microwave cooking in van?

[One Awesome Inch]

How viable is it? I assume youd need a low watt unit like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0013RNWZ4/ref=aw_cm_cr_asin_lnk

Could you hook it up to a dual marine / rv battery... a good one... I assume youd need to keep the van running?

 

[mockturtle]

You would require an inverter, as the microwave won't run off 12V.

 

[akrvbob]

I use a microwave almost daily in my converted cargo trailer. Here is a post I did on it:
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/add-microwave-van/

Here's what you need:

400 watts of solar $800
4 golf cart batteries $500
2000 watt pure sine wave inverter $400
Misc $200

Or you can buy a Honda 2000 for $1000. But the solar gives you free, quiet electricity for the rest of your life. No gas to buy ever!! No noise, no tune-ups, no oil changes, no repairs. FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! It was an easy choice for me, I just sold my Honda 2000.

Bob

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Yeah, I wont be ready for solar for awhile. I was hoping I can run a small wattage microwave off the battery while the van is running. This would not be a standard battery but a dual marine/rv battery. 730cold cranks and 100 amp hours.

If that ain't going to work I'll just stick to a gas stove.

 

[LeeRevell]

Just remember, as has been shown on this site a few times, those small 700 W units DO NOT USE 700 watts, they use 1,000 Watts! Choose your solar/battery system accordingly.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Interesting. Gas it is!

 

[Bdog1]

You could still run the microwave like Bob described without solar. You would need to charge the battery bank by other means.

How long are you planning on being stationary?

 

[minimotos95]

That unit draws 8 amps of AC power, so lets say 80 amps at 12v. If you have a high output or "ambulance" alternator that might work to nuke something for a few minutes. I know my vans alternator only has 30-40 amps over whats needed to keep the motor running at speed, at idle it's even less.

 

[jimindenver]

My 250 Ah 8-d could run the microwave on a 3000w PSW inverter for 3 1 minute runs before the inverter protested too much. It is a starting battery and while it can give up a huge amount of energy, you can't take it too low and it wants to be recharged fast. Low and slow is even harder on it as starting batteries suffer the most from being left under charged. Two six volts while near the same Ah cant do this because they are made for the low and slow and can handle the deeper discharges without dieing. Unfortunately this also gives them internal resistance and you can't access that power all at once. you would need four of these.

The marine battery you mention while a cross between the two, only has a limited amount of Ahs to give. A microwave uses power too fast for one marine battery to support and the voltage under load will drop too far. It is faster than the 6v's though so you can get away with three of them.

Three one minute runs with a rest between isn't much cooking so what we do is use our solar to provide power off the top without resistance. This reduces what the battery is required to do and allows us to run the microwave for ten minutes. Having the solar with it also means it starts recharging the batteries right away.

There are newer batteries that take much less room and have better characteristics but they are stupid amounts of money.

 

[brightbluejim]

That unit draws 8 amps of AC power, so lets say 80 amps at 12v.

A small nit to pick here, but I see this over and over. Inverters are not 100% efficient - most are spec'd at 85-90% maximum, but under normal operating conditions they are closer to 80%, which means that 8 Amps of AC power requires about 100 Amps at 12V.

Jim

 

[akrvbob]

With 400 watts and 4 golf carts it's no problem at all to run a microwave, I do it every day!

Here is the math plain and simple from the label of my microwave. It draws 2 amps a minute but I'm not taking into the Peukert Effect so it's slightly more.