[999]

Originally Posted by areddy

Just out of curiosity, why does a home need a generator as opposed to an inverter?

I am looking out for inverter about came across this thread? Gensets seem more expensive, more maintenance and even risk of conking off appliances at times?

I am a novice and my opinion above could be wrong. Care to explain more?

We have a whole thread for that running for a long time. Please have a look at it.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...generator.html

This thread was to keep track of prices for gensets

[sourav9385]

Hey fellas!

Need suggestions for an inverter for home.
At the max, we will be using one light, one fan, and one computer.
The inverter needs to be plugged into the entire house, so we can use the lights & fans wherever required.

I was thinking of a su-kam 800 VA, with a 150 AH battery. Preferably a SMF battery.
Would like to know the junta's opinion and the relevant pricing for these thingy's.

Let me know your choices, gents.
Thanks.

Cheers!

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

Hey fellas!

Need suggestions for an inverter for home.
At the max, we will be using one light, one fan, and one computer.
The inverter needs to be plugged into the entire house, so we can use the lights & fans wherever required.

I was thinking of a su-kam 800 VA, with a 150 AH battery. Preferably a SMF battery.
Would like to know the junta's opinion and the relevant pricing for these thingy's.

Let me know your choices, gents.
Thanks.

Cheers!

Been using APC about 7 years now. They have a good warranty. No issues apart from the battery dying. I have 2 of them powering different rooms to provide a backup incase one ever fails.
The older one is a square wave 800va and the newer one is a 850va pure sine wave. I bought an Exide tubular 150ah battery for more backup and life as well as replacement warranty of 4 years for the newer inverter.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

Hey fellas!

Need suggestions for an inverter for home.
At the max, we will be using one light, one fan, and one computer.
The inverter needs to be plugged into the entire house, so we can use the lights & fans wherever required.

I was thinking of a su-kam 800 VA, with a 150 AH battery. Preferably a SMF battery.
Would like to know the junta's opinion and the relevant pricing for these thingy's.

Let me know your choices, gents.
Thanks.

Cheers!

The 800 vA inverters with one battery are around 15K. Only use this option if you are using lights and fans only. One tv or comp will also run on this. However, nothing that needs high voltage will work (fridge, iron, geyser, microwave, washing machine, water pump etc). Also, the life of this battery will not be more than a couple of hours. This works fine in a city where you do not have more than 4 to 6 hours a day of power cuts maximum. If you want to use the 800 vA but need more battery life (longer power cuts) get two or even three batteries depending on the life you want. If you want to run more powerful appliances then a 1.5 to 2 kvA will be needed

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by pganapathy

The 800 vA inverters with one battery are around 15K. Only use this option if you are using lights and fans only. One tv or comp will also run on this. However, nothing that needs high voltage will work (fridge, iron, geyser, microwave, washing machine, water pump etc). Also, the life of this battery will not be more than a couple of hours. This works fine in a city where you do not have more than 4 to 6 hours a day of power cuts maximum. If you want to use the 800 vA but need more battery life (longer power cuts) get two or even three batteries depending on the life you want. If you want to run more powerful appliances then a 1.5 to 2 kvA will be needed

Thanks mate.

We won't be using the inverter to run anything other than lights/fan.
The idea behind this is to minimise the inconvenience during late night power cuts.

Anyways, so around 20k should be enough for this setup right?
How about the brands? Su-Kam is a good brand I guess?
How about Microtek? Luminous? Are these reliable?
And batteries? Aren't sealed maintenance free batteries better?

[Thad E Ginathom]

We have an 800va APC. I think the battery is 120amp-hour. It is able to take about 500w load.

I'm thinking of getting another one just to power my corner of the house. when my computer and I are plugged in (including 5w desk lamp, speakers, modem/router) we draw up to 160w. How i translate that into amp-hour to find out what battery capacity I need? I want to keep running for 5 hours minimum, 8 hours max.

Oh, I'd love to do it with solar. Free electricity all day... but I think the cost puts that out of the question?

[Arch-Angel]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

How i translate that into amp-hour to find out what battery capacity I need?

Let me try and help you with that. Firstly the AH figure says nothing about
the actual current to time relation. In this case, 120AH could be 120A current for 1 hour or 1A for 120 hours or 20A for 6 hours. I would put it at 20A since typically batteries last upto 6 hours. To calculate peak deliverable load by the battery, Take the rated voltage of the battery and multiply it with the current.

ex: P=VxI = 12V*20 = 240W (This is an assumed case here).

[sgiitk]

I have had an Usha branded 7.5kVA for over a decade, while a friend has a Kirloskar 5kVA for about the same time. My observations - after a few years the local mechanics will make all the same, branded or unbranded. My Usha blew its head gasket, and the same as is used in Agra/Rajkot units was fixed. This tell me that the dimensions, holes, etc are all the same. Are the branded made by the same chaps with possibly better QC. I am niw thinking of replacing my DG set with a Honda-Sriram 5kVA petrol unit which uses an inverter to get the 50Hz out. Why 5kVA only, modern ACs take far less current.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I'm thinking of getting another one just to power my corner of the house. when my computer and I are plugged in (including 5w desk lamp, speakers, modem/router) we draw up to 160w. How i translate that into amp-hour to find out what battery capacity I need? I want to keep running for 5 hours minimum, 8 hours max.

