[T2] Coolers, Fridges, and Electricity

[c.dreike]

Jamie,
Excellent dissertation, however I would question the part about using a 
small wire and that a large one would burn out the alternator. I would 
worry about a small wire going up in smoke!

In general, large diameter wires should be used to hook up an inverter 
to a battery. I was looking at 2 #6 wires in parallel to go 10 feet from 
the my battery to the location of my fridge until I decided to mount the 
inverter as close as possible to the battery. Even with that much 
copper, the drop would have been something like 0.2 volts at a full draw 
of 50 amps surge.
Handy dandy wire resistance calculator:
http://www.cirris.com/learning-center/calculators/133-wire-resistance-calculator-table

I would use either the Romex or BX style cable to route my 115VAC. BX 
has a metal sheath.

The no load specs on my inverter are around .06 amps. Still not a drain 
I would like to leave on my battery for more than a couple days 
continuous. On the other hand, .06 amp for 48 hours is only 2.88 amp-hours.

Chris

On 7/1/2014 3:59 PM, Jamie wrote:
> solid / stranded....
> this is an ongoing argument with people having very strong opinions... 
> many vehicle[car] mfgr use a solid conductor in their wiring 
> harness....and have for years..
> try to "cut in" a trailer plug these days.. you will find it difficult 
> to make a good connection.. but they provide plugs for this purpose 
> anyway.. so cut in isn't required.
>
> when it comes to UL , CSA, AC type of certification... there is no 
> requirement for stranded wire.... unless the lead is intended to be 
> flexible...ie, the lead from the engine to the body,, or the tailgate 
> to the trailer..
>
> Many North American camper builders use romex wiring for the AC 
> conductors,,, which is solid.... and that is determined by the device 
> it is connected to.
> Ie... if you are connecting duplex receptacle, or a breaker into the 
> circuit.. and the mfgr of that device rates it for Solid Copper 
> termination,, that is the wire that must be used.... most receptacles 
> today are not rated for stranded wire,, or alum, or crimped on 
> terminals,,
>
> Also, there is a no-load spec on a lot of inverters... and there is 
> some draw with no load,, like 0.6 amps,,  but the invertor only draws 
> what it needs to power up the load, and the losses internal to the 
> inverter which does need to be considered ...
> so,,  they're a "constant draw" item - even if there is no "load" 
> being supplied, as long as its on, it's drawing ...some [small amount] 
> of power... but not full load..
>
> "Bottom line - the plug (or wires, I dunno) weren't enough to allow 
> enough juice for the thing to even power up!  "
> is a very good comment! ,,, if you want 1500 watts out.. you need to 
> be able to supply 1800 ish watts to the unit ! .. and 1800 watts DC 
> from a 12 volt battery needs VERY LARGE wire... and enough battery to 
> supply that power.. or 2 batteries.. or 3...
>
> and for the huge argument on the internet.. some folks like to use 
> small wire to connect the aux battery to the starter battery ,thru a 
> isolator relay, during running to provide charge to both batteries... 
> and this is the correct way,, like the bus depot relay .. and like all 
> 10 - 20 amp battery chargers... they use 12-10 awg
> if you want to use very large wire ,, then you risk burning out the 
> alternator ....
>
> and it is a good thing to equalize your battery after a weekend of use...
> now.. there are sooooo many combinations of inverter / battery / etc 
> .... that some things that are very important for one style has been 
> taken care of with another style..
>
> so,, if you want to install a really nice,,, large power supply,, 
> combination charger,, with all kinds of functions.. think of something 
> like 
> http://www.donrowe.com/Xantrex-806-1020-Freedom-HF-1000-p/806-1020.htm
>
>
>
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