USB Induction Charging with BioLite Camp Stove - Burns Wood - Boils Water
This Camp Stove would be great for backpacking, sea side picnics, hunting, prepper survival - and camping. The BioLite camp stove burns wood sticks, twigs, and pine cones for fuel. The 2-piece-snap-together camp stove has an induction element that creates an electrical charge from the difference in heat - from the tip in the forced fire chamber to the other end of the element that is well outside of the large soup can sized fire chamber. The electrical charge that the induction produces is enough to charge a small startup battery, run a forced air fan, and provides a USB 5v-1 amp charging outlet.
Click below to watch a video of the induction powered USB charging in action.
Selecting the Correct Size Battery or Device for Direct Charging
This BioLite camp stove that I am using provides a 1 amp USB charging output. The new BioLite2 model comes with an internal 2600 mah battery and provides a 3 amp USB charging output. You can see in the picture below that the 4000 mah battery that I am charging with this BioLite only requires 1 amp USB input. The 12000 mah battery just underneath it requires a 1.5 amp USB input to charge - too much amperage for this BioLite.
USB Charging Efficiency
Whenever possible it would be best to direct charge any device instead of charging a battery only to charge that device with the charged battery - power is lost in the double charging. Many modern cell phones require 2 amps for charging or more, that is how the small 1 amp chargeable battery pack that puts out 2.4 amps for charging is useful as a middle battery - for charging up to 2.4 amp chargeable devices.
1 amp USB Chargeable Devices
In the picture above are many useful 1 amp USB chargeable devices that could be directly charged with the BioLite 1 amp USB output: USB Chargeable battery, 2-way Radio, Cigarette Lighter, Pen Flashlight, Lamp Flashlight, Digital AM/FM Radio, Bluetooth Radio and Speaker, and Geiger Counter (not pictured).
BioLite Camp Stove - Solo Pack
The large BioLite kettle can be very useful when there's more than one person. Sometimes you only need to cook for one. In the picture below is my BioLite solo boiling and cooking pack for compact and lighter traveling - this pack straps on in front of my chest for balanced pack carrying.
In the picture below is my solo cooking and boiling kit from the above bag. All the metal containers can be dangled over the fire with a stick setup for faster boiling or slower cooking.
BioLite Unpacking and Setup
Click below to watch the video.
Now we'll move location into the dark woods in the above video.
Uses Minimal and Often Available Wood Fuel
Fallen branches and twigs on the forest floor are usually plenty to fuel this camp stove. Below is a picture of the tinder and kindling burn pile gathered in about 5 minutes from the forest floor and nearby grasses:
In the video below the stove chamber is being loaded with dry grasses and twigs - in preparation for the fire starting. I found it easiest and less smokey to load the stove chamber first and then start the fire on the top of the filled chamber twig pile.
Forced Air Fan - Clean Burn
After a solid fire has been started the BioLite camp stove forced air fan and induction charging can be started. Be sure the fire is solid enough that the fan doesn't blow out and create a smoke chimney. In the video below you can see the forced air fan starting up with the push of a button. Later the button is pressed again to put the forced air fan into turbo speed. There is no stopping the fan until the induction rod has fully cooled which results in a very clean burn with minimal ashes.
Starting up the BioLite
Click below to watch the video of the forced air fan and induction charging BioLite startup.
Stoking the fire for a Rolling Boil
In the video below you can see how I stoke the camp stove to bring the water to a rolling boil for coffee. This BioLite camp stove boiling kettle holds 1.5 liters, or just above 6 cups of water. The large size would also be useful for oatmeal, soups, stews, and other food. They do have a french press for this kettle which would work well for brewed coffee, tea, or other straining purposes.
Emergency or on-the-go Water Boiling
In an emergency or out in the wilderness, boiling water may be needed to kill any microorganisms that may be contaminating the water. A rolling boil for 1 minute is enough to kill the microorganisms, they recommend 3 minutes if you are 5000 feet above sea level. Boiling, bleach or iodine treatment, tablets, and many lower cost filters would not remove possible heavy metal, chemical, pesticide, herbicide, radiation, or other modern day and sometimes natural contaminants. Be sure you know your water source well and how to give it the proper treatment.
Here is a link to a Downloadable and Printable PDF file discussing boiling and bleach treatment for water purification: Emergency Disinfection of Drinking water PDF
You may find these previous posts useful:
- Wilderness Survival: Starting a Fire with a Ferrocerium Rod - Multiple Methods
- Batoning Wood and Mincing Garlic with an Old Hickory Chef Knife
- Survival Knives: Tools that would be useful in the Woods
Have a great day!
Ive often wondered about these stoves and how effective they would be compared to their weight. No doubt their functionality and ability to power small items overrides the weight issue...
Reminds me of my stove-top fan powered by its heat....
