Induction cooktop

What brands and size induction cooktops are people using whilst camping, powered off inverters? I am setting up my canopy and looking for idea. I have plenty of grunt avail, 2 off 3kw inverters and 400a/hr of lithium (800 in total if you believe the capacity spiel)

I have looked into options to join the inverters in parallel for a single 6kw supply however the units I have dont have that capacity. I have made contact with the manufacturer and they are actually considering it as an upgrade - anyway, not for me right now. I am pretty sure I cannot run two suppliers into the onle inverter, phase sync is an issue from what I understand, so can look at 2 separate units, say 2200w or similar I am guessing which would be ample flexibility for a meal in the bush.

Fire back people, the make and models would be good to know so I can have a look. There are units anywhere from $50 - 200 it seems for single units but who knows what is reliable and efficient.

I use a $49 Aldi Ambiano single plate with a 2000W Renogy inverter and 170Ah lithium. Battery max discharge is 150 amps so I limit the plate to pull 120 amps and it cooks well there.
I also run a cheap Kmart air fryer on the same setup but obviously not together.

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I have 200Ah capacity with 200Ah discharge rate , yet had a brand new Aldi one that would not run off my Renogy 2000W Inverter, we had 2 brand new Aldi cooktops the same, so i was able to confirm it was not a actual fault with a single unit (both work perfect off house power), mine were the model just released before the one John has shown, (but same brand) perhaps there is a difference in this model ?

Anyway, i went with advice from the 12V FB pages, and bought a Kmart one for $50, it works a treat , it even fell off my chair onto the concrete driveway and didnt break, then got left out in the rain overnight during a massive storm, it got drenched , still works no problem (lol)

I ended up also buying the Kmart $7.50 Kettle and $7.50 Toaster and the $29 toasted sandwich maker, they all work mint too, $100 gets you a full kitchen at Kmart :D

The Kmart Kettle actually pulls 2300W (according to my shunt/gauge) so the Renogy Inverter is obviously under rated , as its happy to boil Kettle after kettle.

Thanks guys, good feedback. I was looking at the westinghouse brand but also the $60 ones as well on ebay as going to run two for when I need to cook two eggs.

True about the Kmart stuff. I got the Kmart air fryer on sale for $39.

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Originally Posted by jff45

True about the Kmart stuff. I got the Kmart air fryer on sale for $39.

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Air fryers are the best invention, i probably don't have room for one , but out of interest, do you know what it draws on the highest setting John ?

When we bought our house we had no stove top in the kitchen. I ordered a new Electrolux induction top which ended up taking ages to get around to installing it so in the mean time we bought a kmart plug in induction and and aldi one.
I absolutely hated the kmart one, it could not control temperature at all, the aldi one was only a little bit better.
I regretted buying the big one because of these but when I finally put it in I was pleasantly surprised with how great it was, I love it now.
I know it's a big difference between a purpose made inbuilt, hard wired top and a cheap plug in one but I would buy the best available. I'm going to keep the aldi one for the caravan but you're welcome to have the kmart one if you want to try it out.

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Originally Posted by 04OFF

Air fryers are the best invention, i probably don't have room for one , but out of interest, do you know what it draws on the highest setting John ?

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It’s only a 1300W which is why I bought it. Max cooking temp is 180° which does pretty much everything anyway.
It pulls around 120 amps @ a little under 12v but most stuff is cooked in under 15 mins.

I installed a Westinghouse induction cooktop in the house to replace our old same brand electric one and we’re really happy with it. It gave me a good reason to buy some good stainless pans to go with it..

Thanks for the feedback guys. I intend to stay with a portable unit simply as have not had enough experience with them and also the layout in the canopy is probably to go thru 20,000 changes. I can pack these away, run both or one at a time with the two inverters. They will live in a box and appear when needed until I firm up the layout. The Westinghouse appears to pop up a lot as a robust unit and at $89 ea its good value. The next unit I liked was the Nuwave, however I cannot understand their energy rating system, where they say the unit supplies up to 2000W of energy yet can run off a 1000w inverter - something wrong here. Looking at the energy sizes the 2000 - 2400w units with ability to reduce to say 800 and 1200 are handy, and the temp controllers look very clever. The search continues.

A common issue with the small induction plates is that the lower wattage setting is often obtained by pulsing the higher wattage. I tried to avoid this by getting the 1800W Aldi plate. I think the later ones are 2000W.

Edit: Told a lie, just checked it and it’s the 2000W model I got.

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Originally Posted by jff45

A common issue with the small induction plates is that the lower wattage setting is often obtained by pulsing the higher wattage. I tried to avoid this by getting the 1800W Aldi plate. I think the later ones are 2000W.

Edit: Told a lie, just checked it and it’s the 2000W model I got.

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Thats it, you lied, quick Ross, kick him off the forum now :smileyvault-cute-bi


How did you even fimd that sort of info out about different models John ?

I just wanted something that was cheap and worked , as ultimately its gonna get used at the beach, bounced around off road, and abused through my careless drunken camp kitchen shenanigans , but obviously there is a difference between the cheap ones as well.

OK, I have bought two of these, so will see how this works out, thanks to all who have provided valuable feedback.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/165034202794