Tech Review: Power Pot V, the USB power generating cook pot

Power Pot V, USB thermoelectric generator camp cook pot

October 31, 2012

It seems people these days are bringing more and more electronic gadgets such as GPS, walkie-talkies, digital cameras, and smartphones with them camping. This can create the dilemma of keeping all those different batteries charged from day to day. Many people have turned to solar panels to solve this problem. Unfortunately, the sun never seems to be out when you need it. Furthermore, those solar panels that have internal batteries won’t keep up with your power demands if you have a few days of heavy cloud cover. Heck, it just takes one camping trip in a densely forested region to learn that even the most expensive solar panel can quickly be rendered utterly useless on even the brightest of days.

Enter the Power Pot V. The Power Pot V is a hard-anodized aluminum camping cook pot with a 1.4-liter capacity that can utilize nearly any kind of heat source available to boil water to generate electricity. It then provides this electricity to your gadgets via a standard full sized USB power port. Be aware that the Power Pot V weighs in at 18.2 oz. This is a little heavier than other camping cook pots with similar capacity.

However, those other camping pots don’t have the ability to generate electricity thus making the little bit of added weight an acceptable trade for the added functionality.

This may all sound kind of mystical to some of you, but trust me it’s real, and it works. The technology behind the Power Pot V is called thermoelectric power, which is the process of converting a temperature differential directly into electricity. Two physical effects primarily govern this phenomenon: the Seebeck effect 1821, and Peltier effect 1834. As you can see, this is by no means a new idea. Unlike electrical generation by means of wind, water, and steam, it has no need for moving parts.

Ok, now that I have the mini history lesson out of the way, let’s move on to the features, the functionality, and performance of the Power Pot V system. For starters, the Power Pot V needs water in it to function. Now listen carefully, this is the most important thing to know about the Power Pot V, so I am going to cover it first. If you don’t put water in it while it’s on a heat source, it basically goes into “nuclear melt-down” and will be permanently damaged. Another important thing to know is that the Power Pot V is not designed to be used with solid/thick foods/soups. It needs straight water to properly function. I solved this issue by boiling my water separately and then pouring the boiling water into the included hard-anodized aluminum lid/bowl with my soup mix.

The Power Pot V will look fairly familiar to most campers. That’s because the cook pot included is the same basic design that is widely used for camping cook pots. Both the Power Pot V and the lid/bowl have built-in rubber coated metal handles on the side that makes handling them much easier than their standard bowl counterparts. What makes the design stand out from the camping pot crowd is the addition of the thermoelectric generator that is permanently attached to the bottom as well as the heat shielded cable that protrudes from it and runs up to the rubber coated handles.

The Power Pot V is capable of putting out a maximum of 5 watts. That’s 1A/hr. at 5 volts. This is similar to the power output of your standard wall charger that is included with your smartphone. This all sounds great, but remember that is the maximum output, not the average. In my testing, I found that if you use it on a controlled flame camp stove such as a propane, butane, white gas, or some wood burning jet stoves, you can easily reach maximum power output. However, when I put the Power Pot V on a small campfire and grill, I had trouble keeping the power output at maximum. The main problem with trying to charge using a Power Pot V on a regular exposed campfire is that the flame fluctuates too much from the bottom of the Power Pot V and the power output is thus considerably reduced. I solved this by making the fire larger so that there was a more consistent flame. This worked well, but the flames ended up engulfing the sides of the Power Pot V. I highly recommend using some form of camp stove that has a consistent flame.

In my charging tests, I was able to charge up an iPhone 4S from 33% - 93% in 3 hours when directly connected to the Power Pot, which was on a natural gas kitchen stove set to medium. This gave me a charge rate of 20% per hour. I later repeated the test and charged a different iPhone 4S from 57% - 95% in 1.5 hours with the same stove set this time to high, giving me a charge rate of 25.33% per hour. Both of these tests were conducted with the Cellular, WiFi, & Bluetooth all on and with the screen off. Based on my previous experience with testing iPhone-charging devices, I estimate that if airplane mode were turned on while being charged from the Power Pot V, the rate at which the phones battery is recharged should significantly increase compared to my test results. Something I was quite surprised and impressed with while testing the Power Pot V was how quickly it was able to start producing a usable amount of electricity. When used with a stove with considerable heat output, I was able to start charging my iPhone 4S in 1.5 minutes.

