AC Watts vs DC Watts
Are the rated inverter AC watts just V*A or are they an RMS average? And would the DC wattage required to drive the inverter's AC watts equal the AC Watts? (less efficiency losses) Elsewhere I'm...
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1.414 is the SqRoot of 2, which, I was told on another forum, gives an "approximation" of the AC RMS Watts to DC Watts.
Let me rephrase the question:
So to run a 1000W AC RMS load do I need 1414 DC watts?
And does that mean my DC cables should handle an ampacity of 1414/12=118 Amps? (assuming 100% inverter efficiency and battery V drops to 12V)
Or are inverter wattage ratings not RMS?
Thing is, I've only heard of RMS watts in discussions of HiFi equipment and speakers. Never w/r to inverters or other household items. So still confused.
DC Watts = Voltage X Amperage
AC Watts expressed in terms of DC = Volts X Amps / sqrt2
RMS Watts (Root Mean Square - the sqrt2 in the AC calculation) is so you have a direct correlation to DC Watts otherwise you'd end up not comparing apples to apples.
Let me rephrase the question:
So to run a 1000W AC RMS load do I need 1414 DC watts?
And does that mean my DC cables should handle an ampacity of 1414/12=118 Amps? (assuming 100% inverter efficiency and battery V drops to 12V)
Or are inverter wattage ratings not RMS?
Thing is, I've only heard of RMS watts in discussions of HiFi equipment and speakers. Never w/r to inverters or other household items. So still confused.
