How many starting watts does a microwave need?

A microwave has no significant startup surge; starting draw is about the same as running draw, roughly 1,800 watts.

How much energy does a microwave use during an outage?

Over 24 hours it needs roughly 384 to 3,456 watt-hours. The spread comes from duty cycle: it draws power only 2-8% of the time. Compare that against roughly 85% of a battery's nameplate capacity, which is what you can actually use.

Can I run a microwave on a battery power station indoors?

Most units plug into a normal socket. If yours is wired into the wall instead, treat it as the case below. A battery power station produces no combustion gases and can run indoors; a fuel-burning generator cannot, at any time, for any duration.

Kitchen

How many watts does a microwave use, and how long will a battery run it?

Q: How many watts does a microwave use?

A microwave draws roughly 800 to 1,800 watts while running. A microwave is a heavy but very brief load. It rarely dominates total energy, but it can exceed a small station's continuous output outright. Size on the higher figure unless you have read the nameplate on your own appliance.

Microwaves draw about 800–1,800 W while running. They run for seconds or minutes at a time, so a 1 kWh power station gives about 28 minutes of running time at the higher figure. The station’s output must be above the running watts; that is what rules most small units out.

That is the middle of our range for this appliance. Yours may use less or a lot more: the range, the assumptions and every unit we track are below. Hours are hours of use on one full charge, counting about 85% of the battery as usable.

Hours of use by battery size

Battery (nameplate)	Typical	Hard-working unit	Efficient unit
500 Wh	about 8.9 h	3 h	27 h
1,000 Wh	about 18 h	5.9 h	53 h
2,000 Wh	about 35 h	12 h	106 h
3,000 Wh	about 53 h	18 h	159 h
5,000 Wh	about 89 h	30 h	266 h

Hours = 85% of the nameplate battery divided by average watts. Typical uses about 48 W; hard-working 1,800 W on 8% of the time; efficient 800 W on 2% of the time. The station must also start it: see which units can, below.

How much battery a typical one needs

Outage	Battery needed, typical
12 hours	about 680 Wh
24 hours	about 1,400 Wh
3 days	about 4,100 Wh

Nameplate watt-hours, so the 85% usable share is already counted. Past a day, most plans add solar or a generator rather than a bigger battery.

The range behind that

A microwave uses about 800–1,800 watts while running . Over 24 hours it uses roughly 384–3,456 watt-hours.

Buy for the higher number in each range. 60 of the 73 products we track can run it. For example, the Zendure SuperBase V6400 gives about 3 hours of running time at full power.

The numbers behind that

A microwave is a heavy but very brief load. It rarely dominates total energy, but it can exceed a small station's continuous output outright.

Running wattswatts

Best case800 Plan for this1,800

What it draws while it is actually on.

Duty cyclepercent of the time

Best case2 Plan for this8

How much of the hour it is actually drawing power. This is what turns running watts into energy.

Energy over 24 hourswatt-hours

Best case384 Plan for this3,456

Multiply the battery capacity you are considering by roughly 0.85 to compare like with like.

Usually plugs in

Most units plug into a normal socket. If yours is wired into the wall instead, treat it as the case below.

Check this yourself

Use the input watts from the nameplate, not the cooking-power figure on the front panel. A '1000W' microwave typically draws 1,500W or more.

What can run it

Running time on one full charge at the higher running figure. “Starts it” means the peak output covers even a hard-starting one; “may not start a hard-starting one” means it covers the lower end of the starting range only.

Product	Continuous	Peak	Starts it?	Running time
Zendure SuperBase V6400	3,800W	5,000W	starts it	about 3 hours of running time
Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus	7,200W	14,400W	starts it	about 2 hours of running time
Zendure SuperBase V4600	3,800W	5,000W	starts it	about 2 hours of running time
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3	4,000W	8,000W	starts it	about 116 minutes of running time
OUKITEL P5000 Pro	3,600W	not listed by the maker	maker gives no peak figure	about 2 hours of running time
Honda EU3000iS Inverter Generator	2,800W	3,000W	starts it	fuel-dependent
FIRMAN WH03242 Dual-Fuel Inverter	3,200W	4,000W	starts it	fuel-dependent
Champion 201444 5500W Inverter	4,000W	5,500W	starts it	fuel-dependent

Plan this with your other loads →

What will not work, and why

9 of 73 products cannot run this.

Goal Zero Yeti 700 — Continuous output is 600W. This appliance draws at least 800W while running, so this unit cannot run them even in the best case.
Jackery Explorer 600 v2 — Continuous output is 500W. This appliance draws at least 800W while running, so this unit cannot run them even in the best case.
BLUETTI AC50B — Continuous output is 700W. This appliance draws at least 800W while running, so this unit cannot run them even in the best case.
Jackery Explorer 300D — Continuous output is 140W. This appliance draws at least 800W while running, so this unit cannot run them even in the best case.
Anker SOLIX C300 — Continuous output is 300W. This appliance draws at least 800W while running, so this unit cannot run them even in the best case.
Jackery Explorer 300 v2 — Continuous output is 300W. This appliance draws at least 800W while running, so this unit cannot run them even in the best case.