Help w/Inverter Wiring

[jimbob394]

Hi everyone,

I built this electrical system myself and thought that I had everything wired up correctly. But last week I ran into an issue that I didn't think would happen.

Attached is a simplified wiring diagram of how I have my inverter wired up. If you need any more details please let me know.

So the situation was I plugged in a regular 125V AC/1875 watt blow dryer into my inverter for my girlfriend. She turned it on and used it for about 5 seconds until it shut off. I realized a fuse was blown somewhere as none of my 12V electronics were working. 

I thought this was strange as I had a circuit breaker on the inverter and thought that should have stopped it from going any further down the line. But since my fridge also wasn't working, I knew a fuse further down the line had blown.

It turns out that the 60A mini ANL fuse right before the battery had blown but the 150A circuit breaker did not trip.

Could someone help me figure out why that 60A fuse blew and the circuit breaker didn't trip?

Side note: (I know that Renogy recommends having (2) 170Ah batteries minimum for the 3000w inverter. I plan on getting another soon. Not sure if this contributed to the issue.) Also, I can't exactly recall, but I believe all wires are either 8 or 6 AWG. All wire distances are less than 6 ft. 

Thanks!

Jim

 

[Trebor English]

Circuit breakers tend to be slower blowing than fuses.  The 190 amps the inverter took from the battery blew the 60 amp fuse quickly.  When the fuse blew the current stopped protecting the 150 amp breaker.  1875 watts out of the inverter with 20% loss means 2250 watt in.  2250 divided by 12 volts is 187.5 amps.

To run a 3000 watt inverter at full power you need 300 amps.

 

[abnorm]

"""Could someone help me figure out why that 60A fuse blew and the circuit breaker didn't trip?"""

It was the 'smallest link'...….Fuses/Circuit breakers are sized to protect the wires.....your #6 and # 8's will never see 150A to trip

Wrong fuses.....Wrong wires...…..I connect my little 1500 watt inverter 3' from the batteries with a #2

You also don't have enough battery for that inverter...……….

 

[jimbob394]

Thanks for your help @Trebor English and @abnorm.

Looks like this will be quite an expensive thing to fix but at least it looks more straight forward now.

 

[jimbob394]

So I just checked on the wires. The wires from inverter to breaker and breaker to bus bar are #2. The wire from the battery with inline fuse to bus bar is #6.

So would beefing both of these wires up to #1 and getting a second battery solve the issue?

Should the inline fuse be larger than 60A if I make it a #1 wire?

Thanks again.

Jimmy

 

[abnorm]

Clearly the Battery to BussBar is too small...…..#2 will probably suffice

Fused with a 100 AMP fuse

along with additional battery

 

[tx2sturgis]

Never mind all that JimBob!!!

QUICK! How badly did she hurt you when her hair was left wet for an 10 extra minutes?

Seriously, using a hair dryer on (somewhat) limited solar (or battery) is a bit....uh....well....ok its kinda silly. (and wasteful, impractical, expensive, noisy, etc) 

But I know better than to suggest practicality and conserving resources when it comes to keeping the girlfriend happy.

:dodgy:

 

[Weight]

I'm assuming you use quality marine grade cable. Then it depends on how much you draw from the inverter. My 2000 watt psw uses 150 amps while running my microwave on high. I don't know what surge. I have 2/0 (00) cables from battery to inverter. Battery has 250 amp fuse to bus bar. Fuse at bus bar for inverter is 200 amp. I have not had any problem with blown fuse or under voltage shut down. You need at least 2/0 cable. You need 300 amp fuses.

 

[highdesertranger]

it's not complicated or expensive, dump the blow dryer.

it's very inefficient to heat anything with electricity.

highdesertranger

 

[wayne49]

Be prepared for the GF to depart with the hair dryer.

 

[tx2sturgis]

it's very inefficient to heat anything with electricity.

Yes. much more efficient to heat your girlfriend's hair with propane or coal, natural gas, or firewood.

 

[Trebor English]

I have a 12 volt blow dryer that I use to defog the inside of the windshield if I have to start the engine and drive away quickly. It's only 200 watts. I only use it after starting the engine. With long flowing hair it will be much less effective than an 1850 watt hair dryer but it does work. No inverter is required.

More than once or twice it has been posted in these forums, "If you have to have all the comforts of home, stay home."