There is some confusion out there about what the difference is between two different types of inverters. They are about the same size and weight, but the price difference between the two can be quite dramatic.
We’re talking, of course, of the difference between the run-of-the-mill sine wave inverter (or the modified sine wave or quasi sine wave inverters) and pure sine wave inverters. Let’s start at the beginning to see what the difference is between the two.
Way back when, there was basically only one type of inverter available – a square wave inverter. Its power output was so crude and ineffective that very few appliances or devices could actually use this power – and they have faded away into nothingness today. If we take that basic square wave inverter and apply some signal shaping and filtering, what we end up with is something a bit more expensive, but much more useful. The sine wave inverter (or modified sine or quasi sine) is good enough for most electrical appliances and gadgets today – and they are the most common type out there. The biggest drawback to these devices is that their output voltage can fluctuate with the input voltage (normally from a battery – which loses voltage as power drains from it). Most modern devices today, though, can handle a fluctuating voltage supply – if you read on the safety ratings on the power input to them, they’ll likely give a range of suitable voltage.
The advanced cousin of the sine wave inverter is the pure sine wave inverter. This product has even more filtering and signal conditioning, and probably has some voltage regulation thrown in to boot. These devices can produce power that’s cleaner than that coming out of your wall at home (from the power company). They are also not dependent (completely) on the input DC voltage – as long as it’s in some minimal range.The extra filtering and wave shaping adds into the cost – so if your device doesn’t need this capability, then why pay for it?
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