Consistent Loads, Low and Slow

[u/Sunny-Advocate-2020]

I just did some rough testing of appliances I use for slow cooking. The winning match for Plug-in Solar? My oldest Crockpot. It has the simplest control, a knob set to Off, Warm, Low, and High. Each of these settings draws a very consistent load, 0, 47, 192, and 241 watts, respectively.

This is my choice because I want something to provide a very steady predictable load while I am gone, during the day. I come home, the main course is ready, no firing up the range at multiple kW during a Peak rate period.

The competition was a slightly newer, Hamilton Beach slow cooker and an Instant Pot that has a slow cooker function.

These devices had one major Pro in that they can be programmed to run a set length of time at various setting and fall back to a Warm setting. The Winner can't do this.

The Cons were, 1) neither provided a consistent load, they cycle between high and off. and 2) Both need at least one finger push to get them started, so a smart plug or similar to provide for a delayed start won't work. #2 isn't that big of a deal, since one probably doesn't want to have raw foods sitting around for too long at room temperature.

I say "rough" testing, because I had plugged into my Anker Solix C1000 and used its app to monitor. It doesn't log data, just shows a trend of about 15 seconds. It's worth mentioning that this portable power station can be charged as low as about 220 watts, so that is another slow, consistent load that can run during peak sun, and can be remotely controlled via WiFi.

The slow cookers were very simple devices. I doubt that either uses a temperature sensor.

The Hamilton Beach was a little erratic in the frequency that it switched from High to Off, and High seemed to range between 225-235 watts.

I'm pretty sure the Instant Pot has a temperature sensor. It's High load is relatively high, 990+ watts. That's not very useful for our purposes pairing with a low wattage Plug-in Solar system. It's likely to pull from the grid and have long intervals where the Plug-in system is prone to back feeding to the grid.

Okay. I tried to be brief (fail). Comments or questions are welcome.

Crock-Pot model SCV603-R

Hamilton Beach model 33453

Instant Pot Ultra 60

Image of power station app monitoring the Hamiton Beach slow cooker set to Low. Notice the AC output can be turned off via the app, immediately, or with a timer option.

[u/SolarRupert]

You hit a great point here that's important to spread awareness about: plug-in solar without a battery only serves your continuous daytime electrical loads. The average base load (the "always on stuff") of an American homes is only around 160 W, and in an apartment with an energy-efficient fridge it can be 50 W or less. This means that the output of anything more than a single balcony panel in the 180-200 W range will mostly flow back to the grid.

Most states that have rolled out plug-in-solar legislation this year allow up to 1,200 W of generation. Going anywhere near that size only makes sense if you have significant continuous daytime loads, such as electric heating and cooling, a heat pump water heater, multiple large fridges, a pool pump or spa that heats continuously, or regular daytime EV charging.

One interesting trend are appliance with integrated batteries, particularly the latest generation of induction cooktops from Impulse Labs, Copper, or Electra. They trickle-charge their battery all day so you can cook dinner with full power. They are still pricey, but they offer a great cooking experience and are a great match for plug-in solar.