Part 2 of “My Story” — The Kunwer Sachdev Journey
A New Beginning With Inverters
How a Rude Service Technician, Exploding MOSFETs, and a Recreational Vehicle Changed My Life
Kunwer Sachdev
Founder of Su-Kam and Kunwwer.ai, and mentor at Su-vastika and several other companies — the “Inverter Man of India”
📖 Previously: Part 1 — Before the Inverters, There Was Cable TV
“He was ignorant about the Inverter he was repairing and commented that I would not understand this technology part — which hit my ego.”
That one sentence from a service technician in 1998 changed everything. I took the inverter to my factory, opened it, and saw a jungle of wires and an ordinary single-sided PCB. Since I was already making PCBs for sophisticated satellite receivers, I realized: there was an enormous opportunity here.
Everyone in India was suffering from power cuts. And the inverters available were terrible.
🔍 The Recreational Vehicle Inverter That Changed Everything
I started researching inverter technology worldwide. At that time, Kolkata was ruling the Indian inverter market — everyone was using transistor-based circuits that came from there. Small-scale manufacturers across India used the same basic design.
Then I came across something that opened my eyes: inverters used in Recreational Vehicles (RVs) in the Western world. These RV inverters didn’t even have a charger — the battery was charged through the truck’s dynamo. But the technology inside was completely different from what India was using.
The Recreational Vehicle — its inverter used double-sided PCB and MOSFET technology, a world away from India’s transistor-based inverters
Double-sided PCB. MOSFET technology. Single battery.
While everyone in India was making transistor-based, two-battery inverters on single-sided PCBs — I decided to leapfrog to MOSFET technology on double-sided PCBs with a single battery.
💥 Two Years of Exploding MOSFETs
The first inverter board we designed was elementary — like a computer board with connectors that could be replaced by any small technician. But making it stable was another story entirely.
It took almost two years of trial and error. We installed one prototype at the factory and one at my home. We made changes constantly — a few days of testing, then another problem, solve it, face another issue. The MOSFETs kept blowing up under various conditions. The noise was terrifying. People around me were scared. Sometimes we couldn’t even figure out what condition caused the failure.
🔥 The Perseverance That Defined Su-Kam
Every blown MOSFET was a lesson. Every failure was data. My team and I worked relentlessly — we didn’t have oscilloscopes or simulation software. It was pure hands-on experimentation. We soldered, tested, watched things explode, analyzed what went wrong, and soldered again.
Two years. Hundreds of blown MOSFETs. Countless sleepless nights. But we refused to give up.
This is the part of the story no one tells you about Indian innovation — the unglamorous, scary, expensive part where you’re not sure if the next prototype will work or explode.
⚡ The First Su-Kam Inverter Is Born
The original Su-Kam metal inverter — the product that started India’s power backup revolution. Look at that Su-Kam logo, the same one that began in Cable TV days.
After two years of R&D, we had a stable, MOSFET-based, single-battery inverter. It was fundamentally different from anything in the Indian market. We built robust protections into the circuit — overload, short circuit, deep discharge, reverse polarity — features nobody else offered.
I sold the first ~500 units directly to consumers. I would open the inverter in front of customers, explain the features and protections, and demo them. We installed units at friends’ houses and cable TV installations to observe real-world performance. Each feedback loop made the product better.
“A befitting reply to power problems” — the Su-Kam company brochure marking the transition from Cable TV to inverters. The same company, a new mission.
🏪 From Direct Sales to Dealer Network
Once I had confidence in the product, I started building a dealer distribution network. Electricians and local electronics shops became our first dealers. I personally trained them, explaining the technology, the protections, and how to service the units.
By 2000, I made a decision that many thought was crazy: I shut down the Cable TV business entirely to focus on inverters. The Cable TV industry was changing — big companies with imported hardware were taking over. But inverters? That was a wide-open market waiting for someone to do it right.
🔬 Setting Up the R&D — The Hardest Challenge
The Su-Kam R&D lab — where India’s inverter innovations were born
Hands-on engineering discussions in the R&D lab
Building the R&D team was harder than building the product. The challenges I faced in India’s engineering culture were brutal:
Fear of Failure
Engineers were terrified of experimenting. In India’s education system, failure was punished. I had to create a culture where blowing up a MOSFET was a learning experience, not a career-ending mistake.
Knowledge Hoarding
Engineers wouldn’t share what they learned, fearing they’d become replaceable. I had to break this mindset and build collaborative teams.
Brain Drain
I’d invest years training engineers, and they’d leave for multinationals. Su-Kam became an unofficial training ground for the entire power electronics industry.
Two people who became pillars of this R&D journey deserve special mention:
Jagdeep Chauhan
The man who invented India’s DSP sine wave inverter at Su-Kam. His breakthrough changed the entire Indian inverter industry.
Sanjeev Saini
The man who built Su-Kam’s mind — our CTO who took the R&D from a scrappy lab to a world-class operation.
📰 “Digital Wonders” — The Times of India, 2001
The Times of India, December 10, 2001 — “Digital Wonders”: Su-Kam’s digital inverter at Rs 9,400. Validation from India’s largest newspaper.
📚 Featured in Two Landmark Books
The Su-Kam innovation story was documented in two bestselling books about Indian entrepreneurship:
Connect the Dots
by Rashmi Bansal — 20 entrepreneurs without MBAs who dared to find their own path
Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen
by Porus Munshi — How 11 Indians Pulled Off the Impossible
What Came Next Changed Everything
A customer’s daughter got shocked by a metal inverter. That incident led me to create the world’s first plastic-body inverter — an innovation India Today called “Innovation of the Decade.”
Coming up in Part 3 of “My Story”
🔗 Related Stories & References
- 👤 My Story with Jagdeep Chauhan — The Man Who Invented India’s Sine Wave Inverter →
- 👤 My Story with Sanjeev Saini — The Man Who Built Su-Kam’s Mind →
- 📖 From a Malfunctioning Inverter to a National Standard: The R&D Story →
- 📖 Su-Kam Power Systems — Wikipedia →
- 📺 Su-Kam Solar — YouTube Channel →
- ◀️ Part 1: Before the Inverters, There Was Cable TV →
Disclaimer: This article is written by Kunwer Sachdev, mentor of Su-vastika. Kunwer Sachdev is no longer associated with Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd. in any capacity. Anyone dealing with Su-Kam should be aware that Kunwer Sachdev has no association with the Su-Kam brand or company. All photographs are from the author’s personal archives.
Kunwer Sachdev
Founder of Su-Kam and Kunwwer.ai, and mentor at Su-vastika and several other companies — the “Inverter Man of India.” Read his story →
