Cooking on a MultiPlus 2000VA
Many people think that cooking with electricity is only possible at home, connected to the grid. An electric stove usually has its own separate circuit with a 6 mm cable and a 32 A fuse, so cooking with electricity in a camper is absolutely out of the question, right? Apparently not...
Real road tests 🚐
In this article, Shamira and Niels share their experience of induction cooking from a battery in a motorhome.
At the time of writing — in September — Shamira and Niels had already been traveling in Sweden for four weeks without visiting a campsite or connecting to the power grid. They cooked almost every day, spent most of their time parked, and only drove for a couple of hours every 2–4 days. The main source of recharging for their batteries was solar panels, and they report being completely satisfied with their choice of setup.
Shamira van Veenendaal is a 30-year-old photographer and blogger, and her 34-year-old partner Niels de Graaf works as an IT engineer. They live, work, and travel part-time with their cat Saartje in a self-built van. It is a compact Mercedes Sprinter with a 128-inch wheelbase, converted with sustainable self-sufficiency in mind: solar panels, a composting toilet, a compressor fridge, a diesel heater, and, as we will soon find out, an induction cooktop powered by a Victron lithium battery.
Onboard briefing 🔧
Why electricity instead of gas?
Gas is by far the most common fuel for cooking in a camper; it is cheap and easy to install. But for those who want to be independent of gas sellers, induction cooking is appealing. Electricity allows you to be completely independent; you no longer need space for a gas cylinder; it is safe and environmentally friendly.
Why do so few people choose electricity?
So why do so few people choose "electricity" for cooking on the road? Is it because the complexity of charging and providing power requires a little more thought, as the initial costs are higher; or because people don't believe it can be successful off-grid? Shamira says it was an interesting challenge... but now we can say from our own experience that it is indeed possible, and we are very happy with this cooking option.
What is an induction hob? 🍳
From Wikipedia: on an induction stove (or "induction cooktop"), a cooking vessel is placed on a coil of copper wire with an alternating electric current passing through it. The resulting oscillating magnetic field wirelessly induces an electrical current in the vessel. This large eddy current flowing through the resistance of the vessel leads to resistive heating. The definition further notes that the cooking vessel must be made of a ferrous metal.
How much power does the stove consume? ⚡
Shamira says: "Many people interested in induction cooking look only at the maximum power of the cooktop (usually around 3500 W) and conclude that it is not suitable for a camper.
We tested this by cooking a pasta dish for two. Pasta is a useful starting point because you need to boil a pot of water for ten minutes while simultaneously cooking meat or vegetables on another burner."
Experiment results
"We brought 750 ml of water to a boil on speed 8, then let it boil for ten minutes on speed 5, and also fried vegetable mince with red sauce on speed 6. The whole dish took about 25 Ah of battery capacity (this also depends on the efficiency of the cooktop and pots, the amount of water you want to boil, and whether you keep the pot covered with a lid while cooking, for example), and the continuous power did not exceed 1600 W at its peak — most meals consume less than 1200 W".
Not once during cooking did we come close to the maximum power of 3500 W. So you don't need a mega inverter of 3000 W or 5000 W. Our inverter is designed for a continuous power supply of 1600 W. We believe this is more than enough. We can also use a coffee maker and a small kettle on it, which it handles perfectly.
General thoughts and observations on van life
Of course, a battery capacity of 25 Ah is quite a lot for such a short time, but most motorhome owners don't cook every day. We usually just heat up soup or make pita bread with vegetables, where we only fry pine nuts. This will consume significantly less energy as you use fewer cooking zones and you don't need to boil water... and keep it boiling. On average, over a few days, cooking uses much less battery capacity than in our example.
In practice, it is easy to recharge these 25 Ah. And it is useful to know that a lithium battery can be discharged up to 90%. Suppose you cook such a pasta dish every day and therefore consume about 70 A per day, including all other electrical loads (fridge, lighting, laptop charging, etc.), then you can still get almost three days of autonomy using a 200 Ah lithium battery. This is without recharging via solar panels or a DC generator while driving.
If the sun is shining or if you are going for a drive, the lithium battery will charge relatively quickly. They have a lower internal resistance during charging than lead-acid batteries. Charging the last 20% is especially slow with lead-acid batteries due to the increase in internal resistance (which means less current flows). That's why we chose a 200 Ah lithium battery.
Electrical installation for induction cooking in a camper 🔋
The electrical system in a motorhome designed for induction cooking looks somewhat different due to the choice of a lithium battery. It becomes more complex and expensive. Below you will find everything you need to consider when choosing a lithium battery, in addition to the standard components usually present in a motorhome.
Lithium-ion battery 200 Ah — LiFePO4 Battery 12.8V/200Ah NG
As can be seen from the calculation, there is really no need to buy several hundred Ah of lithium batteries. 200 Ah is sufficient, but limit yourself to this minimum if you also want to be autonomous for a few days without recharging via solar panels or charging via the alternator while driving. Do you cook a little more than we do, or do you want to be off-grid longer? Then choose a larger capacity.
BMS — VE.Bus BMS NG
The BMS is a special protection for lithium batteries. It checks the battery status, mainly the voltage and temperature of the cells. The BMS can stop the charger (protecting it from overcharging) or turn off consumers (if the battery gets too discharged). In addition, the BMS will prevent charging if the temperature is too low or too high to prevent damage to the battery.
