Before going to buy an inverter, you roughly calculate your needed power requirements. The power necessary to start electric appliances is different from the power necessary to run an appliance because it stabilizes after few seconds, so you ought to calculate the beginning power requirement also.
As Inverter is not a power Generator Inverter has limitations. You cannot run your all home appliances with a traditional inverter. However your battery won't provide power over few hours. Hence it’s better to select a home generator. In case you don't need even a single minute power outage, then a power inverter + electric generator is a nice option.
Batteries - a significant part.
Battery is an essential piece of inverter. The efficiency and life of the Emergency Lighting Inverter is controlled seriously by the batteries. Normally capacity of the battery is shown in Ampere hour (Ah). It specifies the rate of current supplied in a given period. Capacity of the batteries is normally 100Ah, 150Ah. If the capacity of a battery is 100Ah then the battery can supply 100 amp current in one hour or one amp current in 100hours.
We can see all Inverters provide battery along with inverter. I strongly recommend not buy such batteries. This is a simple business process, as battery costs over inverter. It is always better to buy a trusted battery brand.
Usually people buy a branded inverter & local made lead acid batteries. These batteries are maintained regularly to check the electrolyte level. Lead acid batteries release poisonous gas while charging & discharging. If it not kept in ventilated space it will cause health issues.
The other types of batteries are normal flat plate batteries & tubular batteries. Tubular batteries have several advantages compared to flat plate batteries such as high electrical efficiency & long lasting life. Cost of tubular batteries are double of a standard flat plate battery, however a well maintained lead acid or flat plate batteries has maximum life up to three years. Thus a nice maintained tubular battery has life up to 8 years or more.
The backup period of batteries can be calculated in a simple method.
Time hrs = Battery Voltage (volts) * Battery Capacity (in Ah)*efficiency of inverter/ Load in VA
For Example,
Voltage of battery - 12 volts
Capacity of battery - 150Ah
Efficiency of inverter - 80% = 0.8
Load - 155 watts
Hence, 12*150*0.8/155
Time = 9.29 hrs
From this way they can calculate the battery life on load.
Inverter takes main power supply to charge batteries. If the inverter's charging section is not energy efficient, electricity will be wasted even after the battery is fully charged. This will increase the electricity bill. It is difficult to check this in shop before purchasing an inverter.
Inverter output
The output wave form shape is another important aspect which they must think about. Elderly inverters generate in square wave form or modified wave form. Now a day’s all commercial appliances are designed to run on pure sine wave. Features of such devices are greatly depends on the input wave form shape. A modify in wave form will affect the performance of the appliances. Appliances like Motors, AC, refrigerators, Ovens, power tools etc will generate power on pure sine wave input only. Distortion in sine wave creates humming noise. Some instruments like light dimmers, battery chargers, toasters etc need pure sine wave to work.
About Author:OnLine Power was one of the first company in our industry to demonstrate its commitment to quality for our customers by earning ISO 9001 certification in 1995. ISO 9001 is an internationally recognized quality management system standard with requirements spanning the total operations of OnLine Power, from the time you place your order to well after delivery.
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