inverter
Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Calgary, Canada
I mounted a second battery and inverter for my slide-in camper; The box is pretty well toast so I made a hole in the front and ran #1 or 0 AWG welding cable under the truck and hooked up the two batteries with that.. I didn't use an isolator cause my power draw wasn't high enough to warrant it but it probably a good idea with that big of an inverter.
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Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Utah County, UT
I put mine under passenger seat, tied the ON/OFF switch into switches in the ash tray as not to leave it on by accident. Granted mine is only 350W for the lap top, have some pics in gallery.
Last edited by cangim; Mar 22, 2006 at 05:43 AM.
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inverter
Originally Posted by #1 ford tough
PM me with your e-mail digger and I will send you some pics of my inverter install.
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I just bought a Cobra 800watt/1600peak inverter. I'm aware of the amperage increase that takes place with longer runs of wire from the battery to the inverter, but is the same true if you run an additional receptacle from the inverter about 8' to a location in the bed (for instance)? Does the amperage increase again or is it a much slower increase since the voltage has already been converted to AC?
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Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Utah County, UT
Main thing is wire resistance, vs. cost per length. If you are only running about 8 ft, check out some of the ebay auctions, one site specializes in AC wiring for boats, i.e. still very flexible but designed for AC Voltage. If it were me, running 8 ft cost wise wouldn't be much different in price, and I would run 10 awg AC wire. 12awg AC wire is more than enough for the size of inverter.
http://stores.ebay.com/Genuinedealz_...Q3amesstQQtZkm
http://stores.ebay.com/Genuinedealz_...Q3amesstQQtZkm
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1,236
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From: Vancouver Island
The current through the AC wire will be about 1/10 the DC current into the inverter. Like, if you're drawing 1200 watts of power, that's 10 amps at 120 volts AC out, and something like 100 amps at 12 volts DC into the inverter. So you want to keep the DC cables as short and thick as possible, and make really good electrical connections.
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Joined: Aug 2006
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Originally Posted by angus
The current through the AC wire will be about 1/10 the DC current into the inverter. Like, if you're drawing 1200 watts of power, that's 10 amps at 120 volts AC out, and something like 100 amps at 12 volts DC into the inverter. So you want to keep the DC cables as short and thick as possible, and make really good electrical connections.
85-90% is more like it.
