How To Select Right power Inverter Capacity For Your Home

Do you plan on getting a new inverter for your home use or wish to make an upgrade of an old one? Either of the reasons notes that it is important to understand which is the right inverter to be used in your home. That’s is because the power requirement in your home could be different from that of your friend or neighbor, that means, you don’t need to get a similar inverter.

There are some factors to be considered, so you don’t make the mistake of installing just anyhow or the same inverter in your home. And that is why in this article, we will be discussing some of the things you need to consider by deciding on which inverter will be used in your home.

Most homes or houses are bigger than another and require more power depending on the electrical things in the home. However, deciding the inverter to use in your home is tough because most times, the type you’d like to purchase is not the one that is fitting for your home. Now, that’s why we are here to guide you through before making that choice of getting an inverter for your home.

 

Selecting the right inverter to use or that will be good for your home use is quite hard. However, the first thing to have in mind is the “Power Requirement” of your home. In other words, all of the electrical appliances you’d like to run at the same such as fan, tube lights, television, refrigerator, and others. Your home power requirement is the addition of all the power that is consumed by various appliances in your home. Now, once you have made all the calculations of the requirements in your home, the next thing to look out for is the VA rating of the inverter that you need.

What I am trying to say is that you need to find the VA rating of the type of inverter you need or which to get. VA stands for Volt ampere rating and it is a voltage and current supplied by the inverter to all the pieces of equipment. If the inverter you are getting operates with 100 % efficiency, then the power requirement of the electrical appliances and also the power supplied by inverter are the same.

However, we know that 100% or ideal conditions do not exactly exist in real. Another factor is to know the type of battery your inverter needs. If you haven’t known before, the battery is the backbone of an inverter. That is because the performance of the inverter depends most on the inverter battery quality. To learn more about Inverter Battery, you can read about on our blog.

How to Calculate Inverter Load

Having inverter systems in homes and workplaces are quite a common feature these days because they play in ensuring an uninterruptible power to devices and loads that are sensitive. For the home use, there is a great need to adequately size your home inverter so you can meet the expected load demand of your home.

Please Note: We have tried to be as accurate as we can but the wattages given in the table below are estimates only

What if your home requires an AC power? An inverter must be used to convert the power in a DC only system to AC Power. Inverters consume power as they also convert DC power to AC power, and in so doing, contribute to the system load. In summary of what I am saying, the less power an inverter consumes the more efficient it is, which is how its efficiency rating is determined.

Before using an inverter, you need to have an answer to these questions;

• What size inverter do I need for my load?
• How much power does an inverter use while operating?
• How does it affect the total load requirements in my system?

You need to understand the Efficiency of the Inverter that you want to use. You can easily make or calculate the inverter load by visiting Luminousindia.com. There, you can calculate the Inverter load to know the exact one you need to use.

How big an inverter do I need?

Now, before deciding the size or how big of an inverter you need, first of all, figure out the watts or amps of the electrical appliances you want to run. However, it is advisable to get a larger model than you needed. The watts you want to run will determine what exactly you should get.

Another thing to consider is how long you want to run the appliances that you have. For instance; let’s just state you would like to power your items for up to 8 hours, now, this will be a bit tricky because fridges and heater run intermittently. Assume all of the electrical appliances will run for up to 40% of the 8 hours periods which is about 3.2 hours of the run time. We need to convert the ac watts to dc amp, and that’s because it is the way batteries are rated. In other to convert ac watt to dc, you have to divide the watts by the DC voltage. In summary, the appliances you wish to run determine the size of inverter you should get. Which is why we are here, for more info about inverter, you can check out our other articles on Inverter.

How to Calculate Inverter Backup Time

A lot of people wo are using inverters in their homes, ask this question a lot to their battery dealers, however, not every shop lets their customers know the simple format to calculate the Backup time. The calculation is quite easy and I will be sharing it with you.

The backup time of inverter battery = Battery Volt x Battery AH rating/Total watts load. So, let’s look deep into it. If one individual is using 1 ceiling fan + 1 tube light + 2 CFL simultaneously with 150 AH battery, your backup time would then be calculated as

1 fan = 75 watts

1 tube light = 40 watts

2x i5 watts CFL = 30 watts

The Total will be = 145 watts

Backup time of the 150 AH battery + 12 * 150/145

Will be equal + 12.41 hours. However, this is approximate.

My calculation here shows just approximate value because there will be some kind of energy loss when you are converting 12 battery power to 220 volts using the inverter. So that means, I can’t figure out the exact power use for a ceiling fan because it has speed adjustments dimmer switch.

Why Inverter is Showing Overload

Now, here’s something you need to know, Inverter if not pay attention to can lead to the phenomenon of overload. What is overload? Overload can simply be defined as a cell failure that is initiated by the delithiation of the inverter cathode. By so doing, triggering a spontaneous exothermic decomposition of the materials (cathode).

