Inverters: All You Need to Know
Introduction
We offer different size Renogy 12V inverters and inverter chargers depending on your application and use.This section will talk about the purpose of each, along with how you would go about sizing them.
Inverter Purpose
The purpose of the inverter is to convert DC to AC. Since batteries are DC, an inverter exists to allow you to run your AC appliances. They will come with an AC outlet to plug in things such as your computer, fridge etc. Inverters come in sizes of Watts, Volts, and can change DC to 100-120Volts, 200-240Volts, etc. It is important to make sure the voltage of your inverter matches the voltage of your battery bank.
The inverter charger acts as an inverter and gives you the ability to charge your 12V battery from an AC power hookup. We offer 500W to 2000W inverters as well as a 1000W and 2000W inverter charger.
Inverter Sizing
When sizing for an inverter you need to look at 3 factors: wattage, DC voltage, and AC voltage.
Wattage:
Inverters will be rated by a wattage value, telling you how many watts it can run at one time. For example, imagine you had a 500 Watt Fridge and 800 Watt Air Conditioning. These two items would be 1300 Watts and would require an inverter with a higher wattage than 1300W.
DC Voltage:
The DC voltage rating on the inverter will tell you what battery bank it is compatible with. For example a 24V battery bank, will require an inverter that is compatible with 24V.
AC Voltage:
The AC voltage rating on the inverter will tell you what kind of AC appliances it will run. Most of the time a 100-120VAC(Volts AC) inverter will be ok as most household items come in that voltage. Sometimes very large loads will run on 200-240VAC so it is important to know this for special items you want to run.
The inverter size is solely dependent on what devices are going to be running on the inverter. If you are running multiple devices, then you will have to add the wattage consumption of those devices together. For example, if you want to run a television (800 Watts) and a Blu-ray player (400 Watts) at the same time, we would recommend adding those values together (800W + 400W = 1200W) and that tells you that you need an inverter that is capable of handling 1200W at the same time, so we would recommend going with a 1500W inverter.
Inverter Types
Inverters come in modified and pure sine wave types. Modified sine wave inverters are usually much less expensive, but you are very limited to the amount of appliances you can use. Purse sine wave inverters are compatible with most devices, so we recommend going with these inverters. Renogy Inverter’s are pure sine wave.
How to Connect
The inverter is separate from your solar system and does not require a solar system to run. The inverter runs directly off a 12V source and is very user-friendly to set up. Some inverters are connected to sub panels. To ensure safe operations, circuit breakers are required. Please refer to the unit's user manual for details.
Lastly, it’s important to be mindful of what is running through the inverter. Inverters are great for running AC devices on a DC battery but are not very efficient. Running most devices through an inverter will put a large drain on your battery, that's why it's important to keep track of what you're running and how long you are running them. With that in mind, you can now enjoy using your inverter to run your household devices through your battery bank.
