Thanks for pointing that out.. Yikes.. that would be crazy nasty.. right now I'm proceeding with caution..

A good day was had by all. The generator idea is a bust. It just won't fly in this venue. Luckily I brought my Lido II and a propane camping burner. It saved the day. Sold 15L of iced coffee, a few dozen hot drip brews, 10# of beans and 3 Aeropresses.

Conveniently, the Zojirushi went dead. I tried plugging it in at home and no power. It's going back to Amazon which might be a blessing since I can't use my generator anyway. I'll buy it back again if and when I switch to an indoor market over the winter.

I replaced it with your set up, Marshall. I got a Bayou SP10 burner and 7-quart SS kettle for boiling a large quantity of water as quick as possible. I'm hoping I can turn the burner down low enough to maintain a reasonable brew temperature when transferring to the Bonavita pour over kettle. As the water gets low I can add another gallon jug and crank it up for a few minutes. What size propane tank do you bring? I'm going to stick with the pour over bar until I get overwhelmed. Last week iced coffee outsold hot by 3 to 1.

I read your thread from a couple of years ago on water and meeting the SCAA recommendations. I don't want to use distilled water, but my local supermarket sells gallons of Gerber for $1.29. Any suggestions on what to add to optimize?

I only brew with fully boiling water, only one gallon brews, two kettles. Time it takes to brew a gallon another is gallon is rolling and ready. Transferring or measuring water is a time killer. I imagine you could run an inverter if you wanted to transfer to PID kettles for idling stability for cup at a time brewing; the draw wouldn't drain your battery. I just don't see the value of cup at a time, though that's just me. I couldn't beat the flavor of my gallon batches with a V60, no chance at all.

I can definitely appreciate that, Marshall. So far I haven't seen the traffic to justify the expense of buying the Fetco basket, two kettles and two urns. I'm trying to make the most out of what I have on hand already.

Speaking of which, I also happen to have 2 Lifeline 100AH AGM batteries, 2 145W solar panels and a Tripplite 750W charger/inverter in my vintage Cox camper that I am no longer using since my boys have grown. I think I'm going to cannibalize it and make a mobile power station mounted on a yard cart. This way I can bring my bulk grinder along for customers that want to grind the beans they buy as well as quickly grind coffee to feed the drip station. I'm hoping to be able to brew 5 at a time instead of just one when traffic demands.

I got the solar powered inverter built. This is the package. The box was $54 at Home Depot. I had the rest on hand.



Inside:



Complete:



The solar charging controller and fuse:



Remote switch and power level monitor:



Connector for the solar panel input:



Good news, it all works. Bad news, it has enough battery power to run the grinder all day and then some, but 750W seems just enough to get the grinder going without beans in the hopper. As soon as I put beans in and try to start the grinder, the inverter overloads and shuts down. That surprised me since I used to run a small refrigerator, 3-4 lights, computer chargers and a TV all at the same time.

The workaround is that I can start the grinder first and then load the beans while it's running and it works fine. The other workaround is I can bring my Baratza Preciso instead of the Grindmaster. It would take a few batches to grind a full pound, but it would lighten my set up load.

The other good news is that, although I cannibalized this equipment from my pop-up camper, I can still bring it along anywhere I go when need mobile power.

Motor starting load is 3 to 5 times the full load running current IF the line voltage does not drop significantly on the start. A capacitor start/run motor presents a very low impedance to the power source on start. The fix is a much larger inverter, I would guess something like 2Kw to 2.5Kw might work fine.

It does sound like this will be a acceptable solution to remote grinding.

OldNuc wrote:The fix is a much larger inverter, I would guess something like 2Kw to 2.5Kw might work fine.

Yes, and keep in mind that not all inverters are created equally. If you have a 1,000-watt motor load, you generally won't be able to start it with a 1,000-watt inverter. However, some inverters are designed with these short-term surges in mind.

For example, this old Trace inverter would probably work in your application:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trace-ux1112-In ... 2803ce92eb

Many of the inverters intended for solar rather than mobile applications will have surge ratings that can handle locked motor amps. Check out the detailed specs for this inverter here:

http://www.altestore.com/store/Inverter ... ter/p3784/

The UX1112 can output up to 32 A for 100 mS. And it is capable of 3,000 watts for short durations. I bet if you measure the surge load associated with your bulk grinder, as well as the load when grinding, you'll find that this inverter fits the bill.

These older inverter models were built like tanks, and they weren't only designed to operate laptops, lights and a bar fridge. They can run power tools and water pumps. That's the kind of inverter you want to run a bulk grinder.

Make 'em an offer. These probably aren't flying off the shelves, (except in places like Alaska. Actually, the shipping charges on this listing kinda suck.) But maybe you can find something similar closer to home.

The inverter/charger I have is a Tripp Lite APS750. It is rated for 750W continuous and 1500W surge. It's not a car inverter.

I have a "Kill A Watt" electrice usage meter coming tomorrow. It will tell me what the surge is.

There is a phase angle issue here and the KW meter will not see it as they only see true power. That is why they are not prohibitively expensive. Just get the steady state running load while grinding and the steady state load running and not grinding. To estimate the rated capacity of the inverter multiply the not grinding load by 3.5 or 4 if the physical weight of the inverter is low to get an idea of what is required. Copper and iron equates to reserve capacity.