Before you buying an off-grid solar power system, you might have question that don’t know how to read the solar inverter data sheet, don’t know if the solar panel or battery work with the inverter. In this blog, we will guide you how to read the inverter data sheet. So that you can buy the inverter according to your need.

Off-grid inverter is to put DC current from battery to AC current supply to home appliances. Battery are DC current, which is charge by sun or by grid via an inverter. Contact us to download the 5kw inverter data sheet，lets take 5kw inverter for sample, to understand how to read the solar inverter data sheet.

Mode: 50248/96（502）
This is item name of the 5kw inverter

Rated power: 5kw
Peak power (20ms) 15000VA
This is the maximum power output an inverter can deliver for a short time.
This means inverter can supply 15000VA for 20ms (ms, not second! 1s=1000ms). Don’t overload the inverter to much, it will break it.

Start motor: 4HP
This means the 5kw inverter can start a 4HP motor max. If your motor bigger than 4HP, use a bigger inverter.

Battery voltage: 48V/96V
This means the inverter DC voltage is 48V or 96V. It can either by 48V or 96V.

Max charging AC current: 0A~20A（Depending on the model，The maximum charging power is 1/4 of the rated power）
This means the max charging current from the grid to charge the battery via the inverter.
For an 5KW 48VDC inverter, the current current is 5000/48/4=26A＞20A, so the max charging AC current is 20A for the 5KW 48VDC inverter.
For an 5KW 96VDC inverter, the current current is 5000/96/4=13A＜20A, so that max charging AC current is 13A for the 5KW 96VDC inverter.

Size(L*W*H mm): 491X260X490
Packing Size(L*W*Hmm): 545x315x550
N.W.(kg) : 30
G.W.(kg): 33

Installation mode: Tower
This means the inverter is like a tower. And the other type is wall mount.

DC Input Voltage Range: 10.5-15VDC（Single battery voltage）
This means for the 5KW48V inverter, battery range is 42V-60V.
The battery range is important to understand. And this is the data that inverter in what voltage will switch to use grid power and what voltage will switch back to inverter.

AC Input Voltage Range：73VAC~138VAC(110VAC） /  83VAC~148VAC（120VAC） / 145VAC~275VAC（220VAC） /  155VAC~285VAC（230VAC） /  165VAC~295VAC（ 240VAC）
Different country come with different city grid voltage.
Lets take 220VAC like South Africa for example. In 220VAC the city grid input rage is 145V AC to 275V AC. In some place, the city grid voltage is very unstable.
If the city grid drop to below 145v or over 275V, the inverter won’t let city grid put in. And use battery power instead.

AC Input Frequency Range: 45Hz~55Hz（50Hz）/ 55Hz~65Hz（60Hz）

AC charging method:Three-stage (Bulk Charge, constant current, floating charge)
Stage 1: Bulk Charge Stage 2: Constant current Stage 3: Float Charge
Different battery voltage, the city grid will charge the battery in different stage via inverter.

Inverter function is to put DC current from battery, to AC 220V.
It goes through different PCB boards and the transformer. The efficiency will lose during the transfer. And this is why on grid solar system efficiency is higher than off grid solar power system.

Output Voltage(Battery Mode): 110VAC±2%  / 120VAC±2%  / 220VAC±2%  / 230VAC±2%  / 240VAC±2%
This means in battery mode, inverter output 220VAC ± 2%. Stable output voltage is good for all home appliances. It will extant home appliances using time compare to output unstable voltage.

Output Frequency(Battery Mode): 50Hz±0.5 or 60Hz±0.5
Output Wave(Battery Mode): Pure Sine Wave
Efficiency(AC Mode) : >99%
This is different from the battery mode. Because in this mode, city grid supply AC power, no need transfer battery DC current to AC. In below data will tell you what is the difference of city mode and battery mode.

Output Voltage(AC Mode): Follow input
Output Frequency(AC Mode): Tracking Automatically
Output waveform distortion (Battery Mode)：≤3%（Linear load）

No load loss(Battery Mode): ≤1% rated power
In battery mode, the self consumption≤50w.
You can consider the inverter is an appliance. Because the LCD display board or any other, will need power to run. The load loss means when the inverter not output any power, the self consumption power is ≤1% rated power. 5kw inverter would be ≤50w.

