Looking into Inverters Options
Looking for options on a 2000 watt inverter for occasional use. I was wondering what other brands people have installed as I know of Xantrex but not sure I want to spend that much right now. Looking f...
Forum Discussion
Try this specification on for size...
Using 120 volts as the norm and a starting resting battery voltage of 12.7, how many instant amperes does it take to draw down the battery to 12.00 volts? 11.7 volts? 11.5 volts.
A CCA rating for a battery gives an idea of instant potential but remember, the CCA test rating is for 9.6 volts - far below the voltage minimum needed by an inverter.
Can a single battery power a 2,000 watt inverter? Yes. At it's maximum design output potential? No. For a useful length of time? No. A person may argue "But how about at lower power settings?" My answer to that is "Why was a 2,000 watt inverter chosen in the first place?"
Time for fun:
Same set of batteries, measure the kWh extraction out of batteries powering a MSW inverter which powers a microwave oven. Then substitute a pure sine wave inverter and see how much ENERGY is extracted out of the batteries to heat a liter of water to 60C. This is different than the time element, right? The PSW heats the water faster. But how about the amount of battery energy needed to heat the water? Compare the two. Forget about time. Concentrate solely on how many kWh or fractions thereof was needed to do the job. Inductive motors don't utilize modified sine wave energy the same way as they utilize pure sine wave energy. Same goes for transformers.
Using 120 volts as the norm and a starting resting battery voltage of 12.7, how many instant amperes does it take to draw down the battery to 12.00 volts? 11.7 volts? 11.5 volts.
A CCA rating for a battery gives an idea of instant potential but remember, the CCA test rating is for 9.6 volts - far below the voltage minimum needed by an inverter.
Can a single battery power a 2,000 watt inverter? Yes. At it's maximum design output potential? No. For a useful length of time? No. A person may argue "But how about at lower power settings?" My answer to that is "Why was a 2,000 watt inverter chosen in the first place?"
Time for fun:
Same set of batteries, measure the kWh extraction out of batteries powering a MSW inverter which powers a microwave oven. Then substitute a pure sine wave inverter and see how much ENERGY is extracted out of the batteries to heat a liter of water to 60C. This is different than the time element, right? The PSW heats the water faster. But how about the amount of battery energy needed to heat the water? Compare the two. Forget about time. Concentrate solely on how many kWh or fractions thereof was needed to do the job. Inductive motors don't utilize modified sine wave energy the same way as they utilize pure sine wave energy. Same goes for transformers.
