When a Pure Sine Wave Inverter Isn’t Necessary

2017-10-19 Power Inverter Knowledge

If you have electronic devices that use rectifiers to convert AC to DC, then you probably don’t need a pure sine wave inverter. Don’t get me wrong — a pure sine wave inverter will still work just fine with these devices. If you have the money, and you don’t mind spending more than you have to just for extra peace of mind, and to future-proof your installation, then you can’t go wrong with a pure sine wave inverter. It will work just fine even in situations where you don’t really need one.

However, most electronic devices run just fine on a modified sine wave. For example, laptop computers, cell phone chargers, and all other equipment that uses a rectifier or AC/DC adapter to take an AC input and output DC to the device will typically work just fine without a pure sine wave inverter.

Of course, with a lot of those devices you can just cut out the middleman and use a DC to DC converter that steps the 12V DC from your truck’s electrical system either up or down without first converting it to AC before converting it back to DC.