There are many types and brands of inverters out there, do you know which ones are the best solar panel inverters for your particular applications?
In this buyer’s guide, we’ll talk about the best, trustable brands of solar inverters, the different types, core features, performance monitoring, and how to size for the system you have.
Let’s get into it!
6 Best Solar Inverters
RENOGY 1000W SOLAR INVERTER - $185
Why did we pick this solar inverter?
Renogy’s 1000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter is one of the best in the market, currently. This solar inverter is perfect for any off-grid systems that include cabins and tiny homes. Because it gives off pure sine waves, it’s capable of producing cleaner, smoother, quieter, and more reliable electricity to power tools, fans, lights, and much more.
On top of all of that, Renogy is a company that can be trusted when it comes to solar power. If you’re interested in checking out other solar equipment, besides solar inverters, we would recommend checking Renogy out as well—if you’re interested in the Renogy 1000W solar inverter, check it out at amzn.to/3nClUYY
What are other users saying about this inverter?
- DC Side Connection- The Renogy Pure Sine Wave Inverter is suitable for 12V battery banks only! Both of the DC and AC side connections are equipped with caps to ensure your safety.
- Cooling Fans- High-speed ventilation fans are put in place to help keep the inverter running at low temperatures. They are thermally controlled—that means none of those annoying static or humming fan noises for you.
- User-Friendly- If you’re ever unsure of how much of a load this inverter can take, there’s a ground-fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, protection that’s built-in, so you won’t have to worry causing any damage to your inverter by overloading the DC inputs or AC outputs.
Why did we choose this solar inverter?
WZRELB’s solar inverter is a professionally manufactured that provides pure sine waves to ensure the highest quality of power output. WZRELB may be unpopular amongst solar power enthusiasts, but they’ve been making solar inverters for over 10 years, and they even offer a warranty on their products.
With one of the highest efficiency rates in its market, this 3000W solar inverter hooks up to most battery banks and inverts power at an efficiency of 85%-90%. Although the price may seem high, you won’t have to buy more than one inverter for your entire system. Interested in their inverted? Check them out at amzn.to/2LNFMeq
What are other users saying about this solar inverter?
- Safety Protections- There’s no such thing as being too careful—which is why this solar inverter comes with all sorts of protections against: over-voltage, low voltage, overloading, short-circuiting, overheating, polarity-reversing, and leaking.
- Built-in Fan- This solar inverter comes with an intelligent, built-in, cooling fan that automatically kicks in when it detects high temperatures. This will prolong the battery’s life, and on top of that, the fan is fairly quiet.
- Ultra-Compact Design- Due to its small size, it makes a great tag-along for vacations, work trips, and especially solar camping. Made from a high-quality pure copper inductance, the waves are filtered, so you can get the most out of your inverter.
GOWISE POWER 1000W INVERTER - $140
Why did we choose this solar inverter?
GoWISE’s solar power inverter is one of the most advanced inverters in the industry. Usable in cars, vessels, camping, and during power outages, this pure sine inverter will supply you with efficient power whenever you need it.
Compact and portable, this inverter can be used on worksites, boats, cars, or camping trips, but most importantly, we recommend using this permanently for your solar system to power your house! Get yours today at amzn.to/2N6Cqnz.
What are other users saying about this solar inverter?
- Included Accessories- This solar inverter comes with everything you need to get started—a power switch equipped with a 15-foot wire to install in a convenient place and a pack of 8 gauge starter cables capable of powering up to 1000 Watts.
- Protection Plus- With 5 protection systems, you’ll be confident that this solar inverter doesn’t ruin your solar system—the solar inverter is equipped with thermal, overload, over-voltage, under-voltage, and low-voltage protection alarms.
- Pure Economical Cost- The GoWISE solar panel inverter offers a reliable power source at an economical cost!
When compared to modified sine wave inverters, pure sine wave inverters are a much better choice, as they provide a better and cleaner current of back-up power with low harmonic distortion, all with a low price!
Why did we choose this solar inverter?
