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Old 05-03-2015, 09:33 PM   #1
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 5
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Amtram
Chassis: International
Engine: Navistar
seeking advice on 12 volt electrics

Hello all! I am coming to the end of a 3 year conversion project and have a couple questions regarding connecting four house batteries to an Aims 3000 watt inverter and to a 12 volt auto/marine fuse block. First, can anyone recommend a power block or bus bar or some product that I can connect each battery to separately and then run a cable from to the inverter? Second, what size battery cables should I run from each battery to the block? I was told by the distributor from whom I got the batteries that, if run separately, I could use 1/0 cable. Just wanted other opinions on this. Third, what size cable should I run from the block to the inverter? Would 3/0 be suffcient? Fourth, what gauge wire should I run from the block the batteries are connected to to a 12 volt fused distribution block about 20 feet away? Do I need to run something as heavy as 1/0 cable to this fuse block or would 8 AWG be heavy enough?

Thanks in advance. Hope to see you all on the road soon!

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Old 05-04-2015, 05:49 PM   #2
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Location: central texas
Posts: 170
Year: 1990
Coachwork: Thomas/International
Chassis: 3700
Engine: 7.3
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The 1/0 and 3/0 are probably big enough but find a DC line loss chart and wire amp capacity chart online to confirm, don't forget to fuse or breaker the positive wire coming off of each battery and the positive wire going to the inverter , the inverter manual will tell you what size wire n fuse to use, purchasing pre made bus bars for batteries can be expensive, 2 pieces of copper bar 1.5 in. wide by 0.25 in. Thick will work, lots of pics online can show you how to make it, figure out how many holes/connections you will need on the bars and then double it. Big wiries are a pain, wear gloves n eye protection, don't precut lots of wires, cut n fit the lugs of each wire one at a time as you fit it into place, breakers or batt on/off switches make for fewer sparks , especially before your panels hit the controller and where you pull power from the bus bars.
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Old 05-04-2015, 07:49 PM   #3
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Also remember to wire the batteries in opposite directions:



This equalizes the charge/discharge rates on each battery in the bank.
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