What types of power inverters are there?
There are stand-alone (off-grid) inverters and grid interactive (grid tie) inverters. Among the stand-alone inverters, there are square wave inverters, modified sine (square) wave inverters and pure sine wave inverters. What can be run on an inverter? Inverters can run typical AC appliances like blenders, hair dryers, microwave ovens, computers, even washing machines. Are there any appliances that cannot be run on an inverter? As a general principle you can connect almost any appliance to a power inverter, assuming it has been properly sized. But because of the high capital cost of renewable energy products like solar panels, appliances that use a very large amount of power, such as electric stoves and ovens, air conditioners and electric clothes dryers, are usually excluded from off-the grid systems. (No items need to be excluded if you are on a grid-tie system.) If such items are required on an off-grid system, then a back-up system such as a propane generator is usually suggested. B
