Pod coffee machine off grid

May 17, 2018
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Hi all
I have a need for a pod coffee machine off grid; now before anyone reads further...
I know you can get a mocha thing you put on your stove to make better coffee, I do that already.
I know you can use a coffee filter machine with less power or one of them things you put boiling water into, none of these are my questions.


So that will stop the obvious advice.

What I need this for specifically is the wife, she prefers hot chocolate from one of the Dolce things and also she can make me a coffee from it as it easy to use.
So a year ago I bought one and we use it indoors and take it with us in mh. When we are hooked up on electric all is OK, but then of course, I find myself paying the 5eur just so we can use the coffee machine. So I decided last month before our Spain trip this year, to fit an inverter and turn one of the sockets into an 'off grid' mains supply, which is very useful for other things and the two large solar panels I have work well. I bought a 3kw inverter and connected it to my 2 batteries (specifically to the first one, that might be an error), with 2 cables I made from a set of jump leads cut down to about 1m long.

Problem;
Voltage drops to below 12v and it switches off to protect of course. The coffee machine draws 1.3kw, which is a lot for what it is. I find myself turning it on and then off before it beeps. Works eventually but what a pain.

Potential solutions;
1) get a coffee machine that draws less power. I've looked at all of them, they all use about 1.3kw. This seems a no go. They seemed to be designed for convenience and people want coffee super quick. I need a holiday one! :)
2) convince the wife to forget hot chocolate or try a different type....FORGET IT. She is stubborn. :evil:
3) Maybe the cables are too thin and I'm losing power from the batteries. But they are about 1m long and very thick. I deliberately used a new set of jump leads because they can take a load and seem to be a safer option. Perhaps there is something I don't know here. :dry:
4) Batteries; bought them 2yrs ago, about £70 each, so maybe they just are not up to the job.
5) Should I connect positive to one battery and negative to the other? this I am not sure of and it would make one of the cables longer.
I have linked the batteries with the same jump lead setup, which I know will wear one battery before the other, but would this also mean I'm not getting full whack from them? not sure.

Can anyone help or advice here. (without suggesting the wife should try coffee or stick to tea) :p
Si
 
Nov 19, 2010
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Hi Si, welcome.
You've posed an interesting one here. Like you, I can't abide instant coffee, but we're happy with the other two options you mentioned - stove top and filter.
A search on Bing for "machines dosettes 12v" turned up this list from Amazon, but I don't know if any of them use the specific pods you need:
https://www.amazon.fr/cafetiere-12v-dosette/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acafetiere%2012v%20dosette
Or possibly other results from the same search.
Whether your batteries are past their best depends on what sort of usage they've had - inverters do ask a lot of any battery, so they need to be well up to scratch.
If you're competent electrically, it might be worth a look inside your machine. A surprising number of "mains" devices nowadays actually run on low DC voltage, and use a built in transformer , but tbh I think that's unlikely for something using a kw or more.
Anyone else think of a suggestion?
 
Apr 30, 2018
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I'm also interested in this topic! I don't own a motorhome yet but this is one of the things that is on my list of things to put in it!
I didn't have much more success than Tony's suggestions.
This one uses ESE capsules and perhaps they do hot chocolate but it looks like it only does espresso.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handpresso-Auto-Ground-Coffee-Pods/dp/B00WZAAR92
I don't have the technical knowledge to have an opinion on the electrical side of things.
 
Nov 19, 2010
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One other thought - would it be worth experimenting a bit?
If you open one of her chocolate pods, would the contents work in the stove-top espresso maker? You could keep that just for her, and use the filter for your coffee.
 
Apr 30, 2018
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And another thought:
Is there something available that truck drivers use? They probably like their hot chocolate after a hard day of trucking!
Might be 28V though?
 
Aug 21, 2018
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Dragging this up from the depths but...

Pods are so NOT eco friendly! Get rid and buy yourself a Bellman CX-25P off eBay

It's a stove top espresso maker and milk steamer.

Proper crema on your espresso. Frothy steamed milk for your wife's hot chocolate or a latte...

No pods, no draining your batteries...
 

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