What is an inverter system?

An inverter system stores electricity in a battery bank which is charged, usually overnight, by being plugged into household circuit.  The inverter/charger(seen above) has 2 functions:  1) Converts the DC current from the batteries into AC current for your equipment  2)  Acts as a charger for the battery bank.

An inverter system is comprised of the inverter/charger (shown above) and a battery bank.

How does the inverter system work?

Inverter wiring – The inverter has two sets of connections.
1)  AC (house current)
2)  DC (battery current)

1a)  The AC side plug gets hooked into a home receptacle.  This connection provides current for the inverter to charge the battery bank.  This is usually done overnight.  However, if the battery bank gets low during the day it can be plugged into a generator to either charge the batteries or to provide a passthrough for the generator current(AC).  The AC output is wired into the vehicle’s electrical system.

1b)  The DC side of the inverter has a positive cable and a negative cable which hooks to the battery.  These wires connect to the battery bank.

The battery bank (this sounds technical, because it is, but I will make it simple in a minute)

The battery bank is usually comprised of multiple 6 volt Deep cycle batteries (the same as used in golf carts) wired to provide 12 volts of DC power.  The inverter converts the DC power to AC power for use in your unit.  My bank of 4, 6 Volt batteries runs my lights, clippers, dryers,  vacuums and other grooming equipment for a day, everything but my air conditioner.  I have seen battery banks with as many as 10 batteries.  Also, there are now lithium batteries which can run your unit for multiple days before needing recharged.  However, these are very expensive and our ROI (return on investment) calculations will be done using std batteries.  Remember all that technical crap I spewed earlier and told you I would make simple?  Yup, here is the simple part.  Just follow the wiring diagram for a 4 battery bank.  (For you geeks, the wires shown going to the Inverter are 12V.  Each of the batteries is 6V.

The bean counter stuff – AKA ROI (return on investment calculation)

Costs used to calculate ROI.

Magnum ME3112 Inverter/charger

$ 1300

4-6V golf cart batteries, $202 each

$  808

Generator 9375W  Champion

$ 1200

Generator Champion 3500W

$  429

Gas, USA average per gal in 2023

$ 3.60

Now for the Math.
Oh no, Not the dang MATH

Inverter System Costs

Cost of Not Using Inverter

Inverter            $ 1300
Batteries          $  808
Misc.
Box & cables $ 500
TOTAL              $ 2608

Working Days/Week   5
Gallons of gas for generator/day  4.5
AVG gas price/gal $3.60

(5 x 4.5 x $3.60) 52 wks = $ 4212

So, you can see that you can pay for the inverter system in just over 7 1/2 months.
It does not take a rocket scientist to install the unit, but if someone charged you $500, your ROI is still a paltry 9 months.

I have not had a set of batteries last less than 5 years.  So, in years two through five you will save a whopping $ 16,848 plus whatever you save in the first year.  THAT IS CASH IN YOUR POCKET!

Then, you also have the benefit of not needing such a large generator.  You can see the difference in generator costs in the “costs used” section above.

What is the yearly cost of running the inverter system?

1)  Whatever the minimal costs of charging the batteries is.  Your are talking about pennies per day as the inverter is acting just like a trickle charger for your car battery would.

2)  I check the water levels in my batteries every 3 months.  I usually use 3 gallons of DISTILLED water each time.  A gallon of distilled water can be had for less than $2.00 per gallon.