Solar Inverter Guide: Power Your Home with the Right Choice

Solar panels get all the spotlight—but they can’t power your fridge, lights, or laptop on their own. The real conversion work happens behind the scenes, inside a box that rarely gets the credit it deserves: the solar inverter. It’s not flashy. It doesn’t sit on your roof. But without it, your solar system is just collecting electricity it can’t use.

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This guide breaks down exactly what a solar inverter does, why your system won’t work without one, and how to choose the right type—whether you're powering a cabin, an RV, or your entire home.

A solar inverter is a key part of any solar power system. Its main job is to convert the direct current (DC) electricity generated by solar panels into alternating current (AC) electricity, which is what most household appliances and the power grid use.

Solar panels only produce DC power. But nearly all electronics in your home—like TVs, fridges, and washing machines—run on AC. That’s why a solar inverter is necessary: it acts as the bridge between the solar system and your home’s power needs.

In small, portable setups like EcoFlow power stations, the inverter is built inside the unit. In larger home systems, the inverter is often a separate device. Some advanced systems, such as the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra, allow multiple inverters to work together. For example, up to three solar inverters can deliver 21.6kW of AC output and support 16.8kW solar charging when connected to 42 rigid solar panels.

In hybrid or off-grid systems, another component called a solar charge controller is also used. It controls where the DC power goes—either storing it in a battery or sending it to the inverter for immediate use.

Solar systems that produce electricity use PV modules — usually solar panels with multiple photovoltaic cells — to harvest photons from sunlight and convert them into direct current.

A solar inverter uses solid-state components to convert DC to AC electricity.

Unlike older technologies like mechanical inverters, solar inverters have no moving parts. Instead, they utilize power semiconductors, like transistors and diodes, to switch direct current on and off at a very high frequency.

Rapid binary switching produces alternating current — ideally with a pure sine waveform. Pure sine wave electricity is considered the gold standard of AC waveforms because it is “clean” and free of the distortion and noise that can harm sensitive electronics when inferior inverters are used.

Off-grid solar power systems use solar batteries to store electricity to solve the problem of intermittency.

Because off-grid systems operate independently of the utility grid, electricity must be stored for use at night or at other times when your household consumes more power than your solar panels produce.

In an off-grid system, solar panels transmit DC electricity to a solar charge controller, which distributes power to a solar battery or solar inverter, depending on whether the priority is consumption or storage.

However, many off-grid systems can only be charged using solar panels and don’t give you the option to auto-switch between utility or fossil fuel generator power.

In some ways, a hybrid system offers the best of both worlds.

It allows you to toggle automatically or manually between the utility grid and solar power, depending on the parameters you set.

Crucially, a hybrid solar + storage system provides electricity during a blackout.

Depending on your solar battery capacity and electricity production potential, you can have power even during extended outages — or indefinitely.

Trying to choose an inverter and other components can become confusing. You can never be quite sure about compatibility between solar panels, batteries, inverters, and charge controllers. That’s why some companies have put together convenient all-in-one off-grid power solutions.

The EcoFlow Power Kits are an excellent example of a plug-and-play off-grid solar power system. They are perfect for cabins, tiny homes, and RVs.

The Power Hub includes all of the essential converters, outlets, and chargers for an off-grid system, including:

• DC-DC Step-Down Converter

• DC-DC Battery Charger with MPPT

• MPPT Solar Charge Controller

• Solar Inverter Charger

With an all-in-one system, you don’t need to worry about compatibility and whether the inverter is the right type for your solar power system. The Power Kits also work with all models of EcoFlow solar panels (rigid, portable, and flexible) and panels from other manufacturers.

The DC-DC battery charger with MPPT (multi-power point tracking) allows the battery bank to be charged directly by other DC power sources, such as a car alternator or a service battery.

An MPPT is especially useful in RV and other mobile applications. The technology allows for high-efficiency charging and is superior to similar chargers that use PWM (pulse width modulation) chargers.

Every solar setup is different—some chase savings, others chase independence. But all of them depend on one constant: the solar inverter. It's the bridge between your solar harvest and usable electricity. Get the wrong one, and the system stutters. Get it right, and you unlock quiet, seamless, reliable power day and night.

You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Jiwei.

Whether you're leaning toward a high-efficiency microinverter, a rugged hybrid model, or an all-in-one system like EcoFlow’s Power Hub, the right inverter transforms your panels from passive collectors into an active, intelligent power source.

Or you may aim higher.The EcoFlow OCEAN Pro is more than an inverter; it's the intelligent heart of a complete home power ecosystem, offering unmatched reliability and an industry-leading 15-year warranty. It's the key to a resilient energy future.

Please note: As you can see from the date of this post – it was written in – it was accurate then, but now it is out of date – most inverters in Australia are now ‘transformer-less’.

In my “Dummies Guide” to Solar Power I provide a very brief (some may say shallow!) overview of what a grid connected solar inverter does and why.

