2000 Watt Inverter Mounting: Underhood? Waterproofing?
 

So I bought a 2000 watt inverter to operate my new 1800 watt AC pressure washer.


If I mounted the inverter behind the seat in my cab, or in my toolbox right next to my pressure washer, then it would be out of the water, but I would need to run 20 feet of 2 AWG cable to it.

If I mounted it under the hood, I would need a fraction of that much cable, but it would be in the heat and the water.

Anybody have one of these big inverters under their hoods? I'm thinking I could somewhat waterproof it with a little ducting and a couple mesh screens.

But, I'm thinking that since I already have 4 gauge going to the 800 watt amp behind my seat, I could tie the inverter into that, and then upgrade the wiring to 2 or 0 gauge if needed. I'm not planning on using the amp and inverter at the same time...

Hope this works better for you then it did for me. I tried this so I could run power tools and water pumps out in the fields. I mounted mine in the tool box. No matter what I plugged into it the reset switch would pop as soon as I turned somethin on. I couldn't get it to run anything.

Another alternative, if you want to mount in under the hood is to us use a waterproof Pelican box:

Pelican™ Products | Survival Stories

You can keep it waterproof by using gland seals for your cables.

I would put it in the cab with some 0 gauge a welding supply store (look online too) is a good place to get 0 gauge.

Alright, I've revised my design.


I put the inverter behind my seat. I put an Optima behind my seat. I connect the Optima to the inverter with 2' OO cable. I connect the Optima to the 4 gauge wire that was connecting the amp to the battery in front.

The 4 gauge wire keeps the rear Optima charged, while the OO cable provides a few seconds of ~200 amps to the inverter.


So, time for an electronics quiz.


If I have a totally drained Optima, and I connect it to a charged and charging Optima with 20 feet of 4 AWG wire, what happens? Is the dead battery going to suck so many amps through the 4 gauge that things start melting?

If the front battery was a red top, and the rear battery was a deep cycle, would the deep cycle keep the cranking battery from draining?

Why are you even bothering with an electric pressure washer? Gas ones are a lot more powerful and you don't have to worry about all that crap.

4 gauge is rated for 135 amps, so In theory you could melt it down since the yellow top is rated for 175ish? But anyways why would you hook up a dead batt to a good one? Just charge it so it doesn't drag the other batt down so hard...

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Plus is the truck going to be running or is this so you can use it with the truck off?

Say that I have a deep cycle on my pimp-daddy 2400 watt stereo, and a starting battery for my pimp-daddy 2.0 liter Honda VTEC yo.

The positive poles of each battery are tied together with a wire, that has a relay in the middle of it so that I can isolate the batteries from each other.

So I disconnect the batteries and listen to Sarah McLachlan on my radio until the deep cycle is very discharged. Then I start my VTEC (yo) and flip the relay to connect the batteries.

A large current is going to go through the wire connecting the batteries, right? How big of a current? How large of a wire do I need connecting the batteries so that the current doesn't melt the wire? That's my current question (har har).

This way, when I'm driving down the road, I don't have to set cruise and crawl through my rear window to pullstart the pressure washer in my toolbox.

Typically the truck is going to be running, but I'd like to be able to use the inverter without it running in case I'm camping or listening to tunes or something.

Never mind, I knew I should have never even asked.

All the second batt is going to be good for is just that listening to music, because since the truck will be running the second batt is only goin to add more stress to a possibly over worked alt. So if your worried about not having enough juice for the pressuder washer and inverter, I'm be looking for a larger alt. As for melting cables what the amperage of the batt your going to be charging? :pca1:

I want to listen to music with the truck off. I don't want to drown out sweet Sarah with valve clatter. It'd also be cool to turn off the truck and use the pressure washer to wash the truck.

The inverter can draw 200+ amps in peaks, it's rated for 170 amps constant. The alternator is only good for 120 amps, so a battery is going to need to be drained no matter what and this isn't going to be a constant-use thing. I'd be tickled pink with 10 minutes, but all I really need the pressure washer for is about 15 seconds.

The reason that I'm not running it off of the starting battery is that I didn't want to run/ buy 40 feet of 00 and it'd be cool to have a deep cycle anyways.

Yikes! What a mess....They make a gizmo--sorry I cant come up with the proper term--just for this situation. It seperates your two batteries into two systems, and uses your alternator to charge them individually. In essence, if your deep cycle is dead, full power from the alternator goes to that battery, while not overcharging your starting battery. They set this up on semis that run two batteries to start the engine, and two deep cycles to run the inverter. By the way, at peak output that 2000 watt inverter will draw something like 220-250 amps. Good luck! Just a thought, your inverter won't last long at peak power..... If I expect to run 1500 watts, I look for a 2500 watt inverter. Runs cooler that way, and doesn't stress out the circuitry.

The "Gizmo" is called a battery isolator.
I think he's better off with something simple like a switch with constant duty rated solenoids, myself... Whole lot less to go wrong that you can fix yourself.

What are you up to, Cassidy? :humm:

Lemme guess... You are using the pressure washer motor for Water Meth injection on your Honda Vtech, Yo..

I'm thinking your 20' of 4 guage wire is going to become something similar to a heater grid, or a glow plug under the conditions you listed...

Can you connect the batteries with a heavyer guage cable, then just run a 4 guage from your 2nd battery to your amp?

The length of the cable is what is killin ya, I'd go with a 2 or an 0 cable between the batteries, and maybe some extra insulation...

4 guage might work, but it's gonna get hot carrying alt current and whatever the charged battery wants to dump on top, 20 feet...

I ended up with a battery isolator, found one in a junkyard believe it or not. Only 95 amp though, but it was free.

So I got the stock 6-gauge going from the alternator to the isolator, than 4 gauge connecting the isolator to each battery. Which makes all kinds of sense, right?

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