Cable Requirements for PD4655 Converter

DryCamper11 wrote:

RJsfishin wrote:
Its not worth changing wire. If you loose anything, it will be for only the first 5 or 10 minutes while the converter is putting out max current. After several minutes, the current will taper, and will then be well w/ in the current range of 6 ga wire. I ran a PD9155 on 6 ga for many years.
Just make sure you get the optional remote Pendant control w/ it.

I disagree. The problem is not at the beginning. Current is current, so if the charger is putting out max current, that current is going into the battery. The charge current produces a voltage drop on the cables, and the longer thinner they are, the more that voltage drop is. As long as the sum of that voltage drop and the battery voltage is below the maximum charger voltage, you'll get maximum current.

The problem with long thin wires occurs at the end of the charge cycle, not the beginning.

(I definitely agree that you should get the pendant. It's one of the main reasons why I bought a PD and not an Iota.)

I think RJ is more correct on that. I think the above is talking about two different things but it is hard to tell.

If the wire is too long/thin then current will be less than it could be from start to finish, but the absolute current difference will be tiny once the "baseline" current is lower, so it is too small to matter to anybody. The difference you would notice would be in the beginning.

The PD tapers anyway at the 14.4 stage, so you might not notice anything better even if you did go from #6 to say #4. IMO try it out as is and see if that is good enough for your needs. Then decide if it is "worth it" to change the wire to get five or ten minutes reduction in gen time to do a 50-90.

Don't forget the diminishing returns you get by raising the charging rate when deciding what is "worth it" My old ugly graph of the 70/55/35a chargers on a 220a bank that I inflict on the forum every so often shows that clearly.