Ten years after Su-Kam built India’s first 4-star inverter, home inverters and lead-acid batteries still have no mandatory BEE efficiency standard — while every AC, fridge and fan does. An open letter from Kunwer Sachdev.
The Su-Kam Falcon HBU — India’s first high-frequency inverter and first 4-star Home UPS, 90% efficient, patented, with UPS switchover and a patented heat-resistant plastic body in multiple colours.
Su-Kam built India’s first high-frequency inverter — my pet project that failed twice before we won a 4-star BEE rating. The story of Sivarajan Ramachandran, the engineer I picked from IIT Delhi and made my CTO.
Su-Kam was the first Indian company to develop 3-phase inverter technology in India — told through engineer Vikas Garg, who joined as a fresher, was poached by a multinational, then came back for the culture of innovation.
Kunwer Sachdev, the Inverter Man of India and founder of Su-Kam, wrote opinion columns for the Times of India ‘Voices’ section on patents, EVs, renewable energy and HR — before stepping back to focus on his own work.
The Su-Kam Colossal 1P 10 KVA Solar PCU: a storage-first solar inverter for India’s commercial loads, with IGBT, DSP and a PWM charge controller.
Kunwer Sachdev on the Colossal Solar PCU — restless inventor energy, the unbroken chain from 2005 Solar PCU to Brainy Eco to industrial three-phase power plants, and why the whole industry followed.
How Su-Kam’s DT-6S six-stage charging — desulphation, soft start, bulk, absorption, equalization, float — extends inverter battery life. The charging software that built a brand.
Why an inverter beats a diesel generator — and how Kunwer Sachdev built India’s first 5 KVA & 10 KVA inverters at Su-Kam, told through the Hindi film he scripted to convince dealers and customers.
Solar was expensive and there were no subsidies. While others demonstrated it, Kunwer Sachdev commercialised solar — putting it on rooftops, in villages, and across 90+ countries.