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Best Voltage Stabilizers for TV/AC/Fridge/Home in India in 2024 Buyer's Guide

By on January 9, 2023

Power supply is erratic at most places in India, with voltage fluctuating in both directions (up and down) at many places frequently. These voltage fluctuations can damage appliances, there by causing them to end much before their normal useful life. When voltage goes down, electric current in the appliance increase, which can result in burning of the appliance. Voltage Stabilizers have thus found place in many homes and offices in India. In this article we will talk about voltage stabilizers: what they do, how much power do they consume and how to select “Best Voltage Stabilizers for TV/AC/Fridge/Home in India in 2024“.

In this post we will try to explain the working of voltage stabilizers and provide you some tips to buy a new voltage stabilizers. But before that, we will provide you the information that you came here to look for: The Top Models in voltage stabilizers. For the working of voltage stabilizers and Buying Guide, click: here.

Here is the list of some good voltage stabilizers in the market:

Please note that the lists below are prepared based on our understanding of market, brands and technology. We have evaluated technology & have taken user reviews into consideration to prepare this list.

Best Voltage Stabilizers in India in 2024

Please check the list below.

Voltage Stabilizer for ACs:

Voltage Stabilizer for Refrigerators:

Voltage Stabilizer for TVs:

Mainline Voltage Stabilizer:

Buying Guide:

What are Voltage Fluctuations and why do the happen in your home?

Voltage fluctuations are changes (increase or decrease) in voltage coming to your home that make the lights glow dimmer (for low voltage) or brighter (for high voltage) than normal depending. Typically they are not dangerous for most of the appliances, but then they do damage appliances with motors. But then they certainly vary the output of the appliance.

Reasons for Voltage Fluctuations in your home

Voltage Fluctuations typically happen because of bad wirings (to your house or inside the house), overload (be it you using more power than your sanctioned load or your neigbors using more), sudden switching on of high powered appliances (like air conditioners, motors), bad eathing, or short circuits. Whenever you experience voltage fluctuations, do check for any of these reasons.

What are voltage stabilizers and how do they fix (avoid) voltage fluctuations?

As the name suggests, voltage stabilizers stabilize the voltage, which means if the supply voltage fluctuates or varies (is less or more than the acceptable range), it brings it to the desired range. It does so by using electromagnetic regulators that use tap changers with autotransformers. If the output voltage is not in range a mechanism switches the tap, to change the transformer to move the voltage in acceptable range. It does not give a constant voltage output, but operates the system in a safe voltage range.

How to choose a right sized stabilizer?

Sizing of a stabilizer is very similar to sizing of a UPS or Inverter (power backup). The most important thing is to know the load connected to the stabilizer. First you must note down the power (or watts) for all the appliances that will be connected to a stabilizer. The sum total of the power consumption (or watts) will give you the load on stabilizer in watts. But most stabilizer sizes are in VA (Volt Ampere) or kVA (kilo Volt Ampere which is equal to 1000 Volt Ampere). Although to get to actual VA (or Volt Ampere) from Watts (W) you will have to do some measurements, but to give a rough approximation, you can increase the Watts value by 20% to get the approximate VA size that you may need.

So for e.g. if sum of watts connected to your stabilizer is 1000 then you can take a 1200 VA or 1.2 kVA stabilizer. (Please note that 20% is suitable for residential systems and may not work in industries if your power factor is bad).

Important things to look for before buying a voltage stabilizer?

Before buying a voltage stabilizer the most important thing that you should make note of is the input voltage range that you get in your house. This is important because every stabilizer has a minimum and maximum input voltage to which it can stabilize the output voltage. If a voltage stabilizer has input voltage range of 150 V (min) – 260 V (max) then if the voltage in your house goes below 150 V or more than 260 V, then the stabilizer will just cut off the power supply to your appliance. But if it is 160 V or 250 V (within the working range), then it will try to stabilize it to the desired output voltage range.

