CCAW vs Copper

[Bluevitz-RS]

I'm currently using 2 feet of 6awg CCAW (Copper Clad Aluminum Wire) to my inverter (Xantrex ProSine SW 1000).  But even on a fully charged batteries, the low voltage alarm goes off and the inverter stops running for a spit second when I turn on my home theatre system.  Would it be the wire I'm using or the inverter?  I have no problem running my front load washer off it even with little to no input from the PV. I have a 12V setup with 215Ah of capacity.  I've been thinking of either doubling up on the CCAW or just biting the bullet and buy some #2 100% copper welding cable.

[birdhouse]

can you turn on the entertainment system in portions, IE:  tv first, then receiver, then cable box??  all these electronics have caps in them that may have large spikes of current upon initial start up. 

also, have you closely monitored battery voltage during start up?  if it's dipping hard from the surge, it may be shutting down due to the low battery shutoff built into the inverter. 

have you checked all the connections as well?  pull the wires out, clean then, put a bit of antiox on then, reinsert and toque down snug. 

either way, that inverter should probably have thicker pure copper wire. 

with 4' total needed, it should be pretty cheap.  i've got plenty of scraps of #3 of that length, but they're at my ranch.  otherwise, i'd just send them to ya.

adam

[Mary B]

Could double up that #6 is you have more, would give you around #3 then if I remember right.

[Bluevitz-RS]

I'm just trying to turn on the receiver LOL.  And it's the only thing that causes the problem.  All the connections are new and clean, but yes the battery voltage is dipping on the initial startup causing the split second shutdown.  That's why I was thinking is was caused by the higher resistance to the CCA Wire.  I'm thinking real copper wire would work much better than even doubling up on the CCA.

My other concern is that the inverter has bad capacitors on the input to handle the startup load, or my receiver is actually pulling in more than 2000W at startup, which is what the surge rating is on the inverter.  But I find that really hard to believe as it doesn't even register on the built in watt meter after its on and running.

Out of curiosity, is 2.49/ft good for #2 welding cable?

[bob g]

where are you measuring the voltage dip? at the battery posts
or at the inverter cable terminals?

if at the battery terminals, then you don't have enough battery capacity
and will need to install a bigger battery or add another in parallel to deliver the inrush current needs and keep the voltage from dipping too low.

if on the other hand the battery voltage is not dipping much, and is dipping at the input posts of the inverter you will need to increase the cable size.

bob g

edit, i looked back and see you have a 225amp/hr battery, which should be more than adequate to deliver the inrush current, that is "if" the battery still has most of its original capacity and no bad cells. if it is old or has a bad cell all bets are off and it will need replacement.

check the dip right at the centers of the terminals, first
then check at the battery connector/terminals to see if one has a higher resistance under load,
then check the inverter end the same way, at the terminal eyelets and then at the centers of the posts on the back of the inverter.

[Bluevitz-RS]

I just went out and got 5ft of 2awg welding cable (2.5 feet pos and neg).  Made some connectors out of 3/8's bendable copper pipe (I'll post up pictures of that later) and crimped on.  My batteries are pretty low right now because I've been using them all day and it's been raining, but seems to have solved the problem.  It just barely made the low voltage alarm squeak now when turing on the receiver. 

Battery voltage under load is sitting at 11.95v at the batteries and the back of the inverter with my 15W 12V CFL and inverter running with the receiver, sub and MacBook Air charging.  I'll have to try it again once the batteries are fully charged and the sun is out to see if it did fix the problem entirely.

I re-read the manual for the inverter and it said to use minimum 4awg Copper at 6ft, so the 6awg CCA wire was really undersized.  Oh and it was actually 5ft on the neg and 4 ft on the pos side, so the extra length probably didn't help on top of it being undersized AND CCA.  It was just a set of cheap booster cables I got on sale and cut the ends off.

Thanks for the help and suggestion folks.  I'll have to post up some pictures of my home made setup.

Jamie.

[12AX7]

Many many (and a lot more many's) years ago I modified  a friends power amp because he refused to spend the money and have a special 120v circuit installed.   I think his power amp had over 200,000uf (each per rail) in paralleled 50,000 caps.   Think I dropped it down to 100,000 total.  Fixed his problem with it tripping the breaker (but to me,  his amp sounded like crap... sounded like crap before I made the change so I guess it wasn't a big deal)

[Bluevitz-RS]

So, just to update, every is golden now.  I can turn everything on at once with no problem. 


Next question... does anyone else run the same inverter I'm running?  Just wondering if the built in watt meter works properly for anyone else?  Mine reads WAY too low.