Using an Instant Pot in your RV - how much energy does it use.

hintro · 07-01-2020, 06:23 PM

We use our Instant Pot a lot at home but can the power in our RV handle that much draw without damaging the battery? I made a short video running an Instant Pot, timer and a watt meter to measure the power consumption. The video is on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhT3SsDH2j0

The results were interesting and I know we can use the Instant Pot while camping.

tinglett · 07-05-2020, 08:19 AM

Very nice demonstration! This sure got me thinking about using one.

Although it makes perfect sense, I was surprised by the minuscule power needed to keep the pot cooking. That is, I would have expected something more like 50 watts to keep it cooking rather than the 0.5 watts. It seems to follow that anything you can do to reduce the startup time would be huge -- such as preheating water on the stove.

Todd

hintro · 07-05-2020, 09:34 AM

You are so right, preheating the water would really reduce the energy used. Having a very small amount of water is also the key to saving energy.. I have found that for things like eggs, potatoes and veggies half half a cup of water is way more than what is needed. I will be trying it with a quarter of a cup sometime to see if that is enough. There is a rack that keeps these items off of the bottom so you can't burn them. Anyway, thank for watching and happy cooking. Roman

Goodspike · 07-05-2020, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinglett

That is, I would have expected something more like 50 watts to keep it cooking rather than the 0.5 watts.
Todd

It likely just cycles on and off, and the .5 watts is when it's off. .5 watts isn't going to be a heat source no matter how well insulated the device is.

hintro · 07-05-2020, 10:18 AM

According to the watt meter it draws a steady .5 to .6 watts once it reached the designed pressure. I don't see it cycling off and on. I think the .5 or .6 watts is enough to compensate for the heat loss. That is the conclusion that I draw by observing the watt meter. .5 or .6 watts does sound so insignificant but that's what the meter indicates.

DavidM · 07-05-2020, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hintro

According to the watt meter it draws a steady .5 to .6 watts once it reached the designed pressure. I don't see it cycling off and on. I think the .5 or .6 watts is enough to compensate for the heat loss. That is the conclusion that I draw by observing the watt meter. .5 or .6 watts does sound so insignificant but that's what the meter indicates.

Something is wrong. My hand wrapped around a cold beer transfers more heat than 0.5 watt.

David

Goodspike · 07-05-2020, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hintro

According to the watt meter it draws a steady .5 to .6 watts once it reached the designed pressure. I don't see it cycling off and on. .

I have a different brand, and have not monitored it, but my guess would be it cycles on perhaps less frequently than every 10 minutes, and might only stay on for a minute. The .5 watt you're seeing is basically the electronic controls, not a heating function.

hintro · 07-05-2020, 12:07 PM

The differences between the hand/beer and the cooker/air heat transfer are mainly two, one hand/beer has solid to solid heat transfer through conduction the second is the high efficiency isolation of the pot - similar to a vacuum thermos that holds heat or cold for hours.

hintro · 07-05-2020, 12:11 PM

Goodspime, I taped the entire cooking process and once the desired pressure was reached it never cycled to full heat again. Watch the video. Also note that the total energy used was .18 KWH. that shows that it could not have gone back to full heat. It really is super efficient with very little heat loss and very small drop in pressure.

Wyatt · 07-05-2020, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hintro

Goodspime, I taped the entire cooking process and once the desired pressure was reached it never cycled to full heat again. Watch the video. Also note that the total energy used was .18 KWH. that shows that it could not have gone back to full heat. It really is super efficient with very little heat loss and very small drop in pressure.

Yes, but what’s the initial draw in start up and getting up to temperature that one’s inverted can handle. That spike (draw) will be the limiting factor.

hintro · 07-05-2020, 04:04 PM

Hi Wyatt, That initial draw about 680 watts and it remain that until the right pressure is reached. I have a 1500 watt inverter so that is not a problem. Not in the least. It is not like an AC where you are trying to start a compressor from a static position.

Wyatt · 07-05-2020, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hintro

Hi Wyatt, That initial draw about 680 watts and it remain that until the right pressure is reached. I have a 1500 watt inverter so that is not a problem. Not in the least. It is not like an AC where you are trying to start a compressor from a static position.

