Tell you what... when I started watching your channel I had no clue about the theory and/ or the components that you mention and use in this video... now I'm happy to say the brain fog is clearing... I have even ordered in similar components for a wee project... all because you're great at motivating and stirring interest!! Thanks!

my first inverter 40 years ago was actually of that design; the whole neighbourhood would gather to watch TV during the black outs (in the Caribbean) thanks for your nice presentation.

5:38 That shows keen insight. "The rest is about sizing components, and then purifying it and taking care of it and actually making sure it doesn't exceed it's limitations". You could almost be describing a flyback device using algebra to size components, purifying it with an emi filter and a pulse width modulator taking care of it with a micro controller with a preset program and making sure it doesn't exceed it's limitations with a voltage limiter . Interesting video Mr. Smith.

Excellent lecture Rob. Compared with the boffins and academics lecturing at universities on electrical theory, I understand you! Apart from your inimitable presence on the videos, you have fun and laugh and get the audience involved. Bravo... much respect!

To be frank, this is one of the most inciting and exciting videos I've seen on the basics of Inverter. Thank you so much for making me fall in love again with the wonders of electronics

A clear concise explanation of the basics of an inverter... thank you!

Makes me wont to go to the attic and dig out my everyday electronic magazines from the 70s and 80s...top stuff.

Robert-I am an electronics guy. Your simple explanation of an inverter was very good and very accurate. Btw, before semiconductors were cheap and available, car radios still used tubes/valves that required high voltage DC. This was made from 12 volts in a similar manner but used actual mechanical switches to excite the primary of the transformer. These "vibrators" worked okay, but the switch contacts had to be cleaned quite often. They looked like a metal valve/tube and were in a similar socket so they could be swapped out.

This reminds me of the vibrater in the old valve (tubes) radios cars had when I was young.

Robert, thank you for the nice schematic at the end of the video! I did a simulation in LTSpice with a 180u np cap and an approximation of a center-tapped doorbell transformer (LV 10mH-10mH, HV 1H). With 12V DC in, this yielded a nice 60Hz sine wave consuming about 12W with a 1K resistor load on the high voltage side (160V AC). I used 10mH for the choke. The choke inductance needs to be about the same magnitude as the LV side of the transformer. is really important to have! Efficiency is about 80%.

You have made me follow what was complicated and with such enthusiasm, I wish you continued success in all your undertakings. I am getting familiar now and liking it all. Thanks.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. At last a concise, excellently explained video on inverters. Take care and stay safe, Mike.

I made a homemade inverter once using an "old school" car battery charger transformer in reverse (the output became the input). I used high power mosfets as the switching components (with supporting resistors). I discovered the load requirement also had an effect on the frequency of the inverter's output. Higher the load = lower frequency. It was about 20% efficient.

I am from Melkbosstrand near Cape town realy like Ur video's you do everything i like doing.

I just wanted to thank you for this video. I have been trying to find a solution for strobing Christmas lights at 60 hertz and wanted to create a variable frequency power supply capable of supplying enough voltage to light the string while reducing flicker. There were a few key concepts I could not seem to grasp until I watched this video. Thank you again for taking the time to explain it. It's hard to find videos that get into the nuts and bolts.

This video is highly interesting to me and answered a number of questions I had festering in the back of my mind. I have saved this to a playlist so that I can re-watch it again at a later date. Thank you Robert for the education.🙂🙃

Thank you, Robert...I'll try to build one but with good protection....thank you again.

This is going to help me a lot, in a novel research idea I am working on, I am just a hobbist with very little self taught electronic background, learned lots from you this far. Thank you for doing so much in sharing your ample subjects knowledge with so much enthusiasm and love.

You are simply fantastic Rob.

