We've been home from our 1st camping trip a few days now (we had a fantastic time by the way! - got the bug now)
Anyway, few things we throught would make life easier, and one is a 12v kettle. We have a small gas stove which has the cans of gas clicked in and boiling the kettle seemed to take a million years. Just thought a 12v car kettle might be better? Any comments? or should we stick to gas and a proper kettle?
We def want some kind of windbreak as cooking in windy conditions was a mare. We did some cooking in the boot of the car at one point!
Also thinking of a carpet just to make it more cosy.
Then of course there is the need for a roofbox and bars so we can transport all the new things we want! The car was full!
if you were cooking in open ie no wind break then im sure youll find everything on gas will take twice as long get yourself a decent height windbreak and just see the differance
This is an old post, but thought I would add my findings, I have recently bought a 12v 200watt kettle 750ml capacity , it is fine for in car use, as I mostly use it for cooking noodles, which only requires 250ml of water although I do fill the kettle with 500mls, I use the kettle during my lunch break at work, as I am on the road all day in between client visits.
To boil 750mls of water from cold using a 12v kettle takes a shocking amount of time, 30 minutes or more if you are lucky, even longer if the water is very cold.
It's all down to physics really, a mains 2000watt kettle takes around 2 minutes to boil 750mls of water.
The way I use my 12v kettle is to fill it from my flask, so the kettle is getting a bit of a head start as the water from the flask is already at 90deg C, to be fair that is hot enough to make a brew, but really not hot enough to cook my noodles.
To get 500mls of water to a rolling boil it takes my 12v kettle just 7 minutes, which works fine for me.
Another consideration is the current a 12v 200watt kettles draws around 15amp, even though many cars have a 20amp fuse for the 12v outlet, the socket and the wiring may not be able to cope with the kettle and damage could be done, typically the 12v outlets on cars are rated at 120watt, 140watt, 180watt, and 200watt depending on the make model.
You can get lower wattage 12v car kettles, 140watt and 170watt I have seen, but they are just going to take even longer, although may be better suited to plugging directly into the 12v car outlet socket, so a compromise to be made I guess, if you don't fancy connecting the kettle directly to the car battery.
This in effect means that you have to run the kettle directly of the car battery, easy to do, but to save drain on the battery and to keep the boil time to a minimum, you are best to have the engine running.
For camping you are far better of using a gas burner or better still EHU and a regular mains 2000watt kettle.
Just an update, since getting the 12v kettle I have used it in the firms 19 plate BMW 1 Series, so had to run it direct from the battery, not a problem as the battery is in the boot.
Then for our three week trip to France last year the firm let me have a 19 plate Ford Kuga, the 12v socket was rated to 180watt so plugging in the kettle was fine, gave the Kuga back after two months, as it was two costly in BiK tax.
I am now in a 19 plate Ford Focus, great car BTW, but the 12v socket can’t cope with the kettle, so I am back to running it directly of the battery, not an issue as
I am using a 12 awg cable with inline 15amp fuse, and to be fair with the engine running the voltage is at a healthy 14.5v so the kettle only sucks around 13 amp.
To reach a rolling boil still only takes around 7 minutes, of course I am still using preheated water from my Thermos Ultimate Flask, recently upgraded from the 800ml version to the new 900ml model.
The Waeco MCK750, 12v kettle is truly a great piece of kit, and no wonder truckers swear by the 24v model.
Using a flask to fill the kettle is not a true test
The OP was talking about camping use.
It takes 0.183Kw/h to raise 1L of water from 20C to 100C
I have just looked on line and 12v kettles are around 170W to 180W =0.17 to 0.18Kw
So to make a brew for 2 people (0.5L) would take over half an hour, for 4 people (1L) would take over an hour.
