Product Recommendation - [Inverter and Battery]

In this post, we are providing at glance the products we consider to be some of the best offerings in the market in their respective categories. The products mentioned below have been put to rigorous tests, compared against the competing products from multiple brands, and have been analysed on various aspects pertaining to their intended use. For a comprehensive post on Inverters, you may read our detailed guide - https://shoppinaire.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-comprehensive-guide-to-buying-inverter.html

Inverter
For Indian residents:- Best Choice 1, My Preferred Choice, Best Choice 2, Best Choice 3, Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9, Best Choice 10, Best Choice 11, Best Choice 12 and Best Choice 13

Inverter + Battery Configuration
For Indian residents:- Best Choice 1, My Preferred Choice, Best Choice 2, Best Choice 3, Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9 and Best Choice 10

Inverter Battery
For Indian residents:- Best Choice 1, Best Choice 2, My Preferred Choice, Best Choice 3, Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9, Best Choice 10 and Best Choice 11

Note: In our constant endeavour to assist you in making an informed buying decision, we test the new launches of the products on multiple parameters, and if they stand tall in our analysis we periodically add them to the below mentioned list of our recommended products. So, if you plan to make the purchase at a later time, you may visit the links once again at the very time of buying to ensure that the purchase turns out to be a very fruitful one.

Recapitulating on the most crucial aspects of buying an Inverter -

ENERGY REQUIREMENT

• Power requirement of various appliances

This is one of the most crucial factors that heavily influences the Volt-Ampere (VA) rating one should opt an inverter with. Power requirement is the sum total of the individual power consumption of all the electronic appliances one wishes to operate on the inverter in times of outages. Typically, the most essential appliances such as few fans and lights, a refrigerator and a television are a few devices one would require running at all times.

Now, for illustration, we would keep into consideration these few devices that one would require to be in constant operation even in times of power outages and we would analyse the sum total of power consumption and correspondingly determine the VA rating one should aim to choose an inverter with -

4 Ceiling Fans - 75W x 4 = 300W

5 Fluorescent Tube - 50W x 5 = 250W

1 Double Door (3 Star Energy Rating) Refrigerator - 175W (approx.)

1 LED television (42 inches) - 75W (approx.)

Total power consumption = 300 + 250 + 175 + 75 = 800W

Now, if inverters, or any electronic appliance for that matter, operated on 100% efficiency then power supplied by the source and power consumed by the appliances would be equal. However, in reality 100% efficiency does not exist, primarily due to heat losses, and thus inverters operate on about 75–80% efficiency. An extension to the efficiency of an electrical appliance is a term called power factor and is the ratio of power required by an appliance to operate to the power supplied in the circuit.
Thus corresponding to 80% efficiency, the power factor would be approximately 0.8. The final Volt-Ampere (VA) rating one should consider buying an inverter with is found by dividing the Total Power Consumed by the Power Factor.

In our illustration, total power consumption is 800W, thus, dividing it by 0.8 would yield 1000VA. Therefore, the optimal inverter to pick for such kind of load requirement would be the one that has rating of at least 1100 VA.
Now, depending upon the requirement and usage, one can run large appliances such as air conditioners and water geysers on inverter power as well, by deciding on an inverter that has a significantly higher Volt-Ampere (VA) rating.

• Battery capacity

Battery backup is one of the pivotal aspects of owning an inverter. The time period for which a battery can provide power to the electronic appliances in absence of power outages depends on three factors - battery capacity, voltage of the battery and total power consumption.
Majority of the inverter batteries have a nominal voltage rating of 12V. Now, to illustrate, we would consider the power consumption of 800 W which we calculated before. Typically, power outages can last from about few minutes to several hours, and again, this depends highly on the locality as well. Therefore, for proceeding with the analysis, we would assume that a typical power outage lasts for approximately 4 hours.

So, to calculate what capacity of battery one would require under the given circumstances, there is a rule of thumb -

(Power consumption) x (Battery backup) / (Voltage of the battery)

i.e. (800W x 4 hours) / 12 volts = 266.67 Ampere-hours

For the considered power consumption and duration of power outage, a 266.67 Ah battery would be required, which can be easily constructed by connecting two 150 Ah batteries in parallel.
For various power consumption requirements, batteries of numerous Ampere-hour ratings are available in the market. Depending upon requirement, one may use the battery individually or connect two or more of them in parallel to increase the power backup times.

Now, having examined the several factors that assist in determining the specifications of the inverter and its battery, let us proceed to understanding the ways in which some manufacturers (names not taken) try to cut manufacturing costs in order to maximize their own profits and in turn deliver a sub-standard product to the customers, the components of which have a very short shelf life and may require frequent repairs/replacements.

COST CUTTING TECHNIQUES

• Low-grade cooling fan. As discussed previously, electronic appliances do not operate on 100% efficiency. Most appliances function at 80% efficiency, the remaining 20% is lost to heat. In case of inverters, a high quality and potent fan is required to keep the inverter circuitry from overheating and keep functioning at optimal temperature. Unfortunately, most buyers do not pay attention to the cooling fan deployed in the inverter, and this gives some manufacturers a perfect opportunity to increase their profit margin and make use of an inferior cooling fan that is very inept in keeping the temperatures within the inverter casing in permissible range. As a result, over a period of few months, the excessive heat causes the components of the inverter to malfunction and finally melt, causing the entire unit to be non-operational. Cost of repairing the inverter might range from a few hundred bucks to more than a thousand bucks and this process is recurring.

• Overstated Voltage-Ampere rating. In order to reduce manufacturing costs further, some manufacturers resort to exaggerating the VA capacity of the inverters they manufacture so as to lure innocent customers. However, obtaining near absolute power output from the inverter requires use of high quality components that have near ideal resistance and impedance, which again add to the initial cost. So, in order to keep the initial cost of the product low so as to attract buyers, those manufacturers make use of components that have higher impedance values which leads to loss of efficiency to heat. As a result of which, the inverter tends to beep continuously, displaying overload warning and trips just when the load reaches slightly higher than 65-70% of the stated Volt-Ampere rating.

For an extensive buying guide on Inverters, head over to our detailed post - https://shoppinaire.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-comprehensive-guide-to-buying-inverter.html