What is a car inverter

Several years ago, a very interesting device appeared on the market - a car inverter. Enthusiasts-electronics engineers have long proposed compact self-made solutions that convert low voltage into higher voltage. However, in Serial production of a car inverter was launched relatively recently. Since then, such devices are found everywhere - in the markets of radio components, in auto parts stores and even in the departments of computer technology. This is not surprising, if you recall the rich opportunities that the car inverter offers its owner. A little later we will return to this point. But first, let's define the main purpose of the device.

So, the car inverter is a compact electronic device, the input of which from the car battery is a constant voltage of the standard value (12 or 24 Volts, depending on the modification), and the output is removed the usual 220 V AC. In other words, electronic circuits produce an increase in low voltage to high, and also create a variable current ("inverted" - hence the name) from the constant type of current. To owners of personal computers such a solution may seem familiar, because it is used in devices of uninterrupted power (UPS). In fact, it is true. The difference is that the UPS circuit can be designed not only for 12 or 24 V, but for the voltage of the installed battery pack or their unit.

What can be used for an in-car voltage inverter? Initially Inverters were designed to provide power to power from car cigarette lighter power (no more than 100 W) electric appliances - razors, tape recorders, etc. The car's inverter for laptops allowed to significantly increase the time of the latter. Subsequently, the permissible load power was increased to a value of 300W and even more. True, such power requires a separate line from the battery.

Soon, the areas of use of such devices have expanded significantly. After all, it is quite obvious that the car itself is not needed to operate the inverter. It only needs its battery. Thus it became possible to make a simple UPS with a huge amount of work time. For comparison: the load of 100 watts will "plant" 52 Ah battery in 8-12 hours, which even "did not dream" the best shop UPS.

Another use case is as an emergency home lighting system when the mains voltage is lost. In addition, at this time, you can additionally power a low-power personal computer or TV, brightening minutes and hours without light.

A high-quality car inverter and battery can prove to be indispensable for the electrical supply of a heating wall-mounted boiler for planned or emergency outages. True, not every inverter is suitable for these purposes because of the peculiarity of the formation of an alternating current sine wave at the output (when selecting, read the specification carefully).