Yes, you can leave your inverter ON all the time if it’s working under the rated capacity.
Should I leave my inverter on all the time?
It depends on your use of energy. If you have the appliance connected to the inverter, it might need the power source to function, especially when using the inverter in the RV or traveling in remote places.
The home inverter converts the DC currents to the AC currents and uses the batteries to store the energy for emergency purposes. When there is a cut-off, the inverter will be activated and power the home appliances.
The inverter battery keep gets draining even if you turn off the inverter. So it would not be a wise decision to keep the inverter off when not in use.
Over time the energy stored in the inverter will be lost. If the battery is not charged sufficiently, it will not have the energy to power your home.
How long can you leave an inverter on?
In the case of hybrid inverter, it stored the energy collected from the local power grid in the battery. The depletion rate of the energy decides how long your inverter will keep powering your home devices.
Check for the electric consumption of your home and compare it with the storage capacity of the inverter.
For example, running the regular computer system connected to the 200 watts of the inverter would allow the system to run for 3 hours.
Can a power inverter (solar inverter) run continuously?
Yes. It is possible but not advisable. When the inverter is kept on, it will start draining the battery quickly. Even if no electronic appliance is connected to the inverter, the battery will draw the power and start draining quickly.
It needs a power supply to keep the battery full and ready to use when there is no power supply in the home.
Therefore, some inverter is designed to automatically shut down when there is a power disconnection from the local grid or solar.
When should I turn off my inverter?
Inverters need proper maintenance and care to keep them in good condition and sustain them for a long period. There will be occasions when you have to shut down all the appliances of the home.
Especially when you are going on an extended vacation, and no one is at home to use the power.
In those days, the inverter needs to be switched off.
Suppose you are leaving your home for several months. In that case, you should fully disconnect the batteries from the primary grid and other appliances to avoid any damage or unexpected event taking place at home.
Contact your nearest battery service provider if they offer maintenance service with the storage facility at their place, so you do not have to worry about the batteries kept in the home.
Does an inverter use power if nothing is plugged in?
The simple answer is yes. The power the inverter draws will be negligible. It will not impact the overall performance of the inverter. However, the inverter, which is not in use, still drains the power.
The power depletion rate will be around 0.20 amps up to 2 amps depending on the unit. Some inverters are designed for the standby system that prevents the inverter from discharging fully when not in use.
When the appliance is connected to the inverter, you should monitor the power consumption frequently to ensure that sufficient power is left in the battery bank for emergency purposes.
The appliance may fully drain the battery, and you will be left with a dead battery.
Some low-quality inverters draw the entry at the rate of 5% to 10% when nothing is connected. So there are possibilities that when you try to connect the appliance after a few hours, there will be no charge.
How do I turn off my inverter when not in use?
If you want to stop the home appliance from running on the inverters, then disconnect them by removing the plug.
It will stop the inverter from powering the home appliance, and your inverter will no longer use the power supplied by the device.
The manual turn-off switch may not be available on some inverters. The only way to switch the power inverter from the primary grid or any connected DC circuit breakers (for solar inverters).
Eng. Matthew Joseph Nandirio is the Founder of walkingsolar.
After graduating from the University of Houston in 2002, matt started working as a Solar Electrical Engineer for several multi-national solar energy companies.
He has a wide range of experiences including solar system requirement analysis, planning, maintaining, debugging and even solar device development through research.
He now shares his 20 years of expertise through his articles on the walkingsolar website.
Further, he is also the author of two books on Solar Technology, “Solar Power for Villages” and “DIY Solar System for Dummies”.