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AN order of the Delhi state consumer disputes redressal commission, awarding a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh to a person whose house caught fire on account of a defective inverter, highlights the need for mandatory quality and safety certification for this power back-up system. In this particular case, the consumer apparently heard some crackling sounds coming from the inverter, and also noticed a fluctuation in the power supply. Since it was early in the morning, he decided to call up the manufacturer from his office. By around 8.30 am, however, he got a call from his neighbours saying that his house was on fire. The fire, traced to a short-circuit in the inverter, was eventually put out, but by then it had damaged quite a few expensive household gadgets. If we had a consumer product safety commission as in the US, this case would have called for investigations into the quality of the inverter, and may have even led to recall of the product, if the problem was traced to a design defect or a manufacturing problem. Unfortunately, we do not have such a system of safeguarding client interest against unsafe goods. Nor has the government found it fit to enforce mandatory quality certification for these inverters. In fact, last year, a Delhi-based consumer organisation, Voice, had tested nine brands of inverters sold in the market against quality standards for inverters formulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Since the standards are voluntary, none of the inverter manufacturers had bothered to take the ISI certification. Voice found all the brands that it tested failing in ‘efficiency’ standards, prompting it to demand mandatory quality standards for these inverters. As per BIS standards, an inverter should deliver at least 85 per cent efficiency (efficiency being the ratio of power output to power input, expressed as a percentage). But none of the brands tested could come up to this level, their efficiency ranging from 80.82 to as low as 60.80 per cent, said Voice. An inverter changes or 'inverts' direct current voltage of a lead-acid battery into alternating current voltage. While doing so, it should not only provide a 230-volt AC current, but also ensure that it is as close as possible to the domestic power supply. A sine wave is the ideal form of AC power. If the inverter power is not pure sine wave, it can produce humming or droning noises in appliances like fans, motors of room coolers and even tube lights. Tests conducted by Voice showed that barring one brand, which was a pure sine wave inverter, none of the brands conformed to BIS standards in so far as electronic noise distortion was concerned. Voice, which conducts comparative testing of brands to help customers make a choice, had tested inverters earlier too. Since brands change and so also quality, it found it necessary to take up such testing again last year. The detailed results of those tests can be found in the September, 2008, issue of Consumer Voice. One can also access it online. So what should one look
for while buying an inverter? Quality, safety, performance, price and
after-sales service are some of the obvious issues one should
consider. Since it is not possible for the client to check the
veracity of the claims made by manufacturers pertaining to quality and
safety, results of comparative testing helps. It is also important to
ask questions about certain features such as efficiency, insulation
resistance, safety provisions, voltage output, switch-over time (which
is the time taken by an inverter to switch over from stand-by mode to
the active mode and back to stand-by mode), battery charging
qualities, and whether the power supply is sine wave. Buying a good
quality battery and ensuring its proper maintenance is A couple of years ago, a consumer in Delhi received serious burn injuries caused by an explosion while the battery was being serviced. Apparently, the person who had come to service the inverter, asked the customer—a senior citizen—to check whether the water level was adequate in the battery. Even as the senior citizen bent, there was an explosion, resulting in severe burn injuries on his face and eyes, requiring emergency medical treatment. So, one has to ensure that the person who attends to the inverter or the battery as part of the after-sales service is adequately trained and takes proper safety precautions. Another after-sales requirement is that the manufacturer provides for a back-up inverter. If at any time the inverter needs to be taken to the service centre for repairs, the client should not be inconvenienced.
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