So Sense found my microwave today a 1000 watt GE model. I was upstairs, and I heard my wife shut the microwave door and sure enough it said the microwave was on. Question is, see graph attached, it says 1600 watts on the device page. (It found it consistently 5 times so far) I wouldn’t think it would be off by that large margin…any one explain? Thanks
There are two power ratings associated with microwaves, Input Power (from the wall) and Output Power (to the food). Microwaves are typically rated by their output power, since that is the important spec for cooking speed. Output power is always far less than input power, because there is energy loss in the power supply and magnetron, plus the input energy also powers a light, and typically several motors (turntable, microwave diffuser).
Here’s the info on one of my microwaves. 950W Output, 1500W Input.
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That sounds about right, my “1,200 Watt” microwave draws just over 1,800 watts…and Sense hasn’t found it in three years. So congratulations.
The 1,000 watt output on my microwave takes 1500 watts input to generate. The magnetron isn’t the only thing using power. The motor for the carousel, the keypad and the lights eat some.
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