Anyone selling an inverter advertised as 98% efficient is blatantly lying. You could hope for 94% at max load, with an industrial version that runs on high voltage DC (eg. 48 volt for a 2000 watt inverter). And it isn't cheap.
DC -> DC buck regulators are completely different from inverters. A modern inverter uses a boost stage using high frequency AC which is somewhat like a DC -> DC boost converter. The second part uses rectifiers and PWM to generate a sine wave. A DC-DC buck regulator does use PWM but the driver circuit is so different that I'm not sure it is fair to compare the two.
The Cahora Bassa hydro plant on the Zambezi river in Tete province produces 2,075 megawatts (MW), most of which is exported to neighboring South Africa via a 1,400 kilometer (km) high-voltage DC transmission line. The Cahora Bassa reservoir is also Africa’s fourth largest artificial lake.
The HVDC transmission system is jointly owned by Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa in Mozambique and Eskom in South Africa. It is made up of two parallel lines that stretch from the Songo converter station in Mozambique to the Apollo station near Johannesburg. About two thirds of the line’s total length is within Mozambique.
It was the issue of conversion actually. AC is also a lot easier to generate with generators having less components and being more reliable.
I agree with Gnome. Anyone who says their inverters are 98% efficient is lying. A modern transformer has a typical efficiency of 90%. The really good ones are 95% at most and cost a fortune.
No they are not. There's a huge amount of equipment in use that still use simple regulators as it's cheap. Only some computerised equipment use SMPS's and even then you'll see the final output stage usually consisting of a regulator.
Only if you're transmitting over a longer distance.
The voltage drop isn't nearly as high. The backbone for transmission of AC also sees a lot of power loss.
A car runs on 12V but draws a lot of power. Not the same situation. Most appliances use only a few amps at most and there are more of these than you think. The situation in the country is fast becoming one where we are going to have to cut down on high voltage appliances. Fluorescent lighting to replace incandescent was only the first step. Following that was solar geysers with heat pumps as a backup.
No you don't. If most houses are equipped with DC to run the lighting system it's just a matter of time before the manufacturers start producing appliances with dual inputs for AC and for DC that bypasses the transformer and main regulator stages.
Manufacturers will only ramp up when most houses are equipped with DC. We can expect it to happen within a year or two of such time and 5 years for most appliances like computers, TVs and stereos to be DC equipped. It would therefor be up to people to equip their houses with DC before then, which will be useful for lighting purposes and the coming blackouts will be a perfect opportunity for doing that. The main problem is going to be a standard voltage. Most appliances convert AC to voltages like 6V, 12V, and 24V. 24V (two car batteries) is therefor a good choice to push into the market. The other problem is a new socket so that people don't accidentally connect a DC appliance to an AC socket. Something like the American flat two prong would be ideal but perhaps we can also use a standard cigarette lighter plug.
Have you read the rest of the comments in this thread?
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