AC Power Inverters and Their Benefits

There are two kinds of power inverters. One is the kind that converts AC power to DC power. If you have a device that can only be powered with direct current, but need to use it in the house or job site, these converters change the current from alternating current to direct current, and power 12v products. The other kind, which we will be discussing here, are the kind of inverters that change direct current into alternating current. They change the 12v electricity that you have in your vehicle and turn it into 110AC current so you can use the same electronics and other products that you would normally plug into your household wall sockets.

There are many different benefits for using an AC power inverter. If you are on the road a lot, and need to use your laptop, you can plug your inverter into the accessory lighter port on your vehicle and plug your laptop into a regular plug. If you need to recharge the batteries on your cellular phone, iPod, or other electronic device, power inverters can do the job.

When camping, an AC power inverter is invaluable for a number of reasons. You can take along your home coffee maker and use it while you are at the campsite. At night they can be used to power lights, a television and DVD player, or whatever else you may want to bring along. You can be worry free about bringing your digital camera, because if the batteries need to be charged, you can simply plug the pack into the inverter and charge them up.

An AC power inverter can also be useful in an emergency. Power inverters can power some of the basic necessities if you ever have a power outage in your home. They can help to run lights, keep heaters going, and even power large appliances like a refrigerator for a short period of time.

There are some things that you should know about these power inverters. One of them is that they are not like regular household current, which is almost always unlimited. Because an AC power inverter is plugged into a car, truck, or RV battery, it will drain it. You have to use it while the motor is running, or at least have enough power left in the battery to start the vehicle. Another thing to understand is that there are many different sized inverters, and you have to find the right one for your needs. For an example, there are many 450 watt inverters out there. These are small compact units that can fit in the glove compartment when not in use. While they are convenient, they don't power large appliances like televisions and DVD players. They will power a charger, or a laptop, but this is about it.

One of the things to consider when buying an AC power inverter is cost. It really depends on the amount of output, as well as the features they include. If you want just a small basic unit, for charging up your iPod or some other small electronic, then you can buy one hundred to one thousand watt power inverters for $100 dollars or less. If you need more power, these can run from over $100 to more than $1,000.

Nicole roberts

JumpStarterPro.com offers high quality, affordable jump starters, portable air compressors, AC power inverters and more that are perfect to fit your needs.

Computer Power Supply Unit (SMPS)

SMPS - Switch Mode Power Supply - is the technical term for what we generally know as the computer power supply unit. It is basically a box-like device used for the supply of power to your computer unit. So what does it do? In very simple terms, it converts the AC (Alternating Current) power supply from the general electrical sockets available at your home to DC (Direct Current), basically the type of current you get from a battery. The "Switch" term in the SMPS comes from the fact that the computer power supply unit converts AC to DC using switcher technology. We now use the ATX supply power units for the computers as the industry has settled on a standardized case and motherboard (ATX).

Typically, three voltages (12V, 3.3V and 5V) are supplied by the power supply unit.

If you are selecting a computer power supply unit, how do you go about doing that?

1. The first thing of course is to know what power requirements you are looking at. You can check the power requirements of the various devices of your computer and add them up, or you can just ask the vendor for the same. Once you have the total wattage, (that will be the unit of power), you can go for a slightly higher rated SMPS.
Now why you want to do that is because, at a later point of time, if you want to upgrade your computer, like a new DVD RAM drive, you may need a higher power supply.
One more thing to remember is to check the actual wattage against what the label on the power supply unit indicates.

2. It is always a good idea to go for a branded power supply unit. But that might not help if price is an important criteria.
The SMPS supplies power to all the components of the computer, like the motherboard (24/20 pins), hard drives and CD ROMS etc (IDE 4-pin), floppy drives (Floppy 4-pin), etc.
What happens is that, once the computer is powered on, there is a surge of current and as a result, it gets heated up. The fan, in such a condition is crucial, other wise, high temperatures might result. You should have at least one 80mm fan. It is even better if there are two fans instead of one.
(One such problem is the continuous restart of your computer as the temperature rise due to a faulty power supply causes the computer to shut down without giving any error message, and in some cases, not even the BIOS screen.)

If you have a branded SMPS, you can rest assured that there is not much chance of such an event occurring.

3. Number of connectors and the efficiency rating – These two factors are at par with the other factors while considering the computer power supply unit. The efficiency rating, is important as it is directly related to the heat output and subsequent temperature rise. Higher efficiency rating ensures that the SMPS causes a lesser rise in temperature.
The number of connectors is important as it determines how many devices you can use with your computer.

4. Lastly, the noise level – Apart from the CPU fan, the SMPS fan also determines the amount of noise generated – Except from a fine whirring sound, which is basically indistinguishable, you should not have any other sound coming from the SMPS.