Nice job man.
With that forced air fan the flames get very hot and boils water quickly. At least as fast as a propane burner. It comes with a USB cord incase it needs a first charge, but mine didn't, and i've never had to charge it. I've had it for a few years, the battery may have been low once, but the heat soon enough kicked on the fan and the charging :)
Oh so the heat also charges the forced air fan? I hadn't realized there was a fan like that
The fan has a low and a high speed - high speed burns wood a little faster of course, but it burns hotter :)
Yea it makes sense
Very cool. I like the lil compact things like this. So handy. RESPECT bro.
I have been meaning to pick one up for years, but have never gotten around to it.
Part of the reason is the cost...It's hard for me to fork out the cash, especially when they don't make the battery replaceable. It may be, but it's not advertised as such.
I recommended it to a buddy of mine a while back, who then told me it took about 2 hours to charge his half full phone. I was impressed with that and that was with the first version.
Instead I bought my own heat differential chargers to make my own type, where you boil them in water and the temp differential between the top and bottom create a charge. I have the parts, but haven't built it yet.
Thanks for putting this product in front of my eyes again. I may pick one up.
You gotta build that thing! How long have you had the parts???
That was my same idea when I first heard of the bio lite, I thought I could one too. Than we left on our 8 month honeymoon and forgot about the stove till this post!
I bought the parts last summer. When I decide to put it together, it'll probably take about 30 minutes, lol. There is one on the market for $50 with one charge unit in a 1 cup pot. I think I paid $15 for three and all I need to do is glue a solid heat sync to the bottom, then to the bottom of the pot. Then glue a finned heat sync to the top, fill it with water and put it over a flame.
Last summer!! Yea you could use #followthrough too, you sound like me. I have this custom bathroom cabinet that i never fonished even though I bought all the parts for it almost a year ago!
The new 3 amp new one looks really useable. When I got it I had one of those far fetched scenarios where I was on the go and everything was clouded over for weeks from a volcano or something. I figured it would be enough to give the radio a little charge to see what was going on if I was unable to charge from portable solar panels lol. But I've found it real useful for quick water boiling and small meal cooking with minimal wood usage and cleanup.
I've seen a couple induction self setups - i'll be thinking of one for the indoor wood burning stove for next winter :) The stove top induction heat blowing fans are nice to.
Free power is always nice...😀
Thanks for the share, a very useful item to have. It's in the my list.
As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!
Nice little stove! We tried to get one of those to travel with through India so we could show it around in less fortunate communities or people who wpuld be interested in stacking functions such as cooking and charging a cell phone at the same time...
I never got an answer from the company (we were looling for a free stove in exchange for promoting it in India and europe) and than I forgot to persue the idea!
Nice videos man. Thanks for that. And the quick water treatment lesson. Know your water people!
I felt that if I mentioned boiling for purifying, I also had to mention that it doesn't work for everything. I remember that was a part of biolite's marketing - that they would help bring biolites to places that really needed them, so it is a bit surprising they never got back to you.
Ohvyea I remember that too and I think that was part of the reason we thought we'd get one. Maybe the email fell through the cracks. I only sent one and never insisted! I have to learn salesmanship... lol
I'm not much of a salesman, I hand the phone to my wife if there is something that's owed to us - also when it involves hagling, or market chat ups, she does the talking :)
Excellent! Both my wife and I are bad at sales... we bought 200 t-shirts in Thailand once, thinking we'd sell them in the US. What a joke that was, 8 yeats later most of them are still in a bag! Perhaps we'll make a shade structute with them now.
So how long does it take to charge a device? It looks like it can boil water pretty fast, but does it take longer to charge up stuff enough to matter? Do you end up sitting by the stove just to charge the battery? I've looked at these for awhile and just haven't decided that they are better than a small solar charger that goes on top of a pack and works all day long. But they are intriguing! Thanks for sharing your experience with these stove/chargers.
Solar is for sure the way to go, I have backpack panels too - passive power with the solar panels. The biolite charging I wouldn't rely on for the main power, more of a backup - enough to charge up a fm radio comfortably, or charge up the flashlight while cooking food. If something takes 2 hours to fully charge plugged into the wall, then the biolite would have to be stoked for 2 hours. Something that would take a half hour to charge back to full would be more reasonable. I enjoy the biolite for backpacking as a clean setup that boils water well and doesn't require fuel other than sticks and twigs.
Thanks. It is nice to have a stove that handles sticks and twigs. I've used a Sierra ZipStove for a long time -- but it takes a AA battery to run a little fan. So it works in the opposite direction as the BioLite! I got it as a stove that I can use when open fires are prohibited. And so I can take it on an airplane, when fuel bottles are not practical. I appreciate seeing that BioLite in action!
Thanks for the write-up -- great post.
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