Few of us complain that hot dogs take too long to cook, because we buy them from a stand. Still, if you do have to make your own dog, it can be a frustrating problem. To solve this issue, [Joel Creates] whipped up a solution to cook hot dogs nearly instantaneously. What’s more, it even fits in your pocket!
The idea behind this build is the same as the classic Presto hot dog cooker—pass electricity through a hot dog frank, and it’ll heat up just like any other resistive heating element. To achieve this, [Joel] hooked up a lithium-polymer pack to a 12-volt to 120-volt inverter. The 120-volt output was hooked up to a frank, but it didn’t really cook much. [Joel] then realized the problem—he needed bigger electrodes conducting electricity into the sausage. With 120 volts pumping through a couple of bolts jammed into either end of the frank, he had it cooked in two minutes flat.
All that was left to do was to get this concept working in a compact, portable package. What ensued was testing with a variety of boost converter circuits to take power from the batteries and stepping it up to a high enough voltage to cook with. That, and solving the issue of nasty chemical byproducts produced from passing electricity through the sausages themselves. Eventually, [Joel] comes up with a working prototype which can electrically cook a hot dog to the point of shooting out violent bursts of steam in under two minutes. You’d still have to be pretty brave to eat something that came out of this thing.
The biggest problem with hot dogs remains that the franks are sold in packs of four while buns are sold in packs of six. Nobody’s solved that problem yet, except for those hateful people who inexplicably have eleven friends. If you solve that one, don’t hesitate to notify the tipsline. Don’t forget, either, that the common hot dog can make for an excellent LED tester. Video after the break.
My grandparents had one of the Presto hotdog cookers.
The smell was indescribable.
And not indescribably good….
That’s a hard pass sport
When I was in elementary school the local utility company would come by to do a demonstration to show us why we shouldnt mess with transformers. The demonstration involved incinerating 4 hotdogs. I too know that smell. 35 years later i know it.
My dad loved kitchen gadgets and the Presto Hot Dog Cooker made it to our home as well.
I still have some PTSD thinking of the smell from those electrocuted hot dogs. I was against the electric chair from that moment on.
FRANKLY, this is one hack that we could have done without. As a Chicagoan, this is a worse crime than putting ketchup on a hot dog. Be ethical – just say “no”.
Hot dogs come in super weird package sizes based on weight usually. I’ve seen 5, 7 (lol wtf), 8 … all manner of weird numbers that zero times have corresponded to standard number of buns in a pack. I know it’s the fodder for old hack comedians but definitely a thing and also a great example of “shrink-flation” where the price stays the same but now you have a 7 pack of hot dogs.
Its well known that the grillmaster must sample at least 1 hotdog for QC purposes. Its just taken decades for the manufacturers to catch up. :p
Obligatory historic quote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhxINN9TgTY&t=73s
Bunch of maniacs out there. You know how hot dogs come 10 to a pack and buns in packs of eight or twelve. you got to buy nine to make them all match up. that’s what I’m talking about.
Why step up the voltage? presumable for impedance matching? mentally divide the length of the hot dog in steps of 10, then each short-dog experiences just 12 V again, even when the full length gets 120 volts. Isn’t it then easier to have 2 long parallel electrodes (make them bun shaped! an electric croque monsieur machine in the shape of hot dog buns, sandwich the hot dog between the bun shaped electrodes), so that you can just use the original 12 V again?
In reality the resistance is not evenly distributed. Most of the voltage drop happens at the contact points.
My god, what have we done.
Just because you can do something … means you should do it for Hack-A-Day. But not for actual consumption.
“Your Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could, They Didn’t Stop To Think If They Should”
What?
This is just an overcomplicated version of an extension cord with the receptacle end cut off, ends stripped and shaped into hooks then silver soldered.
Has been a traditional dorm cooking implement in technical schools since my dad was a student in Germany (220V braut cooker!)
this is somewhat related: https://simh.trailing-edge.com/semi/docs/WRL-TN-13.pdf
I know they taste pretty nasty after electrocuting
Around the time the Presto hot dog cooker was released in the 1960’s, I as a child found a “science” project in a book. I don’t remember the name of the book. The project was to drive two nails through a board a few inches a part, find an old power cord and wrap the bare ends around the bottom of the nails, stick a hot dog on the nails, and plug it in. It worked, sort of. My dad was horrified and hovered closely when I plugged it it. I forget what the science angle was.
I recall that it was in my Cub Scout manual in the 1970s. I used galvanized nails for mine and my pop hovered as well!
This makes the “Tactical Thermite Powered Hot Dog” seem almost sane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X1_HEJk2Hw
Won’t be long and we’ll need a whole category of hot dog cooking hacks
Seems like a great application for dielectric heating. Non-contact, so probably easy to make the product as edible as hot dogs can be.
Those nifty ZVS switchers are pretty cheap and really efficient, and go into the multi-kilowatt range.
You need roughly 50 kJ to toast a ‘dog, and it’s not hard to get >1kW out of a small stack of Lipos. So it looks pretty reasonable to get the cook time under a minute.
Big Clive on YouTube had a video about a Presto Hot Dogger, and since he lives on the Isle of Man, in the UK, they are using approx 240V, and he showed a cook time of approx 20 seconds for his… Very cool video, and He is well worth watching for Hack a Day folks!
Except for his xenophobia, sure.
Grok says nope:
Criticism of product quality from a specific origin can sometimes veer into xenophobic territory in broader online discourse (e.g., phrases like “cheap Chinese crap” are debated as potentially biased) [but not often correct? – W], but Big Clive’s commentary stays technical and product-specific, without generalizing to people or culture. He has occasionally noted China’s “relaxed” approach to electrical safety in a tongue-in-cheek way, but in context, it’s about regulatory differences enabling risky designs, not prejudice. In summary, his content is apolitical and electronics-focused, with no substantiated claims of xenophobia.
But we all thank your for being offended on behalf of other people. It’s very noble of you.
I love Big Clive but literally nobody cares what grok says. Posting llm crap as if it’s real content is disgusting. Stop it.
I dunno; the local chain food store sells 8 count packages of hot dogs, and 8 count packages of buns. Granted, these are not the fancy-pants dogs or buns we are talking about, but still…
Second try on the HAD comment system
I pity the fool who plays pocket pool with that thing in his pocket!
Ever heard bout exhaust/tailpipe burgers? ;)
We had one of these, in my Navy shop, two nails and clip leaded 110v power cord. We called it “kill me quick”…
“Excuse me while I whip this out.”
if you have that amount of power available, how about a simple nichrome wire heater and something to spin the dog? No contact, no chemical modification, just a cooked dog.
bonus, toast the bun on the other side of the wires.
When I worked as a security guard in the early 80’s, I used a box with two nails at each end, a switch, and a power cord to make quick “On the job.” snacks. I called them “ Electodogs”.