[mxx]

Originally Posted by batman

I have an inverter AC and an inverter refrigerator that are 4 years old and running fine. I would suggest, if you are going for AC based on 'inverter' technology, spend on a good stabilizer with 'time delay' function and voltage range. The 'Time Delay' function would protect the equipment especially during severe voltage fluctuations.

Any specific stabilizer brand/model suggestions? many shops will have only 1 or 2 models, and we have to choose from those.

[batman]

Originally Posted by mxx

Any specific stabilizer brand/model suggestions? many shops will have only 1 or 2 models, and we have to choose from those.

Yes, generally they will promote the ones which they got at better bargains from the manufacturer. I have 5 stabilizers at home for AC's, TV, fridge and washing machine, out of which 2 are from V-Guard, one each from Activa, Premier & Golden Guard;i.e) practically no preference to any specific brand.

From my experience, I had an issue with V-Guard stabilizer (connected to inverter AC) last year; there was a continuous clicking noise from it and there was no output; Spent around Rs 400 to repair it.

You can try buying the stabilizer online (I have bought 3 online so far) which gives you more models / brands to choose from; Look for the ones that comes with longer warranty and your voltage range requirement. Note that the voltage may drop considerably during peak summer nights.

[raddy]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

No appliance being sold in the market has any time limit for continuous operation except for mixers/blenders.
You may run any appliance indefinitely with no adverse consequences. Maintenance routines, however, will require that the appliance be turned off for that duration.

My post was not understood correctly.

I am not referring to any specified time limit for keeping an Appliance powered on or to use.

I said if you run a power intensive appliance especially when run for longer time periods would get exposed to electricity disturbances more, in turn may spoil the electrical components

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by JLS

b) it helps in energy conservation also - a typical motor(which drives a compressor) draws six times more current at the starting time and this results in much more energy consumption when every 20 mins compressor re-starts

Everyone, including experts, claim this to be the reason for inverters saving money. However, this is incorrect. It is true that the compressor might use say six times more power at start up but that is only for a few milliseconds. Even if we grant one second of extra power, that is still minuscule. It is like running the ac an extra six seconds. If you do it 3 times an hour and for 10 hours per day, you are saving at best about 2 minutes of running time. That won't save much power. The real reason inverters can save power is that they use brushless DC motors which are about 10 to 20 % more efficient. In addition, an inverter can run at lower power. For instance a non inverter unit might be consuming say 1500 Watts and runs for 40 minutes each hour. The consumption would be 1 KW per hour. An inverter unit (in ideal circumstances) could run at say an average of 800 Watts and thus would consume only .8 KW for the hour.

Another misconception is that the inverter units never shut the compressors down. They do but less often. If it is 32 to 35C outside and you set the inverter unit to say 29, it would start shutting down every so often. Of course if it is 48C outside and you set it to 16 it might not shut off that often.

Originally Posted by batman

I have 5 stabilizers at home for AC's, TV, fridge and washing machine, out of which 2 are from V-Guard, one each from Activa, Premier & Golden Guard;i.e) practically no preference to any specific brand.

From my experience, I had an issue with V-Guard stabilizer (connected to inverter AC) last year; there was a continuous clicking noise from it and there was no output; Spent around Rs 400 to repair it.

You can try buying the stabilizer online (I have bought 3 online so far) which gives you more models / brands to choose from; Look for the ones that comes with longer warranty and your voltage range requirement. Note that the voltage may drop considerably during peak summer nights.

I have had the opposite experience. Since moving to India 5 years ago, we haven't used any stabiliser at all for any appliance. So far no issues with large led TVs, washing machine and dryer, split acs including inverter units or anything else. Perhaps the quality of power is better here in Delhi NCR or maybe the stabilisers are just to assuage people's fears?

Originally Posted by aim120

Another big advantage of inverter AC is the ability to run on a UPS/Inverter/Solar. Since there is absolutely no Inrush current, all you need is a UPS/inverter that is slightly more capacity then a inverter AC wattage.

Not the case with a regular AC which can overload the inverter causing it to trip.

