I have been adding more loads to my AIO as I try to make use of additional PV generation. The latest has been my kitchen outlets that are used for my microwave, induction cooktop, pizza oven and a lot of other occasional use things. In doing so I found out that I had made a mistake in trusting some inverter cables I had bought a year back. They claimed to be 1 awg which should have been sufficient to easily carry the 65-80a load from the 24vDC batteries.
The back history of these cables was that about a year ago I was researching Power jack LF inverters for purchase on Ebay. I happened to see that one of the E-stores had on clearance what they claimed were good quality 1 awg inverter cables. They certainly looked heavy duty and the price was almost half compared to similar rated cables elsewhere. So I bought them and eventually used them to wire up my 3kw AIO.
A few nights back while using the induction cooktop to boil water for spaghetti noodles I checked after about 10 minutes of operation my AIO setup. I noted the cables were very warm to the touch and so pliable that I was afraid that the insulation jacket was going to break down. Something was not kosher. So yesterday I removed the cables and cut off one end. Yes the cables were fine strand copper as claimed. However the size was quite a bit smaller than the very thick plastic insulation jacket would have me believe. Upon some measurement it seems that the wire is just about 4 awg in size. (it can stuff into a 4awg terminal but is tight must be a metric odd ball) No wonder this cable was getting hot.
I replaced the deficient cable promptly with some known 2 awg cable for now while I have on order from Temco for some 1-0 cable and terminal ends. Last night I did the cooking of spaghetti again to test out things. The 2 awg did not seem to get noticeably warmer so that is a relief.
I looked up the store I bought the bad cable from and they are gone. Not that I expect after a year I could have expected any action.
Lesson learned: Buy only known quality wire.
The back history of these cables was that about a year ago I was researching Power jack LF inverters for purchase on Ebay. I happened to see that one of the E-stores had on clearance what they claimed were good quality 1 awg inverter cables. They certainly looked heavy duty and the price was almost half compared to similar rated cables elsewhere. So I bought them and eventually used them to wire up my 3kw AIO.
A few nights back while using the induction cooktop to boil water for spaghetti noodles I checked after about 10 minutes of operation my AIO setup. I noted the cables were very warm to the touch and so pliable that I was afraid that the insulation jacket was going to break down. Something was not kosher. So yesterday I removed the cables and cut off one end. Yes the cables were fine strand copper as claimed. However the size was quite a bit smaller than the very thick plastic insulation jacket would have me believe. Upon some measurement it seems that the wire is just about 4 awg in size. (it can stuff into a 4awg terminal but is tight must be a metric odd ball) No wonder this cable was getting hot.
I replaced the deficient cable promptly with some known 2 awg cable for now while I have on order from Temco for some 1-0 cable and terminal ends. Last night I did the cooking of spaghetti again to test out things. The 2 awg did not seem to get noticeably warmer so that is a relief.
I looked up the store I bought the bad cable from and they are gone. Not that I expect after a year I could have expected any action.
Lesson learned: Buy only known quality wire.
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