Inverter Confusion

N

Naif

Recruit
Hi,

I am looking to purchase an Inverter for my house and I would like to know if whether I should purchase an Inverter or a UPS? I don't want to power any appliances. I only want to use it to run ceiling fans, and maybe a bulb and/or tubelight.

It looks to me as if the two words are being used interchangeably, is that the case? For example I saw a reference to APC inverters so I checked their website to see the range of inverters they have, only to find out they don't have any inverters. What they have are uninterruptible power supplies and not inverters.

So please help me through this confusion.

Here are my requirements:

I want to be able to run 3-4 ceiling fans, a bulb and a tubelight for around two hours. My house has 3 meters so I don't know if whether one inverter can take care of all 3?

So considering this, my questions would be as follows:

First and foremost, should I buy a UPS or an Inverter?

Which brand?

What kind? (the technical details like Watts / VA etc)

Which battery brand and type/kind?

I am willing to spend extra on a quality manufacturer.

Thank you!

Regards,

-- Naif
 
Some companies call it a UPS and some call it inverters,they are all technically a OFF-Line UPS.

If you are going to run only those following electrical devicees you should be fine with a APC 650VA inverter BI-650sine which is rated to 410watt.

But if you do run a tv you should get a BI-850sine which can handle 500watt .

For 2 hrs back up you should be fine with a 120AH tubular battery to discharge of upto 80%,assuming all devices are running at once or equal to load of around 480watt which includes a 21" CRT or a 40" lcd .

Tubular batteries are designed for a repeated cycles of deep discharge of upto 80%,where as discharging repeatedly to the same 80% in non tubular batteries will reduce the life of the battery.
 
UPS = low switchover time, no flicker during switchover, suitable for either PC only usage (PC UPS'es have built in stabilizers) or when input voltage range is decent

Inverter = higher switchover time, flicker during switchover(TV,Router,etc will restart), suitable for electrical stuff like tubelights,fans,etc and you have bad input voltage
 
mehrotra.akash said:
UPS = low switchover time, no flicker during switchover, suitable for either PC only usage (PC UPS'es have built in stabilizers) or when input voltage range is decent

Inverter = higher switchover time, flicker during switchover(TV,Router,etc will restart), suitable for electrical stuff like tubelights,fans,etc and you have bad input voltage
Click to expand...

Good branded UPS are online UPS. You cannot connect equipment more than its rated capacity.

Inverters are offline and battery mode kicks in only when there is a current shutdown. During normal operation you can connect equipments more than its rated capacity, however in battery mode you cannot.

My APC 850VA sinewave UPS does not show any sign of flicker during switch over. Infact the recent models have a very less switchover time as that of online UPS.

So its always better to go for Inverters.
 
kishore.chander said:
Good branded UPS are online UPS. You cannot connect equipment more than its rated capacity.

Inverters are offline and battery mode kicks in only when there is a current shutdown. During normal operation you can connect equipments more than its rated capacity, however in battery mode you cannot.
Click to expand...

I dont think any of the affordable UPSes for home use in India are online

I was refering to offline UPS vs inverter in my post
 
adder said:
Some companies call it a UPS and some call it inverters,they are all technically a OFF-Line UPS.

If you are going to run only those following electrical devicees you should be fine with a APC 650VA inverter BI-650sine which is rated to 410watt.

But if you do run a tv you should get a BI-850sine which can handle 500watt .

For 2 hrs back up you should be fine with a 120AH tubular battery to discharge of upto 80%,assuming all devices are running at once or equal to load of around 480watt which includes a 21" CRT or a 40" lcd .

Tubular batteries are designed for a repeated cycles of deep discharge of upto 80%,where as discharging repeatedly to the same 80% in non tubular batteries will reduce the life of the battery.
Click to expand...

Yes go with the APC inverter with a good battery.

Srinivas
 
So essentially can we say that an Inverter is like a PC UPS but with an external battery? (Sorry if I'm adding to the confusion
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)
 
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