How Does A Power Inverter Work?

People always ask us "exactly how does a power inverter work?" The answer to this question often surprises our customers. Car power inverters work much more simply than mysteriously, and the learning curve required to understand them requires no more than a very basic knowledge of electricity. Essentially, there are two forms of electrical power in the Universe: Direct Current (DC) and Alternating Current (AC). Direct current flows continuously from the positive electrical pole to the negative electrical pole. Alternating current flows back and forth between the two poles. DC current occurs in Nature and batteries, while AC current is man-made and supplies power through the public utility grid that supports human industry and infrastructure. Car batteries presented a problem in the past when people realized they needed to operate traditionally AC-powered devices in their cars but could not do so because of incompatible current requirements. Manufacturers like Vector stepped up to solve this dilemma by working to design car power inverters that would safely and efficiently convert DC to AC. Their successful engineering has resulted in a wide range of compact, rectangular devices that connect to batteries and output the resulting alternating current safely through one or more standard electrical plugs.

Two factors determine how a power inverter works: wave output and wattage output. Wave output describes the physical appearance of electrical signals as they move across an oscilloscope. Square waves appear exactly as their name specifies: like squares on a grid. Pure sine waves, also called true sine waves, appear as visible waves on the screen. Sine wave car power inverters work better than square wave power inverters when uninterrupted power flow is a critical issue. In fact, true sine output is sometimes slightly superior to that of public utility power grids! Because of this, they are also the most expensive devices of their kind on the market. Recent advances in technology have accommodated users on a budget with a hybrid design generally referred to as either a modified square or modified sine wave power inverter. The technical differences that determine how a true sine car power inverter works and how a modified sine power inverter works are too minor to produce any noticeable effects with standard electronics. Only the most high-end equipment requires true sine output, and the cost of these devices may justify the additional investment in pure sine technology to deliver maximum quality and reliable performance.

Another new development that allows car power inverters to work with even more reliability than ever before is the sophisticated Soft Start Technology, branded "SST" by manufacturers such as Vector. SST is the next step in the evolution of how power inverters work. The very first power inverters for cars would only work intermittently during cold engine starts. Because they could not pull enough power from the battery, they would shut down from current underload and require a manual restart. SST resolves this issue by gradually increasing voltage ramp up during engine startup. If the output dips for any reason, SST makes instant adjustments to compensate and will prevent most shutdowns. If in the rare event a shutdown does occur, the newer car power inverters work automatically to restart themselves without distracting the driver from the road.

Red Hill Supply delivers only the best and most reliable power inverters that will work in virtually any situation requiring DC-AC conversion. Learn more about how power inverters work in our Resources section, and browse our online catalogue to obtain the most high end.

Jason has been in the construction equipment and industrial sales business for over 10 years. He owns and operates Red Hill Supply to better serve the automotive and industrial industries. - Automotive Tools

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By Jason Miller

How a Power Inverter Can Save You Money Over a Gasoline Generator

By Dan Hahn

It is based on using an inverter in home emergency purposes rather than a completely built unit that would power an entire house. These units often require large battery banks with an external source of power such as sun or wind generators to keep the batteries charged. Nor will it cover large gasoline, diesel, or propane generators that are connected to the fuse box of a house and power an entire house.

What it will be covering are small home generators that usually have a 3-5 gallon gas tank and a 2- 6 HP engine. These are run outside the house and power certain appliances inside the house via an electrical cord attached to the generator. The electrical power inverter we will be discussing will be powered by a single car battery which will require recharging every one to two hours by running the engine of the car.

Studies have shown that a V-6 automobile engine uses approximately 0.5 gallons of gas for every 90 minutes it is run. What this translates out to is that if you were to run a 750 watt inverter, you would have to recharge a 120amp battery every 2 hours by idling the car for 10 minutes. This means that you could get 36 hours of use from a 750 watt inverter on one gallon of gasoline. This equals a $3.00 fuel price every 24 hours if gasoline is priced at $4 a gallon.

A 4400 watt gasoline generator uses about 3.2 gallons of gasoline for every 8 hours of service. This comes out to 9.6 gallons of gas for a 24 hour period or around $38 for 24 hours of use.

If you are using a smaller generator such as a 1000 watt model, which in most cases is more practical, you would be using 1.2 gallons every 5-8 hours depending on the load. This comes out to $5 every 8 hours ,or $15 for every 24 hour period.

Now for the power inverter numbers. If you were using a 750 watt power inverter, which would be enough to power a laptop, small tv, dvd player, satellite dish box, and a lamp it would use 0.2 gallons for every 8 hours or 0.6 gallons for every 24 hours. for a cost of $2.40.

In summary the cost of running a 4400 watt generator for 24 hours is $38 and a 1000 watt generator for 24 hours is $15 and the cost of the inverter for 24 hours is $2.40

I feel many people do not use power inverters in emergencies just because they aren't familiar with them. They're easier to hook up then a generator. You just have to clip it on to your battery, plus the savings is substantial if you have a power outage for an extended period of time. For more information on this subject and the products come visit http://www.inverterssavegas.com

http://www.inverterssavegas.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Hahn