend to be too high. Maybe a bigger pot (for more people) would help. I have 10 settings and use the first 5. I would prefer more low settings. Still, induction is better than other choices for a boat or home.

As to cookware choices, having detachable handles is not as good as having no handles. Handles on pans are basically required when you are using gas or propane (open flame) and have lots of wasted heat coming around the sides of the pan. Same with electric resistance or a wood stove where even with the long handle you might still need a hot pad. Not so with induction. You only need pots (loop side handles) rather than pans (single long handle). Saves space without paying a boating premium for detachable handles. There is even such a thing as a "frying pot" (can't remember the fancy French name) without a long handle. Arguably, the French can make anything difficult, but not having a long handle isn't that difficult and isn't required with induction.
 
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For flat top griddles there are certainly viable electric options. Electric grills exist, but I haven't personally used one (outside of the griddle style ones).

I have a cast iron griddle that spans two gas burners here at home. It works great, but isn't big enough for robust griddle work.

In the context of induction cooktops, I bet there are some carbon steel griddles that would sit atop the two induction coils and work nicely.
 
There is also an ingenious induction deep frying pot. I can't link to it right now, but if you Google "24cm Japanese Deep Frying Pot Oil" you should see it. We try to avoid frying onboard, but this would cut down on some of the mess.
 
I am doing a new build, and the galley gave me cause to do a lot of soul searching. With a clean slate you can do what you want, so what do you want?

I too ended up choosing an induction cooktop. In part because its a boat for east coast use, so air conditioning is a must-have, which means a generator is a must have, and so I'll have the power to go electric in the galley anyway due to the other decisions.

But also a convection microwave. I don't know if that might figure into your plans, but its another thought to consider.

The idea of a dutch oven never occurred to me. Thanks for that thought.

For those of you who use induction cooktops, you might take a look at this.
https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Pr...7481dea6fc3334459a0a9886bd3e4631&gad_source=1 I have been using one for years and love it. HTH
 
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