While your inverter device will run for years without muchneeded in the way of maintenance, the same cannot be said for batteries. You will need to make sure your batteries are kept in a well-ventilated area and are discharged at least once a month to keep them in good condition. Nevertheless, you will need to replace all the batteries every 3 to 5 years as swopping out just one battery and leaving an old battery in place can damage the inverter itself. 

When deciding on an inverter and battery backup system, there are many elements to consider. To start with, make a note of the watt requirements of all the items you would like to run off your inverter system and add this up (1 000 watts = 1 kW). Next, consider how long you would like these items to be powered by your inverter system. With this information on hand, you will know how much power output will be required from your inverter as well as the capacity requirements for your batteries. Ideally, your requirements should be no more than 75% of your inverter and battery bank's capacity to prevent overloading.

This will depend on the type of inverter you select as while many are solar-ready, most off-the-shelf inverters are not. If your inverter is not solar-ready, you will need a solar conversion kit or a solar charge controller to use in conjunction with your inverter.

Should the inverter be on all the time? Yes, you should keep your inverter ON all the time. Otherwise, you will lose your battery backup time due to the self-discharge of batteries. You will need to start the inverter manually every time when grid power failed.