The KRIËGER power inverter can power small appliances, refrigerators, microwaves, power tools, and much more. With unmatched performance, the inverters are designed and built to handle inductive loads
Engineered to perform, Watt per Watt, the KRIËGER power inverter outperforms most of the inverters in its market. Wanting to know more about KRIËGER’s power inverter? Keep on reading, or check out their product at amzn.to/3qnrTm6
What are other users saying about this solar inverter?
- Engineered to Perform- With large internal aluminum heat sinks, the power inverter delivers enhanced dissipation for a longer lifespan—it’ll take on power hand-held tools, televisions, gaming consoles, home electronics, and small appliances.
- Improved Accessabilities- With an LCD display, the inverter will indicate overload, temperatures, and low/high voltages. The inverter comes with high-performance capacitors to reliably charge equipment with heavy surge loads.
With high frequency transformers, there’s more efficient power conversion, so there’s no need to lose power where you’ll truly need it. And the best part? You can directly plug in any appliances you’d like into the power inverter for ease.
- Extended Warranty- Since KRIËGER is more of an unknown company when it comes to power, they’re willing to prove their technology to solar power enthusiasts by giving a free three-year warranty on their power inverter, right along with a free installation worth over $60!
Why did we choose this solar inverter?
GIANDEL is a leader inverter brand in the United States of America, Australia, and Europe—professionally devoted to provide quality products with a better price for consumers, this power inverter is a must-have for your road trips, vacations, outdoor activities, emergency kits, and more!
Although the price is a little high for an average power inverter, don’t let it stop you from buying the power inverter—this single piece of electronics can power your entire home and much more just by itself and the basic solar system components. Wanting to know more? Check it out here at amzn.to/3oNrMzV
What are users saying about this solar inverter?
- Power in a Box- This 24V pure sine wave inverter has low voltage protection along with over-voltage protection, overloading protection, and short-circuiting protection.
With an isolated input and output design, this inverter can detect high temperatures and cool itself down automatically or manually with a remote control and a 15-foot long cable.
- Multi-Purpose Using- Although we recommend using this for large-scale solar systems such as a house, you can also use this inverter with your RV, your campsite, a small cabin, or get as small as charging a smartphone—there’s no stopping the power!
- 5 Stars- Most of the reviews that we’ve read have given this 5-out-of-5 stars all due to its functionality and accessibility. A lot of people, including myself, expect a 4000W inverter to be huge—I was expecting it to be the size of a small car if I’m being honest!
But no! It’s only as big as a tiny fog machine! Weighing a little over 24 lbs, this inverter can fit comfortably anywhere, whether it’s the back of a car or it’s securely attached inside your home for safe-keeping.
Why did we choose this solar inverter?
The SolarEdge Single Phase Inverter with HD-Wave technology breaks the mold of traditional solar inverters—this solar inverter won the 2016 Intersolar Award and the 2018 Edison Award, so you know you can fully trust SolarEdge.
SolarEdge’s latest generation of single phase inverters are designed using a power conversion technology that’s based on switching between powerful DSP processing—basically, in other words, if your top priority is the return on investments for this inverter, you won’t have to worry since this inverter has a record-breaking efficiency of 99%! Wanting to know more? Check it out here at amzn.to/2XG3A6O
What are other users saying about this solar inverter?
- High Cost, High Performance- Don’t let the cost throw you off! If you’re a solar power enthusiast, and you have spent a decent amount of money to go free from electrical bills, this investment will be sure to suit you for high performance.
There’s a high reliability on this inverter due to its lower heat dissipation. With a built-in module-level monitoring, there’s no need to worry about overloading (even though it allows 155% of its load to safely come through).
- Wireless Connectivity- Wanting to be wireless? By connecting to this solar inverter, you can control and monitor your system without ever leaving your couch—just download the app and connect the inverter either through bluetooth or WiFi, and you’ll be set to go.
- Suited for Everyday Usage- Suitable for indoor and outdoor installations, this solar inverter is there for you for everyday usage. Right when you purchase the solar inverter, there’s a 12-year warranty out for you, in case the solar inverter breaks or malfunctions.
Wanting something more? You can extend the warranty to 20-25 years if you’re wanting to be careful—there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of planning and safety!
Buyer’s Guide
There’s a lot that went into making this list of the best solar inverters that can be used for home solar setup, RV and other types of solar energy projects.
