What gauge wire?

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Anything larger than number six AMERICAN WIRE GAUGE would be a waste of good money.

I disagree. It depends on what he wants. If he just wants safety, #6 is fine for a PD providing a max of 45 amps. If he wants to be able to carry more current later, and do it safely, he might want to invest in #4. But, if he wants maximum speed of charging, as I do (to charge with shorter generator runtime), then the largest diameter wire he can fit and afford is desirable.

A PD converter does not have remote voltage sensing. That means it can't compensate for the voltage drop across the cables. My 460AH battery bank has a few milliohms of internal resistance. Unless you want to drop most of the voltage across the cables at the end of the charge cycle, you want cables with comparably low resistance.

My PD9280 will push 75+ amps into the battery even when there's only 0.1-0.2 voltage difference between the battery voltage and the charger output.

I moved my converter closer to the batteries and used 1/0 cables to minimize resistance. I would have used 4/0 if they would connect to the converter terminals. When I had smaller gauge charge cables and longer cables, the charge current dropped much faster/sooner because that entire 0.1-0.2 volt drop was across the cables - leaving nothing left to push current into the batteries. The converter responds by dropping current, which decreases the voltage drop across the cable, leaving voltage to push that reduced current into the batteries.

Personally, if I seldom camped in the boonies, I'd install #4, but if I wanted fast charging, I'd use 1/0 or better.