12 volt toaster ovens should be very cheap and readily available – the world needs them. I’ve been working on a 12v DIY volt toaster oven prototype project for over a year in the solar workshop.
Wouldn’t it be great if the DIY solar power enthusiast could build a portable 12 volt toaster oven in his workshop using common components for not much more than 25 dollars?
Now they can – after about 2 years of work I introduce the first video in my DIY 12V oven build series. It is linked on this page. The video is a detailed presentation of building one of my mini 12v toaster ovens in the solar workshop. I will show you the basic steps of modifying a common off the shelf oven to be the perfect custom mini 12V toaster oven.
Project Background
For years I searched for an affordable, lightweight and portable 12 Volt oven cooking solution. There were basically no suitable options. Having built many solar electric cooking prototypes in my solar workshop, it made perfect sense to tackle the DIY 12V toaster oven challenge. I wanted to do it in a way that allowed enthusiasts to get their feet wet in building their own solar electric cooking appliances.
Built with common off the shelf parts, these ovens are very efficient, needing only about 144 watts of 12 volt DC power. A small 12 volt 20ah LiFePo4 lithium ion battery can literally bake bread and roast meat and vegetables with ease. The oven can achieve temperatures over 350 degrees in moderate climate conditions. Construction is simple and robust. There is no top heavy technology such as bluetooth, complicated electronic circuits, apps etc.
This project has been in progress since at least 2022. The cost is quite low, and I managed to score several oven source chassis (it’s a Dash Mini toaster oven) for these projects at a bit more than 21 dollars, prices fluctuate). The additional parts were either on hand or very cheap.
Design Goals
I designed this project to be as simple and streamlined as possible. DIY’ers can always make more customizations as they need. The most basic design doesn’t even need a thermostat or power switch – it just clips on the battery. This design successfully cooked meat and baked bread.
Building the oven is quite tedious but doable for motivated DIY solar power enthusiasts. The video on this page is a detailed DIY build guide for those interested, showing the steps I took to build one of these ovens from a brand new 120v chassis purchased at the store. It was a ton of work to produce taking well over a year. The project is still ongoing with newer versions of the oven in development.
Power Requirements
Using only about 144 watts in its most basic form, the power requirements are so low as to be astounding. The original oven source chassis is rated at 550 watts. But there is room for even more improvement. In newer designs, I managed to further reduce that figure to about 85 watts, with considerably more involved modifications. But the sky is the limit…
Applications and Customization
These ovens would be useful for hard times and Grid-Down scenarios (that’s the real Off Grid). There are places in the world where cooking is extremely hard due to lack of fuel and resources. An oven like this could change the world and make cooking easier for all.
There are endless customizations and options for DIY’ers, but in the how to video I chose to focus on only the key concepts to get the solar enthusiast up and cooking fast.
As a tribute to the oven projects’ portable nature, I added a nice handle to the top of it, carefully balanced of course.
Summary
Believe it or not, this series of projects is not new. I just haven’t been able to get it on video or do much of anything about it. Finally, I have the chance to both write about the project and make a video.
Hopefully in the future there will be more off the shelf mass-produced 12 volt ovens available – but until then, DIY’ers can build their own ovens. The video I created is enough to get you started on the project. Over time, perhaps the market will catch up and provide a selection of affordable mass produced ovens. There is certainly both a need and demand for such a product.
SAFETY WARNING / DISCLAIMER
Modify ovens at your own risk. Toaster ovens are notorious for catching fire and present various safety hazards, even before they are modified. This oven is no longer safe or UL listed once opened and modified. It is a project to be handled with the greatest abundance of care and caution. Don’t burn your house down! This oven gets very hot and is NOT a toy. The following minimum skill sets are needed to safely conduct the project: ability to do research, basic engineering, Ohms Formula, understanding of wire gauge, high temp materials, voltage, current and wattage. If you are not comfortable with a project like this, consider teaming up with someone who has more experience – and learn something along the way.
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