Feb 03, 2014 11:56 PM
77741 Views
(Updated Feb 04, 2014 12:46 AM)
After a lot of analysis and reading through online reviews, comparisions, I finally zeroed on my Inverter purchase. I wanted to shared my experience and add to the review pool as a way of thanking all the previous reviewers. I realize reviews definitely help in making decisions.
For home use, only go for "pure sine wave" Inverter
To ensure that your electrical appliances stay protected, it is better to only choose an Inverter that generates a "Pure Sine Wave" output. Pure Sine Wave Inverter may cost a bit more than say a "digital sine wave" or a "square wave", but the additional investment is definitely worth it.
Stick to reputed Brands
It is better to stick to reputed brands than going for locally made ones for the following reasons:
You can expect better design of the electric/electronic circuit in the Inverter which will ensure a proper sine wave. Bigger companies can be expected to invest more in R&D than local ones, so you can expect the Inverter design to be better than locally designed ones.
Better designed Inverters will charge the battery in the right way without either undercharging or overcharging. This can lead to premature battery life.
Choice of Battery
There are several kinds of batteries to choose from:
SMF Battery: Sealed Maintenance Free battery: This battery may have a shorter life as its charge/discharge profile is not designed for Inverter requirements.
Flat plate battery: This battery is better than SMF but not ideally suitable for Inverter use as its life can shorten due to deep discharge cycle that can happen in Inverter use.
Tubular Battery: This is the best battery that is ideally suited for Inverter use. It has longer life and is rugged enough to undergo deep discharge/charge cycles.
Inverter capacity
The next big question is what should be the ideal capacity of the Inverter for home use? Obviously requirements vary depending on the number of electrical appliances that need to run in the house during a power failure.
I had considered an Inverter capacity of 850VA initially. 850VA can support upto 500 Watt total load during power cut. Just to give an example 850VA can support For EG: 5 100Watt bulbs simultaneously or upto 12 tube lights(12 X 40 Watts= 480 Watts) or basically the sum of the watts of the individual electric appliance cannot exceed about 500 Watts for a 850VA Inverter.
I had also considered a bigger capacity Inverter 1500VA which can support a total load of 900 Watts which I felt is good to have additional load capacity(almost double than that of 850 VA)
Finally I went for an 850VA Inverter for the following reasons:
850 VA Inverter needs just one 12Volt battery whereas 1500VA Inverter needs 24volt input or needs two Batteries.
Tubular batteries(my choice of battery) are very heavy(about 50 to 60 KG each). Most manufacturers have a trolley for single Tubular battery(ie., 850 VA configuration) but don't have Trolleys for two tubular batteries together. This can become very heavy unless you get custom made metal trolleys which may occupy a lot of space as well. There are modular trolleys but this setup is very bulky if you are planning to have the inverter inside the house.
For a place like Bangalore where the power cuts are not so frequent, an 850 VA Inverter should be sufficient for most small families.
The 1500 VA Inverter is relatively more noisy compared to 850 VA.
Also Tubular batteries are expensive(10 to 15 K at present), in the long run it will be cost effective to replace one battery for an 850VA inverter rather than two for 1500 VA Inverter. So unless you really need a 1500VA(unlikely in the majority of cases for small home needs) 850VA is good enough for small home use.
Brands to choose from
There are plenty of choices if one wants to go for a home Inverter. APC, Sukaam, V-Guard, Microtec, Luminous. These are some of the brands which I had considered.
I narrowed down to APC, Su-Kam and V-Guard. I believe all three are good brands. There are plenty of support related negative reviews in the web for all the brands.
After sales support is one of the biggest worries that bothers every user. I'm sure these companies are trying hard to give good service otherwise it is difficult for any of them to survive in the long run if they don't earn customer's trust and confidence.
I decided to go with APC BI850SINE-IN for the following reasons(this may vary from person to person)
I had seen few of APC Inverter installations with friends and liked the way it looks(Black, no unnecessary colours lines etc, so it looks elegant, doesn't look like a toy, finishing looks better and professional)
Ease of use, APC has load indicators(50%, 75%, 100% load indicator LEDs in the front) which is convenient to know approximately how much load the Inverter is supporting.
It has a push button reset switch in case of overloading at the back rather than a glass fuse in the other Inverters that needs to be replaced if it blows.
I didn't observe any hum in the electrical equipment. So the output sine wave quality looks good.
There is a fan in the inverter which runs and makes a little noise as it runs. The fan needs to be there to keep the equipment cool.
In the inverter mode, you can hear a slight hum in the Inverter mode. The fan noise and Inverter noice is expected and we can live with it.
- I went for the Inverter and Battery of the same manufacturer(APC). I would expect the APC Tubular battery to be designed specifically for an APC Inverter and also after sales service and maintenance to be easier that way.
Installation: Exclude AEH points and Heavy duty appliances from inverter setup
It is a fairly standard practice to only connect the Inverter to non AEH points in your home. During Installation, ensure that they do this. Geyzers are connected to AEH points so they get excluded by default but ensure that refridgerator, microwave, mixer grinder and other heavy duty appliance points are excluded from inverter setup.