What exactly causes Inverter Overload? Here are two major things that cause inverter Overload;

• The Power has reached its peak: although the inverter power can withstand two 2x the peak power. In some peak periods of time, monitors, televisions and other appliances when they start the power. The peak power might be exceeding the peak output of the power converter. Now this will lead to inverter overload for your inverter.
• When the inverter is driven simultaneously multiple appliances when the overload phenomenon also occurs to disconnect.

These are the two major cases that will cause an inverter overload.

How to Reset Inverter Overload

I have stated two major factors that cause Inverter overload above, so now what can you do when your inverter overload? Well, the simple truth is there is nothing you can do if you are not experienced with the whole state or heat. Once you notice that your Inverter overloads, only your inverter installer can solve it. That means you need to call your Inverter installer to solve the problem.

Why should I call my installer? Well, if you want the issue to the solved, your installer needs to be there. It is very necessary to require the installation, making sure that the AC output only supplies devices consuming the total power. Because that will exceed the power rating of your inverter.

Can Inverter Trip

If you have noticed your inverter tripping off frequently, or maybe reducing power on over-voltage, then you should know that there’s a cause or reason to that. According to Australian Standards; an inverter must immediately disconnect from the grip or it trips. If your AC voltage is over any 10 minutes exceeds 255V or the voltage at any time exceeds 258V. So that means if your inverter trips, then it has not complied with one or both of the standards stated.

Most times the inverter doesn’t disconnect but goes into a power reduction mode. And this happens or takes place when the isn’t high enough to trip off the inverter.

Can Inverter Carry Fridge/Freezer

This is a question everyone would ask before getting an inverter. Now, here’s your answer. An inverter is an electrical device that converts DC battery into 120-volt AC household power. By so doing, it enables appliances such as Fridge or Freezer to run. These electrical devices known as Inverter are available in different capabilities and some of them are powerful enough to operate your fridge.

However, before making up your mind to purchase an inverter, you need to know the size of an inverter that you would need and also how much battery capacity it requires. This is very important because most inverters are smaller than some.

Our recommended inverter for fridge

Can We Use Inverter for Computer?

The answer is Yes. It is safe to run a computer on inverter power as long as you are providing enough current and voltages. Also, the inverter you have or getting should be capable of supporting the load that is produced by the computer.

In most cases, low power rated inverters will shut down completely or simply trip. And this happens if the output load requirements are more than the rated capacity. For the computer that s using 650W power supply, an inverter of 650W or more than is recommended. What I am trying to get at is, the inverter you buy or use will determine if it can carry a computer or not.

Can Inverter Carry Iron

Inverters are electrical equipment that generates electricity to power just almost anything, however, it depends on the capacity. These devices run on batteries that range from 150amps to 1000amps and they function almost like your regular computer back up UPS. So that means, they have to be charged via NEPA or direct source like a generator. Now back to the question.

The inverter size you have determines the appliances it can carry. The 3.5kva -5kva can carry electric irons but would deplete back power if it is not sufficient enough. Now, inverters of 1.5KVA can only carry regular electrical home appliances such as fans, TV sets, Bulbs, computers, Home Theatre, and others. This 1.5KVA inverter doesn’t carry Fridges, Irons, Ac’s Electric Kettle, washing machine, etc. Here’s something electricians do when installing inverters, they mostly discount the AC’s, etc., so you don’t have to do that yourself because you might forget to do that.

Can Inverter Power Air Conditioners?

Yes, it is very much possible to operate a small air conditioner in the 5000 – 9000 BTU range with a higher-powered inverter and battery. The inverter and battery capacity matters a lot. If you wish to use an Air Conditioner with your inverter, then select an inverter and battery combination that takes into account the start upsurge that is required by the conditioner.

As I have mentioned earlier, the inverter size and battery capacity you get are very important and it determines whether your Air Conditioner will be carried or not. Consult your electrician before going ahead to get your inverter.

Our recommended inverter for Air Conditioners

Can Inverter Run Water Pump

This question has a Yes and No. Why? Well, that is because not every inverter can carry a water pump. That is why the inverter size and battery capacity that you are using have a great role to play in making it possible or not. If your inverter battery capacity is not high enough, the inverter will go off once the water pump is on.

Then on the other hand, if the battery capacity is good enough, it will pump, but will quite take a little time to start. So before making a purchase, consult your electrician to get better information on the size of the inverter and battery to get if you wish to use it on your water pump.  Appliances with induction motors may require from 3 to 7 times the listed wattage when starting. The start-up load of the water pump determines whether an inverter has the capability to power it. Be sure to check the specific wattage requirements and operating instructions

feel free to look through our shop for some amazing deals on inverters, we install and are available to give a free quote and recommendation.

we recommend solar water pumps. the inverter would do just fine depending on the horsepower of the water pump for smaller horsepowers.

Our recommended inverter for water pump for water pump