WaveBox Portable Microwave - Anyone?

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tommays

· #3 · May 21, 2009

DC Direct to 12-volt Battery – The extra-long 9-foot cable has alligator clamps to attach directly to any 12-volt vehicle or boat battery. In this power mode the WaveBox delivers the same 660 watts of cooking power as the AC cord.

thats gotta draw 60 amps to put out full power

?

DC Vehicle Power Outlet – Allows you to plug the WaveBox into a 12-volt vehicle power outlet rated at 20 amps or greater. Using the 20-amp vehicle power outlet, the WaveBox produces 235 watts of cooking power, great for reheating meals, warming coffee or heating convenience foods. Vehicle power outlets can’t supply enough power for the WaveBox to pop popcorn, although popcorn pops great using the other power options.

Check your vehicle’s owner’s manual to make sure the outlets are rated at 20 amps.

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badsanta

· #4 · May 22, 2009

They have a YouTube link that shows some features.

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badsanta

· #5 · May 22, 2009

OK I broke down and spent some boater bucks and ordered one. Will let you know if I am happy of if it ends up with my ronco pocket fisherman

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inshallamiami

· #6 · May 25, 2009

Could you pm me?

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sailingmum

· #7 · May 25, 2009

Can't wait to hear !
Not being handy, think I'm sticking with the solar oven...LOL... but I can always be persauded....

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quidam1947

· #8 · May 26, 2009

I purchased one as a gift for my significant other. Took FOOOOORRREEEEEVVEERRR to re-heat a cup of coffee. Manufacturer wouldn't accept it back so I repacked it and sold it on ebay and managed to break even.

I wouldn't recommend purchasing.

Michele

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wind_magic

· #9 · May 26, 2009

I don't understand what the purpose of this microwave is. Does it mean portable, like, on batteries to take camping ? Why would anyone want to take a microwave camping unless they are in a camper ? And if that isn't what it means, if it is just 12vdc, then why bother when most inverters will drive a small 100$us microwave that is available from any box store ?

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patrickstickler

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 26, 2009

quidam1947 said:
I purchased one as a gift for my significant other. Took FOOOOORRREEEEEVVEERRR to re-heat a cup of coffee. Manufacturer wouldn't accept it back so I repacked it and sold it on ebay and managed to break even.

I wouldn't recommend purchasing.

Michele

Did you use the cigarette lighter connection, or did you connect it directly to the battery?

The device appears to have rather limited power when not connected to either the battery directly, via the jumper cables, or to AC. I've seen similar reports of it being underpowered, but it seems in all cases they were using the cigarette lighter cord.

???

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patrickstickler

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 26, 2009

wind_magic said:
I don't understand what the purpose of this microwave is. Does it mean portable, like, on batteries to take camping ? Why would anyone want to take a microwave camping unless they are in a camper ? And if that isn't what it means, if it is just 12vdc, then why bother when most inverters will drive a small 100$us microwave that is available from any box store ?

What's attractive to me is the portability/compactness. I have a small boat (26ft) with limited galley space, so being able to easily move it "somewhere else" than the galley, and not taking up too much space when I'm actually using it in the galley, are huge pluses.

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dacap06

· #12 · May 26, 2009

patrickstickler said:
The [portable microwave] appears to have rather limited power when not connected to either the battery directly, via the jumper cables, or to AC. I've seen similar reports of it being underpowered, but it seems in all cases they were using the cigarette lighter cord.

Well, that's not surprising. A typical cigarette lighter socket on a boat will supply at most 5 amps. Any more than that and the in-line fuse or breaker blows. The power available to the microwave is therefore 5 amps x 12 volts = only 60 Watts max, and the microwave isn't 100% efficient at converting that input power into R/F. The portable unit on the cigarette lighter would take around 20 times as long to heat something as your typical built-in 1000 Watt house microwave.

Hmmm ... 1 minute to heat a cup of water at home, 20 minutes to heat a cup of water in the portable unit. My stove is faster than that! I wonder what this portable microwave draws when connected directly to the batteries?

DaCAP

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patrickstickler

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 26, 2009

dacap06 said:
Well, that's not surprising. A typical cigarette lighter socket on a boat will supply at most 5 amps. Any more than that and the in-line fuse or breaker blows. The power available to the microwave is therefore 5 amps x 12 volts = only 60 Watts max, and the microwave isn't 100% efficient at converting that input power into R/F. The portable unit on the cigarette lighter would take around 20 times as long to heat something as your typical built-in 1000 Watt house microwave. Hmmm ... 1 minute to heat a cup of water at home, 20 minutes to heat a cup of water in the portable unit. My stove is faster than that!

