FUTURE DESIGN
TECHN LOGIES
INVERTERS
With load-shedding now a frequent occurrence, it has become necessary to have a backup system installed so as to give you power when Eskom is not available.
This backup power is possible through either a generator or an inverter.
A generator is a standalone piece of equipment, which, as its name suggests, generates power.
In South Africa, this is either a 230V single phase or 400V three phase system.
The disadvantage of a generator is that it needs oil and diesel, and constant maintenance to keep it running at peak performance.
It also gives off a lot of noise and also air polution in the way of burnt diesel fumes.
Inverters are much more environmentally friendly, giving off no harmful gases and are virtually silent.
The only noise that you are likely to hear with an inverter is the fan when the batteries are charging or keeping the transformer cool.
An inverter system consists of an inverter, a piece of equipment designed to take a batteries voltage and convert it to 230V, and
a battery (or multiple batteries) which supply the standby power.
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When the Eskom power is present, the inverter uses this power to supply your equipment that is plugged into it.
Your total inverter equipment load is limited to the inverter size.
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If your inverter is 600W rated, then your equipment that it is supplying cannot exceed this amount of power without tripping the inverter on overload.
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When the Eskom power fails, the inverter switches power from the, now absent Eskom feed, to the battery supply, inverts this voltage to a useable 230V, and supply's your equipment with this instead.
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The switch over time is just a few milliseconds, meaning that if you were watching a tv program, your tv would not even flicker.
The size in Amp Hours (Ah) of your battery determines the amount of time that you can supply your equipment with power before the battery is depleted.
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Obviously, the more power you are requiring your inverter to supply, the less time your battery will last.
When the Eskom power is restored, the inverter switches back to this input, and the batteries start charging up with the built in battery charger.
There are 2 types of installs of an inverter system in your home.
The 1st is a standalone unit that gets plugged into the mains power, and the equipment that you want to back up, gets plugged into your inverter. This is a user free install. Once installed, the user does not need to touch a thing.
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The 2nd method is to install the inverter through the installation's electrical distribution board.
This is a more expensive option, but allows the user the option of supplying selected lighting circuits in their home with the inverters power, and also usually a few plug circuits to power the tv, dstv, fridge, alarm, etc...
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The circuits are controlled with a changeover switch.
This changeover switch is usually mounted in a seperate mainboard near the existing one, and houses the inverter circuitry and the changeover switch.
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The user can select between mains power, inverter power, or the off position, where no power is supplied to the inverter circuitry.
We offer both solutions to our customers, with a full professional approach to the install, starting with liasing with our client what their needs are, advising them which system would be best, supplying the equipment necessary, and professionally installing and testing the system.
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All our installations adhere to the latest electrical safety standards.
All installs are carried out by myself and my team, registered electrical contractors.