If you're in the market for a solar electric system, you may be wondering just what to look for in a solar inverter.
There's a wide range and variety on the market and the choices are increasing all the time, as the technology becomes ever more refined and sophisticated.
If you're in the market for a solar electric system, you may be wondering just what to look for in a solar inverter.
There's a wide range and variety on the market and the choices are increasing all the time, as the technology becomes ever more refined and sophisticated.
Here are the most common inverters and their various characteristics.
What Does Inverter Mean?
An inverter is in reality a converter. In solar terms, it takes DC (direct current) power coming in and converts it to AC (alternating current) power going out. And the reason an inverter's needed? solar panels generate DC electricity, but most domestic appliances use AC, so the DC needs to be converted to usable AC.
Different Categories Of Inverter
There are 3 different categories of inverter - grid-tied, grid-tied with battery backup and off-grid.
Grid-tied - should ideally feature maximum power point tracking (MPPT) (to maximize the output from the solar panel array); ground fault protection (GFP) (required by NEC, so usually built in); AC/DC disconnects (protect the inverter and the grid from potential fire hazard); weatherproof enclosure (because most grid-tie inverters are designed for outdoor usage).
Grid-tied with battery backup - would ideally feature low-voltage disconnect (protects battery from over-discharge); supply high current to start motors or run loads from backed-up panel; allow battery to be charged from AC source following an outage; sealed or vented (sealed units are protected from the elements); power center with disconnects; automatically start and stop a generator if used as backup power supply.
Off-grid - should contain most of the same features as the grid-tied with battery backup (low-voltage disconnect, high current starting, automatically start and stop a generator, allow battery to be charged from AC source following an outage, sealed or vented, power center with disconnects).
Different Types Of Inverter
There are also 3 main types of inverter - square wave, modified square wave and sine wave.
Square wave - converts DC into "square" alternating current. This type of inverter provides only a small amount of output voltage and is only used to power small appliances and incandescent bulbs.
Modified square wave - good for running motors, lights, TVs, and is fine for large surges. It can handle a sizable range of loads, but can run into trouble with more sensitive time-keeping types of equipment and other sensitive devices.
Sine wave - the most common type in residential systems due to the fact that they're ideal for use with equipment that's extremely sensitive, and is the only type that can be used in grid-tied systems.
These are typically the most common types of inverters found in most systems today, along with the various features currently available. If you're wondering which type is right for your particular application, hopefully you'll now have a better idea.