Running Coffee Machine in Motorhome

wildebus

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I know how to make coffee is a popular topic so I thought out of curiosity I would try an experiment :)

Exhibit 1: The Bosch Tassimo
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This is an inexpensive coffee machine and in terms of electric capsule coffee makers one of the cheapest and lowest powered ones at £30 and 1300W. The Power aspect is important when thinking Motorhome compatibility.

Exhibit 2: A Inverter. In my case, a Victron Multiplus 12/1600/70. The 12/1600 Multiplus is actually a 1300 Watt Inverter (the '1600' number refers to VA - Volt-Amps, which is not the same as Watts, despite the popular equation Watts = Volts x Amps, but that is another discussion).

So first hurdle ... Maximum continuous power of Inverter - 1300W- is no greater than the power Coffee machine demands - 1300W. Could be an issue?

Let's see what happens ...
Well, firstly, I can confirm I got a cup of Jacobs Cappachino out of the Tassimo off-grid, so that is a tick in the box. But what happened to the Multiplus and Battery Bank to provide it?
To note a point before showing graphs .... The Victron VRM system only samples the data (voltage, current, etc) once a minute. The coffee machine only runs for a couple of minutes so key points may not show up

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The amount of Battery taken to make a cup of coffee was pretty small in the scheme of things - before it started, had 287.1Ah taken out the battery. After it had finished had 289.4Ah out the battery - so just 2.3Ah to make a cup of coffee. That is under 30Wh (typical 100Ah Lead battery is 1200Wh).
There was a significant drop in voltage due to the load - from 12.48V right down to 11.72V
According to the sampled data, the current peaked at 120A. At 120A with a voltage of 11.72V, that is over 1400W (I know I am back using P=V*A here!) so beyond the rating of the inverter and also higher than the quoted machine draw, which is interesting (and surprising).

This gets a touch more interesting with what I saw when looking at the Victron BMV, which showed during the time the machine was running, a current peak of 172A! That is a massive power draw of over 2000W for a supposed 1300W device and also to be delivered by a 1300W Inverter.
Unsurprisingly, The inverter reported an overload condition and also a low voltage condition (if the voltage dropped to 11.72V on a 120A current, it will have dropped a fair bit more on the 172A draw)
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The reason there are two sets of overload and low voltage is the machine has to run twice - once for the milk for the cappachino and once for the coffee.

The Multiplus was still able to run the machine even at the overloaded power rating as it has a peak power of 3000W it can provide for 30 seconds, but it was clear that it didn't appreciate the load from the noises it made as the coffee machine did its pulsing.

Conclusions:
I don't think I will be taking the Tassimo away in the Motorhome unless I know I will be heading to locations where I will be plugging into EHU. Given that I have setup the battery bank so that is not needed, that EHU provision is unlikely on any regular basis. I don't actually have any issue with instant coffee TBH, but as I got one of these for the OH for Christmas (she doesn't know yet!) as well as a big selection of drinks, getting a second one for potentially the Motorhome seemed a reasonable plan given they are inexpensive machines.

After seeing the current draw from this apparent 1300W Machine, I would be wary of using it - or any other coffee machine on Inverters lower than 2000W as a minimum I think. The Victron Inverters over-rating capabilities in general have always been impressive and can cope either reluctantly or by shutting down, but other inverters could well get damaged. I think I will put a watt-meter on the Tassimo when I next run it on the Mains and see what power and currents are recorded
 
Obviously.



Wish I could start to understand half of that.



I had a pointy hat at skool and spent a lot of time in a corner.
 
Tassimo are proberbly the most expensive pods ,they are bar coded so have to be used .
 
Obviously.



Wish I could start to understand half of that.



I had a pointy hat at skool and spent a lot of time in a corner.
I only avoided standing in the corner because you got there first, Kev ... :D. The Geography/PE Teacher used to make me hold a piece of chalk between the tip of my nose and the blackboard for talking in class; nose went numb, chalk dropped and broke, 'Your choice, March. You can either have detention, which will double if the chalk drops again, and holding broken chalk together WILL be difficult, OR, you eat the chalk and return to your desk ...'

Chalk is an acquired taste, but you get used to it ...