The Power Pot V comes standard with a few accessories that will assist you in charging your gear as well as help you while you cook. First and foremost of the included accessories are the 5 V USB regulator and the attached three feet of heavy-duty, flame-resistant wire. A diverse collection of charging tips and a USB charge cable is among the provided accessories as well. The following charging tips are included: 30-pin Apple iPhone, mini USB, micro USB, and tips for Samsung, Nokia, and Blackberry. It also comes with a nice mesh drawstring bag to carry the Power Pot. It’s a simple accessory, but it’s very necessary for keeping all the parts in one place. The other included accessory is the flexible neck high efficiency 5 LED USB light. It will work with any USB port and uses very little power. This comes in handy when cooking at night since you can power it directly from the Power Pot V. One little problem I found with this LED light was that the housing between the LED’s and the flexible neck came loose and the wires became exposed. Nothing was damaged, and it was easily and permanently remedied with a little strategically placed super glue.

One of the optional accessories that you can purchase along with the Power Pot V is the pocket sized Lithium 1800 USB battery pack. It has a capacity of 1,800mAh at 5 volts input/output. This device also has two tiny yet very bright LEDs so it can double as a flashlight. With the battery pack comes the same USB charge cable and assortment of adapter tips That comes standard with the Power Pot V. This battery has the capability to be charged by the Power Pot as well as charge one of your devices simultaneously (a feature that many competing portable battery packs do not have.) Another great reason having this battery pack is nice is that you can charge it up while you cook and then charge your gadgets from it later, thus eliminating the risk of potential fire or water damage to your more expensive gadgets when charging them directly from the Power Pot V. However, its output is only 500mA. That means it will only charge your phone at half the rate as your standard phone charger or most of the backup batteries on the market. If you don’t already own a pocket sized USB backup battery of some kind this is a good option.

I brought the Power Pot V on a several road trips as well as a two-week camping trip. During those field tests, I came to a few conclusions about this device. It is an extremely reliable way to generate power for charging small USB-powered devices. This reliability is only as good as your ability to provide a consistent heat source and water supply. This can be problematic when in limited water or fuel source scenarios. I was fortunate enough to be camping near a lake with lots of dead branches lying around for fuel. With this nearly unlimited supply of fuel and water, I was able to continuously run the Power Pot V for several hours and charge up several cellphones of various friends and family. The Power Pot V kept reliably pumping out the power the whole time without any significant issues. I did have to be careful to not leave it unmonitored too long for fear of it boiling dry and being damaged.

These tests further proved that a significant fuel and water supply is necessary to be able to run the Power Pot V the necessary 1.5-3 hours to significantly increase the battery level of any given device that is out of juice. That being said, If you do have a significant source of water and are already going to be boiling water for drinking, meal making, and for cleaning, then you might as well take advantage of all that extra heat energy being wasted and put it to good use.

To sum things up, the Power Pot V is a unique, rugged, reliable, useful, and effective tool for backpacking, car camping, travel trailers, sailing voyages, and bush pilot adventuring. This amazing camp gadget would definitely be a great addition to anyone’s emergency survival pack. I do, however, suggest that you consider also having some form of small rugged solar panel such as the “JOOS orange” as well as the Power Pot V to give you a more well-rounded means of off grid power generation while camping, “Best to not put all your eggs in one basket” as they say. Or as I always say, “Plan for the worst and hope for the best” as well as “Better safe than sorry”. Well, with the Power Pot V you definitely won’t be sorry. I highly recommend it for any adventurous explorers out there looking to charge up their vital communication, navigation, and illumination gadgets. Take a lesson from the Boy Scouts and “Be Prepared”.

Pros: