micro wave

petertearai

Hi  got a cheep 800 watt microwave  . no clock .  seems to a lot slower than our 900 watt one in the city . Are there different efficiencys with microwaves . Looks like we dont have energy star ratings for microwaves .

WaterWheel

Perhaps it's just a cheap microwave that doesn't cook at the stated 800 watts.

Mountain Don

Have you tried a timed temperature rise test or just going by seat of the pants?   It should be approximately 11% longer than the 900 watter. Running it on a pure sine wave inverter as advertised in your signature?

petertearai

No haven't done a timed temp rise test. Thats a good idea . yes seat of pants estimate .
Mate reports around 1100 watts while running on high , this equates to the microwave name plate . 
Yes running on new outback pure sine inverter .
Yes it is a very cheep microwave , got it because  cheep and no clock . ( heard somewhere that a clock on a microwave uses more power in standby during its life than it uses in heating )

Mountain Don

The 1100 watts compares well to what our cheapy 800 watt m-wave uses. And yes, it does seem to take "much" longer to complete a task than the 1100 watt unit at home. However, a timed test proved that the two are more or less equally efficient. Same results when I tested the m-wave in our trailer. 

Re the microwave clock.... When I designed our place I incorporated a large number of switched outlets. One for the m-wave, the TV, the stereo and others.  The switch is one with a pilot that lights when power is ON. They have been a big help in being able to totally kill an outlet.  I just mention it to maybe give somebody planning an idea they might use. Switched outlets seem "cooler" to me than using power strips. 

Our microwave clock did turn out to use so little power that it was not enough to make the VFX3524M come out of sleep. I had to add a small LED night light to the outlet to make the wakeup work.  The TV on the other hand uses sufficient to wake up the inverter within a beat. 

BB.

Another possibility is that the Inverter is not outputting a clean sine wave... Ranges from inverter design to poor DC wiring/battery bank surge capacity (causing clipping of sine wave peaks).

As I remember, MSW inverters do cause microwave ovens to have reduced cooking power. (I know that his signature has Outback TSW inverter--Just in case is it something else running this microwave/or anyone else using MSW).

-Bill

Mountain Don

His signature indicates an Outback inverter; I took that to be the inverter in use.  

My personal experiments with modified sine wave and microwaves is Don't Do It!   I have tried 3 different modified sine wave inverters and three different microwaves. Not all combinations; mostly just single paired trials. One oven was operated with two different modified sine wave inverters.

  All three microwaves ran fine on grid power and pure sine wave power from our Outback and from our Xantrex ProWatt. All three microwaves were much noisier on modified sine wave and were very deficient in heating power. I don't have the data from back then anymore but it took at least twice as long to heat the same quantity of water the same number of degrees. 

Dave Angelini

I have been sending my clients to the Panasonic inverter series microwaves. Very little surge and different functions ramp power draw slowly. One of the models I had ran at half power very nicely. Don is right and I still have trouble believing that anyone offgrid is still using a modified Square/Sine wave inverter.

So, when will a 22 cubic foot refrigerator/freeze that is inverter based be for sale on this continent?

Mountain Don

Dave Angelini said:

So, when will a 22 cubic foot refrigerator/freeze that is inverter based be for sale on this continent?

How about now?  

And because Iwas having trouble discerning if that one really was an inverter compressor fridge I asked LG USA customer service and received the following email response....

"Welcome and thank you for using your LG Home Appliance E-mail services today.

I understand your concern, and would like to inform you that your LFC22770SB refrigerator has an inverter linear compressor. An inverter linear compressor is compressor operated with an inverter. In the hermetic type, it can either be a scroll or reciprocating compressor.

LG’s inverter linear compressor technology enables its refrigerators to be the industry leaders in energy savings, longer food freshness, reduce noise levels, and bigger capacity.

I hope I was able to help you with this information. It has been a pleasure talking with you today. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us again via LG Email, Live Chat or by calling 800-243-0000.
Thank you very much for your kindness and patience. I hope that I was able to put a smile on your face today! Have a great day ahead and a lovely week."


Previously posted in another thread, easy enough to miss and/or forget. 

LG has been making inverter fridges since 2001 apparently

westbranch

And in Canadian $ from Samsung, just so you Yanks don't flip at the price...
 http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/home-appliances/refrigerators/french-door/RF220NCTASR/AA

Dave Angelini

That is great Don!  I have not looked this year. That LG will be perfect for a home I am working on!
587 KWH is in the energy budget and there may be lower usage models. Imagine the surge on this unit?
An amp ramping up to the max of the compressor, Sweet!

Wheelman55

Found this at Home Depot today...LG 22 cu ft inverter fridge $1,497.60. 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Electronics-30-in-W-21-8-cu-ft-French-Door-Refrigerator-in-Stainless-Steel-LFC22770ST/205033976

mike95490

Wheelman55 said:

Found this at Home Depot today...LG 22 cu ft inverter fridge $1,497.60. 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Electronics-30-in-W-21-8-cu-ft-French-Door-Refrigerator-in-Stainless-Steel-LFC22770ST/205033976

The reviews are not inspiring.

Dave Angelini

I do not need to be inspired. I get that looking out my dining room
 I just need a good product that will never make a dimmed LED flicker every reefer cycle for my clients.
4.4 out of 5 on 150 reviews at Home Depot is a problem?  Why?  

mike95490

you need to read the home despot reviews, a few dud units were never repaired.

Dave Angelini

I tend to not trust alot of the things that happen at Home Depot and 4.4 out of 5 in 150 is not bad.  I really hope that this technology filters down and would much rather buy a Whirlpool, GE or something manufactured on this continent. For now these are very useful to me.