How to Size Up Your Inverter

When buying an inverter it is essential to consider not only the load (the total amount of the watts of the appliance you intend to operate), but the type of load.

Different appliances place different demands on the same inverter, and many cannot cope. Talk to someone who knows the real capabilities of the inverters they sell, not just the wattage.

There are two types of inverter waveform available: Sine Wave and Modified Square Wave.

Sine Wave is a fair bit more expensive, but all appliances are suited to Sine Wave. Sine wave is the pure wave and is more powerful than Square Wave for the same watts. You will have no interference on the TV or radio with pure sine wave.

Modified square wave (sizes 75W to 500W) are NOT suitable to run refrigeration (240V refrigeration has high current demands, even the small ones). Will run TV, radio (with interference), lights, computers, stereos, power tools etc. The waveform cheaper inverters make. Variable speed 240V appliances won't work with Modified Square Wave.