Induction counter top cookers

solorone · April 2015

Well I have to say, this something I would have never thought I would post on a solar forum.
We do have a lot of surplus power after our new upgrade, so I have been looking at a cooktop for awhile, and after reading many reviews, I settled on the Max Burton 6400 Digital Choice Induction Cooktop 1800 Watts. Our reason for getting one, is to save gas, and to eliminate the excess the heat from our gas stove during the summer. It does this amazing well, even the handles do not get hot. It is an amazingly fast cooker. I just brought 8 cold eggs in a large pot using cold water to a rolling boil in 8 minutes, using about 1 amp per minute at 24 v.

The real test of a good induction cooktop is if you can slow fry an egg. Yes you can, there is a short learning curve, but this cooker had good reviews, and it can be adjusted in 25* steps, starting slow and low it fries eggs very well. In the lower temp. ranges, the unit pulses, in something like a 3 amp rate curve.
The unit is quite when it cooks, the only sound is the fan that runs constantly, but is no louder than a 6" fan on low.
We are very happy with this addition to our off grid life. To sum up, a cheap unit will not make you happy, this one was $128, there were others I looked at for $175. Just spend a lot of time on the reviews. Another tip. A search of Amazon did not bring up all the options available. Went to EBay and found different brands there, then searched Amazon and most of these brands came up, maybe companies pay Amazon to show their listing first. I think the Amazon's comments are very valuable.

Photowhit · April 2015

There are a few threads about induction cook tops, I've had 2 the first a Taugen(?) newegg special For $50 and it had only 8 heat settings, and had a hard time with low levels. I found a new Nuwave and it has pretty much a setable temperature. Only thing I don't like is I would like a wider coil? It would be nice to have something 8-9" wide to batter utilize a frying pan.

solorone · April 2015

Sorry, I guess I did not even think to look for another thread . Your right, larger would be nice, but that might require a exponential increase in power. They do make some 220 V models.

solar_dave · April 2015

Just picked up a Nuwave at a estate sale for $10. Looks like it is functional.

solorone · April 2015

solar_dave wrote: »

Just picked up a Nuwave at a estate sale for $10. Looks like it is functional.

Thats a great find, I was tempted to buy their TV offer with all the extras, but I hold with the, Too good to be true. Let us know if you can slow fry an egg. :<)

Blackcherry04 · April 2015

I have a couple of them ( Max Burton & Tatung ) I keep one at home and one on my Boat. They are ok, but they pulse the power on and off like a microwave, drives my Inverter crazy. The pot selection is important, if its to thick it takes a longer time to heat up and to thin it heats very fast. This makes it hard to get even heat when cooking. So, when you add this into the variable of the numbering of the power system it takes a while to learn all the combinations, same it true with the temperature control on the Max Burton, it's hard to figure what the temperature sensor is sensing.

Photowhit · April 2015

Blackcherry04 wrote: »

The pot selection is important, if its to thick it takes a longer time to heat up and to thin it heats very fast.

I use some heavy old Saladmaster pots and the heat is dang near instant with them, even my cast iron is pretty darn quick. I haven't heard any complaints from my inverter, but the Nuwave does pulse a bit to maintain temperature. If it's set for 205-210 and you have a minimal amount of water, glassing onions before adding sauce, you can watch the water boil on and off. but it's pretty short cycles.

H2SO4_guy · April 2015

I use a commercial 1800 watt unit that originally was about $399, but got new in a box on ebay for about $140 including shipping. It is two piece like if you wanted to do a built in situation. It has a 9" coil. Sunpentown model number SR-181R. When you have the right cookware it is much like cooking with gas because it will react so quickly to the change in it's 20 settings. Eggs are no problem, cook many of the neighbors free range chicken, duck, and goose eggs every month. Copper bottom pans will not work, but cast iron works great. They will preheat quickly too. I think I could boil water faster than a microwave. I use it to heat water to preheat a Thermos for coffee. Or if I just want to have a cup of tea, I have a little stainless bowl that will get the water to temp in under a minute.

Have not tried it on the Exeltech inverters as it would draw too much power, even though they say they will do double the power, but they clip the wave off. I run it on the Outback inverter and never had a problem. Just can't run the induction unit, drip coffee maker, and the heat pump all at the same time or I'm drawing around 90 amps from the Outback. Don't like to push it that hard, so the only time it is an issue is when it is cold out or possibly very hot. No big deal, just adjustments to living off grid. I dream of the day of another VFX-3648 in parallel!

Overall, I have been very happy, but most that have not been have wished they had spent more for a better unit.

solorone · April 2015

H2SO4_guy wrote: »

I use a commercial 1800 watt unit that originally was about $399, but got new in a box on ebay for about $140 including shipping. It is two piece like if you wanted to do a built in situation. It has a 9" coil. Sunpentown model number SR-181R. When you have the right cookware it is much like cooking with gas because it will react so quickly to the change in it's 20 settings. Eggs are no problem, cook many of the neighbors free range chicken, duck, and goose eggs every month. Copper bottom pans will not work, but cast iron works great. They will preheat quickly too. I think I could boil water faster than a microwave. I use it to heat water to preheat a Thermos for coffee. Or if I just want to have a cup of tea, I have a little stainless bowl that will get the water to temp in under a minute.

Have not tried it on the Exeltech inverters as it would draw too much power, even though they say they will do double the power, but they clip the wave off. I run it on the Outback inverter and never had a problem. Just can't run the induction unit, drip coffee maker, and the heat pump all at the same time or I'm drawing around 90 amps from the Outback. Don't like to push it that hard, so the only time it is an issue is when it is cold out or possibly very hot. No big deal, just adjustments to living off grid. I dream of the day of another VFX-3648 in parallel!

Overall, I have been very happy, but most that have not been have wished they had spent more for a better unit.

Yes, this is one item that does not perfrom well at cheap $$. As always, you get what you pay for, and research is important, as are the shared real life exsperiences here.

Photowhit · April 2015

If someone wanted to try an induction cook top with out dumping a bunch of money, Newegg is selling a newer version of Tatung, for $45 through eBay for the next week. I still use the included pot, it is a nice size for several things, like doing spaghetti sauce and is sized for the induction coil. I do use the cooktop from time to time as well, like when I lend out my NuWave for Christmas candy making.

It doesn't have a simple temperature setting, but it doesn't cost $100+ either. I was happy and learned enough from mine that I purchased a NuWave when I caught a good deal on one, I'd likely still be using the Tatung if I didn't get a good deal on the NuWave, but I will admit, I enjoy the NuWave's temperature setting.

Newegg has some reviews to help you, and I think, if you hunt you can find the manual. It has a 2 stage setting for the element a range and then a cycle, hard to explain, and I don't recall and I have an older version, but something like low, med, high and sear? and then a 1, 2, 3, or 4 settings from there.

Here's a link to the Cooktop at Newegg.

Please understand that this uses magnetic induction, so your cookware will need to be magnetic to work, some stainless steel does not work, check it with a magnet! Aluminum and glass don't work, though you can use a ferrous disk below them, but this defeats the energy savings. Most Revereware copper clad, uses a nonmagnetic SS so check your pans!

Induction counter top cookers

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