Surge Protection (or spike guard) is another good feature in voltage stabilizers. This feature protects your appliance from sudden voltage rise such as those that can happen during lightning strikes or short circuits. Make sure that you buy a stabilizer with such feature so that your appliances are safe during sudden surges.

Are there different single-phase and three-phase voltage stabilizers?

Yes they are. But a three-phase voltage stabilizer is required only if voltage stabilization is needed for a three phase motor or for stabilizing voltage for a full three-phase setup.

All appliances that are used at homes can work on single-phase voltage stabilizer, and a three-phase voltage stabilizer may not be required for residential use unless one is trying to stabilize the voltage of complete house on a three-phase connection.

It is not recommended to put a stabilizer for the complete house because voltage stabilizers also consume electricity, and thus using it for the whole house will result in electricity consumption for all 24 hours. Instead if it is used for individual appliance, then it can be switched off when the appliance is switched off.

How much electricity do voltage stabilizers consume?

Electricity consumption of voltage stabilizers depends on the efficiency of the stabilizer. Typically they are 95-98% efficient. Which means, they consume about 2-5% of the maximum load. So if you have a 1 kVA (or 1000 VA) stabilizer, it would consume about 50 Watts (on peak load). Which means if a 1kVA stabilizer is left on for 10 hours, it would consume about 0.5 unit of electricity. Thus leaving it on for 24 hours can lead to a lot of electricity consumption. This is why we recommend to use voltage stabilizer for individual appliance rather than a mainline stabilizer. A mainline stabilizer has to remain on for 24 hours and 365 days leading to increased electricity bills.

Do modern refrigerators/air conditioners/televisions come with in-built voltage stabilization?

More and more electrical appliances these days have started incorporating electronic circuitry for power management. With electronic circuits like SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply), voltage management has become much easier. Most LED televisions in the market today can work between 110 V and 290V and adding a voltage stabilizer does not help much other than providing surge protection. Your TV can still work if the voltage is low. But a stabilizer with surge protection may prevent it from burning during surges. However, powerful surges like those from lightning can still damage your TV. Similarly, most refrigerators (especially those with inverter technology) can easily work between 110 V and 290 V and again the surge protection feature is helpful. Appliances like ACs and Washing machines do need stabilizers as very few have high voltage range. However, some are marketed as stabilizer free operation, but in those, it is important to check the input voltage required by the appliance and the voltage that you regularly receive in your house.

FAQs on Voltage Stabilizers

We frequently get a lot of questions on voltage stabilizers on this website. We have tried to compile and answer a few of them:

Is Voltage Stabilizer Required for LED TVs?

Not Really. Most modern LED TVs can work between 110 V and 290 V and thus low and high voltages do not damage them. LED TVs have SMPS (Switch mode power supply) built in which internally manages voltage. But they can get damaged due to Power Surges which are sudden spike in electric current that can happen due to: lightning or even when you suddenly start an appliance that draws a lot of current like air conditioner and your line is bad. To protect your TV from surges you need a Surge Protector. Or you can buy a voltage stabilizer with surge protection feature. But voltage stabilization is not mandatory.

Do We need Stabilizer for Refrigerators?

Most modern refrigerators are designed to handle large voltage range. They can work between 110 V and 290V as they use SMPS (Switch mode power supply). It is important to check the power specifications of your refrigerator before you buy a stabilizer for it. If the operating voltage range is large, then you do not need a stabilizer for it. But if it is less, then you do need a stabilizer. Most old refrigerators do need a stabilizer. Even refrigerators can get damaged due to surges (especially the ones with inverter technology) so either buy a stabilizer with surge protection feature or make sure you buy a surge protector along with it.

Conclusion

Always choose a right sized voltage stabilizer and also try to get them for individual appliances rather than for the whole electricity connection. Leaving them on for longer duration can result in higher electricity bills.

About the Author:
Abhishek Jain is an Alumnus of IIT Bombay with almost 10 years of experience in corporate before starting Bijli Bachao in 2012. His passion for solving problems moved him towards Energy Sector and he is keen to learn about customer behavior towards Energy and find ways to influence the same towards Sustainability. .

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