soft vs hard start for a inverter

[fabieville]

Can someone explain the pros and cons for soft start and hard start on a inverter.
I am about to buy a inverter but i have to choose between soft or hard start. I am kinda confused. Which one is the better choice?

[DamonHD]

I imagine that soft start is kinder on your batteries (less inrush current at power-up and when a big load is presented) but less kind on the load as there may/will be significant voltage sag during the 'soft part'.  If the load is resistive or otherwise simple that may not matter.  If it's sensitive electronics then it may not enjoy the voltage sagging and slowly rising.

This is pure speculation on my part, and I'm waiting for an adult to come along and educate me too!

Rgds

Damon

[mab]

I'm not sure soft start has any great advantage: my cheap (powerjack) inverter as such a slow soft start that it stalls the freezer motor. But in practice I wouldn't start the inverter with the whole house connected anyway because if the power's been off for a while all the freezers/fridge/dehumidifier would be trying to start up simultaneously. Much better to start the inverter then connect the heavy startup loads individually once it's up & running.

I suspect most pure sine inverters are soft start anyway, wether you want it or not. If it were me I'd focus more on the other parameters of the inverters you're looking at.

If you prefer to start it with loads on; then consider what sorts of loads they are and how they'll react to it. As Damon says resistive loads, and probably most small electronic loads (LED lights for e.g.) will be fine; computers: not sure.