With the advent of science and technology, our day-to-day lives have become dependent on several appliances. Today almost every household has one or the other heavy electrical appliances working. This further demands their maintenance along with a stable power supply. But nowadays, due to one reason or the other, voltage fluctuations have become very common. These pose a hindrance to the working of the appliance and harm its internal components. And thus demands proper attention. Here comes the Voltage Stabilizers for the rescue. But With so many available in the market, which one to choose? Let’s first understand about voltage stabilizer.
What is a voltage stabilizer?
A voltage stabilizer is an electric device designed to provide a stable voltage level to appliances. Their intelligent technology prevents the fluctuating input to be directly fed to the appliance and changes the voltage accordingly. As a result of this, it ensures that no power failure occurs during under-voltage, over-voltage, or voltage fluctuations. Hence, ensuring efficient working of appliances and their durability. So, the answer is, yes. An inverter AC requires a voltage stabilizer to regulate the constant power supply.
Voltage stabilizers ensure works using two operations namely: boost operation and buck operation.
Boost operation boosts the under-voltage and helps the appliance work at the optimum level. Whereas buck operation gets activated when the voltage level is above the required amount. Hence, reducing the over voltage. They can be used either as a dedicated unit for an individual appliance or a single unit for the whole place. Now, this place can be a house or workspace, or office.
Voltage stabilizers are available in two kinds: Analog stabilizers and Digital voltage stabilizers. These can be in single or three-phase variations. Single-phase stabilizers give an output voltage of 220 to 230 volts, and the three-phase stabilizers output 380-400 volts.
Why inverter AC requires a voltage stabilizer?
Be an Inverter AC or Non-inverter AC, stabilized voltage is needed to make sure it works to its maximum capacity. Since, sharp voltage fluctuations reduce the appliance’s performance and in long run, cause irreparable damage. Further making appliances less durable. Therefore, a voltage stabilizer is required to prevent this.
We know that Inverter AC continuously regulates the temperature. It does so by the controlled motor speed of its compressor which needs a stable power supply. Moreover, inverter ACs are not immune to power fluctuation and can malfunction during such events. And a risk to their internal components always lies. To prevent this, it becomes important to connect AC to a voltage stabilizer. Even if your area rarely encounters voltage fluctuations, you can still use a stabilizer to prevent the unexpected.
Now, many times AC comes with an inbuilt S-UTR compressor. In such a case, the word is that you need not worry about a stabilizer. But, such an AC also comes with a warning that its inbuilt stabilizer does not guarantee safety from voltage fluctuations. So the better thing is, to get an external stabilizer unit and be tension free. It will ensure your safety and the long-running life of the appliance. Let us also look at some of the common problems caused by a fluctuating voltage that stabilizers can prevent.
Problems that can arise from voltage fluctuations:
- Overheating of device or wire.
- The degraded usage life of the appliance.
- Permanent damage to internal components of the appliance.
- Low efficiency.
- Disruption of power to load.
- Insulation damage.
How to choose the right voltage stabilizer?
Choosing the right stabilizer is important for protecting your appliance. A few things that you need to consider are:
- Voltage fluctuations in your locality,
- The power rating of the appliance.
- Nominal line voltage and frequency
As different regions experience different power fluctuations. It is important to identify which stabilizer suits voltage fluctuations in your locality. To ensure you purchase the suitable size stabilizer, check its Working Range. The Working range of a voltage stabilizer is the range at which it stabilizes the input voltage and provides desirable output.
The ratings of appliances are in KW, kVA, or Amps. These ratings tell us about their voltage requirement and the needed size of the stabilizer. Stabilizers come in VA or KVA sizes. Here, you’ll need to check what your appliance(load) is in? If it is in watts, you can take 20% + the sum of watts size of the stabilizer.
For example, if the appliance is 1000 watts. So, you can safely choose a 1200 VA (1.2kVA) stabilizer for residential purposes. Remember, needs for residential and workplaces are different. Also, it’s important to check the power consumed when AC is switched on. This is because the appliance consumes more power during start-up than while working.
Final Word
In conclusion, voltage stabilizers protect you and your appliance from any electric mishap. And with so many electric appliances working simultaneously at home, stabilizers are definitely in need today. We can say that buying a voltage stabilizer is a smart decision in current times.