Aren’t you planning to purchase a new inverter or improve your old one? Whatever be the motive, it is very significant to comprehend what is the correct inverter for your household. The power requirement of your home can be diverse from your neighbor’s house. So do not just blindly set up the identical inverter (in terms of power) at your home. Before purchasing an inverter for your household do a small homework and be aware of the fundamentals.
Primarily understand your Power obligation
One of the most vital factors that you must be acquainted with before purchasing an inverter is your “Power necessity”. In easy words, it depends on what are all electrical appliances (like television, CFL, fan, tube lights, etc.) you want to work at the time of power failure. The power requirement is adding up of the power consumed by a variety of electrical equipment.
Suppose you need 1 CFL & 1 television, 3 Fans, 3 Tube lights to operate at the instance of power failure. Below is the approximate power consumed by these devices?
1 Fan – 70 Watts
1 tube light – 60 watts
1 CFL – 25 watts
1 Television – 120 watts
So your entire power requirement is (3*70 +3*60 + 25 + 120) = 535 watts
Discover the VA rating of the inverter you require
It means the Volt ampere rating. It is the voltage and current abounding by the inverter to the devices or appliances. If an inverter operates with 100% effectiveness, then the power obligation of the electrical devices and power supplied by the inverter is equal. But we all understand that 100% or perfect conditions don’t exist in actual. Most of the inverters have the competence range from 60% to 80%. This efficiency is also known as the power factor of an inverter and is purely the ratio of power essential by the equipment to power supplied by an inverter. The power factor of nearly all inverters ranges from 0.6 to 0.8.
Therefore Power supplied (or VA rating of the inverter) = Power requirement (power consumed by the equipment) / Power factor (effectiveness).
At this time standard value of power factor or efficiency is measured i.e. 0.7
Power of inverter (VA) = 535/0.7 = 765 VA
Up to 800 VA inverters are available in the market. So an inverter with 800 VA will be the precise choice for your house.
Understand the battery as per your inverter requirement
Battery is the spine of the entire inverter system. The life and performance of an inverter truly depend upon the battery eminence. The next important question is “how much back up will an inverter offer?” or for “how many hours it can make all of your equipment work?” This is what is known as battery capacity. It is the battery capacity that decides the backing hours. It is denoted in Ah (Ampere Hours).
Battery capacity = Power requirement (in watts) * Wanted Back up hours (in hrs) divided by Battery Voltage (in volts)
** Value of Battery voltage is taken 12V
Battery Capacity = (535 * 3) / 12 = 133 Ah
Consequently, a battery with a capability of 130 Ah should work for you.
So if you want to use 3 fans, 3 tube lights, 1 CFL, and 1 TV for 3 hours during power cut you would require 800VA inverter and 130 Ah batteries.
By knowing this straightforward calculation you not only put aside yourself from the deceptive information shared by inverter dealers but also will help yourself in taking right decision.