Have you been researching power inverters and come across a term called ‘peak power’?
If you’re a little confused then don’t worry.
With these electronics, it is easy to get a little mixed up especially if you don’t know the terminology.
Let’s go through what is peak power on an inverter and how it is different from continuous power.
What is Peak Power?
Peak power is the highest wattage a power inverter can deliver for a short amount of time. An inverter will only be able to produce this extra power for a matter of seconds, 10 seconds at most.
It is an important feature as many devices will spike in wattage when you turn them on. For example, a 700-watt microwave can draw 1400 watts as you turn it on.
Peak power enables your inverter to deal with these spikes to continue running your devices.
Usually, an inverter will have double peak power wattage compared to its continuous wattage capacity. So a good 1000W inverter will have 2000W peak power.
What is Continuous Power?
Continuous power is the most important figure to check when choosing an inverter.
This is the number of watts it can output for an extended period of time.
So if you have a device that needs 300W, you must use an inverter with more than 300W continuous power. It’s always best to use an inverter with at least 20% continuous power than you expect to draw because they are not 100% efficient.
Final Thoughts on Peak Power Inverter
There’s not much you need to know on the subject of ‘what is peak power inverter?’
It’s just the highest wattage an inverter can deliver for a few seconds.
When choosing an inverter stick to the continuous power rating to know what you can draw for a long period of time.
