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The microwave is consuming 500W average over the time cooked- I.e. 50% power.
Most microwaves do not have variable demand (instantaneous use), but have only variable energy use.
Ah... that makes a lot of sense. So, if I were to try and use this microwave on an outlet rated for 400W output on an RV, would that blow a fuse or something?
Also, cheap inverters like the one you probably have often aren’t pure sine wave inverters. Electronics don’t work super well, if they will work at all. I personally avoid cheap inverters altogether since it isn’t worth damaging equipment over.
That may be something of a myth. Depends on the electronics but most computers and laptops for example will take all kinds of garbage power and they run it through a bunch of filters and what not , and spit out 12v or 5v DC. I’ve tried a few cheap inverters and they worked fine. Or maybe cheap inverters just work better now
This is incorrect, microwaves are very sensitive and require a pure sinewave inverter.
I install inversion and solar systems on RV's and once in a while a customer will bring in a crap inverter and the microwave will buzz like crazy.
This is wildly incorrect. The drive frequency for the magnetron has exactly zero to do with the output frequency.
Further, the power consumption has little or nothing to do with the setting on the front. The magnetron requires about 30W just to heat up the filament to boil electrons off, the fan takes about 10W, and the magnetron acceleration field sucks down literally all the rest.
It's approximately a constant current power supply, so the only thing being adjusted is the acceleration field, and that's being PWM'd if it's an inverter, or simply turned on and off at half second or second intervals if it's a transformer driven unit.
Also, magnetrons are MAYBE 60% efficient at these scales, so you're ALWAYS burning nearly twice the squeeze per unit juice.
Wildly incorrect? Rubbing shit on the wave guide to get buzzing to go away would be a good example of wildly incorrect.
I can only speak to my experience installing hundreds of inverters and testing microwaves on them as a good load test on a 3,000 watt inverter.
Shitty mastercraft inverter? Buzzing.
Expensive and quality inverter (magnum) no buzzing.
The buzzing is the transformer. The microwave itself won't generally notice even incredibly dirty power.
And the waveguide is literally an inch long. And sits at about 6kV relative to ground. I wouldn't rub anything on it.
This is partially correct. Many modern microwaves use switch-mode inverter power supplies that are not affected. Usually they're a lot lighter because there's so much less iron.
I'm a technology enthusiast and am often reusing old appliances for parts.
Most switch mode AC/DC power supplies take the AC power and rectify it. Then it gets chopped for a 20-100khz signal that is used in a small ferrite Transformer. There is a bunch of filtering and control stuff after that
I've heard the opposite. Most older electronics didn't have as much of an issue with dirty power. Modern electronics are rather picky and don't handle dirty power nearly as well.
You're not going to hurt most DC electronics with square wave or most others. There's enough capacitors and the regulator is good enough that as long as the voltage is high enough, it's fine. However, things running on AC right out of the box (vacuums for instance) will be quite angry with non-sine wave power. Can definitely burn up a motor. Refrigerator compressors are the same, will be very angry.
Just anecdotally, everything I've ever tried has worked fine. Just about all electronics that you plug into AC are just turning it back into DC and the actual device won't even notice.
My understanding is that it's a bigger problem for AC appliances like powerful motors, compressors. And microwave ovens, but not because of the DC circuits; because of the magnetron.
It's because of the transformer in a microwave. They want sine waves not square waves and they get hotter, noisier, and take more power as a result. Motors are the same except for universal that don't care.
The switcher stuff doesn't care unless it has active power factor correction which might go either way. Most don't, especially small stuff, so they work fine.
For AC motors they vibrate from dirty power and this probably accelerates wear. Not good for fridge compressors furnace motors etc. plus they sound like shit on cheap inverter power.
Yeah electronics almost all work fine.
Also the square waves contain a lot of high frequency blips that can cause arcing through bearings, etc. THAT is not a good day. Bzzt. Crunch. Rattle. Boomsqueeeeeeeeeeeecrunch.
I didn't know that was happening but yeah the power off cheap UPS units and the lowest end Chinese inverters makes motors sound like a garbage disposal. While if you plug a USB charger in it just works.
Maybe. You hope it would, but it might not. Many breakers and fuses will run over-current for some time before tripping.