Brands
There are some brands that are more trustable than others based solely on reviews and establishment period—I wouldn’t trust a company if their solar inverter had a two-star rating, and they’ve only been established for just 2 years. Without any other bias, here’s a list of trustable brands for solar energy in general:
- Panasonic
- LG
- Canadian Solar
- SunPower
- Renogy
- 4Patriots
- Solar Five
We might have missed some solar companies in there, but we wanted to focus on the ones that are rallying for solar energy and nothing else. In the near future, as the years go on and technology gets more efficient, we will be adding more companies onto the list for sure.
Types Of Inverters
There are many different types of inverters, so buying the right one for you may seem like a pain-in-the-butt, but we’ll explain the main types in simple terms, so it’s easy for you to see which type of inverter is the best for you.
String Inverters
What are string inverters? It’s an inverter that uses solar arrays to convert direct current power, or DC power, into usable alternating current power, also known as AC power, for your homes—most solar inverters are string inverters. They are connected to many solar panels, forcing the performance to be equal to the worst performing panel.
What are the advantages to having string inverters? There's easier system maintenance with no electronics on the roof—there’s less of a hectic installation on solar systems overall when setting up the inversion machines. String inverters are known for their durability and reliability, but they only offer string-level monitoring.
Microinverters
What are microinverters? As opposed to having one centralized string inverter, microinverters are tiny inverters that are installed right at the panel site, employing one microinverter for each and every individual panel, so instead of having all of the panels performing at the average performance of every panel, microinverters make it so that if even one of the panels stop working, the others keep on working just as efficiently.
What are the advantages to having a microinverter? For starters, power output of each panel is optimized independently so that they don’t have to be averaged or combined in order to work efficiently. The system size can be expanded very easily in the future, but the downside is that all of the electronic components must be located on the roof-site.
Central Inverters
A central inverter is a high-capacity inverter that’s designed for use with large sized solar systems. Imagine a giant string inverter that’s designed for something more than just residential—for this reason only, we do not recommend using central inverters for normal houses.
The advantage for using a central inverter is that they can take a huge, electrical load and not short out. Used in mostly factories where economies of scale and efficiency matters more, the disadvantage would be the high cost and also the inability to use in a residential area.
Hybrid Inverters
A hybrid inverter is a type of inverter that uses both solar power and the city’s grid power to invert electricity. In other words, having a battery bank isn’t necessary in this case which is useful to many people.
An advantage to using a hybrid inverter is that they incorporate storage and they’re installable without batteries—in fact, people choose to install a hybrid inverter preemptively if they plan on adding batteries to their solar system in the future. A disadvantage is that if the city’s power goes offline, so does the hybrid inverter.
Core Features
When it comes to the important core features, size is always a big one. In order to figure out what size of an inverter you’ll need, you have to ask yourself how much you’re planning on powering from your solar system.
Do you just have two solar panels that power a small RV? You’ll only need a small inverter since there’s not a lot of power coming through. Are you planning on powering the entire RV or a small cabin? A medium-sized inverter is more than enough.
If you’re planning on powering an entire, normal-sized house with solar power, we would recommend buying either two of the medium-sized inverters or buying a large inverter, but that would entirely depend on your budget—a commercial-size inverter isn’t required nor recommended.
Performance Monitoring
Performance monitoring is important to those who like to pre-plan their solar system to save money. Solar inverters that have a way to measure performance can also let their audience know how much power is being converted.
Most solar inverters run at 85%-90% efficiency, so if you’re wanting to convert 1000W of power, you’ll most likely get around 850W-900W of energy back after the inversion process. The highest we’ve seen an inverter go for is 99% efficiency, but that comes with a lot of cost.
Safety
Safety is a big factor that goes into purchasing a solar inverter. Most of the solar inverters that were listed in our buyer’s guide above have the five fundamentals protections needed, but if you’re buying one on your own, be sure that it has some protection!
The protections to look for the most are: over-voltage protection, low voltage protection, overloading protection, short-circuiting protection, overheating protection, polarity-reversing protection, and leaking protection.
