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Power Inverter ?


runaway parents

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How much of the inverter capacity do you intend to use? If max, I'd be looking at 4/0 welding lines, or parallel runs of 2/0. If possible, get the inverter closer to the battery (or batteries).

As to fuse or breaker size, a 250 amp DC breaker, or a 200 amp DC fuse is called for. Make sure the device chosen is rated for DC. A fuse is easier to get the big cables onto, and should be a "Class t".

I have been wrong before, I'll probably be wrong again. 

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My Samlex 2000 watt sine wave It will pull 200 amps at full. Instruction book requires 2/0 awg up to 10 feet.That is a 3% voltage drop. They require a 300 amp fuse at the battery positive. Fuse to the wire awg size. I use these; http://www.genuinedealz.com/blue-sea-systems-5191-fuse-block-for-battery-terminal-fuse  I checked a chart, at 15 feet you would need 4/0 awg. It would be good to shorten the distance for the 12 volt side. 4/0 cables are a bear to route. I recommend marine grade cables. such as here; http://www.genuinedealz.com/custom-cables/custom-battery-cable-assembly?size=46

I measured carefully using a garden hose. Had the custom ends and cables made. Three days in my hands. For the loads for the inverter you want to return the negative with a cable as well. A chassis ground is not reliable.

 

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Hey Run,

Sehc is right on the money with his advice and I will raise the bar a notch by suggesting running at least the positive cable in conduit ......we did and it is fact that you really don't want anything compromising a DC cable that size and a 200 fuse will still allow a dandy fire before it blows.....PVC conduit is cheep...

Drive on......(no shorts.....no fire)

97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S

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Remember that the line drop calculations require doubling the distance when reading the charts.

Also your negative cable to ground needs to be just as large as your positive to the inverter.

I also installed a   Catastrophic Fuse into the negative side before the inverter.

 

Good Luck.

Jan and Rocky Larson, Volunteers, USFWS , 9,300 hours each. 29 refuges since 2006. 2 new each year.
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Dolly,

 

I generally agree with your suggestions and, you don't want to find out what a few hundred amps of DC can do, but close conduit can cause problems.     Cables for welding and batteries are not designed to be enclosed in conduit, tray cable which this type of wire is considered to routed in open space or cable trays, large troughs.     Small sections of conduit may be OK to protect a cable but closing a long length in a conduit particularly a small relative to wire size cable will cause the cable to heat up, perhaps far more than it should.   

The battery cables on my truck are wrapped with corrugated wire tubing, that addresses abrasion without limiting airflow over the cable.     The conduit idea may be OK if you use say 2" in short runs for a cable, even 1" would be tight for a ought size battery cable.   

 

Steve  

2005 Peterbilt 387-112 Baby Cat 9 speed U-shift

1996/2016 remod Teton Royal Atlanta

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 catdiesellogo.jpg.e96e571c41096ef39b447f78b9c2027c.jpg Pulls like a train, sounds like a plane....faster than a Cheetah sniffin cocaine.   

 

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1 hour ago, Steve from SoCal said:

Dolly,

 

I generally agree with your suggestions and, you don't want to find out what a few hundred amps of DC can do, but close conduit can cause problems.     Cables for welding and batteries are not designed to be enclosed in conduit, tray cable which this type of wire is considered to routed in open space or cable trays, large troughs.     Small sections of conduit may be OK to protect a cable but closing a long length in a conduit particularly a small relative to wire size cable will cause the cable to heat up, perhaps far more than it should.   

The battery cables on my truck are wrapped with corrugated wire tubing, that addresses abrasion without limiting airflow over the cable.     The conduit idea may be OK if you use say 2" in short runs for a cable, even 1" would be tight for a ought size battery cable.   

 

Steve  

Steve good points to consider ....these points lead to the subject as to the compromise of using welder leads in a RV......

I happened on some selections of milspec cabling from Boeing surplus days gone by and this cable is approved for open or conduit through fuel as well....nice stuff and can often be had surplus for less than welder leads.

Drive on......(milspec stuff surplus online ....silly cheep ..... sometimes)

97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S

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8 hours ago, Dollytrolley said:

..PVC conduit is cheep...

So is garden hose, and much easier to bend. I've been known to dumpster dive............

Works well for smaller size wires.  Split it to use as abrasion guard on larger wire.

