Wiring inverter

First post...

the built in fuse protection is typically inside the inverter and sometimes soldered on to the circuit board. and more often than not the fuse is too big to protect the inverter.

Hooking up an inverter is pretty easy. but you need a few things and a little bit of electrical knowledge.

1: the right lugs for connecting the wire to your inverter - if you're not planning on using over 500 watts you don't need anything too special)

2: big ### wire to connect to the input of the inverter (you want these to be as short as possible while keeping your inverter inside a safe place) - the wires on the output

3: smaller wire (18ga works fine) to run the output of your inverter. ( i used walmart speaker wire- which is why i carry a fire extinguisher and I have it fused for 6A and 1/4A, I DONOT reccommend this)

And that's about it.. heres a little dummy drawing


Also for fusing recommendations It's generally a good idea to fuse the output and the input as seen on my setup (see pictures below)

The reason I say fuse the input and output is to protect your alternator/electrical system and the inverter. if for some reason the 120V side coming out of the inverter was to short it will fry the inverter before the fuse has a chance to blow (I've seen this happen several times)

Heres are some pictures of my hardwired setup

 

You can buy a car stereo amp wiring kit at Wal Mart that has some nice fat wires in it. I don't recall what gauge they were. I used one to hook up my 1000 watt inverter about a year ago and have had no problems with it since. The kit came with the wires, terminals, fuse holder and fuse. The reason you want the in line fuse as close to the battery as possible is in case the wire shorts out it will pop the fuse right away before the wires melt. If the fuse was up next to the inverter and the hot wire rubbed a hole in the insulation between the fuse and the battery, you could have a big melt down or a fire. The fuses in the inverter itself protect the inverter, the fuse in the line protects the wiring. Good luck with the project.

 

big wire is good,bigger wire is better. inverters draw large amperes which will heat up small wire. use the same size cables that go to your starter,a big load draws alot of juice and big cables stay cooler.