Choosing industrial power inverters is something that shouldn’t be done lightly or in a hurry. You may instinctively look for modular inverters that are compact in size, and fit into most spaces.
While space is important, there are various other technical factors that you have to consider. This is because they affect your choice, especially if you are looking for something in higher power ranges.
1. Watts
The most important factor is the wattage, or how much power your equipment supplies when switched on. Remember, it isn’t ‘watts per hour or day’.
Anything that uses 100 watts is just the voltage multiplied by amps. So it doesn’t matter whether it draws 10 amps at 12 volts or 1 amp at 120 volts, it is still 120 watts.
2. Watt-hours
This is next in time and indicates how many watts multiplied by the number of hours it’s used. So if a light that’s on for 10 hours, and uses 120 watts, it is 1200 watt-hours. The power you buy from utilities is shown in per kWh, where kWh is kilowatt-hour or 1000 watts an hour or 1 watt for 1000 hours.
3. Amps
Amps measure the amount of electrical current at the moment. It is important because it determines the size of the wire to be used for the inverter’s DC side. It is not read as ‘amps per hour or day’.
Heat is produced when amps flow through the wire because all wires offer resistance. This is why really small wires for the amps get really hot. This leads to a drop in voltage, which is not a good sign.
4. Amp-hours
Amp-hours or AH is the main defining unit of battery capacity. It is measured by multiplying amps x time. Batteries power most inverters, and AH determines how long it runs.