Well, the specs say the lighter cable should be connected to a socket that can handle 20A, and thus operates at 240W when powered from the lighter socket. But that's still pretty low power. Good for perhaps slightly reheating pre-heated food or beverages, but not for any real kind of cooking.

I don't think anyone using this in any serious manner is going to bother with the ligher cable, but will always connect it directly to the battery for full power.

I wonder what this portable microwave draws when connected directly to the batteries?

DaCAP

According to the specs, it can operate at its maximum of 660 Watts when powered either by AC or directly from the battery via the provided "jumper" cables. So it would be drawing 55A at 12V.

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badsanta

· #14 · Jun 4, 2009

Dont order yet, they are out and dont expect to be able to ship for 3 weeks at the least. well so much for the 48 hour shipping

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badsanta

· #15 · Jun 25, 2009

Well it came in several weeks late. It works, but is underpowered compared to a house hold type. My big complant is they say it is a 660 watt output but on the stamp on the back it says 450 watts. I sent them a note but have not received any info back. I do like it it as it fits my spot well. I cook alot of the individual size dinners, but they take twice as long as at home. But if I cook from scratch I tend to over cook. The worse was I tried to cook a 100 calorie pack of pop corn I pushed the pop corn timer twice (12 minutes total) and it never popped. But if you want it to reheat small things it works well but takes longer. Yes I was direct connect to the batteries or 120. both were the same.

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patrickstickler

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jun 26, 2009

badsanta said:
Well it came in several weeks late. It works, but is underpowered compared to a house hold type. My big complant is they say it is a 660 watt output but on the stamp on the back it says 450 watts. I sent them a note but have not received any info back. I do like it it as it fits my spot well. I cook alot of the individual size dinners, but they take twice as long as at home. But if I cook from scratch I tend to over cook. The worse was I tried to cook a 100 calorie pack of pop corn I pushed the pop corn timer twice (12 minutes total) and it never popped. But if you want it to reheat small things it works well but takes longer. Yes I was direct connect to the batteries or 120. both were the same.

My experience was even worse. I went ahead and ordered one, and when it arrived, unpacked it, read through the manual, plugged it in with the AC cord (in this case 240VAC), put in a cup of water, set it for 5 minutes, and hit start. There was a loud 'POP' and the unit was dead. Apparently the power supply or something was defective.

So I contacted the European distributor, and they sent me out another unit. This one at least seemed to work, technically, but it had an annoying whine when operating and it took over 12 minutes to boil a cup of water that was already warm, filled from the hot water tap, and a bag of popcorn was, as with badsanta, a complete failure. Hit the 6-min popcorn button twice and hardly any seeds popped. I had the feeling that this unit was also defective and running at the lower power setting, and not at full power.

I've used a 650W microwave on an RV alot and it worked fine for darn near anything, and this unit was pathetic. I think badsanta may be right that it's running at 450W (or less) even in the 'high power' mode.

In any case, I'm doing my best to get a full refund.

Wonderful concept. Poor product.

(perhaps, and hopefully, a future incarnation of the concept/product will live up to the specs, in which case if the reviews are near unanimous, I may try it again)

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scottyt

· #17 · Jun 26, 2009

sounds like a 800 watt cheapy microwave from walmart and a 1000 watt inverter might be better

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wind_magic

· #18 · Jun 26, 2009 (Edited)

scottyt said:
sounds like a 800 watt cheapy microwave from walmart and a 1000 watt inverter might be better

That's what I used on an extended trip and it worked great. I literally used the cheapest microwave I could find and it ended up being one that was on sale at Walmart for under 50$us. Then I used one of those cheap inverters, also from Walmart to power it. Worked like a charm.

Now that I think about it, even the 100amp/hr batteries were from Walmart!

Edit - This is very similar to the microwave I bought, this one is 55$us but the one I bought was less because it was a promotional item.

Source: (I'm not posting the source because A) it should be obvious, and B) it is an advertisement)

One reason I wanted one with the knobs on it instead of electronic gwhiz is because when the microwave *dings* and it is finished cooking, it is also finished using electricity until you use it again.

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