<Snip> Unfortunately, this is incorrect. If you allow for the less than 100% conversion efficiency, you actually need MORE input power (watts) than you get out. Unless you have discovered >100% efficiency conversion, that is. While 500W inverters may be commonly available, I think that if you examine the ratings you will find that they require more than 500W input. At a nominal 12V, that would be at least 41 amps. Check a 500W inverter carefully and you will see that is true unless it is rated for less than continuous duty. And even then, at 500W out, it will require 500W in at 12V. And of course, 500W is insufficient for most coffee pots. There are, however, small and really cute travel coffee makers available that run on 12V or 120V. They don't make much coffee, but they can be used in a car. Paul Goelz Rochester Hills, MI pgoelz at eaglequest dot com Videoastronomy. electric helicopter and music web site:http://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast">http://www.eaglequest.com/~pgoelzhomeroast mailing listhttp://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast |
I think you should rig up a generator to a bicycle trainer Sip your latte & crank away. Seriously, a butane camping stove seems to be the way to fly, IMHO. A whole lot less complexity as well as more independence. The backpacking models are designed for compactness. Cheers, Thom |
<Snip> As a California resident subject to "rolling blackouts", I have thought about doing this. mas homeroast mailing listhttp://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast |
From a list lurker, Agree that a camp stove is ideal for self generated hot H2O. Have had great fun in a construction delays by getting mine out and brewing up a cup while waiting. Some folks root for me to get "caught with my stove out;" others cheer when I get to finish and then there are those so caught up in feeling sorry for themselves that they don't get it. I find that the hot water dispensers in convenience store coffee urns is acceptable for a presspot or swiss gold single cupper. In which, by the way, I use a fine grind and think the taste is quite full. Quite possibly I don't know how bad "over extraction" is. This is a great list, but would like to hear from more stove toppers (I use my great grandmother's cast iron skillet) and am partial to virtually all the dry processed coffees I have tried. Perhaps the variability that one gets in an open skillet is a good match for the variation in the wild beans! owen <Snip> homeroast mailing listhttp://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast |
Steve wrote: <Snip> Well, I guess I'll have to go back and tell my college Physics profs that. They'll be happy to know that it's possible to get more energy out of a system than you are putting in. I wonder who can be the first to get the patent for a perpetual motion machine approved? With regards to your AC to DC power supply, let's do a little math here: output: 25A * 13.8V = 345W input: 120V * 5A = 360W No problem here, the input draws more power than the output produces. As to your friends inverter, we do have an apparent problem, in that 12V * 15A = 180W, which is significantly smaller than 300W. I can only speculate as to what is happening here, but I can be quite sure that if he was actually pulling 300W out of the output, he must be drawing more than 300W from the input. I can think of a few possibilities. Possibility 1: the fuse is larger than 15A. Possibility 2: the truck battery supplies 20+V instead of 12V. Possibility 3: the 300W rating of the inverter is a lie. Possibility 4: he's never plugged in something that actually draws 300W. Because if he's really getting 300W out of 12V * 15A input, all he's got to do is to plug your power supply into the output of his inverter, and to plug the inverter into the output of your power supply, and he's got a free source of energy. He can pull 15A from the output of your power supply, leaving 10A free for other purposes. Somehow, I don't think so. =Spencer homeroast mailing listhttp://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast |
Here is your answer guys:http://www.skingcompany.com/portable_power/calc2.htmMonty At 11:24 AM 3/28/01 -0500, you wrote: <Snip> system <Snip> for a <Snip> 15A = <Snip> what <Snip> 300W <Snip> plugged in <Snip> to do <Snip> free <Snip> homeroast mailing listhttp://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast |
Well, for one thing, most 12 volt batteries are considered all but dead when they get down to an actual 12vdc output. Usually a fully charged 12vt battery produces somewhere between 13.4vdc and 15vdc. Also, most consumer electronics are not using real watts to measure power. When they market a 300 amp inverter, it won't usually be capable of producing 300 watts of available power. (Take a look at the "watts" of power available from some battery backup/lineconditioner products. Some advertise real watts, some don't, at least the last time I looked.) In addition, most inverters list peak and continuous ratings, but only the continuous ratings actually make much sense in terms of performance. Further, your numbers are off for the variation in AC power that is acceptable to most AC units and as is produced by most inverters. Usually you get somewhere between 108 volts and 117 volts on most of the units I have seen. (electric motors and some electronics are far more picky about the range of usable power.) You should also recognize that in many places in the US "120" volt home systems are actually either 115 or 110 volts, not 120. More importantly, you are not, so long as the vehicle is running, limited to the output of the battery, but rather the output of the alternator, which generally produces about 15+ volts DC and more amps available than the battery can produce. Except for protected leads, which the cigarette lighter port is not, you should be able eat DC voltage as high as the alternator will put out, and convert that. You really have to look at your actual numbers to see how much raw current you are dealing with before discussing conversion results. Not to mention, you have to look at actual available output from the inverter (say 115vac rather than 120vac) because that also has an effect on the numbers. However, DC current will, as a practical matter, produce a heated element using resistance faster and more efficiently than an AC unit will, so if you get a hot pot to heat water and intend only to use it in the car/RV/boat, a DC unit without having to convert to AC is probably the best way to go. |