I want a microwave that has a database of every possible food type that tells it the optimal programming for everything, supported by sensors measuring weight, humidity, maybe even an infrared camera inside, if those can survive microwaves.
Until I have that: 100% until stuff starts to steam/bubble/boil, take it out, bite into it, regret not putting it in for longer, eat mostly cold leftovers.
I just remembered that this video is where I got the idea from and came to edit my comment to link it! It should be possible to build something like that in 2025, no? Why is every microwave I see in stores the exact same microwave my parents bought 30 years ago but in black?
My microwave does all of the humidity sensing stuff and has a variable power transformer. Setting it to 70% doesn’t mean 70% of the time it’s on at full power (ie PWM), it means it’s running continuously at 70% power. I haven’t watched that TC video in a while but I’m pretty sure that’s a PWM microwave, so I think mine has the edge. It was made in 2024 and cost $140.
Interesting, I can see why it failed though. TCP’s ideal situation is that you buy a microwaveable item with a TCP code on the box, pop it in your TCP enabled microwave, punch in the code and done. But those items will still need instructions for people without TCP microwaves, so those aren’t really my problem anyway. I want to know how long I should microwave my leftover pasta (plastic container, 300g, from the fridge). TCP would have me… go to a website and look up the right code in a table? I could probably find the right settings for a regular microwave in much the same way and that way I might actually learn something useful instead of an opaque 4-digit code.
Theres absolutely no reason an infared camera couldnt survive a microwave. All you would need is for the camera body to be outside, and to have a mesh blocking the sensor. You wouldnt be able to go through the door if the door is glass(not that ive ever seen a glass microwave door) because glass blocks infared, not sure about plastic. either way though, you could just cut a hole, remove the plastic, and then replace the mesh. Youd have to do some software work to ensure the camera is not picking up the heat from the mesh.
.00001% - twice as long at half power, oh look the centre isn’t still frozen
So based.
My microwave sucks in that the “one touch start” feature always uses full power. To microwave on 50% power, you have to first touch set timer. Then input the time in full. Then touch power. Then input 5. Then press start.
To work around this I made one of the programmable functions microwave at 50% for one minute. There is a handy +30s so I can just press that button if I need to extend it.
Cheap microwaves have hot spots instead of even distribution of the microwaves inside the chamber. They use turntables to mask this issue, but the best option is to buy a high end microwave with even distribution. They will heat the food more evenly, and the lack of a turntable makes cleaning much easier
deep microwave lore here
I don’t use the microwave. Also I didn’t know there were different heat settings.
The power setting makes the microwave cycle between ON and OFF at the given ratio. So at 50% power the microwave will only be heating for half of the cook time.
Nope, pretty much all have a duty cycle. Like 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off, and they keep repeating that or similar for however long the cook time is. If you listen closely you can hear the magnetron kick on and off.
I believe Panasonic was the only company that sold an inverter microwave that lowered the power output.
Double time half power gang. It’s so much better. I can wait an extra 90 sec for it to be evenly heated.