This is not taking into account the heat lost from the kettle during the time it takes to boil
I just had a look on the Go Outdoors website
The "suitcase" style gas stove that takes the canisters is 1.9Kw over 10 times as powerful as the 12v kettle
Yep Andy from a standing start with cold water my Waeco 200watt 12v kettle does take around 40 minutes to reach a rolling boil, which is quite frankly a ridiculous amount of time, but physics is physics.
To be fair the Waeco MCK750 is not really 200 watt, even though it says 20amp on the box, which in effect would make it 240 watt, and that would blow the fuse on most in car 12v aux systems.
In reality the Waeco is more like 185 watt, I know this as the 12 awg cable I use is fitted with a 15 amp fuse.
With the engine running the 12v circuit at the battery is reading 14.5v so the kettle will be drawing 13 amps definitely not much more than that, still to much for some cars 12v aux sockets, which is why I prefer to run the kettle direct of the car battery.
For my needs though, as I am on the road each day visiting clients, the 12v kettle works perfectly for my brew stops and lunch breaks, but I can only use the kettle with water from the flask, which reduces boil time greatly so it only takes say seven minutes for 500mls to reach a rolling boil.
Using a small gas store and kettle would be a faff to far for me, would not save me any time at all.
Probably the best solution for me would be to have a Maxoak Bluetti portable power pack, then I could use say a use 750 watt regular ac mains kettle, boil time then would then be down to maybe a couple of minutes when using water from the flask.
The Bluetti would also be handy for many other purposes, so it is on the cards, and when the price comes down I will get one.
you can get some serious gas burners, the suitcase burners with the 'bottles' are useless, search amazon for NG products and you can get a decent burner like the ngb60s or single boiler burners, gas is the way in the field.
Quote: Originally posted by navver on 17/2/2020
I would expect a kettle to use more power and more current if the voltage is increased unless there is some serious electronics controlling it.
So 200 watt at 12 volt is 16.7A 0.72 ohms.
At 14.5 volt 0.72 ohms current will be 20.1A which is 292 watts.
Of course there will be volt drop in the cabling which will affect this.
Ohm’s Law states that for a given wattage (200w) raising the voltage will lower the current (amps).
e.g. 200 watts at 12.0 volts = 16.66 amps
therefore 200 watts at 14.5 volts = 13.79 amps
An easy to remember example of this would be as follows ;-
A 60 watt car headlamp bulb powered by a 12 volt battery would draw 5 amps.
A 60 watt car headlamp bulb powered by a 6 volt battery would draw 10 amps.
Vin Blanc
------------- Now retired from active caravanning. - really miss it!
Yep, Vin Blanc I will be putting the theory to test with a D.C. current Clamp Meter, to see what the current draw actually is, both from a leisure battery and from the car battery with engine running, watch this space.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Quote"A 60 watt car headlamp bulb powered by a 12 volt battery would draw 5 amps.
A 60 watt car headlamp bulb powered by a 6 volt battery would draw 10 amps."
That is incorrect a 60 watt bulb at 12 volt will give out 60 watts but the same 60 watt bulb at 6 volts will only give out 15 watts.
The power is variable depending on the resistance which is constant.
Just think about it if your car battery is virtually flat the lights are very dim.
saxo1
i used to have a 12v kettle when i used to drive around europe on my own servicing industial equipment. i too used it to make 'pot noodles'
first time i pluged it in it took out the fuse and that took out the radio. i didnt have the pin code for the radio but fortunately my colleague was in the office on a saturday and he found my radio code in the handbook in my desk draw.
after that i used it a few times but it took so long to boil i would start it then continue to drive and pull over when it was ready. not always convenient. i eventually found that it was easier (especially in germany) to pull into a rest area and buy a coffee for €1 and a 'bratwurst mit brotchen' for €2.
if you want to boil a kettle quickly a petrol stove is the way to go. i have a coleman stove i take camping. the high Calorific value of petrol means it burns hotter than gas and a small ammount of petrol goes a long way.
------------- First van bailey ranger 550/6
Now the proud owner of a coachman amara
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: 12v Kettle?
