Power inverter wiring

[Bullnosefan95]

Hello everyone. I finally got the truck on the road after a new-ish pick n pull special transmission and I got my hands on a camper shell and I want to run a power inverter to my bed from the battery but I want to be sure I use the right gauge and not catch anything on fire. I believe it’s a 3000 watt (maybe 2000) I can’t remember. But I know it’s low and it was a harbor freight one. But I want to run it to my bed to use for power tools. Not long uses but the occasional cutting with a sawzall or grinder. Does anyone know what size wire I should use to run it? It’s a single cab long bed so my guess is about 20 feet of wire. Extra to account for neat installation.

[Gary Lewis]

I installed a 3000 watt inverter in Big Blue and ran #2 wire from the aux battery to it.  That size was predicated on the length of the run and the fact that the inverter can actually pull 6000 watts when starting a load.

You can read about my installation here.  But note that I connected to the aux battery.  That way I won't strand myself in the middle of nowhere by pulling the starting battery down too far.

[Rogue_Wulff]

I'd say Gary is on the money with the #2 wire size. Don't forget to add a resetable circuit breaker as near the battery as possible. Even the cleanest wire routing can still short to ground.....

[Bullnosefan95]

When I click the link a picture of a vehicle identification sticker pops up? Since mine is a diesel and has the two batteries I assume the battery that would be more of the “accessory” on it would be the driver side correct?

[Rogue_Wulff]

On a diesel, both batteries are technically "starting" batteries, but yes, I would say it's better to hook an inverter to the DS battery so the one closer to the starter will have less pulled from it, but both will have some draw when the inverter is in use.

[Gary Lewis]

Bullnosefan95 wrote

When I click the link a picture of a vehicle identification sticker pops up? Since mine is a diesel and has the two batteries I assume the battery that would be more of the “accessory” on it would be the driver side correct?

Sorry, must not have copied the permalink.  Try this: https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Big-Blue-s-Transformation-tp28014p87745.html