They say that nothing starts the day like a big cup of coffee. Even without electricity, you shouldn’t miss making a cup. A Solar Generator will quietly run your appliances while off the grid. It’s a perfect solution for power outages and emergencies.

To run a small 500-watt coffee maker you’ll need a 700-Watt Solar Generator. This Solar Generator will run the Coffee Maker for an hour if need be. With the addition of a 200W solar panel, you can the Coffee Maker for up to 2.5 hours. 

If you just brewing a cup of coffee in the morning 3 minutes will be enough and the power from the solar panel will be enough to brew the coffee. You can also run other appliances including an instant pot of the solar generator.

In this article, we show you how to size a solar generator for your coffee maker and what else you can do on a solar generator. 

What Size Solar Generator for a Coffee Maker?

A coffee maker can use anywhere from 60 to 800 watts, depending on its size and the features it has. A typical 1-3 cup coffee maker uses about 120 watts. A larger coffeemaker can use up to 800 watts, while a built-in grinder and milk frother may add another 400 watts or more to that total.

In order to match an appliance to a solar generator you need to make sure that the inverter rating of the solar generator is slightly higher than the power rating of your appliance.  To run a small 500-watt Coffee maker you’ll need a 700-watt solar generator. 

How Long Will a 700-Watt Solar Generator Run a Coffee Maker?

Electrical energy is measured in watt-hours. The amount of watt-hours consumed depends on the device’s wattage and the length of time it is used. 

To calculate watt-hours consumption of your device, you multiply the device’s wattage by the number of hours it is used. 

For example, if an appliance with a rating of 100 watts operates for 10 hours, it uses 1,000 watt-hours (100 watts X 10 hours). 

3 minutes is enough to brew your coffee, for three minutes you will need:

(3/60) x 500 = 25 Watt-hours

25 watt-hours 

A solar generator will have a watt-hour rating that will determine how long it can run your coffee maker. A 700-watt solar generator will most likely have a 700Wh capacity rating. 

A 700-watt solar generator with a 700Wh capacity will have a battery 24v 35Ah battery. With a lithium-ion battery, you can pull 100% of the battery in an hour. This means you can operate at max of 35 amps at a voltage of around 21V hence the 700Wh rating. Depending on the efficiency of the inverter this could be as lower. To calculate how long it will run a 500-watt coffee maker we use a 0.85 factor

Running Time = Solar Generator Watt-hours/operating power of the device 

= (700*0.85)/500

= 1.19 hrs

A 700-watt solar generator can run a 500-watt coffee maker in 1 hr 11 minutes

How Long Will a 700-Watt Solar Generator Last with a 200-watt Solar Panel?

A 35Ah 24V battery will need 8 amps of DC power to charge. A 200-watt Solar panel can provide 8 amps to charge the battery in around four hours. This will depend on the availability of sunlight. 4 hours of sunlight in an ideal situation should provide 1000Wh enough to recharge the solar generator fully.

With the extra 200 watts going to the solar generator this also adds to the run time;

= (1500*0.85)/500

= 0.34 hrs

With the power from the solar panel, you can run the coffee maker for 20 minutes without depleting the solar generator’s capacity. This is because solar generators support pass-through charging. 

Conclusion

You may not be running your coffee maker for more than an hour every day. However, this gives an overview of the capability of a solar generator in your home or while on the go. Using your coffee maker for small periods in the morning will leave you with extra capacity to run other appliances on the solar generator throughout the day.