Coffee From Inverter Power?

[GallenH]

We always do pour over with a cone. Just heat the water on the LP cooktop and you're in business. To each his/her own.

 

[SteveJ-ClassB]

We always do pour over with a cone. Just heat the water on the LP cooktop and you're in business. To each his/her own.

That's pretty much it. Pitch the filter with the used grounds in it and a quick rinse and wipe of the cone, done. Ultra easy clean up.

 

[@Michael]

The machine works fine on shore power. But when we’re away from the campgrounds, we fire up the generator to use it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It will start pulling a shot and just cut off. We found if we unplug the unit and replug it, that sometimes solves the problem and it will work.

Is it possible that the Nespresso is the problem? Perhaps something in its internal circuitry is cutting out when it sees the power from the generator? Maybe it's fussy about voltage or frequency?

I use a La Spaziale espresso machine at home with a Eureka Mignon grinder and go so far as to weigh input dosage and output yield in a certain time frame. It’s all scientific. So to use any machine or any other method is a step or three down.

Nice setup. We step all the way down to a mocha pot & pre-ground Illy when camping. But my wife grew up in S. Italy after the war - unreliable power, running water only an hour a day, no central heat - so camping with mocha pot caffè is just like home for her. Still way better than Keurig, french press, percolator, etc.

As far as an inverter, because of the high current draw you'd have to have a fairly large inverter. I'd guess 2000w or so. To install that, you'd need (1) space and (2) heavy gauge wire from the batteries up to the inverter.

In my 22C the two batteries are connected to each other with 2ga. wire, but the wire from the batteries up to the electrical compartment under the drivers side ottoman is only 6ga & has only a 60A breaker. Can't run a large inverter off of that.

There really isn't enough space to just drop an inverter into that compartment. A combined inverter/converter could replace the WFCO converter, but space would still be very tight for any 2000W inverter/converter that I could find, even with moving the other components around. You have about 14"L x 5"H x 8" W under there, if you toss out the WFCO.

You could give up the cubby under the passenger ottoman and maybe stuff an inverter under there. That's where my lithium battery is.

You could put an inverter behind the couch & give up storage space. You might be able to stuff an inverter under the couch, passenger side, in between the couch frame and the interior side panels. You have roughly 16"d x 8"h 12" w back there. You'd have to run heavy gauge wire up from the batteries through the floor. To get from there to the electrical compartment, you can remove the panel under the front of the couch & run wires in that space.

I pulled the grey panel from behind the couch and use the otherwise wasted space under the sides of the couch for storage & will stuff another lithium battery in there someday.

--Mike

 

[Davydd]

I'm not a coffee snob and I already described my method in a Class B. I like to drink coffee strong and black. It occurred to me as I drink a rare coffee at home this morning from a Keurig because we ran out of our regular ground coffee. It is a Starbucks Holiday Blend, a seasonal blend at Christmas but seemingly seeping into October now. I mention that because I was the lead architect and designed the first Starbuck's installed in a Target Store back in the mid 80s. Our team went to Starbucks in Seattle to negotiate. Starbucks up until that time had never opened their coffee shops in another store. They hosted us with their special blend of coffee they said cost about $80 per pound (mid 80s dollars) and only sold it in a blend at Christmas called Holiday. I doubt those K-cups today have that blend.

My first cup of coffee ever was 60 years ago almost to this date. It was half-time at our high school football game in Danville, IN. Small schools never had locker rooms on the road at half-time and we usually gathered in the end zone. I was notoriously and locally famous in getting leg cramps, Charley Horses, as we called them in cooling down outdoors and then immediately on the kick off or soon after they hit. Our volunteer team doctor, holding a cup of coffee, had some zinc pills to give me, anticipating what would happen. I can remember him glancing around for a water jug and not seeing any so he handed me his coffee cup to swallow the pills. After the game I went to a Frisch's Big Boy and had my first mug of coffee. Hooked on it ever since.

Our oldest daughter met her husband in a downtown Minneapolis coffee shop. Our now son-in-law's family owned a small independent coffee shop located on the skyways. He worked there and quickly knew her latte order and of course anticipated her lunchtime arrival. With my Starbucks experience and my SIL's knowledge and discussions with him, I think I know a little bit about coffee, but like I said, just strong and black...and first thing in the morning.

 

[rvsprinterguy]

Lovely story. Thanks for sharing that!

 

[Doctor Old]

With my Starbucks experience and my SIL's knowledge and discussions with him, I think I know a little bit about coffee....

