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What Does “Ah” Mean in an Inverter Battery? A Simple Guide for Every Homeowner

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What Does “Ah” Mean in an Inverter Battery? A Simple Guide for Every Homeowner

When you go to buy an inverter battery, the shopkeeper will often ask, “How many Ah do you need?”
If you’ve ever wondered what this “Ah” actually means, here’s a simple explanation.

Understanding Ah (Ampere Hours)

Ah” stands for Ampere Hours — it tells you how much current your battery can supply and for how long.
In simple terms, it’s the measure of how long your battery can keep your appliances running.

Let’s make it even clearer with an example 

  • A 150 Ah battery can give:
    • 150 amps for 1 hour, or
    • 15 amps for 10 hours, or
    • 5 amps for 30 hours

The higher the Ah rating, the longer your battery can provide power — but the actual backup time also depends on how much load (wattage) you are running.

How Do You Decide How Many Amps You Need?

That depends on your load — the total power consumption of the devices connected to your inverter.

For instance, let’s say you’re using a 12V / 130Ah battery.
Such a battery stores about 1.56 kWh of energy.

However, due to conversion losses, you can use only around 70% of that — roughly 1000 Wh (1 kWh) of usable energy.

Example: Typical Home Load

Imagine there’s a power cut, and you want to run:

  • 4 BLDC fans
  • 4 LED lights

Together, these may consume about 200 watts in total.

So with 1000 Wh of usable energy, your battery can provide:
1000 Wh ÷ 200 W = 5 hours of backup 

How to Choose the Right Battery Capacity

So, the right Ah rating for your inverter battery depends on:

  1. How much load you want to run during a power cut
  2. How long you want the backup to last

Once you calculate these two, you can easily decide which battery capacity fits your needs best.

Pro Tip: If you found this guide helpful, don’t keep it to yourself! Share it with your friends and help them choose the right inverter battery for their home too

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