It has been a long time since doing my Elecronics Technician training. I do remember transformers as a fun way to change waves until you get a sine wave. Pure 50 percent duty cycle square wave will become a triangle, and next a triangle will become a sine wave and all until you actually do something other than use a scope on the output of the transformer. After adding anything to the transformer output, errors ( real life ) happens. I have repaired a few inverters and the better quality ones use a Ferrite core Toroid transformer and not just as a combination of mass and space savings, also better power efficiency out.

funny, with those diodes parallel to the switch, you still get positive inductive spikes from the coil being switched open. The mosfet has an internal body diode that does the same. Since the inductive spike is a resonant halfwave, it quickly is transformed into a negative voltage which then is passed through the diode back into the battery. Which is efficient, as the magnetic field energy of the coil is recycled. If you really want to get rid of the high voltage inductive spike (which sets up a displacement current from the rapid voltage change), you could place the diode parallel to the coil. But then the energy of the coil will be burned away as heat inside the diode.

Popped up on my yt feed right as I was thinking about searching for more info about this very same subject :D

Very good hands on explanation of an inverter, well done.

Excellent!!!! Thank you for showing all.. DVD:)

This was so helpful I can't even articulate. I have a lot of projects going on right now the project that I would need to learn this to complete this is kind of farther down the line but I still needed to understand this so it is a great help to me and I just randomly stumbled upon the video. What a great help you are. I am 3D printing would I hope it's gonna be a very highly efficient generator that runs off of a small wind turbine above and behind my garage. I have it set up so it'll transfer mechanical energy through the wall of my garage and it doesn't quite well. I want to slowly build up a Bank of batteries and keep adding on to them so I have basic electricity for the things I need during storms that knock out our power. What I have to figure out is how to set up an array of batteries in that way that will allow expandability. That might be a good video for you to consider designing a better battery array for DIY energy storage

I really really enjoy this video thanks Robert I will be making one of those with the circuit for sure 👍💯

You know... I've been sh**ing myself about making an inverter for my solar roof. This helps. I'd really love to see you build one for a standard UK solar roof (something that would handle household levels)

Back on another video where you were working with armature on a motor and I said you could use it to make an inverter that’s all you need right here. I made one like that when I was a kid. You can speed up or reduce the speed of the motor to get the required frequency for output

I have learned something today! Thanks : )

Very entertaining.and informative.. Used to be called chopper circuits.. and higher frequencies of chopping meant need smaller transformer requirements.. they used them in power supplies .. but that's a nice intro to subject.. thx. Ps you can buy invertors em places like machine mart if they still exist

low frequency inverter like./ power jack/ makes i like as far as one you can buy but this diy stuff is cool great video Robert

Great Video Rob! Loved this one!

I have often thought if an old buzzy stick welder would make a good transformer donor for a high power inverter, or those old microwave transformers.

Thanks very well laid out, nice project to build ...: :)

Now I am upside down I need a re inversion Nice work on this tutorial, thanks

Oh, that takes me back. I made one at around 15 years old. Used scraps from around the farm and wound the transformer/ballast/relay from scavenged magnet wire. I doubt it was very efficient but it was a load of fun to run.

Love ittt!!! Such a good explanation

Feeding the mind and fingers as ever. DC to AC from AC TO AC and back to DC storage. What are the losses and What are the gains? Mechanical generating energy and storing that energy for later use.

Bravo......hey do one on paralling inverters.......cheers

Nice info, thanks for sharing :)

Very good and clear demonstrated!

You can buy premade driver circuits, with feedback regulation! I had the crazy idea to build a inverter to run my home, with near 0 experience! Crazy 🤪, but maybe someday!!

Looks like this would be an excellent 12v fishing device if you hook up the 220AC to a couple wire screens attached to wooden poles.

I use the IRL540 MOSFETS as they have a very nice Arduino compatible 5v VGS.

Yet again another brilliant video. I do however need to find a small course for circuit diagrams lol.

Hi Rob. My interest in inverters has increased significantly the past year. Can you consider doing a video on diy'ing an inverter run off a 12v battery with a normal household plug output. Imagine using this portably on appliances such as a toaster, TV, etc. But only as required and one appliance at a time. I finding lights quite easy due tp4056 modules, but standard appliances requiring ac on something similar is what I'm looking at next. Right now I want to run a ac fish tank water pump, but struggling to decide if a PC fan inverter, MOSFETs driven, etc, with what I learned from your videos. But which would practically be easiest/cheapest to DIY for different appliances. When does a device become 'sensative' requiring sine wave. A lot of questions lol, sorry

Hello Rob do you have a video like this where your using a stepper motor as the power source and a transformer to step up the voltage to power 110-240 volt lights or anything else?

