The Difference Between Inverters & Converters

Electricity that comes to our home is of an alternating, or AC current. It's also called a sine current because its polarity changes regularly from positive to negative about 50 to 60 times in a minute. Direct, or DC current has a single polarity and remains constant. Batteries and solar panels give this type of current. Household appliances require both DC and AC current to function. Inverters and converters perform the necessary functions to provide the right input current to various electronic and electrical goods.

Inverter

• An inverter is a device that flips DC current to AC, or vice versa. It performs its function with the help of many small transformers that are located within it that continuously turn on and off, thus reshaping the DC current into AC. Inverters can be configured to a particular output requirement and are handy in extracting electricity from batteries for home use. Similarly, to charge batteries from AC power, a reverse inverter is required that converts AC power to DC power.

Converter

• A converter simply increases or decreases the voltage, per requirements. The purpose of doing this is varied, depending on the context of use. For example, in countries that provide 110 volts, a converter will change this to 220 volts, allowing your 220-volt appliances to work there, as well. In power stations, converters are known as step-up or step-down transformers. These perform the role of prepping the electricity to travel long distances and then prepping them again for distribution to common households.

Inverter vs. Converter

• An inverter flips a DC to AC and an AC to DC, while a converter only gives the same kind of current--either AC or DC--that it took in. Secondly, inverters do not increase or decrease the voltage of the current; they simply convert it from one form to another. On the other hand, a converter alters the voltage of the current. Although both devices use transformers, they perform totally different functions.

Inverters & Converters Working Together

• Simply inverting a DC power to AC will not run domestic appliances. In fact, trying to do that can destroy them altogether. A converter is necessary to impart the proper voltage and frequency to the inverted current so that it can power devices. Similarly, a converter will only convert the voltage of a device. If it also requires charging a battery, it will need an inverter to do so. Therefore, most converters come with inverters in them and vice versa.

Inverters & Converters in Power Lines

• For power transmission, it is observed that DC current travels the longest and with least energy drop. For this purpose, power inverters are used in power stations after the voltage has been increased by an up-converter to convert it into DC current. At local power units, this current gets converted back to AC form using power-inverters, and then converted to domestic specifications using power converters. These two opposite devices work together.