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Portable Pellet Pooper Power

71-South

71-South

is Blowin Smoke!
Joined
May 2, 2008
Location
Harrisonville, MO
I'm getting ready to start competing with my new (to me) Yoder YS640, and I want to be worry-free from the crappy electric service that plagues many competitions.

According to Yoder, the YS640 draws 200w during start-up, then when it hits maintenance mode after 20 minutes or so, draws 20w.

So, I've been reading all about getting a deep cycle batter and an inverter. I could do that (although I'm not very handy), but I saw this on Amazon today.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Allstart-555-Battery-Starter-Inverter/dp/B008FKJH9C/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8"]Amazon.com: Allstart 555 Camo Pro Pac Battery Jump Starter with AC Inverter: Automotive@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TJDySXfOL.@@AMEPARAM@@51TJDySXfOL[/ame]

Looks to me like it would fit the bill. Anyone with experience or adequate knowledge of this sort of thing care to chime in?

Thanks,
Bret
 
I run a deep cycle battery and an inverter. I have used both cheap and sine wave inverters and the only difference I notice was the sound of the fan. The cheap inverter made different sound than regular power. The sine wave inverter sounded the same so I use that now even though I really don't think it matters. I use a charger to keep the battery topped off then the inverter to run the cooker. I have needed it at almost every contest!!!

And one last thing. If the yoder loses power, when you restart it, it will default to a startup mode which will feed too many pellets to a already hot smoker and it will very much overshoot your set temp.
 
I use a 750 watt inverter I got at Napa. Not sure about bypassing start up you might ask that in the technical forum in the Yoder community forum
 
I use a group 29 deep cycle battery and a 450watt invertor. I ran 14 hours once and didn't go below 50 percent voltage readout. I also use yoders
 
this is my setup. I just put it on the ground beside the smoker. It's not a water proof box, but it's covered. I have been worried about it getting too hot, but it hasn't happened yet. (Fingers crossed). I run a powercord into this box to power the battery charger which is set to a 2 amp trickle charge, that keeps the battery topped off. The battery runs the inverter which runs the smoker. I have a camper and ideally I would like to rig the outside outlet to run off of an inverter so that I don't have to move this around. Hasn't happened yet....

image.jpg
 
Awesome. I went out tonight and picked up a deep cycle battery, a 400w inverter, and a tote. Gonna install some venting on both sides (maybe all 4) of the tote tomorrow and test it out. Thanks for all the replies.
 
Tripplite sells a nice inverter that you can find on Amazon. It's an inverter, charger, and transfer switch. That means it will power your yoder when the power is out, charge and manage the battery when it is not, and quickly switch between the two modes so you should avoid putting the Yoder into startup mode. I use a 750 watt model for 2 FECs. You don't need larger than that, as the bigger the inverter the more power it takes to run itself, so don't over buy.

I do think you want an inverter that charges the battery, and has a fast UPS style transfer switch. That setup you linked doesn't have a transfer switch so you always run on the battery, and it will have a small wall wart charger that puts out less power than your today will use. Look at the tripplite inverters.
 
I use comp power, but run it through a computer UPS. I haven't tested it for endurance, but it should run both FEC's for a couple of hours. It has an audible alarm when power is lost, which allows me plenty of time to fix the problem or fire up the generator. I do keep a 400W inverter in my trailer that I can run off my truck battery if the first two options both fail.

The UPS saved my tail this weekend. I had just gone to bed about 12:30 and the alarm went off. Without the UPS I probably wouldn't have found the problem until morning. Last weekend I forgot to use it, so I'm lucky it didn't happen then.
 
MikeJ65 said:
I use comp power, but run it through a computer UPS. I haven't tested it for endurance, but it should run both FEC's for a couple of hours. It has an audible alarm when power is lost, which allows me plenty of time to fix the problem or fire up the generator. I do keep a 400W inverter in my trailer that I can run off my truck battery if the first two options both fail.

The UPS saved my tail this weekend. I had just gone to bed about 12:30 and the alarm went off. Without the UPS I probably wouldn't have found the problem until morning. Last weekend I forgot to use it, so I'm lucky it didn't happen then.
Click to expand...

The UPS has saved me more than once.
 
For now I just went w/ a cheap Everstart battery and inverter from Wal-Mart due to budget. I'm sure I'll be upgrading to a more robust system as soon as funds allow. Thanks for all the suggestions and info. Much appreciated.
 
71-South said:
For now I just went w/ a cheap Everstart battery and inverter from Wal-Mart due to budget. I'm sure I'll be upgrading to a more robust system as soon as funds allow. Thanks for all the suggestions and info. Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Mine is an ever start group 29 deep cycle. Works great.
 
Good deal. Do you disconnect the hotrod and light manually for start up at comps to avoid the 200 watt draw for the first 20 minutes or so? I think I'm going to do that.
 
Try it on a practice cook, but I don't think you'll find the need to unhook the hot rod. It will depend on how many watts your inverter is. The higher the rating the more juice it uses.
 
I'm comfortable w/ my 410w inverter. I just wonder how long my battery (101ah) will last. Gonna test it out either tomorrow or Wednesday. Thanks.
 
i'm really unfamiliar with this, i don't know what an inverter is, but i am going to try to compete with two traegers this year. can someone post a shopping list of what i need to get for basic power and i quick tutorial on how to do it? thanks.
 
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