Pure Sine Wave or Square Wave?

A

amp

Bronze
Oct 5, 2010
730
8
18
Good morning DR1ers.

I'm in need of an power inverter. I found this image to help me out but want to know what you all think from experience.

Inverter_Wave_Comp.jpeg


The redline is the square wave inverter. The black line is the pure sine wave. I specifically need my inverter for my computer and to power my modem. The ONLY necessity is to have the computer and modem run for up to 8 hours on the inverter. Power to lights, fans, TV(s), microwave, fridge, would be awesome but not completely necessary. It is rare for the power to be out in my area for more than 4-5 hours and it does not happen often but maybe once or twice a week.

What watt do you all recommend? How many batteries?

I've seen the price difference in square wave vs. pure sine wave and it becomes very attractive. I have also seen the issues that some people have with power supplies and square wave converters which makes them unattractive.

What do you guys think?
 
M

MpJuly

Member
Apr 30, 2009
471
2
18
pure sine wave are better but more expensive
but square wave inverter work too for omputer and modem

only for computer 1000 watt + 4 batteriesyou are good for more than 8 hours

for all 3.6 kw with 4 batteries you will be ok for 8 hours
 
Robert

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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Don't waste your money on a pure sine wave inverter, unless you have equipment that is very sensitive to frequency and voltage. Your PC and modem does not fall into that category :)
 
N

NV_

Bronze
Aug 4, 2003
710
6
0
amp said:
What do you guys think about this:

Whistler Pro-1200W 1200 Watt Power Inverter : Amazon.com : Home Improvement

PowerDrive RPPD1000 1000-Watt DC to AC Power Inverter with USB Port and 2 AC Outlet : Amazon.com : Automotive


I have my wife telling me, "don't buy things they don't use in this country" about that inverter.
Click to expand...

Being an almost married man myself, i hate to say this but your wife is correct. One of the best inverters made is the Trace DR3624 . If you want troublefree service for 10+ years, only buy Trace/xantrex.

if all you need is power for the pc/modem their DR512 model is plenty. ive had this inverter with two batts strictly for the pc, monitor,modem, router for almost 10 yrs w/o any issues. Lasts about two hours on two batteries.

AFAIK whistler makes inverters for vehicles. I brought one with me when i moved here and it melted.... home inverters are a totally different beast.
 
D

Don Pedro

Member
Apr 2, 2005
262
6
18
Don't waste your money buying a square wave inverter,.

Your wifi router could be erratic, (especially linksys) and definitly less coverage.
You will burn your Kitchen aid mixer within 5 mn (replacing the card is US$80+wasting your time).
TV and electroc devices are more sophisticaded and need pure sine wave.

Not buying a pure sine wave is for poor people en el barrio with bombillos and old fridge.

Pure sine wave start to emerge on the dominican market.

Cordially
 
Robert

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,573
342
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dr1.com
NV_ said:
Being an almost married man myself, i hate to say this but your wife is correct. One of the best inverters made is the Trace DR3624 . If you want troublefree service for 10+ years, only buy Trace/xantrex.

if all you need is power for the pc/modem their DR512 model is plenty. ive had this inverter with two batts strictly for the pc, monitor,modem, router for almost 10 yrs w/o any issues. Lasts about two hours on two batteries.

AFAIK whistler makes inverters for vehicles. I brought one with me when i moved here and it melted.... home inverters are a totally different beast.
Click to expand...

I agree, great inverters and both square wave.
 
D

donP

Newbie
Dec 14, 2008
6,942
178
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Dr 3624

Don Pedro said:
Don't waste your money buying a square wave inverter,.

Your wifi router could be erratic, (especially linksys) and definitly less coverage.
You will burn your Kitchen aid mixer within 5 mn (replacing the card is US$80+wasting your time).
TV and electroc devices are more sophisticaded and need pure sine wave.

Not buying a pure sine wave is for poor people en el barrio with bombillos and old fridge.
Click to expand...

This is all wrong.

For the last 17 years our 2 Trace DR3624 inverters have supplied (24/7 with 110/220V) our routers, kitchen appliances (although no Kitchen Aid brand), TV's, satellite receivers, satellite modems, drills, pumps, refrigerators and the electric gate motor without problems.

And:
They have also charged our 16 batteries (Trojan T-105) very well and daily.

donP
 
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O

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
1,914
104
63
Amp,
The Blue line is a square wave invertor, the red line is called modified or Stepped squarewave and this is what the majority are. Blue is pure sinewave.
The Stepped Square wave is fine on most equipment.

Olly and the Team
 
W

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
44,204
7,007
113
Don Pedro said:
Don't waste your money buying a square wave inverter,.

Your wifi router could be erratic, (especially linksys) and definitly less coverage.
You will burn your Kitchen aid mixer within 5 mn (replacing the card is US$80+wasting your time).
TV and electroc devices are more sophisticaded and need pure sine wave.

Not buying a pure sine wave is for poor people en el barrio with bombillos and old fridge.

