Help me buy an inverter and battery for a 2bhk in Bengaluru

shauvik_r

shauvik_r

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Hi everyone, daily powercuts have already started in my area and reached a point where I'm considering buying an inverter. It's for a 2bhk. I mainly want to power my computer, plus one laptop, fans and lights in two rooms, and maybe an air cooler for one room. No other appliance has to run. I know nothing about inverters, so please guide me through the installation process also. Does the inverter come with battery or do I need to get battery separately? And which battery should I choose?
 
This is a decent unit that I had got in 2023, the main reason I got it is due to the smart features. You can see the power consumption, charge status etc. I got the battery separately, 165 AH Genus brand.

For installation, if there is an inverter point already, it would be plug and play. Otherwise, an inverter point needs to be added, mostly what is done, all light/fan and 5A MCBs are connected via the inverter. You'd need to get an electrician to do this.

You can purchase the inverter and battery separately or as a bundle. Some manufacturers list it as a bundle. However, buying separately is fine. If you are getting it locally, shouldn't matter if its bundled or not.
 
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MrGordon said:
This is a decent unit that I had got in 2023, the main reason I got it is due to the smart features. You can see the power consumption, charge status etc. I got the battery separately, 165 AH Genus brand.

For installation, if there is an inverter point already, it would be plug and play. Otherwise, an inverter point needs to be added, mostly what is done, all light/fan and 5A MCBs are connected via the inverter. You'd need to get an electrician to do this.

You can purchase the inverter and battery separately or as a bundle. Some manufacturers list it as a bundle. However, buying separately is fine. If you are getting it locally, shouldn't matter if its bundled or not.
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Thank you for the detailed breakdown.
 
Tip
I took rental for 3 months to gauge the requirement and see what is my need in terms of power and charging time, then went ahead and bought amaron sealed battery vrla no maintenance for 17k.
 
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Thank you for your responses everyone. Also, please let me know if you know of any physical stores in Bengaluru near Indiranagar area where I can go and buy the inverter and battery in person and maybe request the storeowner to help with setup.
 
get a good Sinewave Inverter along with a 200ah Battery . we bought it 7 years ago and still it does not budge a bit.
only thing is change the Water and check gravity every 2-3 months to keep your inverter in good condition.
 
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There are 3 types of UPS units available for home use: Standby (cheapest, most common), Line interactive (mid range), Online (high end).

I would recommend you to watch this short video for the simplest and clearest explanation of the concepts differentiating these types of UPS:

Since you are in Bangalore, I would recommend you to choose Line Interactive or Online UPS due to heavy fluctuations in the city. Alternatively if you get a Standby UPS, you can pair it with stabilizers for sensitive equipment such as computer, fridge and AC. In bangalore there are UPS+battery dealers in every neighbourhood, if you are not comfortable with troubleshooting and maintaining the UPS system, I would advise you to pick a dealer nearest to you (who has good reviews on google maps). Ask them about their service response time and service warranty from their side (besides brand warranty). If you can manage things on your own, you might save 5-10% by picking up a UPS unit from the computer market in bangalore (SP Road). You can negotiate with them for an installation service, but don't expect service calls from them during breakdown. Computer market shops are strictly transactional.

As for brands, I've been a loyal Amaron customer for more than 25 years for car batteries and 6 years for UPS tall tubular battery. In these 6 years, I haven't even had to top up the distilled water yet. I'm currently using a Microtek Standby UPS, but I'm looking to upgrade to an Online APC UPS in the near future. Try talking to your neighbours for a realistic picture of how different brands perform and how is the service response time in your area. Microtek service has been very good for me, engineer arrived in 1-3 days and problem solved on-site in an hour, but I don't like the fact that it has blown up twice in 6 years. Ideally I would like the UPS to be as reliable as my Amaron batteries, requiring no service visits at all. Which is why I'm looking to spend a little more for my Online UPS purchase.
 
