Smart Buyer #3: Choosing a home inverter — VA, watts, backup hours
Inverter for your home: VA, watts and backup hours.
Buying a home inverter / UPS for power cuts? Check these 3 things first 🔋
1️⃣ WATTS, NOT VA: the big number on the box is VA. Real power is about 0.7–0.8 of it, so a 1000 VA inverter runs only about 800 W. Add up your load first: 2 fans 150 W + 4 LED lights 40 W + TV 100 W + Wi-Fi 10 W = 300 W ✅ (many labels list the watts too).
2️⃣ THE BATTERY = BACKUP HOURS: 12 V × 150 Ah = 1800 Wh. After about 20 % losses that's ≈ 1440 Wh ÷ 300 W ≈ 4.8 hours. Bigger Ah = longer backup.
3️⃣ PURE SINE WAVE: same shape as the mains. Fans run quiet and cool, fridges and laptops stay safe. Cheaper "modified sine" inverters make fans hum and motors run hotter.
Read the voiceover (transcript)
- Buying a home inverter?
- One: VA is not watts! A thousand VA runs only about eight hundred watts. Add up your fans, lights and TV.
- Two: the battery sets your backup time. Twelve volts, one fifty amp hours: almost five hours at three hundred watts.
- Three: pick pure sine wave. Fans stay quiet, and fridges and laptops stay safe.
- Check VA, battery, sine wave!
- Next: picking the right phone charger! Follow for more!
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