When you run it on Solar you will always get a voltage within spec of the AC operating voltage.

This is something I need to test. My newly purchased inverter one ton ac has a sticker that lists the LRA as 25 Amps. LRA or Locked Rotor Amperage is the amount of power required to first move the compressor motor from standstill. Doesn't this mean that the inveter would also have a surge of extra current? I have also often read and heard that the inverter units start up slowly to avoid this surge but the sticker placed on the unit by the manufacturer seems to indicate otherwise. I am awaiting delivery of a energy meter and I will test this out soon.

[raddy]

Hello Everybody

What is your take on following AC models in terms of durability when used only on Summer?

Samsung AR18NV3JLMC
LG JS-Q18PWXA

And would it be a headache if ACs do not come with auto-clean feature ?

And would we get huge bargain on ACs if we buy on winters ?

[aim120]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Everyone, including experts, claim this to be the reason for inverters saving money. However, this is incorrect. It is true that the compressor might use say six times more power at start up but that is only for a few milliseconds. Even if we grant one second of extra power, that is still minuscule. It is like running the ac an extra six seconds. If you do it 3 times an hour and for 10 hours per day, you are saving at best about 2 minutes of running time. That won't save much power. The real reason inverters can save power is that they use brushless DC motors which are about 10 to 20 % more efficient. In addition, an inverter can run at lower power. For instance a non inverter unit might be consuming say 1500 Watts and runs for 40 minutes each hour. The consumption would be 1 KW per hour. An inverter unit (in ideal circumstances) could run at say an average of 800 Watts and thus would consume only .8 KW for the hour.

Yes the inverter AC compressor does have a BLDC motor vs a induction motor of a regular compressor, BLDC motor is indeed very efficient, we are even seeing ceiling fan with BLDC motor which consume as low as 26w vs around 50w or more for a 5 star ceiling fan with induction motor giving almost exact air flow.
As far as the start current it can go as high as 10 times or more.

Originally Posted by Lobogris

This is something I need to test. My newly purchased inverter one ton ac has a sticker that lists the LRA as 25 Amps. LRA or Locked Rotor Amperage is the amount of power required to first move the compressor motor from standstill. Doesn't this mean that the inveter would also have a surge of extra current? I have also often read and heard that the inverter units start up slowly to avoid this surge but the sticker placed on the unit by the manufacturer seems to indicate otherwise. I am awaiting delivery of a energy meter and I will test this out soon.

LRA means the current when the rotor just cannot move for whatever reason like a jammed bearing or some other external force causing the rotor to not move.
In that instance in your inverter AC will at the max consume 25amps and before that your MCB will trip. For eg my 1.5ton Daikon 5 star inverter consumes a max watts of 1700w, normally it never consumes more then a max of 1350w, the recommended MCB breaker is 20amp as per the manual, I don't know the LRA of mine but I am pretty sure it will be more then 25amps.

[Thad E Ginathom]

In the last 48 hours, I have noticed something that I find very interesting in the ongoing story of inverter ACs in our market, which is, as we have discussed, strongly affected by distrust of the reliability and repair cost of the expensive electronics these systems use. I noticed that Hitachi is offerring a five year warranty on the controller board (and ten on the compressor, if I remember correctly).

If I was in the market for a new machine right now, which I am not, and hope not to be for a while, this is a move that might well win my confidence and custom. As a consumer, I am never likely to be unique, even in my minority tastes, so, if me, then others too. This seems to be a very clever move on Hitachi's part.

(Or have I just missed such offers from others?)

I do regard warranty terms to be a statement of confidence in its product. The better they are, the more confidence I have that I won't need them. After all, it is like any other insurance: there will have been a calculation of potential cost to the company and the necessary "premium" to charge to charge the customer as part of the purchase price.

Originally Posted by raddy

What is your take on following AC models in terms of durability when used only on Summer?

It sounds as if you are quite new to buying and using AC. It may be useful if you read a dozen or so pages of this thread to fill in on background information. Specific-model information may be posted, if people actual know that model.