I’m sorry. If you drink corporate coffee, we can’t be friends (jk)

 

[Rocinante-ClassB]

When we get desperate for espresso while on the road we've been known to use our Bialetti, but the challenge is that it can be ridiculously difficult to find espresso-ground coffee while traveling. That's really why we gave up and went back to our good old stove-top percolator. One can usually find decent drip grind coffee anywhere. It's quite a sacrifice to give up on grinding our own beans, but our KitchenAid grinder would take up a ridiculous amount of room. https://www.kitchenaid.com/countert...coffee-grinders/p.burr-grinder.kcg0702cu.html

 

[terance13]

We bought a small k-cup maker and it too didn't like our small inverter, but loved our generator. So we make hobo-coffee now...a little time consuming but it's entertainment for the campers next door!

 

[Bobd254]

A lot of equipment made today is sensitive to voltage and cycles per second.
My wife uses a CPAP machine, her old one worked fine on a DC plug to coach batteries , the new one wont.
To make the Onan be as close to its best voltage and Cycles Per Second I would suggest.
Warm the genny up for 3 minutes no load.
Plug in a space heater about 1500 watts (or other fixed load about the wattage of the coffee maker )for a minute, then quickly switch off the heater and turn on the coffee maker.
This may or may not work as the coffee makers brain may vary current draw , versus a fixed load.like the heater.
It's got to be slight variation in voltage or CPS that the coffee maker is not happy with.

 

[rvsprinterguy]

terance13, thanks for your comment. I enjoyed looking up what hobo-coffee is.

 

[jakescase]

Not Coffee!

They are referring to espresso style makers, not a dino perc coffee maker. A difference in taste...

 

[rtbill-ClassB]

It will start pulling a shot and just cut off. We found if we unplug the unit and replug it, that sometimes solves the problem and it will work.

Does this mean the coffee maker heats the water, and then when it starts to run the hot water through the coffee it shuts down? My guess is the coffee maker's electronics do not like the voltage surge that occurs when the heater shuts off. If you have an absorption fridge you could switch it to AC with the thermostat turned way down to ensure it is drawing AC. That would add a resistive load that might damp the surge. Or try a surge suppressor.

 

[Bobd254]

Grest idea to dampen the load with fridge or other device

 

[rtbill-ClassB]

Grest idea to dampen the load with fridge or other device

I play the same trick, for a different reason, to get our microwave to start off the inverter. From no load the inverter cannot increase its output fast enough for the microwave, so the microwave stutters and then stops trying to start the microwave tube. When the inverter is feeding the fridge, it is in a state where it can raise its output fast enough to satisfy the microwave.

 

[Dieps]

We use a small electrical drip coffeemaker in our 210P with a 750 Watt TrippLite MSW inverter. I choose this coffeemaker ( a Black and Decker 4 cup) because it draws 660 watts and runs off the inverter. This allows us to make coffee and breakfast using a 600 watt toaster all without running the genny in the morning. We use the propane burner to cook eggs, bacon etc.

We have the same setup and it works great for us. We use a generator when far from other campers but stick with the inverter when camped near others.

 

[Lou-ClassB]

You could try grinding coffee at home and keeping it in your RV freezer. We use insulated French Press. When done, we clean by pouring dregs through tea strainer (the kind with a handle) into sink. Then just bang the grounds in the strainer into the garbage.

 

[elayjay]

I love these threads, where people say "We're serious about our coffee" in the same post where they fess up to using a Keurig or Nespresso.

Both of those options make sad excuses for coffee, and given their evil pods, their mottos should be the same: "Destroying the world, one cup of coffee at a time."

For years, we've used an old fashioned stainless steel percolator on our propane stove, works great, and generates no waste other than coffee grounds. Some might argue the coffee is also a waste product, but those would be people who haven't tasted ours.

@Rocinante, With all due respect you are not being asked about your opinion on how they make coffee or to pass judgement on what they use. The question was about the generator.

 

[ChicagoTom]

lived 1+ years full time and peculated coffee on the stove top every day, and still do when traveling. I'm not sure why more don't go this route. Mine makes 9 cups

 

[Rocinante-ClassB]

@Rocinante, With all due respect you are not being asked about your opinion on how they make coffee or to pass judgement on what they use. The question was about the generator.

When folks say "with all due respect," what they really mean, is "with no respect." I was in a jocular mood, and kidding around with the subject. I'm sorry if you were offended.

So, anyway, unless your "coffee" device is pulling over 2.5K watts, it should work fine. If it's not working, get your generator serviced. In the end, your propane, your "coffee" pods, your "coffee maker." Have fun.

 

[Redfish-ClassB]

Hello, I didn’t see in the above responses that anybody mentioned that the nespresso machines might require a pure sine wave power.?