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Home Appliances

Home Inverters :How to Select the Right Inverter for

your House
95
rate or flag
By ksetu

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Selecting the right inverter for your home has become a tough task these days. There are so many
terms we need to understand - 800VA/ 1000VA, Tubular Batteries/ Flat Batteries, Half Load/ Full
Load and the list goes on. And on top of all these, availability of multiple power back up solutions
and misleading information provided by sellers have further added to buyers woes. So I did some
research and study before buying an inverter for my home and I'm sharing the details of same so
that you don't have to go through the same problems while buying an inverter.

So What do You Need - UPS or Inverter?

This is one of the basic confusion people face, so let me start with answering this first. UPS and
Inverter are words used interchangeably though there are not exactly same. UPS (Uninterrupted
Power Supply) is just a system which allows INSTANT switchover to the power back-up source in

case of a power failure. The power back-up source can be a battery or something else. Whereas an
Inverter is a system which converts direct current to alternate current hence enables using a battery
for backing up equipments running on AC power supply. Inverter uses a battery to provide power
back-up. Computer UPS comes with in-built battery which works as back-up power source and can
provide back-up for 15min. to 30 min. So if that much of back-up is sufficient for you, you should be
fine with buying just a UPS for your need. But Inverter comes with more powerful battery and can
provide support for electrical equipments, computers, home appliances etc. and also gives more
hours of back-up. Most of the inverters come with in-built UPS which ensures that power failure
doesn't cause fluctuation and your system switches instantly to Inverter's Power Back up battery.

What Capacity of Inverter is Good for Your Home?

Once you are sure that you are looking for an Inverter, it's important to calculate the capacity of
Inverter that will suit your requirement. Following table will give you brief idea about the power
consumed by various equipments.
Tubelight - 60W
Fan - 70W
Television - 120W
Laptop - 100W
CFL - 25W
Modem - 50W
Now you are in a position to understand as what capacity inverter do you need and I'll let you do that
in 3 simple steps -

1. Calculating your power need

Now I'll explain you how to use above table to calculate the right capacity Inverter for your need.
Let's say you need Inverter to run 2 Tube lights, 3 Fans, 1TV and 1 Laptop. As per the table above,
you'll need a total power of 550W(=2X60 + 3X70 + 1X120 + 1X100) to support all of your
equipments at the same time.
Your Total Power Need = 550W

2. Calculating required inverter's capacity

Now that you know how much power is required, it's easy to get the VA rating of inverter. In ideal
condition, the VA rating would have been same as the power need i.e. 550VA. But in practical

conditions, the power factor of Inverter is less than 1 hence power supplied by 550VA Inverter won't
be 550W but lesser than that. Assuming power factor of Inverter to be 0.7, following are the details of
calculation Required VA of Inverter X 0.7 = 550W
Required VA of Inverter = 550/0.7 = 786 VA
Now luckily we have inverters available in the market with 800VA capacity, so such inverters will fit
into my requirement.

3. Calculating battery capacity

Till now, you will have clear understanding of the Inverter capacity required for your need. But the
next question is that how much back up will the inverter provide and for how many hours you can run
all of your equipments. And that's where battery capacity comes into picture. It's the battery which
determines the back-up hours. The higher capacity battery you have, the more back-up hours you'll
get. So lets get into the calculation fast.
Required power(in Wattage) X Required back-up hours(in Hours) = Inverter Voltage(in Voltage) X
Battery Capacity (in Ampere Hours)
Let's look for an Inverter which can give back-up of up to 3 hours, so for our case 550W X 3Hours = 12V X Battery Capacity
Battery Capacity = (550 X 3)/12 = 137 Ampere Hours
So we need a battery of 137AH capacity but if you check the market you'll find batteries of 130AH
capacity. So that should be more or less sufficient for your need.

Conclusion
Finally, we have come to the conclusion that if we go for 800VA Inverter with 130AH battery, I can
run 2 Tube lights, 3 Fans, 1 TV and 1 Laptop for up to 3 hours. And by the end of this article you
don't need to rely on sellers for understanding your need as you can do the calculations yourself in
just 3 simple steps. Hope this article helps you in some way in making the right decisions. Let me
know if you need any other inputs.