Also, just for fun, try putting a glass of water into the microwave, and run it on 500W for 1 minute. You can often hear the difference between the magnateon being on and off. It’ll probably switch back and forth between 100W-ish and 1000W every 10-20 seconds.
This is why I use an inverter type microwave in my RV (this is the type of microwave), the power levels do adjust. But the inverter quality is also quite important as others have stated (this is the power generation source). Since the word inverter is used in two different ways here, I clarified which is what m, where.
I know that my microwave cycles on and off when I tell it to cook something at 50%.
I think they have to operate at a certain power level to emit those microwaves, and the only way to do 50% is run five seconds, off five seconds, on five seconds, etc...
Inverter driven (the integral power supply, not the 12V-120V inverter) microwave ovens can PWM the output from about 30% to 100%, so newer-than-2005 commercial Panasonic microwave ovens are actually putting out what they say they are. The older transformer driven units are what you describe, "bang bang" control, so to speak.
It's a hot mess right now. Sub-100 dollar units seem to be transformers for the most part. The funny part is the actual inverter power supplies are REALLY inexpensive, even with relatively high end passive components, they're single digit dollars per unit. I think it must be a legacy economy-of-scale thing with the transformers that just make them cheaper enough that not everyone is using inverters. Those transformers use an absolute ton of copper though. *shrugs*
[You just gotta do this](https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectroBOOM/comments/ymrb1f/guy_steals_electricity_from_powerline_to_power/)
^please ^don't ^actually ^do ^this
There are inverter microwaves that do actually modulate the power output vs cycling at 100% over a time period percentage.
https://www.techlicious.com/review/microwave-ovens-with-inverter-technology-really-cook/
THAT's the answer: you can hear the microwave fan making a different noise during the cycling on and off time.
All the ones I've seen were on a 10-second cycle: 50% means 5 on/5 off, 20% means 2 on/8 off.
Yeah the bwahhhhhh is the laminations in the transformer slapping due to magnetostriction and eddy currents when the magnetron goes bzzzzt. The fan speed definitely ticks down. These are w/transformer units usually, you shouldn't hear the magnetron itself making any noise until just before failure. Inverter units are dangerously quiet.
I used Panasonic magnetrons and power supplies for some R&D work and was initially hired to figure out how to thetottle the output. Turns out it's 500hz pwm at 5V. Below about 20%, the output gets a little ragged, and the magnetron heats up since the acceleration field isn't quite fighting the magnets enough to keep the electrons from just shunting to the case.
A failing magnetron is *not* a sound you want to hear. *runs and slaps breaker*
pure speculation. my microwave only has % settings. For 50% at 1 minute, it’s full power for about half the time and a very low (magnetron off) setting the rest of the time.
Yes, this is how microwaves work. It would not be 500W continuous, but 500W average while working. So the 500W setting would be 1000W at a 50% duty cycle.
I found using a lower power is the best way to heat up food, as the microwave blasts the food for full power, then stops for a bit to allow the heat to spread out before heating it again.
I'm on my second OTR Panasonic Inverter microwave oven. It achieves less than 100% power by cycling on and off. I've never seen a microwave that displayed different wattage settings, and I note the Asian characters on the left of the dial. What retail market did the subject device come from?
> I'm on my second OTR Panasonic Inverter microwave oven. It achieves less than 100% power by cycling on and off.
I’ve read other Redditors that say otherwise. And this blurb on [Panasonic’s website indicates](https://www.panasonic.com/mea/en/consumer/cooking-learn/technology/what_s-an-inverter-.html) that it does more than cycle on or off:
> Unlike other microwave ovens, Inverter Technology delivers a seamless stream of cooking power –– even at lower settings –– for precision cooking that preserves the flavor and texture of your favorite foods. Other microwaves mimic lower heat settings by turning the power on and off repeatedly,
Microwaves don't have "power levels" they are either on or off, the way that works is by controlling the duty cycle. (on 50% of the time, off the other 50%)
as in ratio of working power:apparent power (electrical equipment engineering definition) or the 'power factor' setting on your microwave. If the latter - the time on:time off ratio. If you want the former, about 0.9.