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Thank you so much for your response. I ended up going to a shop in GM Palya and asked a person to set it up for me. He set me up with a Microtek inverter Pure Sinewave 2350 kVA or something (not sure about the units). It requires two batteries, and he got me 135aH (again, not sure about the unit) batteries from Livfast, and he set up the entire thing for me. Decided to get it done by him because I heard his service is good and if anything goes wrong, he can come and help. I'm not very confident in this area so needed that assurance. The total cost for the inverter, two batteries, and trolley to put all those things in was 32,600 INR for me. This inverter has a UPS mode and my main requirement was that if the power goes out, which happens a lot in Bengaluru, my PC or other appliances like cooler, tv, etc. shouldn't immediately shut down, and the power flow should be there and this UPS is doing that.
 
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shauvik_r said:
Thank you so much for your response. I ended up going to a shop in GM Palya and asked a person to set it up for me. He set me up with a Microtek inverter Pure Sinewave 2350 kVA or something (not sure about the units). It requires two batteries, and he got me 135aH (again, not sure about the unit) batteries from Livfast, and he set up the entire thing for me. Decided to get it done by him because I heard his service is good and if anything goes wrong, he can come and help. I'm not very confident in this area so needed that assurance. The total cost for the inverter, two batteries, and trolley to put all those things in was 32,600 INR for me. This inverter has a UPS mode and my main requirement was that if the power goes out, which happens a lot in Bengaluru, my PC or other appliances like cooler, tv, etc. shouldn't immediately shut down, and the power flow should be there and this UPS is doing that.
Click to expand...
Can you please post the pictures of the batteries and unit along with trolley once?
 

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gogogozillla said:
There are 3 types of UPS units available for home use: Standby (cheapest, most common), Line interactive (mid range), Online (high end).

I would recommend you to watch this short video for the simplest and clearest explanation of the concepts differentiating these types of UPS:

Since you are in Bangalore, I would recommend you to choose Line Interactive or Online UPS due to heavy fluctuations in the city. Alternatively if you get a Standby UPS, you can pair it with stabilizers for sensitive equipment such as computer, fridge and AC. In bangalore there are UPS+battery dealers in every neighbourhood, if you are not comfortable with troubleshooting and maintaining the UPS system, I would advise you to pick a dealer nearest to you (who has good reviews on google maps). Ask them about their service response time and service warranty from their side (besides brand warranty). If you can manage things on your own, you might save 5-10% by picking up a UPS unit from the computer market in bangalore (SP Road). You can negotiate with them for an installation service, but don't expect service calls from them during breakdown. Computer market shops are strictly transactional.

As for brands, I've been a loyal Amaron customer for more than 25 years for car batteries and 6 years for UPS tall tubular battery. In these 6 years, I haven't even had to top up the distilled water yet. I'm currently using a Microtek Standby UPS, but I'm looking to upgrade to an Online APC UPS in the near future. Try talking to your neighbours for a realistic picture of how different brands perform and how is the service response time in your area. Microtek service has been very good for me, engineer arrived in 1-3 days and problem solved on-site in an hour, but I don't like the fact that it has blown up twice in 6 years. Ideally I would like the UPS to be as reliable as my Amaron batteries, requiring no service visits at all. Which is why I'm looking to spend a little more for my Online UPS purchase.
Click to expand...
I am setting up a very basic YouTube studio and planning to buy Godox SL60 lights but the problem is that I have frequent power cuts, for which I have installed a Luminous Eco Volt Neo 1550 pure sine wave inverter. Now my worry and the question is if during the shoot main electricity goes off from the grid supply and the inverter power takes over. Thus, the switch over time in between will cause the few seconds SL60 studio lights to flicker and will it show in the recorded video?

How do I mitigate this issue?
 
shauvik_r said:
We live in a 2bhk. He said around 4 hours with pc on and more if pc is off
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Can you post a clear photo or more of the batteries showing the text on the label?

Open the door and take a photo of the actual batteries showing clearly the text of the label they have

Never heard of the brand of batteries you have been recommended. Usually it's either Exide or Luminous.
 
