Microwaves on inverters.

doughere wrote:
I have a unit with 1500 watt microwave and would like to be able to use it occasionally when dry camping (10 min or less at a time). I plan to use a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter. Also plan using it on a 900 watt coffee maker (about 15 min a pot). Anyone have any experience with this setup?

Thanks,
Doug

You don't say how many or what type of batteries you have, which will make a big difference in the answer to your question. I doubt you will get 10mins of MW use on one 12v battery. Also it depends on how it is wired and the gauge of the wire. I have a 1500 watt MSW inverter with 2 6 volt CG batteries. I can use the microwave when traveling down the road just fine. When stopped I can get several mins of use. 5 mins with the microwave will set off the alarm. After 15 years of dry camping I rarely use the inverter any more. Coffee is made on the stove, refer is run from propane no longer from inverter, small electronics like laptops are charged with a 150 watt plugin inverter. I hate to exercise the genset each month as general maintenance so I look for ways to actually use it with out just wasting gas, so microwave use on rare occasion or electric chain saw for campfires is about the only time it actually gets used, never to just recharge the batteries. I know others have more electrical requirements than myself like TV, radio, etc, so larger battery banks and 2000 watt inverters make sense , but for general dry camping, fishing, hiking enjoying nature without electronics I think a large inverter is not necessary. At least that is my experience.