Hello,
Around 1 year back, My total electricity consumption per month was 4 to 4.5 units per day.
Somehow, it increased to 6.5 to 7 units per day over the last 6 months without any new electric fitments or uses.
So I got into trial & error checks by keeping 1 appliance off each day and observing.
I observed that my 600 VA inverter (Su-kam brand, mfg year 2010, installed in 2011, so now serving since 14 yrs) connected to a Exide tubular battery (6-7 yrs old) was suspicious.
Inverter setting is at INV (not UPS), Normal Charge NC (not HC).
We rarely have power cuts at my place, so battery power is rarely used. It is connected to 2 fans, 2 LED tubelights (18w), 2 LED bulbs (9W) & a Desktop PC (CUPU & monitor). During power cuts, maximum only Desktop PC + 2 fans + 1 LED tube is used. That too very very rarely.
I observed that even though main supply power was there, the inverter's fan was turning on & off frequently. (Now, I don't know if it is normal for inverter's fan to run like this, but I observed it recently so mentioning. Inverter is placed in a small almirah at the top, so I never observed it regularly in the past.)
I disconnected both battery & inverter completely, & kept them aside exactly for 48 hrs (2 full days - 10AM to 10 AM).
At the time of immediately after disconnect, Battery terminals was showing 13.25 Volts (checked using digital multimeter) .
After 24 hrs., they were showing similar 13.23 Volts.
After another 24 hrs (total 48 hrs of disconnect), they were still at 13.23V. So battery does not seems to be a problem.
During 48 hrs, using sand paper I cleaned up the copper lugs at the end of red & black wires coming out of inverter & which connect to positive & negative of battery, and they turned bright & shiny.
I also opened the inverter cover, & checked for any loose wire connections & everything was found to be intact.
Interestingly, during these 48 hrs with battery-inverter disconnected, the total electricity unit consumption was back to 4.5 units per day.
After 48 hrs, I connected back the whole inverter & battery setup.
Immediately after connection:
- The battery terminals were reading 14.3 Volts.
- The inverter fan keep stopping & running randomly, even when the main power supply was there.
- The power consumption is now back to 6.5 - 7 units per day (with no power cuts, so battery supply was not used at all)
My questions, if any experienced experts can help
1) Generally, with no power cuts, how many units will the inverter setup (above configuration) usually consume per day?
2) Is it normal to have 2 - 2.5 units consumed by inverter setup (with no power cuts) or is it abnormally high?
3) If it is high, then is my inverter a problem? Is the battery a problem? Or both?
3) Any other checks that I can perform to confirm the extra 2-2.5 units per day consumption?
Thanks
Around 1 year back, My total electricity consumption per month was 4 to 4.5 units per day.
Somehow, it increased to 6.5 to 7 units per day over the last 6 months without any new electric fitments or uses.
So I got into trial & error checks by keeping 1 appliance off each day and observing.
I observed that my 600 VA inverter (Su-kam brand, mfg year 2010, installed in 2011, so now serving since 14 yrs) connected to a Exide tubular battery (6-7 yrs old) was suspicious.
Inverter setting is at INV (not UPS), Normal Charge NC (not HC).
We rarely have power cuts at my place, so battery power is rarely used. It is connected to 2 fans, 2 LED tubelights (18w), 2 LED bulbs (9W) & a Desktop PC (CUPU & monitor). During power cuts, maximum only Desktop PC + 2 fans + 1 LED tube is used. That too very very rarely.
I observed that even though main supply power was there, the inverter's fan was turning on & off frequently. (Now, I don't know if it is normal for inverter's fan to run like this, but I observed it recently so mentioning. Inverter is placed in a small almirah at the top, so I never observed it regularly in the past.)
I disconnected both battery & inverter completely, & kept them aside exactly for 48 hrs (2 full days - 10AM to 10 AM).
At the time of immediately after disconnect, Battery terminals was showing 13.25 Volts (checked using digital multimeter) .
After 24 hrs., they were showing similar 13.23 Volts.
After another 24 hrs (total 48 hrs of disconnect), they were still at 13.23V. So battery does not seems to be a problem.
During 48 hrs, using sand paper I cleaned up the copper lugs at the end of red & black wires coming out of inverter & which connect to positive & negative of battery, and they turned bright & shiny.
I also opened the inverter cover, & checked for any loose wire connections & everything was found to be intact.
Interestingly, during these 48 hrs with battery-inverter disconnected, the total electricity unit consumption was back to 4.5 units per day.
After 48 hrs, I connected back the whole inverter & battery setup.
Immediately after connection:
- The battery terminals were reading 14.3 Volts.
- The inverter fan keep stopping & running randomly, even when the main power supply was there.
- The power consumption is now back to 6.5 - 7 units per day (with no power cuts, so battery supply was not used at all)
My questions, if any experienced experts can help
1) Generally, with no power cuts, how many units will the inverter setup (above configuration) usually consume per day?
2) Is it normal to have 2 - 2.5 units consumed by inverter setup (with no power cuts) or is it abnormally high?
3) If it is high, then is my inverter a problem? Is the battery a problem? Or both?
3) Any other checks that I can perform to confirm the extra 2-2.5 units per day consumption?
Thanks