Battery Protection — Smart BatteryProtect 12/24V-100A
A battery protect is an electrical switch that interrupts the connection between the battery and all electrical consumers, such as lighting and the fridge, as soon as the battery voltage drops below a certain level. This is detected and reported by the BMS system. This prevents over-discharge of the lithium battery. The battery protect works on its own, but it is better to use it in combination with a BMV monitor. It is very accurate and also gives you direct insight into the current battery statistics.
Charger — SmartSolar MPPT 100/20 (up to 48V)
The MPPT solar charger maximizes energy harvesting from the solar panel and stores it in the battery. The MPPT with Bluetooth is more expensive, but its advantage is that you can also read production figures, system data, and all sorts of other panel statistics on your smartphone using the free VictronConnect app.
Like many others, we prefer camping off-grid, but agree that sometimes it has its limitations. In bad weather or in winter, the panel produces less energy, while you often use more energy. If you have the space and the budget, by all means, do it, but you really don't have to put over 500 W of solar panels on your roof to be able to cook on induction. We have 320 W. It's modest, but we don't need more. After all, we can run for about three days on battery alone, and we can extend that time with the alternator if we are driving. Even in March, when the sun is still quite low and weak, we can be autonomous thanks to what we generate from the solar panel and the alternator if we are driving.
DC-DC Converter — Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A Isolated DC-DC charger
If, as is usually the case, you have two battery banks and you want to charge the domestic battery via the vehicle's alternator while driving, you must install a battery combiner. This prevents the starter battery from discharging, which would result in you not being able to start the engine. However, if you are using a lithium battery, you must install a DC-DC charger instead of a normal relay. This prevents the alternator from being overloaded by the battery; prevents the vehicle's starter battery from discharging, and also prevents the lithium battery from being charged with a voltage that is too high (or low) which could damage the battery.
Inverter — MultiPlus C 12/2000/80-30 with charger
As can be seen from the calculation, an induction cooktop consumes quite a bit of energy, but for an average camping meal it is nowhere near as much as the maximum power stated in the product description. That's why we chose the Victron MultiPlus C 12/2000/80-30 with a continuous output of 1600 W. Do you cook more than we do, and do you want to be sure that your inverter is up to the task? Then choose the Victron MultiPlus 12/3000/120-16. The MultiPlus series is useful anyway, as it is an inverter and a battery charger in a single unit. It also works perfectly with the Victron Digital Multi Control.
Control — Digital Multi Control 200/200A
This panel is designed to turn the inverter on and off, but it is also very useful for setting a current limit between two AC sources. For example, if the campsite grid does not provide enough amperage for your induction stove, you can indicate on the panel the maximum current provided by the campsite — PowerControl. When cooking or when you turn on devices that exceed the available power of your connection, the Victron MultiPlus will add extra power using the PowerAssist feature. This way, even with a low current campsite connection, you can still use larger devices in the motorhome.
Cooking in a camper on induction with a lead battery 🪫
Cooking in a motorhome on induction is also possible with a lead-acid battery, but we do not recommend it. You will have to take a battery of a much larger capacity compared to a lithium one. This is because at high currents, a lead (sulfuric acid) battery suffers from two phenomena:
The total available battery capacity decreases as the discharge current increases — this is the Peukert effect. The battery capacity stated by the manufacturer applies if you discharge the battery over 20 hours. This means that a 100 Ah battery discharges after 20 hours of power supply. If you are going to increase the discharge current to more than 100 A or even more — since you are going to cook on induction — then the total battery capacity will be significantly lower. In addition, due to an excessively high discharge current, a lot of heat is generated and sulfation occurs in the lead battery, which negatively affects capacity and lifespan.
✅ Lithium (LiFePO4) battery
- 200 Ah — enough for induction cooking
- Discharge up to 90% without harming the battery
- Up to 5 times more cycles than AGM
- Fast charging — even the last 20%
- No Peukert effect at high currents
- Significantly lighter weight and compactness
⚠️ Lead-acid battery
- Minimum 500 Ah — and this is just the minimum for induction
- Peukert effect — real capacity is lower at high currents
- Sulfation and overheating during intensive discharge
- Maximum discharge current — only 20% of capacity
- Slow charging of the last 20%
- About 130 kg of extra weight (2×250 Ah AGM)
If you still want to go with lead
If you still want to cook on induction with a lead-acid battery, then an AGM battery is best suited for (short-term) high discharge currents.
For lithium batteries, it is sufficient to check the maximum discharge current allowed in the specifications to determine whether this is enough for induction cooking. With a lead-acid battery, you should limit the maximum discharge current to approximately 20% of the total battery capacity.
It is possible, but it is a somewhat exaggerated setup for motorhomes. That's why most people choose lithium batteries with such power or capacity (also because they have up to five times more cycles). Ultimately, two 250 Ah AGM batteries also cost a lot of money, and on top of that, they add about 130 kg to the weight!
Build quality electricity for your motorhome
If you want to build quality electricity for your motorhome, you can fill out an online questionnaire and receive a professional calculation service for the necessary kit. The specialists of "Total-Energo" LLC will find out all the details needed for the calculation, and at your request, we will install this system in your motorhome, or produce a ready-made module in a cabinet that will simply need to be installed in the vehicle.
Order system calculation →
