smkettner wrote:
Cable Gauges
When connecting the inverter to a battery bank use the thickest stranded
insulated copper wire available in the shortest length practical. If the inverter &
the battery are positioned within 4 FT of each other, a minimum of #4 gauge
wire should be used to make the connections. When the distance between
inverter & battery bank is 4-6 FT, a minimum of #2 gauge wire is required.
SoundGuy wrote:
For the OP's application I'd agree cable gauge he's used is insufficient and cable length too long but I'm not sure I'd agree with this as a generalized statement. When I wired in my own 1000 watt inverter I could only find at reasonable cost 4 gauge wire so that's what I used. My intention was to have each cable no longer than 4' but because I wanted to protect the inverter from the elements by locating it in the trailer's front pass through storage compartment the runs from the battery to the inverter ended up being 6'. However, according to this Blue Sea DC Wire Gauge Chart I'm well within spec for up to a 100 amp draw. Typically though I wouldn't draw any more than 70 amps at most so although I had considered replacing those 4 gauge cables with something heavier I'm thinking now that I'll just leave it as is. I wouldn't doubt however that root cause of the OP's problem is that he's used cable that's too long and of insufficient gauge, especially when just 2 batteries of unstated capacity are most likely marginal for such a high draw application.
smkettner wrote:
Yes you can engineer for the minimum and then use just half capacity and get by fine.
The manual I quoted is for the OP's inverter and should include not only running at max rating but also to consider getting full surge performance.
The OP is using the inverter near max. No reason to shortcut the OEM install instructions.
Not sure where we disagree. :h Clearly the OP is using cable that's too long and of insufficient gauge for the load he's intending to power, not to mention he's attempting to run these heavy loads with just 2 AGM battery of unknown capacity. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me and now he's asking why it doesn't work? :R
