• Solumbran
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    2 days ago

    People really don’t know how to use a microwave.

      • MoffKalast
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        2 days ago

        Tbf most microwaves are designed in a dumb way where half power means turning on the magnetron to max power anyway just for half the time, with something like 20 second on cycles. They’re like putting food into the oven to 450F but pulling it out every so often.

        • [deleted]@piefed.world
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          2 days ago

          Pretty sure that is how all of them work and it is perfectly fine. Stopping the blast of energy frequently lets the heat evenly distribute while cooking to keep any part from overcooking.

          • 18107@aussie.zone
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            2 days ago

            Panasonic owns the patent for an inverter microwave that can actually do 50% power.

            With inverters being common in solar installations and electric cars, it would seem that someone else could just put that part in a microwave, but fortunately the patent prevents that.

            It’s nice to know that although I can’t buy the model of microwave that I want with the features I want, at least a single company can prevent everyone else’s progress and even make a tiny bit of extra profit at the same time.

            • hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works
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              2 days ago

              But my microwave does this?

              This is real data from my LG microwave just now. The first peak is at 100% power, the second peak is 30% power, the last three peaks are 10% power.

              You can see that under 30% it has to cycle the inverter on and off like old microwaves, but still it’s way better than doing that at 100%.

              I love my inverter microwave, I feel like I’m living in the future. Bought this thing like 4 years ago 🤷‍♂️

              • 18107@aussie.zone
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                2 days ago

                Panasonic does sometimes licence the patent to other companies. I would love an inverter microwave, but they aren’t made with the other features I want.

                What app is that?

                • hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works
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                  2 days ago

                  Fair enough.

                  It’s the emporia app, I installed whole home monitoring in my breaker panel. It’s occasionally useful, expensive, but I’ve had it long enough to make it worth it in my mind 🤷‍♂️

                  • 18107@aussie.zone
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                    2 days ago

                    Very fancy.

                    I’ve been using Home Assistant with data from a house battery, but that does look to be a much cheaper option if you don’t have or want a house battery.

    • Psythik
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      2 days ago

      Seriously, is it really that fucking difficult for the average person to understand how the power setting works? My microwaved food comes out evenly-heated every time, because I’m not a fucking idiot.

      • applebusch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 days ago

        It would help if most of them didn’t completely cheap out on the power modulation. Most of them do this half assed PWM over like 10 seconds, so they’re on at max power or off, which to be fair is a pretty unintuitive way to cook for most people. It would be much better if they just put out some fraction of full power continuously. It makes much more sense and removes the annoying complexity. Some microwaves do it but they’re few and far between.

        • Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 days ago

          Most heating elements turn off and on real quick in order to heat up more slowly. They are electrical devices. They really don’t care.

        • Psythik
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          2 days ago

          Literally every microwave I’ve ever known uses PWM for power control, but alternating between off and full blast still heats more evenly than just leaving it on the default non-stop full blast setting that literally everyone uses and never changes.