How much should an inverter handle?

Grin the bigger the better. Tho that doesnt mean you should put 4 OT wire in either.
Just remember. A 2500 watt inverter is 2500 surge and about 2000 continuos

 

What size wire?

2 gauge wire for 2500 watts, at 12 volts 2500 watt inverter draws just over 200 amps.

 

People seem to forget Ohms law when it comes to inverters. The math is VERY simple. Whatever the wattage being used on the 120 volt side is the same on the 12 vote side. On the 12 vote side all you have to do is divide12 into the wattage. 2500 watts is 208.3 amps on the battery. These large inverters need to be installed by someone that knows how to do it.

 

...and you can plug yr washer/dryer with jacuzzi at the same time

 

You probably need 3000 watts or better.
Use 0 gauge wire with a fuse, for your feed lines.

A good rule Is have 50 percent more than you draw.
If your draw is 2000 watts continuous, then you should have at least a 3000 watt inverter. That should cover your start up surge.

Some appliances do not like a modified sine wave, they may work with it, but not well and may even be damaged by it. A true sine wave inverter is not much more.

Have been installing and using these for a few years now. Not had any problems. Runs microwave and electronics.

https://theinverterstore.com/product/3000-watt-pure-sine-power-inverter/

 

Inverter Charger | Freedom XC Inverter/Charger | Xantrex

I just got the 2000w one of these. My buddy has an earthroamer that uses xantrex so they seem to be good units. I went with a charger so that I could plug in the truck when Im doing a 34 or longer reset and dont have to worry about unpacking the factory 12v fridge in my pete.

 

I used a 2500 watter, but 1500 watt was my continuous limit. Essentially one coffee pot. Reduced our coffee expense to about 20 cents a cup or a dollar a Stanley thermos. We also required the 18 wheeler to be showing 15 plus volts and running at cruise on the interstate. Everything else was wired to batteries direct with fuses and larger than required cabling with slack in them to accommodate the sleeper suspension action etc. The dealer installed it at Amarillo so that it's part of the truck by VIN forever. It never failed us and we feel fortunate. The company had a number of officers sign off giving permission for us to put it in at our expense. We left it with the truck after we joined McKesson so that FFE could have someone who needs it with CPAP or similar would have it specifically as a blessing.

 

Now that would be for a VERY short wire run. There are charts that will show the voltage drop vs wire gauge vs length of run and that will give the information to decide on wire size. I have a PSW 2000W inverter, rated 1700 continuous. The companies install kit came with 2G wire. After seeing what my voltage drop would be for only a 6 ft run (that's 3 ft ne way) I decided on 2/0 gauge instead, that's four wire sizes larger. If you drop one volt from the batteries to the inverter, and then consider the batteries will be losing voltages slowly but steadily, your inverter will shut down based on the voltage it is getting. So if it has a low voltage shutoff of 11.8 volts, it will shut down when the batteries are still at 12.8 volts.

 

Assuming that it is under five feet, and assuming that there will be someone else installing it that knows better, I just answered the question he was asking - what size will work. I didn't add the other stuff into it like what type of cable, where to properly fuse it at and all the other things that do along with it.