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If I get this right... you want to run a 2000watt inverter connected to a single F250 starter battery using a 30'-40' 12vdc run to power a 120vac microwave that will likely pull somewhere in the neighborhood of a 100-125amp load.

Is that right? Or even talking an F250 diesel with 2 starters...

If so... my advice? Don't.

If you must have a microwave, pick up a small portable inverter generator to plug your microwave in to.

Go with a small 12vdc microwave (~$300) that will pull about half the load. Still not a great idea on a single or dual pickup starter battery, but doable.

My preferred choice in that particular situation? Use a 12v portable microwave stove box. $30-$40 depending on make and model and reheats precooked food. I would wire it direct to my batteries with a fused kill switch.

OR... use a good thermos to tote hot soup from home to dunk your sandwiches in. ;)

If it helps:

120vac Microwave - ~100-125amps (DC)

12vdc Microwave - ~55amps

12vdc Hot box - ~12amps

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This weekend I will get a tape measure out and   get  precise measurements. Hopefully where I would like to put this inverter is closer than I think it is. Sure would like to make this work .Bought micro wave a year ago and inverter a month ago They  are still in the box never been used.If I cannot it they may have to be sold. That would be ok to . I would put the money in to my bed building project. also with the measurement's I will post the technical data that you asked for. Next couple of days are going to be long ones 300 yard concrete pours.  

 

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Ok so here we  go here's the specs on the micro wave rated input 1050 watts Rated out put 700 watts. specs on inverter normal input voltage 12.8-13.2 vdc continuous output power2000w.  Surge out put power{0.1 second}4000w . Got tape measure out an actual distance from battery to inverter is 10 to 12 feet.  I have worked as a carpenter for over 35 years my pic up is my office and lunch room tried the soup and sandwich thermos idea. Got lots of cold soup  using this idea.  Ether it was cold or luke warm. Last winter got spoiled working inside this winter there will be lots outside work to get done. So something hot for lunch sounds real good. Lasagna or enchiladas maybe.

who knows may run a skill saw or a drill motor on this inverter .should be able to if it is installed right. right?

 

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When I was in EOD and doing range clearance for a couple months at a time, we would place our soup cans on the engine and by lunch time they would be nice and warm. If we forgot, we would wrap the can in C4 and light it. It would heat it up real quick. 

Ron C.

2013 Dynamax Trilogy 3850 D3

2000 Kenworth T2000 Optimus Prime

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1 hour ago, dan412 said:

Why not mount the inverter close to the battery. Then run wires to a plug in the F250 save money on big cables. 

Guess inverter needs to be protected from rain and snow. Mounting it close to the battery is a good idea if I can come up with a way to protect it. Any ideas? Need some kind of box that is water proof . But still let the inverter cool its self  and get air curculation

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A problem that hasn't been addressed is a microwave's heating power drops off rapidly as the peak voltage going into it decreases.  This will be a problem if you're using the inverter with a single starting battery.  Even idling the engine while the microwave is in use won't be much help.  You'd have to get the engine up to 2000 to 2500 rpm to get the full rated output from the alternator, and even that won't be enough to offset the microwave's 100 amp draw through the inverter.

The 12 volt "Microwave Stove Box" mentioned above is a good choice except it's not a microwave, just a regular oven.  It does a good job of heating food, using aluminum bread pans as a liner that double as a serving dish while keeping the inside of the oven clean.  They're available in most truckstops and the liners are available in most stores.

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7 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

A problem that hasn't been addressed is a microwave's heating power drops off rapidly as the peak voltage going into it decreases.  This will be a problem if you're using the inverter with a single starting battery.  Even idling the engine while the microwave is in use won't be much help.  You'd have to get the engine up to 2000 to 2500 rpm to get the full rated output from the alternator, and even that won't be enough to offset the microwave's 100 amp draw through the inverter.

The 12 volt "Microwave Stove Box" mentioned above is a good choice except it's not a microwave, just a regular oven.  It does a good job of heating food, using aluminum bread pans as a liner that double as a serving dish while keeping the inside of the oven clean.  They're available in most truckstops and the liners are available in most stores.

Well shoot any way . From what I am   getting out of these negative responses.    "IT AINT GONA WORK"  So I guess I better get back to work on the truck bed so I can have it ready for the wcr next year. 

I will put It back  on the shelf  with extra parts. Could bring them to the wcr there might be somebody looking for an inverter and micro wave

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