No load loss(AC Mode): ≤2% rated power（Charger does not work in AC mode）
In AC mode, the self consumption≤100w.

No load loss (Energy saving Mode)： ≤10W
In Energy saving Mode mode, the self consumption≤100w.

Battery Type (select table):VRLA Battery Charge Voltage :14.2V; Float Voltage:13.8V(Single battery voltage

Customize battery: Charging and discharging parameters of different types of batteries can be customized according to user requirements
 (charging and discharging parameters of different types of batteries can be set through the operation panel)
Lithium battery and gel battery, the setting voltage is different. It can be customized the battery voltage before the inverter leave factory.

Battery under voltage alarm: Factory default: 11V（Single battery voltage）
For 5KW 48VDC inverter, this voltage is 44V.
It means when the battery drop to 44V, the inverter will start alarm. Telling you the battery voltage is low.

Battery under voltage protection: Factory default: 10.5V（Single battery voltage）
For 5KW 48VDC inverter, this voltage is 42V.
It means when the battery drop to 42.2V, the inverter will stop using battery to protect the battery. And it will switch to use the city grid power when the battery drop to 42.2V

Battery over voltage alarm: Factory default: 15V（Single battery voltage）
For 5KW 48VDC inverter, this voltage is 60V.
The inverter will alarm when the battery reach to 60V. Telling you the battery voltage is high.

Battery over voltage protection: Factory default: 17V（Single battery voltage）
For 5KW 48VDC inverter, this voltage is 68V.
It means when the battery reach to 68V, the inverter will stop using battery to protect the battery. And it will switch to use the city grid power when the battery reach to 68V

Battery over voltage recovery voltage：Factory default: 14.5V（Single battery voltage）
For 5KW 48VDC inverter, this voltage is 58V.
It means the inverter will use battery to supply power again when the battery is 14.5V.

Overload power protection：Automatic protection (battery mode), circuit breaker or insurance (AC mode)
In battery mode, if your home appliance is too much, the inverter will protection itself autocratically. And in AC mode, it will use circuit breaker and insurance to protect it.

Inverter output short circuit protection：Automatic protection (battery mode), circuit breaker or insurance (AC mode)
Temperature protection：>90°C（Shut down output）

A：Normal working condition, buzzer has no alarm sound
B: Buzzer sounds 4 times per second when battery failure, voltage abnormality, overload protection
C：When the machine is turned on for the first time, the buzzer will prompt 5 when the machine is normal

Battery Mode/AC Mode/Saving Energy Mode
1) AC mode(d1)
In this mode, city grid supply power and charge the battery at same time.
If the city power voltage not stable, below 145v or over 275V, inverter will use battery instead of the grid power. And when the city grid stale again, the inverter will use city grid power again.
And if the city grid break down, the inverter will switch to use battery power. When city grid recover, the inverter will use city grid power again.
This working mode is very good for UPS system.

2)Battery(Solar) mode(d3)
When the battery is fully charged(like single-cell battery voltage is up to 13.2VDC),even the city grid power is normal, the loads will be powered by the battery.
When the battery is in low voltage(the voltage of regular single-cell battery is 11VDC) and the inverter will switch to use grid power. And city grid will charge the battery via the inverter AC charger.

3)Energy saving mode(d1)
·Inverter works under the battery mode once the load capacity is less than
                             20%(700W~7000W models)
                              5%(8K W~40KW models)
of the inverter rated power the inverter will start and stop regularly to achieve energy saving effect(ie: the machine will intermittently interrupt the inverter output);
When the load is over than
                                        20%(700W~7000W models
                                        5%(8KW~40KW models)
of the inverter rated power the inverter will out of this energy saving mode

Solar inverter data sheet- Transfer Time≤4ms
It means the AC mode and the battery mode transfer time is ≤4ms.
If you using the AC mode, and city grid break down, the inverter will switch to use battery power in ≤4ms.

Display- LCD: Thermal method：Cooling fan in intelligent control
Communication(Optional): RS485/APP（WIFI monitoring or GPRS monitoring）

There are many data  for a inverter. And every data is very important.
And it’s not difficult to understand the inverter data sheet

And if you want to know more about the 5kw inverter, contact us for the user manual.

Bob is one of  the creators of InkPV. He uses experience in marketing and knowledge from her master's in climate communications to research and review the solar and wind industry.