What are continuous and surge power capacity ratings for DC-AC inverters?
How much load can an inverter handle? Its power output is rated in Watts. Read details under Characteristics of Sinusoidal AC Power on page 7. There are two levels of power rating -a continuous rating and a surge rating. Continuous means the amount of power the inverter can handle for an indefinite period of hours. When an inverter is rated at a certain number of Watts, that number generally refers to its continuous rating. The surge power indicates the power to handle instantaneous overload of a few seconds to provide the higher power required to start certain type of devices and appliances.