As for the gym punishment, you'll have to wait for the next instalment!

Steve
 
Chalk is good for you, it's calcium and in Rennies and other digestive treatments.
 
Why are the barcoded please.
 
it was not the point of the thread, but I would imagine you could easily reuse a pod and also move the barcode to another pod as well.
 
it was not the point of the thread, but I would imagine you could easily reuse a pod and also move the barcode to another pod as well.
I recently upgraded my 12 volt system with thanks for the help you supplied me regarding choice of components etc.
Now the reason for my upgrade was partially driven by my good ladies addiction to Tassimo cappuccino, so my van now has 200Ah lithium, 480w solar, Victron MPPT, 30 amp B2B and a not as posh inverter as yours (a Renogy 2000w pure sine), strangely enough for the van the same machine, although different colour.
My monitor showed exactly the same 172A as you mention, although my inverter made no protesting sounds and appeared to not be troubled at all.
Apart from the helpful information you gave I did search and read many posts etc. on equipment, initially I did think about a Victron inverter but the price decided me not to choose that and whilst the Renogy is basically a budget item it appears to me to be a well made unit which comes with a nice remote and some cables, which were no use to me as much too short.
Main thing is wife very happy to be able to enjoy her very expensive coffee capsules whenever and wherever we are in the van:)
 
I recently upgraded my 12 volt system with thanks for the help you supplied me regarding choice of components etc.
Now the reason for my upgrade was partially driven by my good ladies addiction to Tassimo cappuccino, so my van now has 200Ah lithium, 480w solar, Victron MPPT, 30 amp B2B and a not as posh inverter as yours (a Renogy 2000w pure sine), strangely enough for the van the same machine, although different colour.
My monitor showed exactly the same 172A as you mention, although my inverter made no protesting sounds and appeared to not be troubled at all.
Apart from the helpful information you gave I did search and read many posts etc. on equipment, initially I did think about a Victron inverter but the price decided me not to choose that and whilst the Renogy is basically a budget item it appears to me to be a well made unit which comes with a nice remote and some cables, which were no use to me as much too short.
Main thing is wife very happy to be able to enjoy her very expensive coffee capsules whenever and wherever we are in the van:)
Thanks for the reply :) Very interesting to know that you are getting the same power draw for the same machine, which both makes sense, and also that our results seem to make a mockery of the "1300W" rating of the Tassimo.

Reasons for choosing the Victron included its charging and connectivity ability as well as the inverter - and I selected the 12/1600 model as big enough to run the Microwave - 800W cooking, which is around 1260W input power, so actually very close to the Tassimo's 1300W on the face of it. But I can run the microwave with no protests and max current is around the 130A, so very different results for two applicances that are being so close on paper :unsure:

I have seen the Renogy 2000W inverter and I think a few folk here have got them as well as you and they look like a well priced decent bit of kit.
I would still stick with the Victron myself in my particular setup however as a key reason was I need it to be available 24/7, attended or not, to run the fridge, and wake up automatically & randomly on demand to do so, and I trust the Victron kit to do that more than any other brand.
But to run this coffee machine, would I have to get the 12/2000 Multiplus? (still not a 2000W inverter!) or go right to the 12/3000 (=2400W) - it's getting rather pricey to have a cup of cappuccino in the Victron world!!
 
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We have a hob top plip plop percolator and a quality grinder, but it's just too much of a phaph and more STUFF to cart about, so Nescafé is good enough if we really need one, we drink enough when away in cafes etc, and mostly tea in the van so no biggy.
 
Never tried a coffee bag.
 
Again, this thread was NOT about the best way to make coffee, but about the technology needed if someone choose to use an electric coffee machine and considerations (life is about choice).

That said, Coffee Bags are good. I keep these in my van - https://amzn.to/3VzSxYV for the occasional fresh coffee cup but usually use instant (but NEVER Nescafé - find all the various Nescafé varieties far too bitter for my taste, so would never get a Nespresso machine either. Kenco would be my preferred Instant. Jacobs ideally if ground).

What I used to use a lot and enjoyed is the Rombouts one-cup filters (whole load of different coffee tastes here - https://amzn.to/3P73ZZQ ). Just as good as freshly made coffee from a perculator IMO.
 

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