All About DC-AC Power Inverters

Not having easy access to 240V power is one of the biggest drawback of being away from home. We do tend to rely on it for things ike charging laptops and phones, and running things like fans and fridges. When there’s no 240V plugs where you are, a 12-240V power inverter will be indispensable.

Modified Sine Wave Inverter

Modified sine wave power inverters are popular because of their price. They are normally cheaper than a Pure Sine Wave Inverter. Their biggest drawback is the type of power that the produce. Due to the square-shaped power curve, they can run some things like lights or fans, but should never be used for running things like phones, laptops, microwaves or TVs.

Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Pure sine wave inverters give a proper wave form for AC power, and this lets you charge sensitive items like laptops and phones. A lot of the time, the 240V output of a pure sine wave inverter is cleaner and more accurate than the power out of a 240V socket in your home. They are more expensive, but they are worth it for the majority of cases because they can be used to power just about anything.

So what’s the best power inverter?

For us, we’d only ever buy a pure sine wave power inverter. They can be used for any purpose, and are coming down in price to make them more inline with modified sine wave inverters.

The biggest thing that you need to choose is the output capacity. Power inverters can come with outputs of anywhere between 100 watts to 6000 watts.

Keep in mind that the higher the wattage, the higher the current draw so you’ll drain your battery faster! Inverters draw power from your battery even when they are not in use, so turn them off any time you’re not using them.

Batteries for power inverters

It’s important to consider the battery (or batteries) that you use with your inverters. Current draw is the biggest factor that you’ll need to know.

Different types of batteries can sustain different current draws. As am example, AGM batteries have a maximum current draw of 30% of their capacity, gel batteries can handle 25% and flooded cell batteries can normally only handle 10%.

Working this out, if you’re using a gel battery that’s rated at 90 amp/hours, the maximum current draw will be 22.5 amps (90 x 25%), so your inverter should not draw any more than 22.5 amps.