inverter hook-up

Can I chime in and mention, #00 (is that 02?) welding cable sounds very small for 3500 watts. My 2800 watt requires #0000 for runs under 6ft (iirc) and doubled #0000 for over 6ft, oh and a 400-500 amp class T fuse (fuse current-interrupt rating should be based on short-circuit current of the battery bank, worst case)

The best way to do it is to use a sub panel that contains only the circuits you want to have powered from the inverter and use an automatic transfer relay to switch from shore/genny to the inverter.
I didn't have enough room for a sub panel so I have to manually turn off the breakers for the circuits I don't want to be powered by the inverter before I turn it on: ie converter,refrigerator, microwave, and ACs. I paid about $60 for the automatic transfer relay as I recall.

I put in a professional RV 3500 watt inverter also. It was free so it was worth doing. It is also installed with 2 gauge welding cable to my battery bank. It has 4 outlets, and i ran a number ten extension cord to an outlet above our sink to plug a coffee maker or toaster in. Also ran a second one to the TV area as that is the thing we use it for the most (nascar stuff at the race). It has saved me in a pinch when i needed to air up a tire or run an impact to change a tire. Mine has the inside power switch with battery level indicator which makes it nice. As all my lights are LED now I dont worry about plugging in the main cable. When i need to charge the generator gets started and all plugs get moved to the normal AC outlets.

Okay! They say "A mind is a terrible thing to waste". Well, sometimes, I think my mind is just a "terrible thing". I have a 2300 watt inverter. I went out and looked. Also there is a plywood wall behind the breaker box in my signature 5er and I'm not real sure how to get to the back of the box, easily. Thanks for the responses, though.

david

Hi,

Use a #10 cord.

I plug my shore power cord into the inverter. The converter needs to be turned off. Most folks move the fridge and water heater to their propane powered settings.

What make and model is the inverter?

I run a cord from the inverter to the main power hook up. Where I hook up in the campground. Then, I make sure the 120v circuits I do not want to use are turned off in the circuit breaker box, to save my battery.

I am not sure what you want to run with 3500 watts? That would run electric water heater, microwave, toaster, and a few other, small things at once! Unless you have about 1000# or more of battery, you will run them down in about 15 minutes! 3500 watts is a HUGE draw for a normal battery bank, even of 6 big batteries.

I would suggest NOT using that much. Space out your use, do not use everything at once. If you need anywhere near 3500 watts for more than a few minutes a day, you need to either plug in to 120, or run a generator.

Your fuse link is probably not large enough. With no loses the 3500watts will draw around 285AMPS from your battery bank.

It will take a rather large battery bank to produce 12VDC at 285AMPS plus loses for any length of time.

One of my experiences was with a 1500WATT PSW Inverter running some HP TEST EQUIPMENT from the trunk of a rental car. INVERTER was connected directly to the single rental car battery terminals. The TEST EQUIPMENT added up to just under the 1500WATTs. It lasted about 15 minutes before going dead. This was with the rental car motor running...

I would look at some battery specs and look at the RESERVE POWER. i.e. two 6VDC Trojan T105 batteries in series to give you 12VDC will only produce 12VDC @25AMPS for approximately 447 minutes (7.45 hours). If you want to keep using these batteries you will have to not let them get discharged to 0% charge state before recharging so you can really only count on using them for only 4 hours in this situation.

This is a long way way from the 285AMPS current draw. If Two batteries give you 4 hours of use time, 2 more added will give you 50 AMPs capacity, etc etc etc...

INVERTERS are very BATTERY hungary
just saying...

Roy Ken