Any chance you can do a video on how to make copper foam at home? If anyone can simplify the process and make it safe enough to do at home , I believe you would be the man for the job

Masterful Indeed.....You are a good Teacher!!

A thought.... consider bulk of circuit as akin to a class D "switching" amplifier. reference signal to be amplified to become inverter output, could be from a sine wave oscillator. or even mains that has been step downed for output. generator error singal by comparing to a feedback signal produced from a tiny step down transformer across invertor's output. difference between sensed and reference voltage should thus indicate which way a push-pull invertor would need to push current through it's output coil to keep the synthesised mains in phase, and at aprox the right voltage. if using real mains,+ transformer as voltage reference. voltage difference between the reference and feedback transformer coils could be directed current appropriate relay switch coils, with steering diodes to only allow current through coils when output needs topped up one way... ie one diode allows current to flowing one way goes through coil A, and other didoe allows reverse current to flow through the other coil B A fairly simple, that is "dead bug" construction (with some resistors to add hysteresis) , quad comparator IC chip , should be able to generate signals to switch grounding FETs at the right time

Very good. Thank you.

seems you could do without center tap connect and have a slightly more complex switching mech

Hi, I was wanting to have a go at making an inverter, but can't seem to source any step up tranformers, could anyone suggest a possible supplier? Was looking for a 24v input with a central tapping and a 220-240v output.

Would a polarized filter on your camera get rid of the glare that presents the viewer from reading the meter screen?

Please can you explain smps inverter, how it works than regular transformers thank you

I remember the two transistor inverter in something like poptronics.

great stuff

Hello and respect, what as the so called builder’s board made of, what type of material is it?

How would you go about adding a 555 timer in this circuit?

How does this work with inductive loads? Does it require an specific design? Thanks

Sir how to collect/store energy from many small micro wind turbine . If possible, to feed directly to home power supply system.

Could this be used to step down the voltage and up the current from something like a Zamboni pile or is the pile not capable of supplying enough power? I have seen that you were looking at a fractal capacitor for this but would this circuit work for the same process?

I love this rob, thank you. Can you do one on dc to dc?

Can you put a selection of instructional videos together on a collection of DVDs and possibly a companion book so we can benefit from your knowledge offline should that become something we need to worry about... Potato can IR heaters, wind turbines, energy storage (gravity batteries perhaps) etc.

What's the VAR handling capability? See: Induction motor loads.

Can it be done with an arc welder ?

As always wonderful an innovative. Is creating a sine wave output really as simple as introducing a smoothing capacitor though? Commercial inverters go through a lot of trouble to do it with pulse width modulation.

will this inverter work for normal house hold apliances?

I guess this would be “ pure sine wave” . It would be great if someone would sell a diy kit w/ instructions.

Could we see something similar about a 3-faze inverters? :)

Have u dabbled in making perovskite solar cells or is it even possible to do it in a diy way??

also this is the basis of a vfd. Good video.

Awesome

Hello Robert. I have a question. I have a B&D 750W 6.52amps inverter model PI750AB. For the most part it works perfectly. But I'm experimenting with using it with a smaller battery in my chicken coops when needed. I have it hooked up to a GT12080-HG 12v 8ah battery. I can run a fan, laptop radio etc no problem. But when I plug in a 200w heat lamp the inverter goes yellow and cuts the power. it wont work. The battery is fully charged. Why is a 750watt inverter shutting down when plugging in a 200watt heat lamp??? Any ideas? I'm trying to put the lightest battery I can use just in case I need to move it. I'm 78 and can't much carry heavy things. Thank you for reading

Thanks Rob 👍🇮🇪💚🙏🏻

Will have to watch later.

I’m here because…. I want a battery system for my home studio / office. I want to turn off the mains input (smart plug or maybe even arduino control) and seemlessly switch to battery when electricity peak price is high, last for about 3-4 hours (2 kWh total) then the rest of the time be charged (lifepo4) ready to go. …

I enjoyed your video. Your design is limited by the size or massive weight of your transformer. Would like to see you revisit using something with a higher efficiency transformer (lower weight, smaller cheaper) using high frequency and adding power factor correction on the output. Also with a respectable output power say 1300 watts or higher.