Pure sine wave start to emerge on the dominican market.

Cordially
Click to expand...

I have been running all the above equipment (except I don't have a Kitchen Aid) for 10 years on a square wave DR3624 inverter. No problems because of the inverters with the exception of one SONY receiver that does not like square wave power for its output transistors.

The main problems I have had were because of lightning strikes and the poor power provided by Edenorte.
 
A

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,288
519
113
I have been running all my home equipment, including HD Tv, laptops and fans, modems etc with dominican made modified squarewave inverters. I do just fine with the locally made inverter and things work just as good. over the 14 yrs of usage my inverter has failed a few times (maybe 3 times) but the fix was only 500 pesos to 1000 pesos at max. No items connected to inverter were damaged. I do use GFCI protection on most of my power sockets on the wall.
I would love to have a pure sine wave unit but I am too cheap to pay the high price. I have seen people with trace equipment and when their inverter fails, the repair is very costly.
AZB
 
J

jeanchris

Bronze
Feb 27, 2012
627
0
0
+1 on pure sin wave, bought a new invertor few months ago and dont regret it. I have a lot of expensive electronic stuff in the house so its a no brainer.

Also UPS work's perfectly with a pure sin wave, some older invertor will blow the UPS when connected with the invertor.
 
W

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
44,204
7,007
113
It is true that the DR made equipment in the style of the former TRACE models work well. Megatone/Inverluz models perform well for example and are less costly to purchase and repair. They also have a sine wave model if you are so inclined.
 
A

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,288
519
113
i have been inspired to look up some pure sinewave inverters on ebay. I am seeing lots of chinese made inverters and they look to be very modern designs. i wonder if anyone has ever bought one from there and actually have it in use?
 
W

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
44,204
7,007
113
AZB said:
i have been inspired to look up some pure sinewave inverters on ebay. I am seeing lots of chinese made inverters and they look to be very modern designs. i wonder if anyone has ever bought one from there and actually have it in use?
Click to expand...

I am quite sure that is exactly what Megatone/Inverluz is doing so perhaps someone has purchased a sine wave inverter from them.
 
W

wrecksum

Bronze
Sep 27, 2010
2,063
96
48
Most of the electronic equipment you mention runs from a stabilised DC power pack which does not care if you have square, sine, cosine, tangental or sawtooth waveforms, it will supply a stabilised output or nothing.
This should not be damaging.
Stuff that's running directly from the inverter, fans, as someone said, can be noisy, lights and so forth normally don't have a problem but fridges and motors (some single phase pumps for example) don't like it too much. Best to find an alternative for them if you're off power for long periods, like days on end and run continuously from an inverter.

EDNorte will successfully manage to blow up any sensitive and unprotected equipment so that's more of a problem than the inverter...........
 
W

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
44,204
7,007
113
wrecksum said:
Most of the electronic equipment you mention runs from a stabilised DC power pack which does not care if you have square, sine, cosine, tangental or sawtooth waveforms, it will supply a stabilised output or nothing.
This should not be damaging.
Stuff that's running directly from the inverter, fans, as someone said, can be noisy, lights and so forth normally don't have a problem but fridges and motors (some single phase pumps for example) don't like it too much. Best to find an alternative for them if you're off power for long periods, like days on end and run continuously from an inverter.

EDNorte will successfully manage to blow up any sensitive and unprotected equipment so that's more of a problem than the inverter...........
Click to expand...

We have had 4 fridges running for 10 years on Edenorte and Square Wave inverters. The only failures have been in the timer circuits and the small DC fans that circulate the air. No compressor issues at all.

I agree that the poor quality of Edenorte power is more of an issue than the power from a square wave inverter.
 
A

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,288
519
113
modified square wave inverters seem to shorten the lives of portable fans. I have had 4 fans failed over the years running off inverters. At first i thought the fans were poor quality and this is why they didn't last long then i had 2 fans fail within days apart when running off inverter. The motor makes noise then burning plastic smell comes, the speed gets reduced and then they fail all together. These are cheap chinese fans that can't handle square wave output of an inverter. The only fans that will not burn from square wave inverters are most ceiling fans and all KDK brand fans. No wonder KDK costs far more than an average cheap fan.
AZB
 
D

Dan Spinnover

New member
Nov 1, 2010
101
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0
Invertors are a good idea, but can get dam*ed expensive. Well not because of the invertor so much, but from a weak battery that is old and will not hold a charge. If the battery will not hold a charge. In other words, if the battery discharges as soon as it's charged because of age, you're just throwing your money down a money pit. And invertor batteries die about once a year. This is because when they are connected to an invertor, they are in use 24/7... (not like car batteries).

If you can, move to where the electricity is good. When the service was improved and out for a reduced time of approx. six hours per week, usually on a Saturday, I disconnected the invertor. This was about 2 years ago now, and haven't looked back since. Now, Edesur has gotten even better. Service is excellent, Thank God. The luz/electricity is out only one hour per week, maybe.
 
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