Microwave to electric oven

[Lucius01]

My R-Pod

[Lucius01]

My R-Pod came with a microwave that I cannot use without shore power, so it's useless for boondocking. I have solar, lithium battery and inverter. I'd like to remove the microwave, and replace it with a toaster type electric oven.
But I have heard that the oven top can get hot enough to require an exhaust fan.
Anyone with any experience in doing this conversion?

Question is: do I need an external vent?
Advice would be appreciated.

[Captain Insaino]

A toaster oven may pull more amps than you think.
I'm not sure of your battery or inverter capacity. I just bought the smallest toaster oven I could find that would fit into a cabinet, use on the countertop and left the microwave alone. I still use a generator, though. 10-15 minutes of cooking a pizza, etc. might drain a lot of power unless you have a robust power setup.

[Lucius01]

The microwave/convection oven pulls 1500 watts = about 12.5 Amps to operate. My battery has a 100 Amp Continuous current, 200 Amp Surge Current (30 seconds). The inverter can handle 3000 watts.

So, why did the tech guy at the RV place tell me I couldn't run a microwave? Was he wrong?

[ceedog]

Your microwave is may not be wired to your inverter hence it won't run on battery power.


Your inverter would have to be able to handle the microwave's start up draw. Check that the surge power rating of the microwave is also within the inverter's limits.


Keep in mind that anything else you have connected & running through the inverter reduces the amount of amps available.

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by Lucius01

The microwave/convection oven pulls 1500 watts = about 12.5 Amps to operate. My battery has a 100 Amp Continuous current, 200 Amp Surge Current (30 seconds). The inverter can handle 3000 watts.

So, why did the tech guy at the RV place tell me I couldn't run a microwave? Was he wrong?

100A x 12V = 1200 watts.

So if you are limited to 100A continuous current, you cannot run 1500W.

1500 watts / 12V = 125A, so your math on the 12.5A is off by a factor of 10.

The reason for the difference is because 1500W / 120V = 12.5A, so it requires 12.5A of 120V power but 125A of 12V battery power.