Inverter Size Requirement For Microwave

Ron Hutchison

Ron Hutchison

Novice
I know! I know! Your first question is, "If you're camping why would you even have a microwave!?". Well, I still like some conveniences, so I can get out on the trails quicker. I'm a hiker/backpacker. A hot breakfast in under 10 minutes can be a good thing sometimes.

Now to my question... Does anyone have experience or know what size inverter would be needed to power a 800 watt microwave. I understand that the 800 watts is the cooking power, but the actual power watts for a microwave are much higher. Does anyone have experience or know the rule of thumb for sizing inverters for this application?

Thanks,

Hutch
 
Hutch...If you run it off of shore power (110) you won't need an inverter. If you want to run it off the battery, you'll need more batteries to get any capacity to run the microwave. I am guessing, but I suspect you battery may be almost dead, if not dead, if you try to run your microwave oven off the battery for any period of time. It is a little like having AC for tear drop...it only works when you are plugged into shore power. Others may have different experiences...Tears of Joy
 
Hutch,

We did a ton of testing on this. The typical square wave inverter really does not play well with a microwave. It will cut the power output of the microwave by 50%. So, your 800watt microwave will cook at 400watts only when plugged into a inverter. But, the microwave will be pulling the full 800watts from the inverter.

As for inverter sizing, figure about 75-80% efficiency roughly. So, you would need a 1000-1100 watt inverter to do something like this. You will be pulling about 1000-1100 watts from the battery and only cooking at 400watts. This is going to tax the battery heavily. Not recommended.

Cary
 
Thanks to both of you for your insightful input. Sounds like my best option is to only use the microwave when on shore power. Not a real big deal. It's not like I have to give up breakfast altogether when dry camping. Just take a little more time to cook something or go the cold breakfast route.

Thanks again.

Hutch
 
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