What is a current inverter and what is it for

If you are installing your solar panels you will know that you need several devices for everything to work properly. It is not just about installing a solar panel and waiting for the sunlight to do the rest of the work for you. For electricity to work well, you will need a power inverter, among other things.

Do you want to know what a current inverter is, how to install it and what it is for?

Power inverter in solar energy systems

A power inverter is used to transform the 12 or 24 volt voltage of the batteries (direct current) to use the house voltage of 230 volts (alternating current). When a solar panel generates electricity, it does so with a direct current. This current does not serve us to use it in household electrical appliances such as televisions, washing machines, ovens, etc. It requires alternating current with a voltage of 230 volts.

In addition, the entire home lighting system requires alternating current. The inverter takes care of all this once the solar panel has received energy from the sun and stored in its battery. The current inverter is one of the elements that make up the solar kit With which we can have renewable energy in our home and reduce the consumption of fossil energy.

We must remember that the consumption of renewable energies contributes to a decrease in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and allows us to advance in the energy transition based on decarbonisation by 2050.

If the lighting we need is very low and has little wiring, the installation could be done without a power inverter. It would just connect directly to the battery. In this way, the entire electrical circuit would be working with 12 volts, while only 12 V bulbs and appliances could be used.

What power inverter should be used?

When we want to install solar energy in the home, we must know all the elements that the installation needs for its correct operation. There are several types of power inverter. To choose the power inverter that best suits our situation, you must take into account the rated power and peak power of the inverter.

The nominal power is that which the inverter is capable of providing during normal use. That is, an inverter operating for a long time and at normal performance. On the other hand, the peak power is the one that the current inverter can offer you for a shorter period of time. This peak power is needed when we use some high-power appliances to start or have several powerful appliances plugged in at the same time.

Obviously, if we spend a lot of time with such high energy demand, the current inverter will not be able to give us the energy we need, and it will automatically stop working (in a similar way to when "the leads jump"). This peak power is essential to know well when we are going to use electrical appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, mixers, washing machines, water pumps, etc. And several of them at the same time. Since these devices need up to three times the normal power of an electrical appliance, a current inverter will be needed to provide us with a higher peak power.

Modified wave and sine wave inverter

These current inverters are only used for electrical appliances that do not have a motor and that are quite simple. For example, for lighting, TV, music player, etc. For this type of energy a modified wave current inverter is used, since they generate a current electronically.

There are also sine wave inverters. These generate the same wave that is received at home. They are usually more expensive than modified wave inverters but they offer us a more extended use. It can also be used for appliances having both simple and complex motors, electronic devices and others, offering correct operation and excellent performance.

An important fact to take into account in current inverters is that you always have to respect the power that the model that we have purchased is capable of supplying. Otherwise the inverter will either overload or not be working as it should.

How many investors do I need in my home?

To know the number of current inverters you need, it is important to know the power in watts that your solar panels must convert to meet the electricity demand. When we have calculated this, the number of watts is divided by the maximum power that each inverter supports, depending on the type.

For example, if our electrical installation has a total power of 950 watts, and we have bought current inverters of up to 250 watts, we will need 4 inverters to be able to cover that energy demand and to be able to transform all the direct current generated in the solar panels into energy alternate for home use.

Fundamental parameters

A power inverter has several fundamental operational parameters in its operation. They are as follows:

• Nominal voltage. This is the voltage that must be applied to the input terminals of the inverter so that it is not overloaded.
• Rated Power. It has been mentioned above. It is the power that the inverter is capable of supplying continuously (we must not confuse it with peak power).
• Overload capacity. This is the inverter's ability to deliver higher power than it normally does before overloading. This has to do with peak power. That is, it is the ability of the inverter to withstand higher than normal power without overloading and for a short period of time.
• Waveform. The signal that appears at the terminals of the inverter is what characterizes its waveform and the most effective values ​​of voltage and frequency.
• Efficiency. It's the equivalent of calling it your performance. This is measured as a percentage of the power at the inverter output and input. This efficiency depends directly on the load conditions of the inverter. That is to say, of the total power of all the devices that are plugged in and that are consuming energy, being fed by the inverter in relation to their nominal power. The more appliances are fed from the inverter, the greater its efficiency.

With this information you will be able to know what type of current inverter you need to complete your solar kit. Welcome to the world of renewable energy.