Appleyard
Well-Known Member
Yuo mean to say that you let your staff have holidays!!!??? You big softie!!
Microwave + inverter
- Thread starter greenalien
- Start date
Yuo mean to say that you let your staff have holidays!!!??? You big softie!!
CharlesSwallow
Well-Known Member
I know. We take them and their spouses/partners away for a weekend at Christmas too!
Chas
VicMallows
Well-Known Member
Dear Mr Swallow,
You will be delighted to know that I have no experience whatsoever of running microwave ovens from inverters and therefore could and would not contribute anything to the discussion. I do though find it interesting and useful to read the practical experiences of others.
Vic
greenalien
Well-Known Member
Microwave test results
I now have my Tesco microwave. The oven looks reasonably well built, the stainless finish looks smart, and it's smaller than the 12v oven that I'd previously tried, so it should fit in the place I have allocated to it. No fancy clock or microprocessor in this device, just a power dial and a timer dial.
I thought I'd try a few tests on it with a power meter.
Although the oven is sold as a 700W device, it actually uses between 1100 and 1150 watts on full power.
It then turns out that the 'Power' control is mislabelled - it should read 'Duty Cycle' - (although I don't see that as being popular with the general public...)
The dial controls the amount of time the magnetron is energised during a given time; thus, defrost is 30% full power, 70% 'rest'; low is 50% full power, 50% 'rest', medium power is 80% full power, 20% 'rest'
During 'rest' periods, the oven light is on and the turntable is rotating, which draws about 50W.
So, the next question is whether the 1000W 'soft start' inverter (2500W max) I have on order will cope with this sort of loading - I'll update this once I find out!
I now have my Tesco microwave. The oven looks reasonably well built, the stainless finish looks smart, and it's smaller than the 12v oven that I'd previously tried, so it should fit in the place I have allocated to it. No fancy clock or microprocessor in this device, just a power dial and a timer dial.
I thought I'd try a few tests on it with a power meter.
Although the oven is sold as a 700W device, it actually uses between 1100 and 1150 watts on full power.
It then turns out that the 'Power' control is mislabelled - it should read 'Duty Cycle' - (although I don't see that as being popular with the general public...)
The dial controls the amount of time the magnetron is energised during a given time; thus, defrost is 30% full power, 70% 'rest'; low is 50% full power, 50% 'rest', medium power is 80% full power, 20% 'rest'
During 'rest' periods, the oven light is on and the turntable is rotating, which draws about 50W.
So, the next question is whether the 1000W 'soft start' inverter (2500W max) I have on order will cope with this sort of loading - I'll update this once I find out!
CharlesSwallow
Well-Known Member
IMPORTANT: Be sure to fit an additional positively locked latch to the door as the normal domestic ball latch will one day allow the contents to escape at a most inconvenient time. Also take the platen(turntable) out before proceeding to sea. One of those plastic "Child-proofing" devices is probably best as drilling holes for screws in the case of your new microwave mightn't be received too well in a warranty claim situation!
Chas
Last edited:
greenalien
Well-Known Member
Final update
OK, I now have my inverter - I particularly wanted the Skytronic 1000W (2500W peak) Soft-Start model that's recently been discontinued, and managed to find one on Ebay. If anyone else wants one, you might be lucky - search on item 230587604310 - but the seller only had one left at the time of posting this.
Anyhow, I'm pleased to report that the Tesco 700W microwave works fine with this inverter, no strange noises from the oven or turntable motor, and it happily boils a mug of water in 3 minutes or so.
After testing the inverter for 5 minutes, no alarms, nothing shut down or overheated, and the battery voltage had dropped from 12.8v to 12.4v. I've also measured the space on my boat where I want to install the microwave, and it fits with room so spare, which is good as these things need decent ventilation space around them.
One thing that I did notice is that, even when switched off, the inverter does draw some power, so it'll have to be wired in through a 100A switch.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for information, it helped me to make an informed decision on my purchases; hopefully this feedback will be useful to anyone else with a similar project in mind.
OK, I now have my inverter - I particularly wanted the Skytronic 1000W (2500W peak) Soft-Start model that's recently been discontinued, and managed to find one on Ebay. If anyone else wants one, you might be lucky - search on item 230587604310 - but the seller only had one left at the time of posting this.
Anyhow, I'm pleased to report that the Tesco 700W microwave works fine with this inverter, no strange noises from the oven or turntable motor, and it happily boils a mug of water in 3 minutes or so.
After testing the inverter for 5 minutes, no alarms, nothing shut down or overheated, and the battery voltage had dropped from 12.8v to 12.4v. I've also measured the space on my boat where I want to install the microwave, and it fits with room so spare, which is good as these things need decent ventilation space around them.
One thing that I did notice is that, even when switched off, the inverter does draw some power, so it'll have to be wired in through a 100A switch.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for information, it helped me to make an informed decision on my purchases; hopefully this feedback will be useful to anyone else with a similar project in mind.
