• ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          You know how when you microwave a hot pocket, burrito, etc. and the outside is lava but the center is still cold or even frozen? Well, microwaves have a power setting. You can set the power generally from 10% - 100%, usually in increments of 10. You can set the power to a lower percentage and give it additional time such that it will cook slower and heat more evenly.

          • seralth@lemmy.world
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            24 hours ago

            Your not actually lowering the power, it’s just lowering the duty time.

            70% means that it runs only 70% of the time.

            Microwaves are either on or off. There is no in-between.

            Its the same as running something for 30 seconds letting it sit for 20 then running it for another 10.

            It’s also a large reason frozen dinners have you stir them.

            • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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              13 hours ago

              the whole point of duty time is that it has basically the same end result, and no full blast then waiting is not the same thing as shorter bursts over a longer time…

            • mememuseum@lemmy.world
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              23 hours ago

              There are inverter microwaves that can actually vary the output power of the magnetron, but I know Panasonic had a patent on it for a while.

            • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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              24 hours ago

              Your not actually lowering the power, it’s just lowering the duty time.

              Correct, but I think most people don’t think about that.

              • cenzorrll@lemmy.ca
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                11 hours ago

                And in the case of a microwave, it makes almost no difference if you’re running longer than 30s

          • brb@sh.itjust.works
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            24 hours ago

            I’ve never seen a microwave where you set the power as percentage, it’s always watts. Usually from around 150W to 950W

            • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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              23 hours ago

              Every single microwave I’ve ever seen set it either as a percentage or a…perdecage? 1-10. Like I don’t think I can set my current microwave to 73% power; I get 70% or 80%.

              • brb@sh.itjust.works
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                19 hours ago

                Fascinating. What do you do when some microwave meal gives instructions like “3min at 750W”? Or does it say some percentage instead of watts and you just do the math? If so, how do you handle microwaves with different wattages?

                • Grostleton@lemm.ee
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                  17 hours ago

                  We usually get vague bullshit like “3 mins on HIGH*” followed by a disclaimer “for 1200w microwave, cooking times may vary” or some such thing.

            • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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              24 hours ago

              That sounds nice but from my experience most people’s eyes glaze over when I start talking about Watts. It seems to confuse most people unfortunately.

    • qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
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      12 hours ago

      Not parent, but when a minute isn’t quite enough, 77 seconds might do the trick. Multiples of eleven are quick to enter, and with a simple nuker with no “minute” button, 66s is easier than 1:00.

      • TheOakTree@lemm.ee
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        10 hours ago

        My microwave has a half minute add button, but it takes 2-3 seconds to accept another press of the same button. This condition is not true for any other button on microwave.

        I just manually type in my times now.