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Few disruptions like power outages are no questions but are universal frustrations. Whether you’re in the midst of a meeting call or simply enjoying downtime, sudden power outages can ruin your plans. You can ensure that your home remains powered even when the grid fails. But how? An inverter is a device that inverts electricity from one source to another so that your gadgets can work properly, even during a power outage. This comprehensive guide will help you select the right inverter capacity for your home. Before diving into the intrinsic details of the inverter, it’s important to understand the fundamentals.

What is an Inverter? Why is it Important?

An inverter is an electronic device that acts as a bridge between stored energy in the battery and the electricity required to power the household appliances when there is a sudden disruption, like a power outage. Here’s how it works: While the primary power supply is available, the role of the inverter is to store this available energy for later use. When a power outage occurs, it converts stored Direct Current (DC) energy from the battery into Alternating Current (AC) electricity. This AC is what is required for your appliances to operate effectively. In simple terms, an inverter ensures that your appliances can function smoothly by providing uninterrupted electricity even when the power grid is down.

How to Determine the Inverter Capacity?

Choosing the inverter capacity should be a well-thought-out decision. You can’t just pick the one with the highest rating or the best price. Inverter size, commonly referred to as an inverter capacity, ensures the amount of power to be delivered at any given time, making it an essential factor in choosing the suitable unit for your home use. The two most important aspects of inverter size are continuous power rating and maximum power.

• Continuous power rating or continuous rating indicates the maximum power the inverter can provide without experiencing a drop in performance or overheating over an extended period of time.
• Maximum power, commonly referred to as surge power or peak power, reflects the inverter’s ability to supply peak power above its continuous rating for a short period of time.

What is the Right Inverter Capacity Required for Home Use?

Well, it depends on your home’s power requirements during the power outage. Here are the 3 steps to determine the right inverter capacity for your home.

Step 1: Calculate Your Total Power Requirements

The first step is to calculate your total power requirements, which is the sum of the appliances’ voltages. This involves listing all the appliances and devices you intend to power. Consider all the essential items like lights, fans, and refrigerators, as well as non-essential items like computers and televisions.

Step 2: Choose Inverter Efficiency

Now, consider the inverter efficiency to calculate the voltage and current rating of the inverter your home needs. In India, the ideal inverter efficiency ranges from 60% to 80%, and the total power requirement is divided by the power factor of the appliances. This will give you the ideal inverter size right for your home.

Step 3: Calculate Inverter Battery Capacity

Now, when buying an inverter, you also need an inverter battery. Below is the formula required to calculate the inverter battery capacity. Inverter Battery Capacity = (Total Power Requirement) X (Backup Hours – Duration of power cut/ duration you need the inverter battery to supply power) / (Battery Voltage in Volts (12V)) Besides, specific safety measures must be considered to handle unexpected situations like an increase in power demand or the possibility of adding more appliances to the system. A 10-20% safety margin is typically recommended. For example, if your total load is 1200 watts, then you should consider an inverter size of 2400 watts.

Practical Example of Selecting an Inverter Size

Let’s consider an example to illustrate the process of finding the right inverter size needed to run a house. Suppose you have the following appliances with indicated power,

• Laptop – 85W
• 4 Fans – 300W
• 3 Tube lights – 200W

Note: You can find this information on the label of the appliance. If the rating is given in amps and volts, use this formula to calculate the watts: Power (W) = Voltage (V) X Current (A) To determine this, add continuous power requirements of the appliances that you intend to power, Total continuous power, = 85 watts + 300 watts + 200 watts = 585 watts (0.585 KW) Now divide the power requirement by 0.9 (power factor) = 585 watts/0.9 = 650 VA This is the ideal inverter right for your home. Now, here is how you calculate the inverter battery capacity, = (585 watts x 2 backup hours) / (12 volts) = 97.5 Ah This is the ideal inverter battery capacity for your home. This is all you need to find the right inverter size for your home use. The essentials are understanding the continuous power ratings and surge power and calculating the total power requirements.

If you are still looking for the right inverter size for your home, check out our microinverters that are designed for maximum energy output for residential or commercial solar installations.