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
Oversimplified: Watts is how much power a device uses to do actual work (or how much actually usable power you get)
Volt-Amperes is how much power flows through cables.
For example you can have a device use 100 Watts, but it would be 110VA due to losses (e.g waste heat, AC to DC to AC conversion, etc. )
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