Conductor Size Question

[bevans6]

The electrical engineers I used to work with agreed with the swaged connector, but just remember that every electronic device ever made uses copious quantities of solder connections with copper as one side at least...they don't corrode to notice.  Resin core solder contains little to no lead now anyway.

You can always double up cable connections, each sized for half the load.  As noted, voltage level is what inverters love, so minimizing voltage drop is important.

Brian

[belfert]

Sizing wire close to it's rating always makes me feel uncomfortable because when the realities of the harsh life kick in, a little corrosion, some strands of conductor being shed when making up the ends, contact area in lug ends not 100%...

That heat shrink lets a careless assembler cover a ton of crap work... Nobody cares as much as you do to the results.

The OP has some 2/0 cable which should be good to 300 amps for his distance and his inverter will consume 208 amps at the full 2500 watts.  Yes, the inverter can provide more than 2500 watts in a surge condition, but the inverter will probably shutdown if the surge lasts too long.  4/0 cable would be a good thing if the OP had to buy cable.

The reason I recommended having the ends done is because most folks don't have a crimper for large cable.  I'm lucky that I have a friend who has contacts in the electrical trade and he got me a hydraulic crimper to crimp my 4/0 cable.  I happen to own a crimper that does 8 AWG up to 1/0, but I got it cheap on Ebay.

[jjrbus]

FUSE? Properly sized wires with a properly sized fuse normally do not get hot enough to smell!

Improperly sized wires with no or wrong size fuse cause fires.  Insurance company looks sees no fuse, and with a big smile says very sorry but claim denied!
                                                                                                JIm

[belfert]

FUSE? Properly sized wires with a properly sized fuse normally do not get hot enough to smell!

Improperly sized wires with no or wrong size fuse cause fires.  Insurance company looks sees no fuse, and with a big smile says very sorry but claim denied!

The OP may have had the right size fuse, but the wrong sized wire.  The fuse and wire size obviously were not matched up.

Can you cite any case were the lack of a fuse caused an insurer to deny a claim?  There are plenty of old houses were the wiring met electric codes of the day, but would never pass current electrical codes.  Lots of houses have old fuse panels where the occupant has either put in an oversized fuse or replaced the fuse with a coin or other metal object.  Is every fire claim on these old houses going to be denied because of fuse panel issues even if it wasn't an electrical fire?

(And yes, I have the appropriate sized breaker on my inverter cable although I should probably add a fuse too.)

[jjrbus]

Good question.  I did a quick Google search and I have to sort through 50,000 ads by attorneys that earn their living by fighting claims denied by insurance company's.  So maybe I am just perpetuating an urban myth?
                                                              JIm

[belfert]

My understanding is what happens with insurance is they'll pay your claim even if had no fuse or whatever, but then they either drop your coverage, or they drop coverage for electrical fires or whatever issue you had that caused the fire.  You can switch insurers, but there is a master database of insurance claims out there that most every insurer uses.

[Kevin]

Thank You Again, All,

I've decided that for safety's sake I will go ahead and invest in the 4/0 cable. Thanks to all and thank you belfert for the reference to genuinedealz. They will make up my cables including from alternator to battery-bank (thank you rv_safetyman) and battery-bank-to-inverter, plus provide fuse blocks sufficiently sized for each, etc.   

BTW, I did not have any type of in-line fuse from alternator-to-battery-bank or from battery-bank-to-inverter. I very appreciate your collective concern and advice on this important electrical matter.

Kevin

[belfert]

The fuses should be placed as close to the battery bank as practical.

[jjrbus]

Thank You Again, All,



BTW, I did not have any type of in-line fuse from alternator-to-battery-bank or from battery-bank-to-inverter. I very appreciate your collective concern and advice on this important electrical matter.

Kevin

All of the Trace inverters I have seen call for a type T fuse  $$$  (Disclaimer) I have not seen all Trace inverters!  Most I know use ANL type fuse's instead, Less   $

You might want to do a web search and see if a manual is available for your inverter.  JIm

[luvrbus]

Trace used a T-Tron jjn-300 if you don't find one I have a new one I was going to post in the spare tire section here is a guy who is the best on inverters and supplies www.onestopcustomshop.com located in  CO.you can wade through a lot of bs on the boards by speaking with him don't let the name fool you

good luck

[jjrbus]

I spent some time researching this and decided on ANL. Our resident expert agrees so I have quoted him.  HTH  JIm




Sean:
One thing you might consider is changing from Class-T style fuses to ANL style, which are readily available in 300a ratings.  ANL fuses are less than $15 in quantity one, and I expect you could get a package of three or four for $10 apiece.  Here again the lug posts will be smaller than the Class-T posts, but at least you can get the larger lugs onto the posts.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

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[luvrbus]

How often does the fuse blow in 25 years I never had one blow

[Oonrahnjay]

How often does the fuse blow in 25 years I never had one blow 

     I certainly hope at least as often as you need it!

[belfert]

Class T fuses are really not that expensive.  Yes, they are more than ANL, but not that bad.  Bestconverter.com sells a 200 amp class T fuse with holder for $43 and replacement fuses for $17 each.

ANL does have the advantage of being available at some Best Buy stores and at most car audio places.

[HB of CJ]

The ones we had access to were about the size of the "CREDIT CARD" (72" , 75# very heavy duty compound bolt cutters) we carried on the fire department ladder trucks.  The swagger made short work out of low friction loss welder cable crimps up to and including 000000 size.  Wow.  Was also fun using them to crush peanuts and walnuts and stuff. (big toes?)  HB of CJ (old coot)