I want to run a rice cooker out of my car. I think the wattage pull is way higher than what you can get from the 12v cigarette lighter (~180w), but I am not sure.

On the rice cookers I've seen in a store, on the electrical labels on the back they go anywhere from 400w to 750w. But on the energy label I see it says for warming rice it uses 35w, but it doesn't say how much it uses to cook. So I can only assume it uses the max amount on the back label (e.g. 400w).

If they are all going to use ~400w, then I think i can get one of those heavier-duty inverters that you have to run off the battery terminals. Does anyone have recommended brands or a store where they sell them? I might try getting one off Taobao.

Any advice regarding cooking equipment I can run off electricity in a car is welcome.

Thanks.

Uh that's a bad idea for all kinds of reasons. It's going to use as much as an electric kettle since it brings the water to a boil and for far longer.

Rice can be cooked in other ways or substitute pasta.

www.mungosaysbah.com/[...]

www.discusscooking.com/[...]

@AlexKMG thanks. I know using electricity to cook is pretty silly, especially in a car, especially when it might require getting a bigger battery and alternator...

I was trying to avoid getting a big-ass propane tank, since it will weigh 60lbs and if we ever roll the car it will become a cannonball.

Still, that may be our only practical option.

What you want to do can be done. However you would probably want to use a separate "deep-cycle" battery instead of your car battery. Car batteries are not really designed to have a load placed on them for extended times but rather short bursts of load, such as starting your car.

With that said. A deep cycle battery would do fine for low wattage, long time drain but as you increase your wattage you would probably want to have your alternator supply the power.

This can easily be accomplished by running a line from your alternator to your deep cycle battery (s) with a toggle switch placed in line so as to allow you to toggle your power/charging on/off as needed.

Check to see what your alternator output is rated for. To make sure it can handle what ever load you will be placing it under. Make sure your inverter can also handle the load. And determine how much power you will need so as you know how many batteries you should have.

I used to be a truck driver and used this set up to run a small refridgerator, microwave, tv. playstation and satelite tv system.

Why would you ever need more than the small propane camping canisters? There is some form of restaurant just about everywhere in China or within 2 hours drive. You could buy cooked rice or noodles from them and then reheat with you're camping stove. For the few days you are actually camping, the canisters should be enough.

@Spelunkus
I agree with other posters that you should use a (small) propane tank. You don't need the huge restaurant ones, you could check out a camping store for something more towards your needs. Plus it's much safer then messing with your car electrics.

It's totally possible to use a battery, I recomment that you use a secondary circuit for the rice cooking, though. So you have one starter battery and one for messing around with culinary car experiments.

The issue you have is you need to convert to 220V with the power of a proper battery (which you can purchase up to 12V/180Ah strenght)

but you don't actually need a battery that powerful (W=VxA...).

There are a whole variety of converters, electrical transformers, for cars, I would look out for one, which lets you regulate the power flow.
Watch out for truck stuff which usually runs on 24Volts, 2X12V connected in series.

There are formulas to calculate what battery you need using the converted 220V with the need of 400W
The problem you have to face is, to keep the electrical flow steady so you won't blow up your freshly boiled rice or burn down your car, Except if you like to eat fried rice, then don;t forget to throw in an egg, in the burning car. :D

The other thing is you need to split the generator to recharge the secondary battery plus the primary battery.

You can buy a variety of electrical converters and most of the instructions and manuals you can find online. You could actually build a proper power socket in your car so whenever you feel like plugging something in using the comfortable 100- 240V, 50/60Hz, 1.1Amps of your own home.

I love to mess around with my car electrics and I always made sure to keep it safe by double fusing the wires and I recommend to do the same.

Be careful.

You should be able to get a small ass propane tank. they come in several sizes. the one I would get is total height including valve and handle approx 15" and they weigh about 30lbs.
These you should be able to get from the same guy who sells the big ass tanks. because they are refillable and use the same filling mechanism as the big ass ones. Hence my suggestion to flag down the guy, or ask a restarant for the name of a supplier.

The problem with with most cannisters, is finding a supplier and getting replen in a strange city, also the cost. You also said you wanted to avoid the city. Most towns will be able to top you up with propane.

An alternative is hexamine blocks, white bricks that burn in a grate. They are adequate but taint your food.

The other alternative is a petrol stove. These are actually a very good alternative, they prefer unleaded (burns cleaner). Not sure if you can get these in china. Some are expensive, especially if brass. However, I used to have a cheap russian steel self priming stove, just as good. Superfast heating.
Just remember to use away from the vehicle, and that petrol fumes are heavier than air and run along the ground (this is the main thing that catches people out). Store your fuel downhill of the vehicle/tent and flames. Fill your cooker downhill of where you will use it.
This assumes you can get a petrol stove in china.

OK lots of petrol stoves on taobao. s.taobao.com/[...]
about 300 rmb

that means they are on the market. It might be easier to print off a page from taobao and take it to the store.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and links.

I think messing with the car electricals is going to be more trouble than it's worth for this situation. If I had more time and *really* wanted to power a rice cooker I'd consider getting the car rigged for it. My brother did something similar in the US. But at this point it's not that critical and there are alternatives.

I think I'm going to go with a petrol stove. In the US I have one of these multi-fuel stoves, an MSR Dragonfly, and it's awesome. So I think I will get something similar here. I just have to make sure a wok will fit on it.

The propane tank is probably the most efficient solution, given the wide availability of propane and the nice little single-burner stoves you can buy, but I don't like the idea of carrying around one of those tanks, especially if we get into an accident. That could just be paranoia, but that's how I feel.