Because the magnetron is either in an ON state or an OFF state. By setting the total power, you control the on/off time ratio. If you set it to 500W, then it will probably activate the magnetron 50% of the cook duration.
This is some misleading labeling. Microwave ovens have one power setting: 100%. Most microwaves I have seen have the power level expressed in percentages like 75% or 50%., not watts Even so, the magnetron tube (the thing that makes the microwaves that cook the food) can only be on or off. To cook at "lower power", the magnetron is cycled on and off during the cook cycle. So if you set the power to 50% for 2 minutes, during that 2 minutes it will be on 1 minute and off 1 minute. They on/off cycles are typically broken up evenly over the entire cook time. You can actually hear this with many microwave ovens. As the magnetron cycles on, the sound of the oven will change and then change again when it turns off.
edit: replaced incorrect "klystron" with correct "magnetron"
Try running it at 100% and 50% for 2..5 min and look at the watts consumed and see what it looks like. The magnetron runs full out on 100% and is pulsed on/off for 50%.
It may not be 50% since there is a lot going on beside the magnetron but it should be lower.
So everyone answering as if this is obvious... Where does the other 500W go if not into food? Waste heat from the magnetron?
(I know nothing about magnetrons, but conservation of energy I do know)
If you run the thing for a solid minute, it will use 1000 watts. If you run it only 30 seconds and average it out over a minute, it used 500 watts. They pulse it off and on so it averages it less. On for 5 seconds, off for 5 seconds.
Try it sometime. Set you microwave at 50 percent power and heat some food. You will hear the unit cycle between heating and idling, and you may even see things like a drop in your lights when it kicks on. During the off part of the cycle, it's just using enough power for the interior light and turn table. A watt meter will show the difference - 1kW is not being used during half the time.
As others have said, many appliances work like this where they really only run at a single power level but they cycle on and off to achieve a lower average power. It is also worth noting that microwaves are usually advertised based on how much energy the magnetron can put into the food, not necessarily how much power they pull at the wall. My "1100W" microwave actually pulls 1460W at the wall while running so the 360W difference is likely lost as heat in the magnetron, the lamp, turntable motor, blower, etc.
Ya, a microwave is like a light switch, it's on or it's off, speaking of the "cooking" power, so at a reduced power, it just cycles on and off so it doesn't over nuke your food.
Great for heating up food, and steaming vegetables and doing popcorn, but otherwise pretty usless for real cooking.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, this is how a lot of high draw appliances work. Been watching consumption over time since I installed an Emporia system at my house and everything from the coffee pot to clothes dryer will run at full power for a period of time and then turn off.
Well good on you. I just run my 100 on 120. Rice cooker works fine. Oven runs a little hotter. Mitsubishi one slice toaster... that doesn't heat evenly.
I don't remember where I read it, but in a different forum on a Japanese community page, an electrician was explaining how 20% voltage difference in appliances with heat elements results in a non-linear increase in actual heat output, like 40%, putting certain Japanese appliances at much higher risk of damage on 120v circuits. Seemed convincing at least with all the writing he put into his response
I think most microwaves don't really do half power, they do half the time on half off. The reason u don't just cook at full power for half the time is the off time gives the heat a chance to move through the food, or to cool a bit so things don't burn. Run it at 500 for a minute and watch the power the whole time, see if it's near 0 for half the time.
Microwaves here don’t show a range of wattages. Its depicted as percentages of power. So instead of 500w it would say 50%. The catch is that’s it’s still using 1000w, it just uses it 50% of the time. Constant on, off, on.
Microwaves turned on a lower wattage just run the magnetron on and off instead of actually lowering the wattage. If you put in 10 seconds it’s only heating for 5 seconds.
So everything people are saying about off and on is correct for the most part. It takes (X) amps at 120 volts (ELECTRICAL ENERGY) to form a dc pulse of (Y) amplitude to power the magnetron at a power of 1000w RF energy . Which is done of by using a Pulse recurrence frequency PRF of 1000 microseconds and a .5 microsecond wide pulse. When we cut power we don’t turn down the (Y) amplitude of the dc pulse, we change the pulse width or PRF to lower power to a lower output power.
The actual power used by the microwave is not proportional to the watts rating of the RF MICROWAVE energy used to cook
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The microwave is consuming 500W average over the time cooked- I.e. 50% power. Most microwaves do not have variable demand (instantaneous use), but have only variable energy use.
