Wiring for inverter

[jesseannie]

I am going to install a new inverter I think about 800 to 1000 watts. We are low energy users.
The wiring run from the battery will be approximately 12-14 feet. What gauge wiring should I use?T
This will be mainly be used to charge batteries for various electronics.. cameras, computers, phones etc. I was thinking about a power strip so I could leave all these cords plugged in. Do you think that will be a problem as long as I don't overload?

Jesseannie

[RasMouSein]

The 300watt PureSine from Morningstar is fan-less!! A big plus for having it running at night. Just installed mine. used #4 Welding cable and a 12volt 100amp circuit breaker. It will even run my small fridge if I run out of propane, or when travelling.
Since your gonna install very close to the battery the cost to go bigger in the wire is small.

[hedge]

You may also want to install some usb charging ports that don't need an inverter at all

[jesseannie]

Thanks for all the responses. I obviously had it all wrong.
You all have straightened me out.
I will buy a much smaller inverter place it close to the batteries and then a cord to my electronic center.
This will actually be way easier than my original plan.
Jesseannie

[time2roll]

+1 to go smaller. 150w to 300w can probably run on existing wire.
What do you expect to run that is over 250 watts?

[pianotuna]

Best practise is to keep the inverter as close to the DC power source as possible, and then run AC lines to the areas you wish to power.

Always fuse to the wire size.

[TexasChaps]

jesseannie wrote:
I am going to install a new inverter I think about 800 to 1000 watts. We are low energy users.
The wiring run from the battery will be approximately 12-14 feet. What gauge wiring should I use?T
This will be mainly be used to charge batteries for various electronics.. cameras, computers, phones etc. I was thinking about a power strip so I could leave all these cords plugged in. Do you think that will be a problem as long as I don't overload?

Jesseannie

800 to 1000W is not a low energy load for a 12 Volt system...

12 to 14 ft... that's a long line for the load.. you are going to need 2/O awg cables at a minimum. a better option would be to move the inverter closer to the batteries, say < 2 feet and use 0 awg cables. cable resistance plays a BIG part with low voltage and high amperage.

[Fubeca]

The issue is to ensure that the wire feeding the unit is of adequate size and protected by a fuse. As was mentioned a 1000W inverter is capable of pulling a significant DC load at full power. You may not be planning to use it at full power, but a child, neighbor, relative may plug the wrong thing into that power strip and suddenly the inverter is trying to pull 90 amps from the batteries. If you've wired with inadequate wiring, it can start a fire.

You can place it as close to the batteries as practical and wire with appropriate sized wires (big!) and an appropriately sized fuse. Some might advocate wiring with smaller wire and a smaller fuse as you never plan to use it at full capacity.

Depending on wire size, you may also experience voltage drop on the 14 feet (for voltage drop calculations, you have to consider the entire circuit so it is really a 28 foot circuit). For very low loads, this is likely not an issue - but if you want higher loads, you'll need to keep the voltage loss to a minimum so the inverter doesn't cut-off due to low voltage.

If it were me, I'd try to get it near the batteries with 2 or 3 gauge wire and then run 120V a/c to wherever I need the power.

[RoyB]

I ran into same problem just needing a little bit of 120VC when camping off grid to charge a few things and run the home entertainment items...

I started out with a 150WATT MODIFIED SINE WAVE Power Inverter mounted close to my battery bank main switch. Then run two multi-tap 120VAC extension cords with one going to the home entertainment area and the second one going to the table top near the bed we sleep in my OFF-ROAD POPUP. There is not much voltage drop from the 120VAC side and probably could run a couple of hundred feet of drop cord plugged into the Power Inverter without any issues... I use 4AWG size DC cable cable for my Power Inverter for about five feet so that it is inside my trailer out of the weather. 4AWG is abit over-kill for a my Power Inverters but I have a bunch of that on hand with my bigger battery bank install a few years back... Doesn't hurt a thing using it...

As it goes 150WATTS is not all that much and we wanted a couple more items running off 120VAC. SO added a 300WATT Pure Sign Wave Power Inverter and this really did the job for us.. Used this for a couple of years but every now and then I want just a little more 120VAC power some special things. AMAZON had a good 600WATT Pure sign Wave unit on their page for a good price so went ahead and got it. Now I can run everything that we want to have on from 120VAC... AS it turns out however we usually run between 250WATTS and 300WATTS of items so we never max out the 600Watt unit. It only draws more power if you load it down with more things... My 300WATT PSW Power Inverter is installed in my truck now under the back seat. very handy there for some 120VAC things as well (Like grinding coffee beans with my MR Coffee bean grinder - hehe)... My 150WATT MSW Power Inverter is handy to use outside around the battery bank if we want to run 120V drops for some outside lighting... Sp I didn't waste much by buying two or three Power Inverters getting what i really needed to have haha...

Been running my 600WATT AIMS Pure Sine wave Power Inverter alot now that i got from AMAZON for $159 a few years back and all is well....
The big thing is being Pure Sine Wave then one does not have to worry about what others plug into it to use... My first Power Inverter was a MSW type and I burned up a sensor board, burned up a 20-inch floor fan, my 120VAC Power module for my computer always ran hot to touch, and almost did my home entertainment in using it. Anything with a motor ran really hot... My audio always had hum in the back ground and my TV set had strange lines going through it all the time... With the Pure Sine Wave model I don't see any difference running things through this Power Inverter or plugged into shore power or my generator set... Well worth the $159 I spent on it for sure...

Roy Ken

[Artum_Snowbird]

I had a 300 watt inverter installed and I found that a load over about 90 watts caused the built in fan to come on to cool the unit. In the next rig I installed an 800 watt unit only just because, and used the appropriate wire size to the battery about three feet. Likely the biggest load I have is the coffee grinder at 160 watts, but sometimes device chargers are also plugged in to USB ports or the TV may be on at the same time.

[rjniles]

1000 watts at 12 volts is 84 amps. That would require a #3 gauge cable and would draw you battery down in a few minutes. Better think of something in the 100-200 watt range.

200 watts is 16 amps and would use 12 gauge cable.

[MrWizard]

You don't need that much for device charging
300w is more than enough power for charging

And you got it backwards
Put the inverter close to the batteries, run a new 120 cord to where you want to place the device chargers, and yes a power strip is a good idea, I use a Belkin with widely spaced sockets, so there is room for all those wall wort power supplies/chargers