-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: How do you normally pay for purchases in stores?
What the $%&! is an inverter?
- Thread starter Rizzler
- Start date
konfab
Honorary Master
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
Your UPS literally is an inverter with a battery.
Cute but I'm trying to save data during load-shedding and the distributor tripping that follows. Plonker
Sinbad
Honorary Master
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2006
- Messages
- 89,066
- Reaction score
- 41,853
What's your use case?
It doesn't have batteries... you'll need at least two 12V batteries in series to use it.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
What are you looking at powering with it?
Lights should be fine, devices with a switch mode power supply aren't really phased (see what I did there) that much - PC, TV, audio systems, etc. The worst that could happen (if you are using a cheap TV, etc) is you'll hear a slight buzzing sound.
Lights should be fine, devices with a switch mode power supply aren't really phased (see what I did there) that much - PC, TV, audio systems, etc. The worst that could happen (if you are using a cheap TV, etc) is you'll hear a slight buzzing sound.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
What are you looking at powering with it?
Lights should be fine, devices with a switch mode power supply aren't really phased (see what I did there) that much - PC, TV, audio systems, etc. The worst that could happen (if you are using a cheap TV, etc) is you'll hear a slight buzzing sound.
Don't use it with any device that contains a an AC motor (eg fridge)
Lights, tv/s, wifi, internet. Same things that I'm currently running off a 1kva generator - something for those evenings when my neighbours aren't pissing me off.
PsyWulf
Honorary Master
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2006
- Messages
- 20,358
- Reaction score
- 16,003
There's a few definitions depending how technical you want to go
At base - Inverters take DC current and output AC
So you get standalone inverters
And inverter units with big batteries included (aka long-running)
And then you get the one baby size your UPS has built-in
At base - Inverters take DC current and output AC
So you get standalone inverters
And inverter units with big batteries included (aka long-running)
And then you get the one baby size your UPS has built-in
msquared
Expert Member
It's worth the money to buy a true sine inverter compared to a modified sine wave generator. Modified sine wave inverters can shorten the lifespan of electrical devices.
Sinbad
Honorary Master
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2006
- Messages
- 89,066
- Reaction score
- 41,853
It'll be fine for those. Just, as mentioned, remember you may need to buy additional batteries, and a charger, if these are not catered for by the device as sold.
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
I use these ones from Ellies to power my computers (at home and at the office).
Will keep one computer system running for up to 9 hours.
Will keep one computer system running for up to 9 hours.
TheMightyQuin
Not amused...
An inverter changes battery power into the same power as what your house uses, since the two are different.
You can buy an UPS that contains an inverter...or just buy an inverter and connect it to a battery.
battery power goes into the inverter and "house" power comes out of the inverter so your tv, radio, router can work.
TheMightyQuin
Not amused...
Pure sinewave is best. Otherwise you get a very annoying buzzing sound on your TV for instance...
How many computers do you run on it ?
Never mind you said 1 computer
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
You can add more than one computer, but it will obviously shorten the period of usage.
But since most load shedding windows are less than 4 or 5 hours, that should be just fine.
The_MAC
Honorary Master
For a load of less than 600W get a smaller 12V inverter as then you only require one 12V battery to run, otherwise you need two.
If you can afford to, rather use 2 batteries in parallel for a 12V inverter, so that the backup time is longer and the batteries don't get discharged as much.
Pure Sinewave is better, but more expensive.