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BFL13's avatar
BFL13
Explorer II
Aug 09, 2018

120v Feedback from Appliance to Inverter?

Wondering if the PSW inverter can "see" what is plugged into it.

Never mind between inductive and resistive--I mean between different resistive appliances. Does each appliance have its own feedback to the inverter in some way(s) so that the inverter is "happier" with one thing plugged into it over another thing? Can the PSW inverter tell any difference?

If you have several different appliances plugged in being powered by the inverter, does that make it confusing for the inverter with different feedbacks at once? (if there are any feedbacks at all)

Does the PSW inverter need some sort of filter against these feedbacks if any? If so, what sort of filtering methods are used?

Thanks.

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  • GordonThree's avatar
    GordonThree
    Explorer
    Aug 09, 2018
    There is a feedback of sorts, and it actually becomes a problem at industrial levels and for power generation utilities.

    The one I know the most about is power factor, which is volt-amps versus watts. Resistive loads are 1.0 or 0.99 PF so a 1000 watt space heater needs 1000 volt-amps to run, motors are more like 0.8-0.6 but poorly made "switching" regulators or capacitive droppers (LED lighting) can have power factor as low as 0.2.

    I don't have any data on how power factor affects small inverters, but I'm guessing you could over-draw an inverter on volt-amps well before reaching its rated wattage by running lots of poor power factor loads like cheap LED bulbs, or inductive motors.

    More info on PF here:
    Wikipedia Power Factor

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