There are times when power supply situations turn bad. And when the weather turns bad, they turn even worse. Many of us must have faced some problem or the other when it comes to electricity and suffered a power cut of at least 2 to 4 hours. What can be the solution to all this? You can’t possibly be alert and on your feet all the time with a DIY kit in your hand and be prepared to repair all the electrical faults of your house or office yourself.

This is where inverters come in. Inverters are simple devices that store electricity from the grid in their battery. They use DC (direct current) power from that battery to convert it into AC (alternating current) and power up your house and all the appliances in it. But for you to pick out the right inverter and battery for your home and office you need to understand some basic terminology:

1. What is Your Power Requirement?

Before you purchase any of these solutions, the most important thing to evaluate is your power requirement, so don’t forget to know two things upfront:

• Total Load

This is the total load that you want to run on your backup. This is essential as it will help determine the right size of the inverter for your power backup solution. Size means the VA value which is the total wattage (or watts) of each appliance that you run in your house or would want to run on this backup. Your electrician will help you determine the same so don’t forget to give him a call right now.

• Total Time

The total number of hours or the duration for which you would require the backup is essential to decide the size of the batteries you will need. For better understanding have a look at the list of appliances we have put together for you:

• 1 Fan – 75-90 Watts
• 1 tube light –45-50 watts (standard tube lights)
• 1 Television – LED TVs – 30-100, LCD TVs – 50-150 watts
• Laptops – 50 watts
• Air conditioners – 250-300 watts
• Mixer Grinder – 350 watts

2. There Are Bigger Appliances in Your Home

There are appliances in your home that are much bigger and quite frankly you can’t think of running them on a battery powered inverter. Well, for the most part. Electrical appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners have heavy motors and compressors that need a lot of power to start and run. Including a refrigerator in your appliance mix would dramatically increase the size of the inverter. An AC (1 ton) would consume 1000 watts (or 1 kW) of power. So the number of batteries needed would also increase significantly if you put your AC on your inverter.

3. Choosing The Right Battery For Your Inverter

There are primarily 3 types of batteries:

• Flat Plate – The most affordable batteries out there
• Tubular – They may cost slightly higher than the Flat Plate batteries but last much longer
• Maintenance Free – They sound good on paper, but they have a shorter life, usually 4-5 years as compared to a Tubular Battery which has a life of about 7-8 years.