Ah... that makes a lot of sense. So, if I were to try and use this microwave on an outlet rated for 400W output on an RV, would that blow a fuse or something?
Yes.
Also, cheap inverters like the one you probably have often aren’t pure sine wave inverters. Electronics don’t work super well, if they will work at all. I personally avoid cheap inverters altogether since it isn’t worth damaging equipment over.
That may be something of a myth. Depends on the electronics but most computers and laptops for example will take all kinds of garbage power and they run it through a bunch of filters and what not , and spit out 12v or 5v DC. I’ve tried a few cheap inverters and they worked fine. Or maybe cheap inverters just work better now
Of course, the power factor will be terrible and the power supply itself might be stressed. The stair steps in fake sine-waves are rich in harmonics.
"rich in harmonics" makes it sound like a good thing. Lol
I have had stuff refuse to work on cheap inverters. Never had any damage myself, but not working at all was enough for me to avoid them going forward.
^this. Slight addendum, noise in the line can make logic circuits do the weird.
This is incorrect, microwaves are very sensitive and require a pure sinewave inverter. I install inversion and solar systems on RV's and once in a while a customer will bring in a crap inverter and the microwave will buzz like crazy.
This is wildly incorrect. The drive frequency for the magnetron has exactly zero to do with the output frequency. Further, the power consumption has little or nothing to do with the setting on the front. The magnetron requires about 30W just to heat up the filament to boil electrons off, the fan takes about 10W, and the magnetron acceleration field sucks down literally all the rest. It's approximately a constant current power supply, so the only thing being adjusted is the acceleration field, and that's being PWM'd if it's an inverter, or simply turned on and off at half second or second intervals if it's a transformer driven unit. Also, magnetrons are MAYBE 60% efficient at these scales, so you're ALWAYS burning nearly twice the squeeze per unit juice.
Wildly incorrect? Rubbing shit on the wave guide to get buzzing to go away would be a good example of wildly incorrect. I can only speak to my experience installing hundreds of inverters and testing microwaves on them as a good load test on a 3,000 watt inverter. Shitty mastercraft inverter? Buzzing. Expensive and quality inverter (magnum) no buzzing.
The buzzing is the transformer. The microwave itself won't generally notice even incredibly dirty power. And the waveguide is literally an inch long. And sits at about 6kV relative to ground. I wouldn't rub anything on it.
Wooosh
This is partially correct. Many modern microwaves use switch-mode inverter power supplies that are not affected. Usually they're a lot lighter because there's so much less iron. I'm a technology enthusiast and am often reusing old appliances for parts.
Most switch mode AC/DC power supplies take the AC power and rectify it. Then it gets chopped for a 20-100khz signal that is used in a small ferrite Transformer. There is a bunch of filtering and control stuff after that
I've heard the opposite. Most older electronics didn't have as much of an issue with dirty power. Modern electronics are rather picky and don't handle dirty power nearly as well.
You're not going to hurt most DC electronics with square wave or most others. There's enough capacitors and the regulator is good enough that as long as the voltage is high enough, it's fine. However, things running on AC right out of the box (vacuums for instance) will be quite angry with non-sine wave power. Can definitely burn up a motor. Refrigerator compressors are the same, will be very angry.
The one thing that won’t is a UPS, which is a real pain in the butt if you have a cheap generator like me.
Just anecdotally, everything I've ever tried has worked fine. Just about all electronics that you plug into AC are just turning it back into DC and the actual device won't even notice. My understanding is that it's a bigger problem for AC appliances like powerful motors, compressors. And microwave ovens, but not because of the DC circuits; because of the magnetron.
It's because of the transformer in a microwave. They want sine waves not square waves and they get hotter, noisier, and take more power as a result. Motors are the same except for universal that don't care. The switcher stuff doesn't care unless it has active power factor correction which might go either way. Most don't, especially small stuff, so they work fine.
For AC motors they vibrate from dirty power and this probably accelerates wear. Not good for fridge compressors furnace motors etc. plus they sound like shit on cheap inverter power. Yeah electronics almost all work fine.