I would suggest you to get battery of inverter brand whatever capacity you get, it helps a lot in warranty claim otherwise both companies will blame each other for the issues.
 
penpal6 said:
I am setting up a very basic YouTube studio and planning to buy Godox SL60 lights but the problem is that I have frequent power cuts, for which I have installed a Luminous Eco Volt Neo 1550 pure sine wave inverter. Now my worry and the question is if during the shoot main electricity goes off from the grid supply and the inverter power takes over. Thus, the switch over time in between will cause the few seconds SL60 studio lights to flicker and will it show in the recorded video?

How do I mitigate this issue?
Click to expand...
Usually there is a ups and inverter mode button on the back.. make sure it's on ups mode. Switchover times are much faster and it also handles voltage fluctuations better.
 
shauvik_r said:
Hi everyone, daily powercuts have already started in my area and reached a point where I'm considering buying an inverter. It's for a 2bhk. I mainly want to power my computer, plus one laptop, fans and lights in two rooms, and maybe an air cooler for one room. No other appliance has to run. I know nothing about inverters, so please guide me through the installation process also. Does the inverter come with battery or do I need to get battery separately? And which battery should I choose?
Click to expand...
I have luminous 3.5KVA online ups inverter for 2bhk. 4 x 220 ah batteries. runs everything well. laptop, Mac, pc, 2 to 4 fans, front loaded 10.5 washing machine as well. I have ran 2 ton ac as well. no issues. only problem is heavy batteries and you need to keep checking for refill the batteries 6 to 12 month. try to see if anything with lithium battery in similar manner. that will be small, compact. but battery will be a bit expensive. no fluctuations at all. my router is kind of sensitive. when batteries were dry it was restarting or going offline for mili seconds. now that is how I keep track of water levels :P

also my batteries are local batteries and this saved around 10k per battery for me. running it since 2021 I think. no issue here at all.
 
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enc0dex264 said:
Usually there is a ups and inverter mode button on the back.. make sure it's on ups mode. Switchover times are much faster and it also handles voltage fluctuations better.
Click to expand...
Even on the UPS mode (bought Luminous eco volt neo 1550 as per your suggestion ), the regular tube lights flicker just a bit. Enough to capture in the video footage. Not sure how to fix it.
 
I have a Luminous Eco Volt 2300 (2000 VA) inverter and recently replaced my 5-year-old pair of random-brand (AutoZone) tubular 200Ah batteries with some again unknown-brand "Eastman" so-called "for solar use only" and something "C10" batteries (same 200 Ah 12v rating) for ₹13k each (after including some exchange value for the old pair).

The inverter is set to UPS mode, it handles everything in the house (PCs, TVs, NUC, RPi, routers/mesh wifi, CCTV cams etc) except for my Denon AVR which sometimes power cycles (seems it has very low "hold" time?) when there is electricity cutoff and inverter switches over.

@penpal6 i dont know the lights you are using but i have noticed this - with my regular Syska or any ordinary brand cheap prices LED bulbs YES they DO flicker during power cut (inverter switchover) and also they flicker occasionally while inverter is supplying power I presume due to varying load from things like TV/Audio and my PC which can pull different levels of power while using it.

I have a few expensive Philips branded LED smart bulbs which DO NOT flicker at all regardless of mains electricity ON with voltage fluctuations or power cut with inverter supply - I believe these LEDs have better components inside like voltage regulator maybe?

Another note is my inverter model has some "Turbo" mode option (which I don't bother using - might try it some day) which apparently helps to reduce the voltage flickering when it gets varying loads but that puts higher load on the batteries it seems.
k_m_Arya said:
What's the cost for a 220ah local battery?
Click to expand...

My "Eastman" brand batteries "for solar use only" and C10 variant rated at 200 Ah (not 220) and 12v cost me 13k each after including old (5 years old) unknown brand (AutoZone?) battery exchange value. This new pair is normal/compact sized not the "tall tubular" which I believe the tall ones are cheaper?
 
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