Planning the Needs - First & foremost step to select the appliances that should be
connected to the inverter. Typically this consists of light, fan & any other device that you feel
is important. As you keep adding the list of appliance the cost increases because you'll need

so much additional power to be supplied through battery. There're 3 easy steps to calculate
your needs
1. Calculating the Power - Identify the appliances that needs to be working using inverter.
Let's take 2 tube lights & 2 fans; their power consumption, expressed in watts should be
mentioned on the appliance. Ideally a 4 feet tuber light consumes 40W & a 48" fan
consumes about 80W. In addition I'd also use a computer that consumes 250W, so in this
case the total will be 2 X 40 + 2 X 80 + 250 = 490W; round it to 500W
2. Calculate Inverter Capacity - The inverter's capacity is measured in terms of VA
(200VA, 400VA, 800 VA etc) & on ideal world, the output of inverter is equal to the VA
capacity, however it isn't the case practically speaking. Typically the VA is about 0.7 to 0.8,
so the required capacity of battery is 500W (obtained from above)/0.7 = 714VA
3. Battery Capacity - The above calculation only says how much of power is required, but
we will need that much power for X many number of hours to run our equipments. Its the
battery that determines the back-up hours which is expressed in Ampere Hours (AH). Let's
say we need the appliances to be working for about 6 hours, then the calculation would be,
(500W X 6 Hours)/12V (battery is usually 12V) = 250 AH
So we will need a 714VA battery with 250AH to meet our needs. However, market doesn't
have this type of battery made or customized for us, so we'll have to choose two sets of
batteries like 500VA 150Ah & 300VA 90Ah (Eg - .: EXIDE :. APPLICATION & PRODUCTS
STAND BY)

Battery effiiciency has nothing to do with that. It only matters while charging. However,
inverter efficiency does. Also, very important factor is the depth of discharge because you
won't discharge your battery 100%. So, it should be:
Backup Time = Battery AH x V x N x Depth of Discharge x Inverter Efficiency (including
wiring)/ Load in Watts
For example, I have 8 6V batteries rated 673AH and I want to run a 3kW and discharge
battery to 50%
Backup Time = 673 x 6 x 8 x 0.5 x 0.85 / 3000 = 4.6 hr
Once I calculated this, I notice that 673AH is a 20-hr rating, but I'm discharging to 50% in
5-hr. So, my usage more resembles 10-hr full discharge. So, I go back to the spec sheet
and lookup up 10-hr rate, which is 604AH. I go back and re-calculate:
Backup Time = 604 x 6 x 8 x 0.5 x 0.85 / 3000 = 4.1 hr
Battery capacity depends on temperature and also falls as batteries age. So, I want to
derate battery capacity to account for these factors. I do
604 x 0.8 = 483AH
Now I'm ready for the final calculation

Backup Time = 483 x 6 x 8 x 0.5 x 0.85 / 3000 = 3.3 hr

inverter and battery selection

HI friends !!
Summer is on the way and now we hurry in installing inverter in our houses but before installing it please
read this so that it may be helpful to you.

HOW TO CALCULATE THE RATING OF INVERTER AND

BATTERY
Step1:
Calculate the total power to be run on the inverter. Note that the running power is indicated on the
appliances but the starting power is more than the indicated power up to 20-30% for small appliances and
70-80% for heavy loads like refrigerator, CRT television sets which lasts for few milliseconds so while
calculating the total power add the extra power i.e., starting power.
Basic Wattage of house hold appliances:

Fan
CFL
Computer
Laptop
Refrigerator
Tube light

50-75W
18-25W
100-150W
50-75W
160-250W
40-55W

Step 2:
Make the difference between VA and Watts. Some inverters are indicated in watts and some are indicated
with VA rating which is a trick played by the companies. The companies which are indicating the power in
watts mostly doesnt mention about the efficiency of the inverter.
Now let us know the outline difference between VA and Watts. Watts indicate the real power
and VA indicate the apparent power. In general power generating and stabilizing equipment use VA rating
and power consuming products use Watts for power rating. Watts is the real power supplied or drawn by
the equipment.
Power in Watts = Power in VA - Losses
(OR)
Power in Watts = Power in VA x Efficiency of the equipment
The ratio of power in watts to the power in VA is termed as power factor
I suggest that if the rating (Watts or VA ) is not specified on the equipment please dont buy it

Step 3:
Inverter or home UPS which one to buy??????

Let us see the outline difference Home Ups and inverter. The main vital difference is the switching delay.
When the main power is off the backup power switching delay for the inverter is 100-500milliseconds and
for the UPS the switching delay is 3-5 milliseconds. The switching delay of the inverter is not
recommended for electronic equipment like modems, routers, printers etc but the switching delay of the
home UPS can uninterruptedly run this electronic equipment also.
Step 4:
In todays market we can get three types of inverters for household use:
(a) Square wave
(b) Stepped square wave inverters
(c) Pure sine wave
Digital inverters came into existence with higher efficiency which uses micro-controllers for monitoring and
controlling
In the above three inverters going for pure sine wave inerter is best choice but the cost would
be slightly higher than the other two inverters. In case if you want to go for less cost then choose stepped
square wave inverters. Actually the appliances we use daily are designed for the sine wave input but
when the input is stepped square wave or square wave the appliances get heated which in turn
decreases the life time of the appliance. The square wave will show more effect on the appliances than
the stepped square wave.
Step 5:
Batteries:
Choosing the correct rating of the batteries is one of the most vital thing for getting a good
back-up time
NOTE: DO NOT USE AUTOMOTIVE BATTERIES. They are high cycle batteries so they can be
dangerous. High Cycle Batteries are designed for the discharge of high current for very short duration
and they cannot be discharged more than 25% of their capacity