Yeah, that’s the throttle, how much your inverter can handle, with whatever else you have running at the same time. We have a measly 1000 watt, so that’s cutting it close with the refrigerator, lights, etc....

We use an Instant Pot frequently, but thus far, only on shoreline. I wonder what the sauté feature draws—we use that a lot...Thanks!

al1florida · 07-05-2020, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Yeah, that’s the throttle, how much your inverter can handle, with whatever else you have running at the same time. We have a measly 1000 watt, so that’s cutting it close with the refrigerator, lights, etc....

We use an Instant Pot frequently, but thus far, only on shoreline. I wonder what the sauté feature draws—we use that a lot...Thanks!

If you look closely at the video you will see the wattage going up to 60-70 watts 2-3 times during the cooking time. It doesn't stay at the 0.5 watt for the 20 minutes cooking time.

Thanks for the video. This confirms with I observed when I have use our instant pot while boondocking. It doesn't use a lot of power once it reaches full pressure. I never watched my battery monitor to document just how often and for how long the pot cycled to keep the pressure steady.

hintro · 07-05-2020, 06:31 PM

al1florida, great observation, I missed that it went up to 60-70 watts a few times. I'm glad to know that, I'll have to check it out and see how many times and for how long. It is really an efficient pot, with all that I had in it it only used .18 kwh - amazing. When I only had the eggs and half a cup of water it used less then a third of that amount.

al1florida · 07-05-2020, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Yeah, that’s the throttle, how much your inverter can handle, with whatever else you have running at the same time. We have a measly 1000 watt, so that’s cutting it close with the refrigerator, lights, etc....

We use an Instant Pot frequently, but thus far, only on shoreline. I wonder what the sauté feature draws—we use that a lot...Thanks!

The saute function would use around the 680 watts (about 56 amps of 12V DC) that is shown in the video while coming up to a good fast boil for what your are sauteing.

It will cycle off and on once heated up. But with sauteing you have the lid open so it will use more energy than just keeping the pressure steady. So it depends on how long you use the saute function. If you saute for 15 minutes it will probably use a little less than what it took in the video to bring the pot up to pressure.

al1florida · 07-05-2020, 06:55 PM

In the video he shows on the meter that the total energy consumed was 0.18KWH.

In my rusty math that equates to 180WH, which divided by 12V would be 15 amp hour.

That is pretty darn little energy usage if you have 400AH or more of battery along with good solar and/or generator to get the energy back into the battery.

kwajkat · 07-08-2020, 05:50 PM

I have used mine in rv with no problems. I just make sure I don't run microwave, ac etc while I am doing it. That way I don't have to worry about any problems.

JoeC · 07-08-2020, 05:55 PM

My mid-size Instant Pot is labeled as 1,000 Watts, about 8 amps AC. That will roughly convert to 88 amps (90% efficiency) in your RV's DC electrical system. The pot will not be "on" continuously, except during the heat-up phase. So, do the math to see if your battery, inverter and wiring will: #1 handle the current draw; #2 handle the amp hour load and #3 be able to be properly charged back to full charge reasonably well. If you have lead acid batteries, double the amp hours removed for the amount you need to put back. Just a fact of life for lead acid batteries.

hintro · 07-08-2020, 06:29 PM

All good information you are giving in your 1-2-3. I would add that even with good solar or powerful converter, flooded batteries don't take advantage of a fast charge and are slow to charge up compared to AGM batteries. My understanding is that AGM batteries can accept a charge up to 5 times faster then flooded batteries if the charging force is sufficient. I wish I had gotten AGM batteries instead of the Trojan T-105s. Next time.

CharlesMoore · 07-09-2020, 07:36 AM

Nice demo - thanks. IMHO every RV'r should have a Kill-A-Watt meter in their RV. These are in the $25 price range and allow one to measure voltage, amps, wattage and total watts used. Anyone with 15 minutes to spare can read the manual and be ready for the next use. The device is very simple to use if you have a very basic understanding of voltage, current and wattage.