If you’ve been visiting our website or if you’ve read our blogs once or twice, you’ll notice that we’ve mentioned the word inverter plenty of times.
You might have heard it from friends and family. They might have it in their cars or their trailers, and they might tell you that it’s “one of the best things they have on it”. The mystery only thickens, eh?
You might have come across the term “pure sine wave inverters” or “power inverters” here, and you’re not quite sure what they are exactly. We’d be happy to help and clear out this fog of confusion for you!
So what exactly are inverters for?
A quick background - there are two types of electricity: AC & DC. (Yes, like the band). AC stands for Alternating Current, and DC stands for Direct Current. Both have their own uses, and both are generated differently.
Direct Current, as the name suggests, is quite “unfiltered”. It’s direct and its strong, and isn’t suitable for our regular use with appliances. An alternating current is much more suitable, and “behaves” better than direct current enough for it to be used with modern-day appliances.
The electricity that runs our television sets, our ovens and blenders, the power that charges our phones and laptops- that’s all alternating current.
Just a quick example of AC at work...
On the other hand, the electricity that powers our cars, trucks and other automobiles- that’s direct current. They’re big machines after all that require strong, direct power; that’s why it’s the type of energy that comes from a car battery.
Consider the fact that a car’s battery gets charged through motion via the alternator, then that explains why direct current is used in vehicles.
Direct current cannot be used for gear that requires alternating current, and vice versa. Luckily, we have inverters to do that for us.
Inverters come in different shapes and sizes. They can be huge, or they can be compact as you need them to be. There are different kinds out there, fit for different kinds of sources of DC electrical current.
This is exactly why inverters were invented- we need something to convert DC into AC so that we can use AC appliances/gadgets from a DC power source.
How do inverters do it?
Without getting too technical, inverters simply do exactly what their name suggests - it “inverts” the electrical current into another form of current. Simply put, it changes the DC current into AC current so that you can use your appliances with a source that gives out DC power.
It just takes the DC current from your vehicle, and automatically converts it into AC.
Not quite as dramatic as this, but we'd like to imagine this is how the insides of an inverter looks like. That would be so cool if it was true.
Of course, this is not a perfect process. Most inverters are only able to convert some portion of the electricity into useful, some about 70-80%. Some inverters work better than most- like ours, which is able to reliably and consistently convert more than 90% of DC energy into AC.
Now once it takes the DC current’s energy, it is then converted to either 110 or 220 AC, a voltage level that most of us are fairly familiar with and use on a daily basis. In Australia though, 240v is standard and needs to be considered before buying inverter gear for your home or your vehicle.
The entire process of conversion happens within the inverter and of course generates a fair amount of heat; make sure that you’re getting an inverter with efficient ventilation systems to prevent any form of melt down or worse, explosion or machine breakdown (inverters can be quite cost a bit of money, so you should always invest in excellent brands when getting one).
Once you have a trusty inverter, you could potentially use it for years and will continue to convert electricity that you need reliably.
Generally, you’ll only need to plug the inverter inside your car cigarette lighter socket, and your inverter will act as if it was a power plug that you can just plug your gadgets/appliances to.
What features should you look for in an inverter?
Well that really depends. What kind of equipment do you have? Do you have a car, a caravan, a boat, a truck or just a regular sedan?
What will you be using the inverter for? What kind of gear do you need to keep powered inside your vehicle? How many people need those gadgets and how long do you need to keep it powered? How many appliances of equipment do you need to keep powered?
But if you’re looking for a clear cut, objective, must-have feature on your inverter, you should look for these words “pure sine wave”. But what does it mean?
Pretty cool huh? But not as cool as being able to power tons of different appliances all at once...
Pure sine wave is a guarantee of energy conversion efficiency in your inverter. Without sounding too technical, “pure sine wave” means that its an emulation of the electricity that you get at home.
When you plug in your phone to a charger slot, you’re using that kind of tech; pure sine wave tech offers the same consistency of electricity in your car, which helps you not only in getting uniform performance out of your device, but it also helps save electricity; less energy is wasted, and more goes into the your device’s operation.
Now about inverters that have 1000w or more…
The reason our inverters offer wattages that are in the thousands is because the amount of appliances you will use will matter.
If you used around two very simple and low energy devices, then you shouldn’t have a problem with just a 500-600w inverter. That should be plenty enough to get your phone charged or your laptop running and charging (provided of course that your laptop has some energy-friendly features and isn’t a power hog for it’s internal CPU & GPU).
But the moment you start using equipment such as coffee machines, air conditioners, big industrial fans and drills (among many others)- then you’d definitely need a much bigger inverter. If you use the all at the same time as well, then you’ll really need an inverter that’s in the thousands of watts, otherwise your gear just won’t operate at all.
The biggest energy hogs here are usually appliances that generate heat or cold- if you have some, then its safe to say that you need inverters that are at least 3000 to 4000w. If you can, get yourself 5000w, especially if you own a motorhome/caravan trailer.
The rule of thumb is- the bigger your vehicle that you’re drawing the DC current from, the bigger inverter that you need. If you own a caravan trailer or a boat, then we highly suggest getting 5000-6000w inverters for complete convenience.
Inverters are wonderful pieces of tech that promote mobility without the loss of access to your favorite gadgets or appliances. Here at Elinz, we offer safe, efficient and affordable inverters perfect for everyone and at every level of wattage.
Check out our listings today and get yourself one today!