For those of you who want to know more details about how inverters really work, including the nerdgasm inducing concept of “Maximum Power Point Tracking” (which is all about maximising the power from your panels), then this blog post is for you!

Inverters have 2 main roles in life:

• Converting constant, Direct Current (DC) electricity from the panels into oscillating, Alternating Current (AC) electricity for your power points.
• Transforming the low(ish) voltage from your panels to the high(ish) voltage needed by your appliances.

But they also have to:

• Keep you safe – i.e., the grid connected inverter should shut down if there is a power blackout or a fault with your Solar Power system.
• Export electricity to the grid (and get paid for it) when your solar panels are producing more power than you are using.
• and (ideally) do some funky electronic stuff to maximise the power from your panels if, for example,one panel is giving more output than its neighbour

Let’s go through how that box of electronics bolted to the wall manages to do all these things:

a)         Converting DC electricity to AC electricity

Solar panels produce direct current (DC) electricity. This is the type of electricity used in car batteries. However, the electricity we use in our homes for lighting and power is 240 volt Alternating Current (AC) electricity.

The transformation of DC electricity to AC electricity is achieved by use of very efficient electronic switches to alternate the flow of the DC electricity produced from solar panels.

That is, switch one opens and switch 2 is closes and the current flows one way across the circuit. Then switch 1 closes and switch 2 opens and the current runs the opposite way across a circuit. Thus the DC electricity is converted to AC electricity

b)         Transforming the voltage of the electricity produced by solar panels

The transformation of the voltage from the solar panels (23 to 38 volts) to match the voltage of the electricity grid (240 volts) is achieved by using a transformer.

Put simply, transformers have 2 sets of coiled wire on each side of a circuit. The current of electricity flowing through the first coil causes a current to flow through the second coil.

The voltage across each coil is related to the number of coils in each set of coils. The higher the number of coils the higher the voltage. Thus, in a grid connected inverter, there are more coils in the second set of coils than in the first set of coils and this increases the voltage of  electricity produced. The number of coils in the second set is adjusted so the output voltage matches the voltage of the electricity grid (240 volts). See diagram below.

c)     Maximising the electricity you get from your solar panels

In order to get the most electricity out of your solar panels the grid connected inverter uses a maximum power point tracker (MMPT).

Each cell in a solar panel has a maximum power point (MPP). This is the point at which the maximum power (i.e. electricity) can be extracted from a cell. The MPP is determined by the voltage and current of the cell, the cell temperature and the amount of sunshine hitting the cell. The MPP for a given cell can vary by as much as 25%.

Thus, to get the maximum power out of a cell we can use a MPP tracker (MMPT) to vary the current and voltage of the cell (using software logic or circuitry controls) so the cell  is operating at its MPP.

Most current grid connected inverters have one MPPT that will seek to get the MPP of a system as a whole. Since individual cells will each have a different MPP (due to differences in manufacturing, differences in shading, etc.) then some cells will not be operating at their MPP. Therefore, there is a loss of efficiency.

Some inverters do have more than one MMPT. These are called Multi String Inverters. This can be useful if you have a system where you might have strings of panels in different situations (e.g. a string facing north and a string  facing west). As each panel will have a different MPP depending on where they are facing, each MMPT can find the MPP for each string of panels. This will increase the overall efficiency of the system.

Multi string inverters may also be useful if you want to connect different panels types provided your inverter can handle the increase power from the solar panels (e.g. if you want to upgrade but your original panels have been superseded).

d)    Safety of your grid connected inverter

All grid connected inverters are required to have certain safety features to protect you, the grid technicians, your electrical appliances and your inverter. These are:

• A DC isolation switch isolates the inverter from the solar panels. This prevents damage to the inverter or household appliances if there is a fault with the solar panels.

• An AC isolation switch isolates the inverter from the grid to protect the inverter in case of a fault in the grid.

• A safety switch that will turn off the inverter and isolate it from the grid in case of a blackout. If this did not happen your Solar System could send electricity into the grid. This, in turn would be a danger to any mains grid technicians that come to check the grid.

e) Exporting Electricity to the grid (and measuring the power output from your panels)

If you want to get paid for the electricity coming out of your panels then you need to do two things: measure the electricity, and export it to the grid (if you don’t use it all in your home).  If you are on a Gross Feed In Tariff then you need a “Gross” Meter that measures all the electricity coming out of those panels whether you export it or not. If you are on a Net Feed In Tariff then you need a meter that measures the difference between what you generate and what you use, because you are only gonna get paid for the exported electricity.

Warning: Make sure that any quote you get includes a new meter and connection of the meter to the grid. It amazes me that anyone can quote a system as “fully installed” without doing this, but a lot of  companies are doing just that. Kind of useless to get a solar power system for your home that isn’t connected to the grid. The worst case scenario is that they connect it to your existing meter which doesn’t know the difference between what you have generated and what you have used, then you will actually be charged for the solar power you generate (not credited) !  Ouch.