Thanks to the inefficiency of the power sector and the poor power supply in most towns and cities in the country, power back-ups like ‘inverters’ have become a necessity. But unfortunately, in the absence of any mandatory quality certification for these products, a consumer has no way of knowing the quality of the inverter that he buys. And when I refer to quality, I refer not just to its trouble-free performance, but also to its safety.

Some years ago, a resident of Dilshad Garden in Delhi had a terrifying experience with the power inverter that he had bought. Just seven months after its installation, a representative of the company came for its servicing. While pouring water into the battery compartment, the person asked one of the residents of the household — a senior citizen — to check whether the water level was up to the mark indicated on the battery. Even as he bent to check, there was an explosion, and the acid that splurged from the battery injured the man. It burnt his clothes, his face and worse, his eyes, damaging them permanently.

In the absence of mandatory quality certification from a standards-making body like the Bureau of Indian Standards, consumers have to exercise utmost caution while purchasing inverters. Besides looking at its quality, reliability, performance, safety and price, it is also important to look at the after sales service provided by the manufacturer or the dealer. Are the service personnel adequately trained for the task that they are expected to perform? One has to look at these aspects carefully. It is equally important to buy a quality battery and ensure its proper maintenance.

More specifically, an inverter’s quality is determined by features such as insulation resistance, safety provisions, output voltage, switch-over time, robustness, and eco-friendliness. An inverter not only has to provide a 230-volt alternate current, but it should also be as close as possible to the domestic power supply in that the wave form of the power supply should be sinusoidal.

Or else, it produces undesirable heating in domestic appliances like fans, motors of room coolers, etc, which in turn reduces their working life. Similarly, the time taken by an inverter to switch over from stand-by mode to the active mode and back is an important factor. The ‘battery charging’ qualities of an inverter are equally important.

You cannot obviously check these factors at the time of purchase, but you can at least ask questions about these and make sure that the product that you are buying is safe. But eventually, mandatory quality certification is the answer and so demand it.