I’m reading through my Solar Inverter/Charge controller manual and I see the Peak Power Rating is 10,000VA. I didn’t recognize the unit “VA”, but it seemed suspiciously close to 10,000 (V)olt (A)mps but I already know Watts=volts x Amps so why wouldn’t the manual just say Watts if that’s what they meant?
So I googled what unit is VA and learned it is indeed an Volt-Ampere. So how does this differ from watts? Further googling showed me that it’s the difference between Real Power and Apparent Power. So what’s that?
After trying to watch several YouTube videos, I just don’t get it. They’re far too technical for me and they all seem to go into circuit design which; I already have a tenuous grasp on electricity as it is.
Please what the difference is!
In: 2
Real power is the power that does work (or is being converted into heat). If your load is either capacitive or inductive then it will store power (in magnetic fields (inductive) or electric fields (capacitive)) during some parts of the cycle and release it in others.
The power company doesn’t like it when you use a lot of apparent power relative to real power. Even though part of the apparent power is not actually used (it’s just temporarily stored energy) it increases the required peak power of the power plant. Furthermore, there are greater losses due to resistance in the cabling.
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