Danke!

This has been bugging me for a while but did you ever lecture at leed uni dep of engineering ? ,💚✌️

The blade less back to back computer fans come to mind here. This is proper "pepper" project for when ( not if ) the grid collapses and practicality is more important than effeciency

This is a nice and simple design for an electronics buff like you and I. I made a pure sinewave inverter from an audio amplifier that was a bit easier to put together with little skills. Robert please give my video a watch and tell me your opinion on the idea.

Cool

Great! 👏 Saved to references, thanks!

Wouldn't the capacitor make it a simulated sine wave and not a true sine wave?

Hey next ......in th u.s. the power is two 110 lines to make 220.......three wires ....2 hots and a neutral.....they are out of phase 180 degrees..ok ...next make two 110ac lines that are out of phase 180 degres.......power source pv panels......48-36vdc......cheers

Cheers very much, I've seen a resistor bank as a Smoothing cap for those to make it simpler, 10k 1k 100 ohms in series, got a pretty good waveform.

How does the capacitor work when it's only connected to two negative lines. Doesn't a capacitor need to be connected to positive and negative so that it builds up a potential voltage higher than the VCC? I love this topic by the way.

After looking at this I am wondering how could you harness the collapsing field and back EMF? I believe it's at 600 volts. Tesla patent 1903 did a invention that harness the back EMF.

Hi Rob, thanks for your videos, it really clarifies these concepts to amateur folks like us. Is it possible to build a 500W/1000W inverter producing 220V of pure sine wave A/C using the following part list. Can I scale this build up to a 2000W capacity by just swapping out the transformer and fitting a new one, if not, can you highlight the changes I need to make to the part list in order to achieve a higher capacity. I intend to use the inverter to power any home appliance from A/Cs to computers, please help. - EGS002 SPWM Inverter Driver Module - IRF3205 or IRLB4132 MOSFETS (16x) - 12V UPS Transformer (500W/1000W) - (Transformer Ratio 7V:220) - TO-220 Isolation Set (16x) - TIP31C NPN Transistor - 7805 Regulator - 1N4007 Diode (8x), use FR107 or UF4007 - 10k Ohm NTC Thermistor - 10k Ohm Multi-turn Trimmer - 10 Ohm Resistor (4x) - 2.2k Ohm Resistor - 10k Ohm Resistor (4x) - 100k Ohm Resistor (2x) - 470nF 25v Capacitor - 2.2uF +350v Capacitor - 2.2uF 25v Capacitor - 10uF 25v Capacitor - 100uF 25v Capacitor

The polarities are iverted in your transformer drawing.

That looks easy but why does it sound so mind glowingly difficult

Makes one wonder why battery inverters are so expensive when they are so simple to make.

i Love you dadi❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Nice, basic pulse inverter! But this version loses quite a bit of efficiency on the backwards voltage coming from the inductuctor. I think its much easier to go for a 4-transistor one that doesnt have such a problem. And if we prefer the cheap, dirty and easy to make it could make sense to make a relay vibrator pulse generator... And as for the most cost effective inverters for renewables i recommend fiddling with old UPSes (or broken ones, they are often easily repairable or even possible to reverse engineer to make your own inverter)

the old car radio vibrator

🙏👍🙏

Robert you are better off buying one of these ready made it's much safer to buy one and wire it up to standards for electrical wiring rules. Putting that aside I have an electronics certificate and a Licenced Electrician EA39003. Where you can make inroads safely into the area is the solar cell array to battery charge controller again though it's nice to make your own but as far as doing it well leave it up to people that make these. One simple solution for this which is not particularly efficient is just a large aluminium heat sink and 4 or 5 high current mosfets in parallel all driven with a zener diode fixed voltage reference, allowing for voltage drop I think the voltage of the zener diode is something like 16 volts. It does work it's very simple and it's pretty reliable as long as there are no overcurrent conditions and it's wise to put a fuse into it to stop this from happening.

Er Wow!!

❤😊🙋‍♂️