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Old 10-18-2013, 03:04 PM   #57
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I'm ready to have my DC wires made up. It seems like I have read to keep the pos & neg wire approximately the same length but now I cannot find that reference. Is there any need to do that or can I just have them each made to fit?
Make each a short as necessary. There is no benefit to having them the same length as each other.
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Old 10-18-2013, 07:10 PM   #58
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I'm ready to have my DC wires made up. It seems like I have read to keep the pos & neg wire approximately the same length but now I cannot find that reference. Is there any need to do that or can I just have them each made to fit?
You need to base your voltage drop or ampacity on the longer of the two.
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Old 10-18-2013, 07:25 PM   #59
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The welding cable is an excellent choice for the DC side, it has very fine strands and therefore greater ampacity....... JB
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Old 10-18-2013, 08:26 PM   #60
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I'm using 2/0 welding cable and I think the longest run, the positive side, is 52" including the 7" fuse block. That wire is definitely big but still nicely flexible. I have everything I need for the DC side except the fuse which is on order and most everything for the AC side except the 20amp breaker I will use to come out of the main AC box. The big challenge now is to find access to the AC routes forward and aft as well as up and down. I'll dig into that tomorrow.
Thanks for all your help so far and I'm sure I'm not done asking questions.
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Old 10-19-2013, 04:43 AM   #61
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I'm ready to have my DC wires made up. It seems like I have read to keep the pos & neg wire approximately the same length but now I cannot find that reference. Is there any need to do that or can I just have them each made to fit?
this is probably the reference you are thinking about.

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Old 10-19-2013, 03:34 PM   #62
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Yesterday I mounted the inverter and got the DC wires in place, however they are not connected to the batteries yet. I'm still waiting for the 200amp fuse to arrive. So I started looking at the AC side, in particular trying to figure out how to route the wires. AC comes into the MH and the breaker panel at the left rear of the coach. I want to power a circuit that feeds an outlet at the rear TV and and outlet at the front overhead TV. Also I will run a separate circuit to the kitchen. I started trying to trace the original wiring, what a pain. My original plan was to leave to original stuff in place but run new wiring to each device I wanted to power. After checking things out though I think it will be much easier to just tie into the existing circuit wher it leach the original distribution panel. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is ok as long as the connection is made inside an electrical box. This way, all I have to do is route an AC line from the original distribution box to provide AC input to the inverter and route an AC line from the sub panel (will be located right next to the inverter) back splice into the original TV circuit. Does this sound like an acceptable plan?
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Old 10-19-2013, 04:17 PM   #63
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When I get around to doing mine, that is what I planned to do.
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Old 10-21-2013, 08:41 PM   #64
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Well the latest challenge is well, challenging.... Trying to run the AC wiring to and from the breaker box and inverter. The wiring leaves the breaker box in the rear bedroom and runs behind the cabinetry in the bedroom. Then into the bathroom and possibly behind the tub..... In front of the bathroom is the living room slide but I cannot see where the wiring goes when it enters the bathroom. It is clearly romex when it leaves the load center but I'm not seeing any romex up front. Does it need to be in the house or can it be under the house in the area of the frame/chassis?
Any ideas about routing the 120v wiring. I will do some more snooping tomorrow.
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Old 10-21-2013, 09:06 PM   #65
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My uncle installed a 30 amp service in his tool box. It's so handy. I wish I had my truck rigged with one.
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Old 10-21-2013, 09:32 PM   #66
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I wouldn't even dream of routing new AC wiring through the rig. I would run it under the rig using underground wire or use some sort of conduit.... and probably both.
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Old 10-21-2013, 09:41 PM   #67
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I wouldn't even dream of routing new AC wiring through the rig. I would run it under the rig using underground wire or use some sort of conduit.... and probably both.
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Old 10-21-2013, 10:54 PM   #68
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Because our MH was wired with an inverter by the manufacturer we have 120V wall lighting throughout which provides a lot more light than typical 12V RV fixtures. In the past this meant substantial power consumption, but now we have replaced our 60 watt bulbs with 13.5 watt LED's so we get a large light output with very little power use.
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Old 10-26-2013, 08:40 PM   #69
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Well, big disappointment this weekend. I got the inverter installed, double checked all the wiring. I had everything done but was waiting for the 200 amp dc fuse to arrive. It did and I installed it and started the magnum checkout procedure. Step 1, measure battery voltage looking for something between 10.5 and 14 volts, got 12.8 so I'm good. Step 2, turn on the inverter with no loads attached and hopefully get 120 volts, no, I get 11.8 volts. I do get a blinking green light that is supposed to indicate that it is inverting. Double check wiring, still looks good but I undo all AC connections at the inverter and turn it on again with only the multimeter attached to the AC output, still just 11.8 volts. There are circuit breakers on the AC side both input and output but I'm unsure whether they are no or off, I see no indication. Anyway I stopped and did not go any further and have not applied an AC input to test the charge section, guess I'll call Magnum first thing Monday morning. Anybody have a suggestion?
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Old 10-26-2013, 08:58 PM   #70
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I get the sense that you don't have a remote panel. I've always found it much easier to control my old Xantrex and the Magnum with the remote.
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