MICROWAVES?

How much did you pay for your inverter ? Price is a good guide to pure or mod sine wave !I have bought several off of eBay and returned them as not as described.I now have 2 one I. the van to run the microwave etc the other to use in my place in Spain 24/7 as it is off grid,can you post a photo of your inverter it may be one I have had in the past and returned
It’s a cheep one from eBay, think I’ll take advise from the info I’ve received and bin it....
 
There are lots of supposed "3000W" or "5000W" inverters that are hard pushed to provide 1000W.

But assuming the inverter genuinely can provide the quoted wattage that is not the end of the story. What Batteries are driving the Inverter? what cables are connected between the Batteries and the Inverter?

I was trying to think of an analogy to explain this and the best I can think of is this ....
Think of your setup as a car -
The Inverter is the Engine, providing the power. The more power you have the faster you can go.
The Battery Bank is the Fuel pump. The bigger the fuel pump is the more fuel can be sent to the Engine
The Cable is the fuel pipe. The larger the fuel pipe the more fuel it allows to be delivered to the Engine.

If you have a fuel pump designed for a 1000cc engine and you fit a 3500cc engine, it will not be able to run at full power as it is starved of fuel.​
If you upgrade the fuel pump but don't change the fuel pipe, that bigger pump still can't deliver the required fuel as it is restricted by the pipe​
If you upgrade the pipe but don't change the pump, it will not allow any more fuel to be delivered as the limit is the pump.​
I am just saying the above and may be pointing out the obvious, but it is incredible how many folk buy these massive inverters but don't seem to realise that the energy to drive them has to come from somewhere!
Many thanks for that, it explains the set up perfectly,
im planning on using a completely independent 150ah battery sited in the garage of the motorhome to power the inverter,
I know now I need to spend a descent amount of money on an inverter.
this idea was so I would not be too bothered if I flattened the battery,
the new motorhome has twin leisure batteries to power everything else, and again my idea was to charge the independent battery from these two, either by a battery to battery charger, or a volt sensing relay,
not sure if it’s a daft idea, but I know inverters are heavy on batteries,
planned on using 40amp to charge batteries, and 100a cables and fuse to connect inverter.
 
How much did you pay for your inverter ? Price is a good guide to pure or mod sine wave !I have bought several off of eBay and returned them as not as described.I now have 2 one I. the van to run the microwave etc the other to use in my place in Spain 24/7 as it is off grid,can you post a photo of your inverter it may be one I have had in the past and returned
[/https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183913675240
 
Just looked at the link to eBay says its modified sine wave.Looking at it I would guess you'd have a smoke filled van if you tried to draw anything like 3000w from it.The one I have in the van was about £90 has a lot of weight about it and runs a digital leave.perfectly,had it o er a year now also use it to charge two ebikes.I opened it up and connected a remote on off switch so inverter could be in garage but switched on/off from front of van.I wiil see if I can post a picture / link for it.If you want to go for better still,highly recommend Reliable power from eBay about £220 available as 12/24/48 v few hundred wtts to around 8 kW,only draw back is from China but pretty quick shipping around 10 days,offer ongoing support for parts and advice,probably the best low price inverters available
 
First picture the one in the van ,300w peak/1500w contstill on eBay but different seller item no223675183587.Second pic reliable power used 24/7 in Spain property.May be easier to buy a £5/8 remote fob operated switch for use in a van so no need for wire runs if inverter sited out of reach/sightp.jpg1584195197942680185859.jpg
 
Many thanks for that, it explains the set up perfectly,
im planning on using a completely independent 150ah battery sited in the garage of the motorhome to power the inverter,
I know now I need to spend a descent amount of money on an inverter.
this idea was so I would not be too bothered if I flattened the battery,
the new motorhome has twin leisure batteries to power everything else, and again my idea was to charge the independent battery from these two, either by a battery to battery charger, or a volt sensing relay,
not sure if it’s a daft idea, but I know inverters are heavy on batteries,
planned on using 40amp to charge batteries, and 100a cables and fuse to connect inverter.
Arguably you would be better off using the dual batteries to power the inverter.
A 700w output microwave will use 1200w input - that's 100 amps.
A single battery will struggle to supply this current for very long before its voltage drops.
You will also run into limiting depth of discharge cycles quite quickly.
 
It will be used to power a microwave, which as yet we haven’t bought,
ive got the inverter, eBay 6000w supposedly
To answer the question you didn't ask, where do you plan to fit the microwave? They are amazingly heavy, and you really would not to be hit in the back of the head by one in the event of an accident.
Putting a microwave on a worktop or into a flimsy cupboard really isn't a good idea. Any major mishap and it will burst its way out
 
Ours came with a microwave which we just use as a cupboard, the few times we have tried to use it we have tripped the electrics, I would rather it was a cupboard there rather than a microwave
Yes took ours out in last van, we found we hardly ever used it. Made a nice big cupboard instead. New van doesn’t have one, couldn’t do without the gas oven though.
 
The wattage of microwaves is a bit of a con. How it is measured was changed (quite) a few years ago. What used to be called a 500 watt one would now be called a 900 watt one. But both use the same amount of electricity, produce the same amount of heating.
 
To answer the question you didn't ask, where do you plan to fit the microwave? They are amazingly heavy, and you really would not to be hit in the back of the head by one in the event of an accident.
Putting a microwave on a worktop or into a flimsy cupboard really isn't a good idea. Any major mishap and it will burst its way out
Hi, there’s a cupboard above the fridge just the right size to house a microwave
 
Is it strong enough to restrain the microwave in a serious crash?
It is in ours: that's where a TV is supposed to go, and the fittings are pretty massive.
That's where our microwave is. Don't think we've used in 12 months, but it is there!
 
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