12volt Microwaves

[boatone]

Any advice on 12v microwaves? In particular, anyone got the Samsung which retails at about £240. Power consumption says 65amps at 112volts so 10mins use would be about 11 amp hours battery drain.

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[Col]

Looks a pretty good bit of kit to me (see post on PBO)

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[hlb]

Quite happy with the gas cooker and SHMBO. Why do I need to spend more!!

No one can force me to come here-----------
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Haydn

 

[ccscott49]

I use a mains one with inverter, have no idea what a 12 volt is like, but mine cost £120, seven years ago, gets a far amount of hammer on a liveaboard and I haven't had a minutes trouble with it. Why go for an expensive 12volt one, ( it probably has an internal inverter anyway) if you fit an inverter, you will use it for all kinds of things and as you're a motor boat, your engines are always running, so no chance of flattening your batteries.

 

[andyball]

sound advice I'd think : you can get cheap 240V ones for £35 & buy a pretty big inverter with the change.

 

[boatone]

Inverters capable of providing enough power for a domestic microwave (1000 watts up) are certainly not cheap. In fact, a quick scan of the web suggests they are more expensive than the Samsung microwave = prices from £300 up for a 1000watt unit and you probably need a 1500 watt to be on the safe side?
The <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ripples.co.uk/12v.html>Samsung microwave</A> has a slightly lower opreating power than domestic units so has a lower power demand and at well under £300 including a complete installation kit and vat and delivery seems quite a good deal. I'm tempted!

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[Geoffs]

Would tend to agree with you, go for a 12v one. Inverters are OK, but you can expect 10% power loss through one, ie they are usually about 90% effiecient.

I have suffered a few inverter failures of late, and inverter suppliers have suggested that non pure sine wave, the cheaper, types are load dependant. Some loads can cause failure. Apparently they are not keen on fluorescent lights or anything with a switch mode power supply, ie some power tool chargers, and possibly micro waves. Small TV's seem ok though.

None of this is documented in manufacturers data, so managed to get warranty replacements, but makes me wary of loads I put on.



Old Chinese proverb 'Man who sail boat into rice field, soon get into paddy'

 

[ccscott49]

I don't know of any microwave that takes 1000 watts, unless it came out of a restaurant, don't get microwave power mixed up with actual consumption of power, look at the back of the unit, it will tell you what its consumption is. I think you might be surprised.

 

[ccscott49]

OK! I've had a 1500 watt inverter on my boat for seven years, it gets quite a lot of use, telly, microwave, kettle, vacumn cleaner, freezer, (on all the time) B&D tools charger (on all the time) plus anything else, girlfriends hair dryer etc. Its 24volt and cost me £500, seven years ago, they are cheaper now, I've never had a minutes trouble with it in that time, maybe I'm lucky, but anything that comes on my boat had better bloody work, I can't be popping back to the chandlers! I need stuff to work all the time. I use well proven domestic stuff, whci you can get cheap anywhere, thats my philosophy anyway. Hope this clarifes my position at least.