How to attach a 120v popcorn machine to a bike?

October 30, 2004 9:07 PM

I want to attach a popcorn machine to a bike like this. The machine takes 120 Volts, any idea how I could power it?
posted by TurkishGolds to Technology (7 answers total)

That's not so hard. But I would look at getting a less power-hungry, consumer-grade popper.

If you don't want to do that, get the 1050W popper, and get a 1500W inverter. Power it off a deep cycle battery. Get a 115 amp-hour deep cycle from Sears for $60.

115 amp-hours / (1050W / 12V) = 1.3 hours *at most*

At the very most, you want 80% discharge, so that's one hour per battery. Get multiple batteries if needed. They are very heavy, but last a long time if taken care of properly. Don't tip the deep-cycle, or you pay twice as much for a sealed battery.

An alternative is to get a generator. The Honda EU1000 is really quiet (for a genny) and costs $650, but it's only 900W continuous, and the starting surge current would probably trip its inverter.

The EU2000 is also quiet, and costs a $1000.
That popper sure does take a lot of power...
posted by rajbot at 10:14 PM on October 30, 2004

If you just want a mobile popcorn machine, and aren't trying to make it human-powered, have you considered using tanked gas instead? Generating or storing electricity just to produce heat seems rather roundabout compared to just burning stuff.
posted by majick at 11:30 PM on October 30, 2004

Response by poster: I would totally used tanked gas, I just didn't realize that I could get a machine that would do that. This isn't really a well thought out plan, at this point. I'm still just kinda dreaming about it .... I just want to be able to make large amounts of popcorn on the back of a bike, any way that happens is fine with me.
posted by TurkishGolds at 6:42 AM on October 31, 2004

Turkish, I've seen guys riding bikes with attached wagons to the back that could hold a tanked gas solution easy. These guys will custom-build you just about any food vendor cart you could imagine. If you just want to build your own solution, you'll need to fabricate something to attach a wagon to your bike. I've seen bikes with toddler-attachments that ride in the back, maybe you could start there. It'd have to be big enough to hold the machine and any power source (likely a big, heavy battery).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:15 AM on October 31, 2004

Tanked gas seems like the best solution, since what you need all this energy for is heat anyway. Maybe tanked gas for heat, with a (much smaller) battery to run blowers, igniters, and whatnot.

If you want to go the electric-heat route, you could maybe use a fuel cell. Spendy though.
posted by hattifattener at 1:55 PM on October 31, 2004

have you looked through gold medal's catalog? i think i remember seeing something in there like that--i could be wrong though. you can request a catalog to be priority mailed to you for free by the way, on their site.
posted by lotsofno at 1:57 PM on October 31, 2004

After googling longer than I care to admit - it's a fun idea - I found this popper. It's too big and too expensive for your purpose, I think - you won't need to make 240 1-oz. servings of popcorn per hour - but it would fit in your bike cart. It runs on a 12V for the drive motor and propane gas for the heat.

If I were you, I might just find some of these popcorn machine retailers and hit them with an email explaining your particular needs. (Wouldn't mind hearing more about them myself - are you planning to become the neighborhood Popcorn Fairy, riding around delivering popcorn to all and sundry, or have you a more specific idea?)
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:39 PM on October 31, 2004