Low Wattage Microwave Oven

[canalcruiser]

Has anyone used a mains powered Low Wattage Microwave Oven. I have found a 550 watt model and before purchase wondered if anyone has used similar.

 

Chris

[Guest]

Has anyone used a mains powered Low Wattage Microwave Oven. I have found a 550 watt model and before purchase wondered if anyone has used similar.

 

Chris

We got one last year from Asda dirt cheap, I think it is 600W in this case. Beware that the input wattage is considerably higher than the cooking wattage. The percentage meter on our inverter goes to about 1Kw when cooking with it.

[chris w]

Beware that the input wattage is considerably higher than the cooking wattage. The percentage meter on our inverter goes to about 1Kw when cooking with it.

 

 

You're absolutely right. Yet microwaves are often advertised as 100% efficient. This is specsmanship. 100% of the microwaves are turned into heat within the food BUT not all the electricity is turned into microwaves. As you point out they are only about 50-60% electrically efficient.

 

Chris

[Guest]

You're absolutely right. Yet microwaves are often advertised as 100% efficient. This is specsmanship. 100% of the microwaves are turned into heat within the food BUT not all the electricity is turned into microwaves. As you point out they are only about 50-60% electrically efficient.

 

Chris

Indeed this is a low price model, and I have never measured the Toshiba machine at home, but I understand that most are of a similar nature. Despite the inefficiency, it is very useful for my morning porridge.

[chris w]

Indeed this is a low price model, and I have never measured the Toshiba machine at home, but I understand that most are of a similar nature. Despite the inefficiency, it is very useful for my morning porridge.

 

................and the fact that, by their nature, they are only used for a few minutes at a time makes them viable nontheless.

 

Chris

[Ernie]

I have a Sony 700W all singing, all dancing microwave that I inherited when I bought the boat second hand.

 

It runs with no problems from the Synergex 1500W pure sine inverter that again, came with the boat.

 

We only tend to use the microwave for defrosting stuff from the freezer. It is far too complicated and we generally need to refer to the manual to set it up (don't use it very often). When it dies, I will replace it with a very simple model from Tesco - same as the one we have at home - a mechanical timer and a high, medium and low power setting.

 

You should have no problem with a 600W model if your inverter is 1kW or higher. You may need a clean, pure sine inverter if your microwave has a complicated micro controlled timer as some of these timers don't like non-sine mains.

[Gibbo]

You should have no problem with a 600W model if your inverter is 1kW or higher. You may need a clean, pure sine inverter if your microwave has a complicated micro controlled timer as some of these timers don't like non-sine mains.

 

Also be aware that the output of a microwave is *peak* voltage dependant, and as the peak voltage of MSW inverters is lower than a sinewave of the same RMS voltage, the output power is lower on an MSW inverter. They typically take about 20 to 30% longer to do the same job.

 

Gibbo