Deep Cycle Batteries are commonly used for common applications which can discharge from 50-80% of
their capacity. These deep cycle batteries are of two types for house hold
(a)Maintenance free
(b) Tubular batteries
(a) Maintenance free batteries are the flat plate batteries which cost more than the normal lead-acid
batteries. The maximum life of this type of battery is 2-3 years. This battery should be used only where a
person is unable to do maintenance.
(b) Tubular batteries are more complex in design and more efficient and cost more than the flat plate
batteries. Choosing a good company battery is a good choice.
The batteries are available in ratings varying from 100-180 AH (100,150,180)
Many companies recommend 12V batteries but as renewable sources like solar panels will come into
existence in houses in a short period of time go for 24V batteries because solar panels are designed for
24V 48V when solar panels are installed no need of changing anything we can directly connect to the
existing system.
NOTE: Do not go for the local made batteries or the batteries given by the inverter company make a right
decision by seeing the rating, company of the battery only go for branded batteries which are popular in
market like EXIDE, AMARON etc
Warranty/Guarantee of the equipment i.e., Battery and inverter:
Note the difference between warranty and guarantee. Service and repair but not replacement at any cost
comes under warranty. Replacement of the product if there is any fault comes under guarantee. Some
companies offer only warranty and some offer both warranty and guarantee in combination so for it.
CALCULATIONS:
Battery backup time (Hrs) = [Battery voltage (V) x Battery capacity (AH) x Efficiency of inverter]/ [load (watts)]

Example:
Battery voltage (V)
= 24V
Battery capacity (AH) = 150AH
Load (watts or VA if efficiency is given on the equipment)= 2 lamps of 40W each and one fan 75 watts

=(2*40)+75=155
Starting power
=155W*starting power=(155*0.25)=38.75
Total power
=155+38.75=198.75

Inverter efficiency (generally 85%) =0.85

If the efficiency is not indicated on the inverter take efficiency as 60% because most local made
inverters are of 60% eff. Only
Backup time(Hrs)=[(24*150*0.85)/(198.75)]=15.3Hrs
But in practical the backup time maybe 10-30% less because of the surrounding temperature of
the batteries and the load duration
If the battery is drained for a long time on full load the efficiency of the battery will deplete
Safety for user:
Earth leakage protection is must for home ups and inverter as there will be earth leakage if there is no
earth leakage protection in the circuit we should arrange an ELCB generally rating of 30mA to safeguard
the users from electrical shock
Voltage stabilizer which has high/low cut off should be used. If this stabilization is not inbuilt in the
inverter then for high rating equipment like refrigerator stabilizer should be used to protect the appliance
from voltage fluctuations.
Battery capacity:
A 100Ah battery can supply 100A for one hour, 50A for 2hours, and 25A for 4 Hours by this we can
understand that duration of the backup ascends or descends based upon the current drawn. If we
increase the capacity of the battery the backup is increased.
I will provide a MS Excel spread sheet for calculation of the inverter and battery rating and backup time of
the battery in a short period of time where we can add the appliances we run on the inverter
Hope this would help you

Formula to Calculate the Back-up Time of Inverter Battery

Back up Time of Inverter Battery = Battery Volt x Battery AH rating / Total
watts on Load
___________________________
So,
If a Person use 1 ceiling Fan + 1 Tube Light + 2 (15watts) CFL simultaneously
with 150 AH battery, then the backup time will be calculated as
1 ceiling Fan = 75 watts
1 Tube light = 40 watts
2x 15watts CFL= 30 watts

Total = 145 watts

Back-up time of 150 AH Battery = 12 * 150 / 145
= 12.41 hours (approximately)
This is Not Accurate Why?
This calculation shows only approximate value because there will be some loss
of energy when converting 12 v battery power to 220 volts through inverter.
Moreover, we cannot figure out the exact power consumption of ceiling fan, as it
has speed adjustment dimmer switch. The power consumption will be low when
the fan runs at slow speed.
Note :( Power consumption of old fans with big sized Regulator remains same
at all speed points)