Does a UPS or Inverter increase electricity bill?

waldo17504

waldo17504

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Hi I am thinking on buying a inverter or a UPS which is better? Which one does not increase the electricity bill that much?
 
It does as it needs to charge the batteries. But when there is no loadshedding it uses very little to keep the batteries at float charge.

So I would say it is not so much the inverter, but how much you use the batteries. The one with Solar panels and solar charger wins.
 

Mecer 2400VA Inverter (Community Support)

This Thread is for the Mecer Inverter only. My personal opinion on the unit: Seeing that there are lots of question and in lots if threads, here is my review/input on the Mecer Inverter. Instead of reposting I'll just reference here. I'll add more info soon. This should give you an idea what...
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za
 
Thanks for the reply, maybe I will buy myself a Inverter soon
 
My budget is around 2000 to 4000 so maybe I could get a inverter with a battery combo for that price, I saw one on Pclinkshop.co.za that was going for around R4500

pclinkshop.co.za

Daily Deals :: Mecer 1200VA Inverter and Charger + 100AH Battery DIY Kit

Please note - an additional charge of R400 shipping applies owing to the weight of the battery Mecer has been one of South Africa s top-selling PCs over the past two decades Mustek s ongoing interaction within the international IT industry has ensured that Mecer has remained a techno-leader at the
pclinkshop.co.za pclinkshop.co.za
 
It will only use electricity to really charge the batteries back up, after that it will be fine. It doesn't really increase the power consumption that much, unless your batteries are toast.
 
waldo17504 said:
My budget is around 2000 to 4000 so maybe I could get a inverter with a battery combo for that price, I saw one on Pclinkshop.co.za that was going for around R4500

pclinkshop.co.za

Daily Deals :: Mecer 1200VA Inverter and Charger + 100AH Battery DIY Kit

Please note - an additional charge of R400 shipping applies owing to the weight of the battery Mecer has been one of South Africa s top-selling PCs over the past two decades Mustek s ongoing interaction within the international IT industry has ensured that Mecer has remained a techno-leader at the
pclinkshop.co.za pclinkshop.co.za
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Yeah, check the mecer thread I linked above.

Also check Geewiz
 
Also don't forget that most of us w/out proper off grid/solar solutions have our most power intensive appliances (geyser/fridge/ kettle) not using elec during LS, so in fact our bills could even reduce overall...
 
Yes it does.
Irrespective of the state of the battery.

To charge the battery off mains your machine has to convert 240 VAC to 12/24/48 VDC. That is never 100% efficient. Cheaper domestic UPSs are at best 90-95% efficient for AC to DC conversion, so you lose 5-10%.

To convert battery DC back to AC (which is what an inverter does) is also not 100% efficient. Typical consumer inverters are 85-90% efficient, so you lose another 10-15% converting DC to AC.
 
The electricity you use to charge the batteries and keep them charged will be far less than the amount of electricity you would have used had there not been loadshedding. You will be using way less electricity when there is loadshedding, regardless of whether or not you are charging batteries inbetween loadshedding events.
 
deweyzeph said:
The electricity you use to charge the batteries and keep them charged will be far less than the amount of electricity you would have used had there not been loadshedding. You will be using way less electricity when there is loadshedding, regardless of whether or not you are charging batteries inbetween loadshedding events.
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Basically you're partially shifting the load.
 
No, it won't, unless an extra 0.0xx kWh has a devastating effect on your affordability, in which case you have far more bigger issues to deal with.
 
Think about it this way. When there is loadshedding your entire house is off for 2.5 or 4 hours. That's electricity that you've now saved that was going to run your geyser, your fridge, maybe your washing machine, dishwasher etc. When you have loadshedding every day that's a lot of electricity you're saving. I haven't done the calculations, but my rough guess is that there is no way that charging your batteries is going to come even close to the amount of electricity you're not paying for due to loadshedding. Therefore you are in no worse a position, cost-wise, than you would have been had there been no loadshedding and no batteries charging.
 
Thanks you helped me alot, because yesterday we had loadshedding from 20:00pm to 22:00pm and then we had loadshedding today I think from 10:00am to 12:00pm and I am in grade 10 with a online homeschoolling program and I need something to keep my pc and router on untill I finish my work. So maybe a inverter could do that for me.
 
waldo17504 said:
Thanks you helped me alot, because yesterday we had loadshedding from 20:00pm to 22:00pm and then we had loadshedding today I think from 10:00am to 12:00pm and I am in grade 10 with a online homeschoolling program and I need something to keep my pc and router on untill I finish my work. So maybe a inverter could do that for me.
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For that the 1440va would be fine, so it should save a little on your pocket.
 
Some of the best money we have spent at our house, I would recommend an inverter and batteries to anyone but do your research before hand.
 
Neuk_ said:
Some of the best money we have spent at our house, I would recommend an inverter and batteries to anyone but do your research before hand.
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Agreed, even though mine is small fry compared to yours. Though I've also got the little genny and the medium genny as backups :-)
 
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