[skumare]

Recently bought a Voltas 1 ton split AC for a ground floor 120 sqft room. So far so good, the cooling is OK, the room has good amount of green cover on the west side and there is a room on the first floor too. The unit came with a 5yr warranty on the whole.

Was browsing thru the so called manual and couldn't figure out what the "sleep" mode does in a Voltas AC? Please let me know if you are aware.

[raddy]

I have finally ordered Samsung AR18NV3JLMC AC for its trip protection feature (compressor protector, controller protector and fin and chassis protector) and offers 80v to 450v range inbuilt stabilisation feature and with 5 year condenser and 10 year compressor warranty.

I hope I have bought a safer product.

[raddy]

The AC has been installed yesterday and is working well.

The people came for the installation was saying that Inverter ACs are not worth the premium and cannot be serviceable easily once the PCB gets broken and we just have to throw it away.

Which made me disappointed in my purchase decision.

This model of AC is already having some safe guard measures to protect the PCB as well.

I have two options now, one is to purchase extended additional warranty of two years from 3rd party who is claiming to be using OEM spare parts and the other option is to purchase a stabilizer.

Samsung says that stabilizer is built-in already in Inverter ACs.

Please suggest

[hrman]

Originally Posted by skumare

Recently bought a Voltas 1 ton split AC for a ground floor 120 sqft room. So far so good, the cooling is OK, the room has good amount of green cover on the west side and there is a room on the first floor too. The unit came with a 5yr warranty on the whole.

Was browsing thru the so called manual and couldn't figure out what the "sleep" mode does in a Voltas AC? Please let me know if you are aware.

The sleep mode is supposed to increase the temperature by 1 deg every two hours or so. (Not sure of the exact time).

This will prevent the AC from being super chill at night to the extent of becoming uncomfortable and someone needing to get up up to switch it off.

My Voltas Ac has this function, but not felt the need to use it. Inverters already maintain a steady temperature.

[skumare]

Originally Posted by hrman

The sleep mode is supposed to increase the temperature by 1 deg every two hours or so. (Not sure of the exact time).

This will prevent the AC from being super chill at night to the extent of becoming uncomfortable and someone needing to get up up to switch it off.

Thanks for the explanation, I am aware this is the high-level functionality of sleep mode. Wanted to figure how exactly it is implemented in Voltas ACs.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by raddy

The people came for the installation was saying that Inverter ACs are not worth the premium and cannot be serviceable easily once the PCB gets broken and we just have to throw it away.

Well, that's a bad thing to tell the customer who wants to be happy!

You can find out about the pros and cons of inverter AC in the last few pages of this thread. It sounds to me like somebody wants to scare you into buying an extended warranty.

Would that be worth it? If you can afford the cost of whatever is the most expensive component, then... no. Compare that cost with two or three years of premiums.

Congratulations on your new AC

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by raddy

The people came for the installation was saying that Inverter ACs are not worth the premium and cannot be serviceable easily once the PCB gets broken and we just have to throw it away.

For an AC repairman, a PCB is a component he can't repair. So it is natural that he dislikes it. Just like local car repairmen dislikes cars with electronics. Two more years into the future, you are likely to see only inverter ACs in the market. So stop worrying and enjoy the cool air.

Originally Posted by hrman

Inverters already maintain a steady temperature.

A steady temperature is only half the story when comfort is in question. Most people feel comfortable at a temperature of 25/26 degrees. But when you enter a conditioned room, from a hot outdoors, you will feel more comfortable if it is lower, say 22 degrees. But after a while, say after an hour or so, 22 will start feeling too cold for you. That is when the sleep mode comes to your rescue. You can set ur AC to a lower temperature and set it in sleep mode. When you get adjusted to the cold environment, it will increase the temperature slowly and stabilise after a couple of hours.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by skumare

Thanks for the explanation, I am aware this is the high-level functionality of sleep mode. Wanted to figure how exactly it is implemented in Voltas ACs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX7lFchlxMk

The above video is about Croma ACs, but I was able to get the function to work in my Voltas AC as the remote is the same.