Typical Service
How long do solar inverters last? Solar inverter lifespan can vary from what type of inverters you’re using, but most string inverters usually last from 10-15 years whereas some microinverters last longer, from 20-25 years.
If you’re looking for anything completely off-grid or battery-based, you can expect a much shorter lifespan, ranging from 2-10 years, depending completely on the manufacturer, the cost, and the warranty—warranty is a must!
Warranty
If you don’t trust a company or aren’t comfortable around the product’s company, you can always find out more about them by seeing if there’s a warranty.
Most of the time, underrated companies will offer a longer warranty for those that aren’t familiar with the brand.
For most inverters, as the cost increases, the warranty increases as well and usually lasts about the same length as the lifespan of the product, and even if you know that you’ll be taking great care of the inverter, it’s never a bad idea to buy an extended warranty—even if nothing is wrong with the inverter, you can always replace it with a brand new one to maximize your efficiency.
Price
Price is the first influence that a solar inverter has on a customer. A customer will always look at the price of an item before making any more analysis calls on the product—I would agree that I look at the cost before making any more decisions about a product, as well.
Well, price can be a huge influence, but if you’re already spending $10,000+ on a solar system, it’s not appropriate to hook up all of those valuable solar panels to a shady $20 solar inverter, right?
Sometimes, when you go big on an investment, the return on that investment can be higher, whether it’s saving you more money or it’s saving you enough money but for a longer run—always invest in something trustworthy, even if it costs slightly more, but don’t break the bank.
Common FAQS
There are many frequently asked questions on the subject of solar inverters, and we’re more than happy to answer them! We’ll go ahead and list off the most common questions and answers that we have, to help you out in your journey to going green.
What does an inverter REALLY do, in simple terms?
What an inverter does is it inverts the type of electricity into usable electricity for your homes and RVs.
When power comes through a solar panel, it comes in direct current power, or DC power, which isn’t usable by most of the appliances in your homes. An inverter changes the DC power to AC power by using a little bit of the electricity from the solar panels (in most cases, it’s just 5%-10% of the power).
How to size my inverter for my system
You should always get inverter with adequate continuous wattage rating to support your consumption.
If your system consumes 4000 W continuously, then a slightly over 4000 W inverter is recommended.
Learn More: How to size your inverter for your solar power system
How do I find the specific voltage value of the inverter?
To find the specific voltage value of the inverter, there should’ve been a handbook that contains all of the information of the specifics on the inverter itself. If you didn’t receive a handbook, instead of looking at the value found on the box it came in, I would get in touch with the company to request a handbook.
Otherwise, if you have a performance monitoring system, you can easily figure out the voltage of your inverter, especially during different times of the day as well. There’s also another way—if you take a voltmeter, you can easily get a reading while the system undergoes its process.
What is the difference between a solar inverter and a regular power inverter?
A regular power inverter is very similar to a solar inverter. The main difference is that for a solar inverter, the efficiency values might be lower for a regular power inverter, but some regular power inverters may NOT work with solar systems.
Now, since technology has improved, engineers have found a way to manufacture inverters that work both with solar systems and with the city’s grid. Some inverters require the power of both to work, but those are mostly found in commercial-sized inverters.
What are other components connected to an inverter? Charge controllers, batteries, and solar panels
There are many components connected to an inverter, but most of them are optional and removable at any time.
Charge controllers are hooked up directly with an inverter to make sure that your battery bank doesn’t get overfilled and damaged with the amount of power coming through since solar panels don’t have the ability to stop the overload.
Speaking of batteries, a battery bank is also directly attached to a solar inverter along with the solar panels on the other side. The power coming in from a solar panel will go through the inversion process and then will be sent off to the battery bank to store usable AC power for your home whenever there isn’t sunlight readily available.
What are the benefits of using SolarEdge power optimizers?
The SolarEdge power optimizer is a DC/DC converter which, in short terms, increases and enhances the electricity that goes through the inverters.
They work by pinpointing the maximum power point (MPPT) of each solar panel individually and using monitors to track the performance. Even though the module-level MPPT is more costly, think of it as an upgrade to get more from your solar system. You can find out more about them here at bit.ly/38MIlGI