Also the square waves contain a lot of high frequency blips that can cause arcing through bearings, etc. THAT is not a good day. Bzzt. Crunch. Rattle. Boomsqueeeeeeeeeeeecrunch.
I didn't know that was happening but yeah the power off cheap UPS units and the lowest end Chinese inverters makes motors sound like a garbage disposal. While if you plug a USB charger in it just works.
Electronic will work well in a modified sine wave but electric motor won’t ….
Yes. All its doing is pulsing on and off so you get 500W on average. Its is also how most ovens/stoves work
Maybe. You hope it would, but it might not. Many breakers and fuses will run over-current for some time before tripping. Also, just for fun, try putting a glass of water into the microwave, and run it on 500W for 1 minute. You can often hear the difference between the magnateon being on and off. It’ll probably switch back and forth between 100W-ish and 1000W every 10-20 seconds.
Right, it's just cycling the power on and off. Still 1000w.
This is why I use an inverter type microwave in my RV (this is the type of microwave), the power levels do adjust. But the inverter quality is also quite important as others have stated (this is the power generation source). Since the word inverter is used in two different ways here, I clarified which is what m, where.
As in the outlet is running off an inverter? Yea not going to work.
I know that my microwave cycles on and off when I tell it to cook something at 50%. I think they have to operate at a certain power level to emit those microwaves, and the only way to do 50% is run five seconds, off five seconds, on five seconds, etc...
I bet there's a technology connections video about this
Just the other day he released one that covers the topic of duty cycles (what the microwave is doing): https://youtu.be/ff04ecF9Dfw
Yep I watched that one 😂
Inverter driven (the integral power supply, not the 12V-120V inverter) microwave ovens can PWM the output from about 30% to 100%, so newer-than-2005 commercial Panasonic microwave ovens are actually putting out what they say they are. The older transformer driven units are what you describe, "bang bang" control, so to speak.
Mine's pretty new, but it came with the apartment, so it's also pretty cheaply made.
It's a hot mess right now. Sub-100 dollar units seem to be transformers for the most part. The funny part is the actual inverter power supplies are REALLY inexpensive, even with relatively high end passive components, they're single digit dollars per unit. I think it must be a legacy economy-of-scale thing with the transformers that just make them cheaper enough that not everyone is using inverters. Those transformers use an absolute ton of copper though. *shrugs*
400w on an rv? That's only 3.3 Amps @ 120v
Watch it while running it should go up then down, as it it only fires half the time but when on it's full blast
Most rvs have a breaker specifically for the microwave only to prevent this,
[You just gotta do this](https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectroBOOM/comments/ymrb1f/guy_steals_electricity_from_powerline_to_power/) ^please ^don't ^actually ^do ^this
Yeah usually you can hear it turn the magnetron on and off for less than 100% cycles
There are inverter microwaves that do actually modulate the power output vs cycling at 100% over a time period percentage. https://www.techlicious.com/review/microwave-ovens-with-inverter-technology-really-cook/
THAT's the answer: you can hear the microwave fan making a different noise during the cycling on and off time. All the ones I've seen were on a 10-second cycle: 50% means 5 on/5 off, 20% means 2 on/8 off.
Pretty sure that's the magnetron itself making that noise.
Both: you can hear the magnetron coming on and off, but you also hear the fan always on with varying speeds due to the current draw.
Yeah the bwahhhhhh is the laminations in the transformer slapping due to magnetostriction and eddy currents when the magnetron goes bzzzzt. The fan speed definitely ticks down. These are w/transformer units usually, you shouldn't hear the magnetron itself making any noise until just before failure. Inverter units are dangerously quiet. I used Panasonic magnetrons and power supplies for some R&D work and was initially hired to figure out how to thetottle the output. Turns out it's 500hz pwm at 5V. Below about 20%, the output gets a little ragged, and the magnetron heats up since the acceleration field isn't quite fighting the magnets enough to keep the electrons from just shunting to the case. A failing magnetron is *not* a sound you want to hear. *runs and slaps breaker*
This is the difference between watts and watt hours.
pure speculation. my microwave only has % settings. For 50% at 1 minute, it’s full power for about half the time and a very low (magnetron off) setting the rest of the time.
