Inverters

Batteries provide electricity in DC - direct current. If you live in Canada or the USA your household appliances are wired for 120 volts AC - alternating current. An inverter is able to convert the battery DC electricity to AC electricity so traditional appliances can be plugged in.

There is a wide range of inverters available.

Inverters come in different sizes - usually measured in “watts”. A 300-watt inverter will allow you to plug in up to 3, 100 watt light bulbs. A 3000-watt inverter would let you plug in 30, 100 watt light bulbs. The size of inverter you need is dependent on what loads you are going to be running at the same time.

Inverters can generally be divided into two groups - Pure-Sine Wave and Modified-Sine Wave. A pure-sine wave inverter can run almost any load without any problem. A modified-sine wave inverter will run most devices although some loads like fluorescent lights, radios and televisions may “hum”. This is because the kind of electricity that is provided by a modified sine wave is not exactly the same as the power provided by the electrical utility. Some very sensitive equipment like a laser printer may not work at all with a modified or step sine wave inverter.

Inverters also have a variety of features including battery chargers built into them to recharge your batteries from the utility grid or from a generator.

Manufacturers

Trace

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