12 volt microwaves (1 Viewer)

[meexi]

Hi All,

Has anybody had any experiances with 12 volt microwaves eg power, battery life etc.

I have an 850 watt 240 volt in the motorhome and i am toying between an inverter or a 12 volt microwave.

Thanks

Meexi

 

[Landy lover]

Either way you need a pretty hefty battery to cope with a microwave - the 12 volt ones are very good if that is all you can have but you need very heavy cables to operate and the current draw is very heavy. Because of its relative low wattage the cooking time of food it extended to compensate.

Some one with a lot more knowledge on this will come along shortly but as I understand it you to run and 850 watt microwave you will need at least a 2000 watt inverter to start it running and the current draw at that on say a 110 fully charged leisure battery would flat it in about 4 minutes.

Worth considering a 2 kva Genny and that will just cope with it provided nothing else is running at the same time even the onboard charging system

Lower wattage microwaves will take less but not that much - worth reminding you that the 850 watt is the microwave power not the current draw - the initial start up wattage is more than double the working wattage and 'running' wattage is also above this figure but less than the startup wattage - if that makes sense.

 

[pappajohn]

from what i understand a 12v microwave has an inbuilt inverter anyway....a microwaves 'magnetron' will not work on 12v alone....the turntable and light will, but not the magnetron.

in the same way a 12v fluorescent light has an inverter inside....they wont work on 12v.

this is why they have very heavy cables and a horrific current draw..

as suggested, a generator is the best option, after mains hookup

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jaws]

Indeed PJ .. In fact most Magnetrons are from 2 to 4kV ! ( so around 300 batteries required to get up to working voltage if no inverter involved !! )

 

[Reallyretired]

A 1500w inverter (with a peak of 3Kw) should be sufficient. Current draw will be around 100A so you will flatten a 110Ah battery (to 50%) in around half an hour. Not quite as bad as it could be especially if you have more than one battery and preferably some means of recharging such as solar.
An inverter will usually be much cheaper than a 'special' 12 v microwave.

For regular use a generator would be your best bet though, however when I had a microwave, it was only used occassionally, usually for fish (which Shirley is allergic to) and so was usually only used for 4-6minutes so inverter use from batteries was fine. I eventually got rid of it as I had better use for the space and weight.

 

[Scotties]

Hi meexi, 12v units need to be close to the battery as they need very thick cables.

However there is a small portable unit called a wavebox which offers 12v or 240v when on hookup. Ive got one if you want to try it, its fine for making your porridge or small dish cooking without zapping your battery.

Richard

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}