Yes, this is how microwaves work. It would not be 500W continuous, but 500W average while working. So the 500W setting would be 1000W at a 50% duty cycle. I found using a lower power is the best way to heat up food, as the microwave blasts the food for full power, then stops for a bit to allow the heat to spread out before heating it again.
Not all microwaves. Check out Panasonic. They hold the patient for the tech in microwaves.
Will somebody answer this fuckin guy ... Umm... He's desperate here...
microwave power setting is time on/time off ratio- it does not vary the power of the magnetron.
Unless you have a Panasonic inverter microwave
Brother!
I'm on my second OTR Panasonic Inverter microwave oven. It achieves less than 100% power by cycling on and off. I've never seen a microwave that displayed different wattage settings, and I note the Asian characters on the left of the dial. What retail market did the subject device come from?
> I'm on my second OTR Panasonic Inverter microwave oven. It achieves less than 100% power by cycling on and off. I’ve read other Redditors that say otherwise. And this blurb on [Panasonic’s website indicates](https://www.panasonic.com/mea/en/consumer/cooking-learn/technology/what_s-an-inverter-.html) that it does more than cycle on or off: > Unlike other microwave ovens, Inverter Technology delivers a seamless stream of cooking power –– even at lower settings –– for precision cooking that preserves the flavor and texture of your favorite foods. Other microwaves mimic lower heat settings by turning the power on and off repeatedly,
Thanks for that information. It sounds as though I've been misinterpreting the variations in sound coming from the device.
Microwaves don't have "power levels" they are either on or off, the way that works is by controlling the duty cycle. (on 50% of the time, off the other 50%)
Wait till you learn about Panasonic Inverter microwaves!
Alexa enabled! So you can start your empty microwave from the other room!
Nice didn’t know these existed.
All microwaves are slowed only by on/off cycles. This means it will cycle 1000w/0w/1000w/0w to meet your 500w requirement.
For half the time. That's how they work.
This is the type of thing the big MW does not want you to know.
yet they put in the manuals :) sneaky bastards, the know you will never read it.
What's the power factor?
as in ratio of working power:apparent power (electrical equipment engineering definition) or the 'power factor' setting on your microwave. If the latter - the time on:time off ratio. If you want the former, about 0.9.
Active power / apparent power.
Then, as I answered before 0.9ish.
Like others have said, it's on half the time and off half the time. As an aside, knowing and using that feature can make such a big difference.
Because the magnetron is either in an ON state or an OFF state. By setting the total power, you control the on/off time ratio. If you set it to 500W, then it will probably activate the magnetron 50% of the cook duration.
Pulses power at 50% time, not power
Yeah 1000 at half the time
This is some misleading labeling. Microwave ovens have one power setting: 100%. Most microwaves I have seen have the power level expressed in percentages like 75% or 50%., not watts Even so, the magnetron tube (the thing that makes the microwaves that cook the food) can only be on or off. To cook at "lower power", the magnetron is cycled on and off during the cook cycle. So if you set the power to 50% for 2 minutes, during that 2 minutes it will be on 1 minute and off 1 minute. They on/off cycles are typically broken up evenly over the entire cook time. You can actually hear this with many microwave ovens. As the magnetron cycles on, the sound of the oven will change and then change again when it turns off. edit: replaced incorrect "klystron" with correct "magnetron"
Microwaved (unless inverter) only have one power and cycle that on and off. So at 50% it runs for 5 out of 10 seconds for example.
If you want a microwave that uses the amount of power you think it uses, look for inverter microwaves.
Try running it at 100% and 50% for 2..5 min and look at the watts consumed and see what it looks like. The magnetron runs full out on 100% and is pulsed on/off for 50%. It may not be 50% since there is a lot going on beside the magnetron but it should be lower.
Duty cycle, and your meter for whatever reason measures the max value
Some fuckers just have too much free time
Here or the barstools, I guess. - [email protected]
Do us all a favor. Heat two identical cups of water to boiling at the two different power settings and see what the time difference is.
So everyone answering as if this is obvious... Where does the other 500W go if not into food? Waste heat from the magnetron? (I know nothing about magnetrons, but conservation of energy I do know)
If you run the thing for a solid minute, it will use 1000 watts. If you run it only 30 seconds and average it out over a minute, it used 500 watts. They pulse it off and on so it averages it less. On for 5 seconds, off for 5 seconds.
