rebelrider.mike
Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2017
- Messages
- 554
I found out a while back, that if you measure Voltage across an inverter that is not pure sine wave, you get an incorrect reading. It has to do with the RMS value of AC Voltage. For example, a pure sine Voltage of 12V would be more like 17V at the peak, but the mean value is 12V. I may be oversimplifying it, but I still don't understand it very well.
The point is, for an impure sine wave inverter to be measured properly, you need a "true RMS" Voltmeter. I finally got one the other day and used it to measure my little power box.
You can see the "True RMS" Voltage is 117.5V vs the standard multimeter reading 96.3V. Just for fun, I measured the frequency too:
I don't know if the 58.65Hz is a nice wave, or if it's all squiggly. I wish I had an oscilloscope. Oh well, I'm having fun with the new things on this meter though.
I've had the box on a few camping trips since I built it. Haven't had any heat issues, but I've been using the 12V plug and USB ports mostly, since most things camping are DC anyway. I do want to add a fuse to the battery though. And I still need to re-label the top.
The point is, for an impure sine wave inverter to be measured properly, you need a "true RMS" Voltmeter. I finally got one the other day and used it to measure my little power box.
You can see the "True RMS" Voltage is 117.5V vs the standard multimeter reading 96.3V. Just for fun, I measured the frequency too:
I don't know if the 58.65Hz is a nice wave, or if it's all squiggly. I wish I had an oscilloscope. Oh well, I'm having fun with the new things on this meter though.
I've had the box on a few camping trips since I built it. Haven't had any heat issues, but I've been using the 12V plug and USB ports mostly, since most things camping are DC anyway. I do want to add a fuse to the battery though. And I still need to re-label the top.