Can anyone help me on this one? My generator is rated at 3500. My horse trailer was prewired for a microwave and I bought one that is 600 watt output-900 watt input. Both are 120V 60 MZ. My problem is it takes 15 min to heat a cup of water in it. The micro works fine so that is not the problem. I plugged it into a Honda 2000 generator last weekend and in 2 minutes, hot water. I turned on my air conditioner tonight and my generator runs that and it uses more juice than my microwave. What could be the problem. Electrical savvy I'm not! Thanks anybody who can help.
Posted 2005-05-18 8:21 AM (#25251 - in reply to #25242) Subject: RE: generator problems
Expert
Posts: 2689
Originally written by yogi on 2005-05-17 11:50 PM
Can anyone help me on this one? My generator is rated at 3500. My horse trailer was prewired for a microwave and I bought one that is 600 watt output-900 watt input. Both are 120V 60 MZ. My problem is it takes 15 min to heat a cup of water in it. The micro works fine so that is not the problem. I plugged it into a Honda 2000 generator last weekend and in 2 minutes, hot water. I turned on my air conditioner tonight and my generator runs that and it uses more juice than my microwave. What could be the problem. Electrical savvy I'm not! Thanks anybody who can help.
120 volt sometimes isn't - I think it can OFFICIALLY be 108, 110, 115, 120, etc.
I'd check what you are actually getting from the microwave outlet with nothing running, check again at the same outlet with the micro-wave running (I'm assuming these are duplex outlets, check volts in the socket that the m-wave isn't plugged into), if it is significantly lower then start checking for high resistance somewhere in the wiring, e.g. a poor connection. It is LIKELY that a poor connection will be HOT !
Your A/C is almost certainly on a different line and in any case is less likely to be sensitive to voltage variations, if the compressor motor starts it will probably run just fine.
So, poor connections in the wiring to the m-wave's outlet in the trailer is my guess.
generator problems