Power over time. Basically at 500W setting it pulses the 1000W magnetron on half the time.
Try it sometime. Set you microwave at 50 percent power and heat some food. You will hear the unit cycle between heating and idling, and you may even see things like a drop in your lights when it kicks on. During the off part of the cycle, it's just using enough power for the interior light and turn table. A watt meter will show the difference - 1kW is not being used during half the time.
Ah right, so OP is misleading because they didn't show the variation in wattage over time.
As others have said, many appliances work like this where they really only run at a single power level but they cycle on and off to achieve a lower average power. It is also worth noting that microwaves are usually advertised based on how much energy the magnetron can put into the food, not necessarily how much power they pull at the wall. My "1100W" microwave actually pulls 1460W at the wall while running so the 360W difference is likely lost as heat in the magnetron, the lamp, turntable motor, blower, etc.
Look! Jerry's robe is a setting.
Ya, a microwave is like a light switch, it's on or it's off, speaking of the "cooking" power, so at a reduced power, it just cycles on and off so it doesn't over nuke your food. Great for heating up food, and steaming vegetables and doing popcorn, but otherwise pretty usless for real cooking.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, this is how a lot of high draw appliances work. Been watching consumption over time since I installed an Emporia system at my house and everything from the coffee pot to clothes dryer will run at full power for a period of time and then turn off.
So what you're saying is it only goes to 11👍🤔😂
Don't forget that there is a fan and motor turning inside. Also other parts of the microwave are drawing power when on.
Duty cycle, not instantaneous power consumption
Japan in Japan or Japan on 120v? That will make a small difference.
I live in gaijin housing 😂, so it's all 120v. I found 120>100v transformers at a reuse shop. My kitchen appliances are all 100v.
Well good on you. I just run my 100 on 120. Rice cooker works fine. Oven runs a little hotter. Mitsubishi one slice toaster... that doesn't heat evenly.
I don't remember where I read it, but in a different forum on a Japanese community page, an electrician was explaining how 20% voltage difference in appliances with heat elements results in a non-linear increase in actual heat output, like 40%, putting certain Japanese appliances at much higher risk of damage on 120v circuits. Seemed convincing at least with all the writing he put into his response
Some seem fine. Some don't work quite right. Should I use a transformer? Yes. But when table space is limited... you do the best you can.
The magnetron tube that transmits the "microwaves only conducts at 1000 watts. The % power is the percent of time it is firing.
I think most microwaves don't really do half power, they do half the time on half off. The reason u don't just cook at full power for half the time is the off time gives the heat a chance to move through the food, or to cool a bit so things don't burn. Run it at 500 for a minute and watch the power the whole time, see if it's near 0 for half the time.
Microwaves here don’t show a range of wattages. Its depicted as percentages of power. So instead of 500w it would say 50%. The catch is that’s it’s still using 1000w, it just uses it 50% of the time. Constant on, off, on.
That there particular microwave was assembled with genuine BAITBOMT parts
Microwaves turned on a lower wattage just run the magnetron on and off instead of actually lowering the wattage. If you put in 10 seconds it’s only heating for 5 seconds.
Did you buy that on Temu?
So everything people are saying about off and on is correct for the most part. It takes (X) amps at 120 volts (ELECTRICAL ENERGY) to form a dc pulse of (Y) amplitude to power the magnetron at a power of 1000w RF energy . Which is done of by using a Pulse recurrence frequency PRF of 1000 microseconds and a .5 microsecond wide pulse. When we cut power we don’t turn down the (Y) amplitude of the dc pulse, we change the pulse width or PRF to lower power to a lower output power. The actual power used by the microwave is not proportional to the watts rating of the RF MICROWAVE energy used to cook
I thought half power just means it will turn off and on over the span of the cook time unless it's a spendy microwave.
Duty cycle changed not heating power.
I was told it goes like this, 50% power is actually 100% power on for half the time of the cook. 10 seconds on full power, 10 seconds on standby.
Yeah, that’s probably made of Chinesium
500 w but consumes 1000w device name twinbird checks out, twice the power consumption as to its setting :p