Oh, I'd love to do it with solar. Free electricity all day... but I think the cost puts that out of the question?

You probably need a 100 AH battery.

I came across a Coimbatore Solar Cell manufacturer who offered 300 VA Solar cell for around Rs.25000/- 2 years back. We considered this to trickle charge our UPS batteries. For 10 hours daylight in Madras, we expected this setup to reduce the power bill. There was a problem though. I used a small solar cell matrix as an experiment and the power output varied drastically as you have to keep the solar cells directed at the sun for maximum output. Unless there is a motor controlled system, the basic solar cell system won't belt out the full power.

[Arch-Angel]

Originally Posted by areddy

Protection for expensive appliances like my LED/LCD, Computer and Home Theatre system.

Hi areddy, sorry for replying a little late. Actually speaking an LED television will not consume much of power(<70W) and this is for the maximum screen size possible. Computers, they depend upon your configuration. A clue here would be checking your SMPS wattage.

ex: A 450W SMPS at 80% efficiency can deliver upto 360W of power at full load.

The home theatre system, again this is a debatable section since we do not know the wattage of the dvd player/amplifier or receiver being used.
I would suggest that though you can connect them to the inverter and run them, it is best to actually turn them off if the power fails. But if you do plan on running them, you can connect them along with a couple of fans and lights to a good 850VA inverter. The brands i would look at would be APC,Exide,Amaron in the same order of preference. In short, if you are planning on running everything together, you will need in invest in a 1KVA inverter with atleast a 150AH battery. But if its just for a backup purpose and you will shut down the appliances once power fails, then an 850VA will do fine. I have knowingly listed a 1KVA inverter since i feel you might connect fans, illumination.

I can do a basic calculation and let you know which is best based on money, reliability since what i have listed is based on assumptions that you might run the appliances for 1h on battery(everything together) in the 1KVA case, wherein the total backup time may not exceed 2 hours at most(computer, HT setup will be a culprit) and in the 850VA case, i have assumed that you are turning off the appliances and running the rest(fans+lights) for the duration of the backup time( which will be around 5-7 hours in good usage).

Summary:

1KVA+150AH battery for high load.

(or)

850VA+150AH battery for general usage.

[areddy]

Hi Arch Angel,

Thanks a ton for simplifying the problem for me. Two follow on questions -

1. Should I choose a particular type of inverter? Square wave, Sine wave, APS etc., Keep general usage in mind. My question about expensive equipment was basically to know if Pure Sine Wave inverter is really needed to protect expensive equipment?

2. Any brands that are generally good or any brands that I should stay away from?

2.

[Arch-Angel]

Here are the answers to your questions.

1. Should I choose a particular type of inverter? Square wave, Sine wave, APS etc., Keep general usage in mind. My question about expensive equipment was basically to know if Pure Sine Wave inverter is really needed to protect expensive equipment?

A. The price difference between the normal inverter and the pure sine wave inverters is only marginal. From what i remember when i got mine,
the non sine wave would set us back by Rs 4500/- and the pure sine wave would set us back by Rs 6k. Pure sine wave ensures that there is very little noise or ripple in the output voltage which makes your electrical and electronics stuff love the good voltage and provide you with years of service . So i will recommend going for a pure-sine wave inverter anyday.

2. Any brands that are generally good or any brands that I should stay away from?

A. I have a cousin who got an amaron inverter with an Amaron high capacity tubular battery. He has been satisfied with the performance and the backup. I have an exide combo and i am satisfied too. APC is a reputed brand and you may go for it as well. I am not quite sure about SuKam so i am not in a position to suggest the same.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Never thought of the directional thing: I suppose one just has to install enough cell surface area to cover the needs at average output. A solar-powered steam-turbo generator would be neat

[Arch-Angel]

Thad, you will be having the same issue as a solar cell . You will need to run the piping in a very compressed manner inside the blackened box you will be using for this. After that, this apparatus needs to face the sun for sometime atleast till you begin to generate steam, which will need a chamber of some sort to pressurize the steam, then you will have to connect the output to a valve to ensure considerable pressure is achieved. Then you will have to run the steam in such a maner that you have maximum pressure which is able to run the vanes properly. Then you need to excite the field windings of the machine you are using to generate electricity(maybe an alternator or a dc generator). This is a slightly complex thing to do at home :P.
I prefer wind energy because its as simple as it gets.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Never thought of the directional thing: I suppose one just has to install enough cell surface area to cover the needs at average output. A solar-powered steam-turbo generator would be neat

You are absolutely right. As you put it so succinctly, if you install enough surface and you have large enough open area with no impediment - you can still get a decent output. Using my experimental solar cell matrix figures, for the same required output we may need 40 % more solar cells.

As per this site (http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/...-lighting.html) it costs about US $ 2.45 per W. For a modest 1000 W we would need to spend about US $ 2450 or around Rs.130,000/- for solar cells alone.

That page also talks about Hybrid Solar systems - but the catch is all these are available only in the US.