Newsletter Archive

Energy Consumption

Someone wanted to know the energy consumption of an EFTPOS machine. We tested ours at 10W on standby and 20W while actually printing (on the 230V side). Different banks have slightly different units. In our case, it is meant to be left on 24 hours per day (as it downloads data and prints summary statements in the middle of the night). Has anyone tried one on a modified square wave inverter? I have also received some inquiries and feedback about running Austar (satellite television). The information I have received is that it draws about 20W when it is turned on and that it does run okay off a modified square wave inverter. However, it has been suggested that it should not be run off a generator unless it has a good regulation and surge protection.

Problem Loads

We have received some feedback to the effect that some bread makers (particularly the Panasonic Model SD200) do not run successfully on some inverters (even sine wave).

One customer has trouble with his remote control for his television. However, we've never seen any similar problems with this common device.

We appreciate your feedback with any problem loads which you might have experienced on your inverter. This feedback is important for inverter manufacturers as they are always trying to upgrade and improve their products.

Power Factor

A customer recently had problems running all his fluoros off a small sine wave inverter. Some testing has revealed that a 40W 'straight' fluoro requires 80 to 120VA to drive it due to a power factor of 0.5 or less. This problem relates more to inverter sizing as opposed to actual efficiency. The new electronic ballasted PL type fluoros should be an improvement to this problem.

Price Increases

There has been a few increases lately, particularly with our range of wind generators. We also regret to advise that Woods chargers will go up by 10% as of 1 April due to improvements being forced upon many manufacturers to reduce electromagnetic interference on their products (known as C-Tick requirements in Australia).

Electricity Supply For Remote Medical Clinics

There are tens of thousands of medical clinics in the lesser developed countries of the world which do not have access to mains power. This lack of power is a serious obstacle to improving the health of villagers:

During the past few decades, several types of generators have been used in such clinics to provide power:

Petrol/diesel, Solar/photovoltaic and Hydro power.

Read the full article on Electricity Supply For Remote Medical Clinics.