Why is it Important to Know the Technical Details of Your Inverter & Battery?

Before you go online or at a dealer to buy an inverter (and battery), it is imperative that you have a good idea about your power requirements. It is extremely helpful to have an approximate value of the power consumed by those electrical devices that you want to use with the inverter. Buying an inverter whose power rating far exceeds your power requirements would unnecessarily waste your money and will also consume more power for operations. If it's less than your power requirements, then obviously you have to decrease the number of electrical devices that you want to run or have to find a new one again.

Suppose, you now have an approximate value of the power that you need for your electrical devices. Is it enough to buy a new inverter (or battery)? Not by a long shot! There are three important numbers related to power rating that you must check before making the buying decision: real power, apparent power, and power factor. Real power, expressed in watts, is the power actually available to a connected load. Apparent power, expressed in volt amps (VA), is simply the product of voltage and current. For a DC source or an AC source with resistive load only, the watt and VA values are equal. But, for an AC source with inductive loads (commonly found in electrical devices), watt and VA values could show considerable variation due to the natural variances observed in voltage and current cycles.

This difference in watt and VA values is expressed in the form of a ratio known as power factor. It is calculated by dividing the watt value with the VA value. A unity power factor, thus, shows that the VA value is equal to the watt value. These numbers are important because most companies will only give you the VA value of their inverters. But, most electrical devices in your house have power rating mentioned in watts. Hence, to convert the inverter's VA value to the watt equivalent, you must know the power factor. Otherwise, you might end up with a product that would not meet your power requirements.

Let's discuss the importance of these numbers with the help of an example. Suppose, you have a power requirement of 850 VA (or, 850 Watts for power factor=1) and the inverter you have chosen has rating of 1100 VA. Now, you might think that this inverter is more than sufficient for your needs. But, you have forgotten to calculate the watt value for the inverter. If the power factor is 0.7, then its watt value is only 770, which is less than the 850 watts you need. Hence, always ensure that you check all these numbers before buying.

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