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rvnomad avatar image
rvnomad asked

Can I mix 1/0 and 2/0 AWG for my battery to inverter runs?

I recently had a MultiPlus II 2x120V installed in my RV.

My max load is the microwave, which draws about 1,400 watts, about 130 DC amps when running.

The installer ran a single pair of 1/0 AWG cables, about 8 feet long from battery to the inverter. I find a significant voltage drop by probing across these long cable lengths, nearly 1 volt in total when running at the full load. I have inspected and torqued the lug nuts properly and am confident the voltage loss is occurring over the cables themselves.

The inverter manual suggests using two pairs of 1/0 AWG. I had a local shop supply me with another pair of 2/0 AWG (not always easy to obtain as I am traveling with the RV). My first thought was to replace the 1/0 AWG pair with the 2/0 AWG pair. But in surveying the scene, it has occurred to me that I could run the 2/0 AWG pair in parallel with the existing 1/0 AWG pair.

Is there any reason to not do this mixing of unequal gauges? I imagine that the 1/0 AWG pair will have higher resistance and carry less current than the 2/0 AWG pair. But overall, the current carrying capacity should be still higher than having two 1/0 AWG pairs?

All suggestions are appreciated.

Multiplus-IIinverter current draw
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3 Answers
bobcat avatar image
bobcat answered ·

1V drop (out of I'm guessing 12V) is about 8%. That's too high, but not crazy. It's not the fault of good quality well installed 1/0 wire only 16' long round trip. 130 Amps is also fine unless you have other factors that make it get hot like being it terminated on a fuse, in an engine compartment, or in a big bundle of wires in a confined space. If you are using high quality stranded copper cable, it should be good. My guess is the lugs were crimped on poorly. I have seen many people do this incorrectly and often times the lugs themselves or the crimper being used aren't up tho the job. You can test the voltage drop of the cable by probing the wire just in from the lugs to find out.


But yes, you can use two wire gauges in parallel and there are cases this is warranted. You have the caveats of fusing complexity and that it is just messy and tacky and in your case unnecessary. Keep it simple.

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rvnomad avatar image rvnomad commented ·

Thanks, I have probed across the terminals and the cable lugs themselves and the drop is occurring across the cables, i.e. the terminals don't show any voltage drop. This was my guess as well, that the lug were not crimped properly or adequately.

I guess the only way to prove this would be to poke through the sheath and probe? Or cut off the lugs and recrimp?

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Justin Cook avatar image
Justin Cook answered ·

What do you mean a "single pair" of 1/0, do you mean 1x red 1/0 and 1x black 1/0, or do you mean 2x1/0 red and 2x1/0 black?

If you mean the former, then the installer made a very serious miscalculation there, as your stated one-way distance of 8' equals 16' round-trip, which is right at the 5m limit of 2x1/0 pairs... 1x1/0 isn't even an option, ever, in a 12v 3kVA unit.

Bottom line, yes, for best performance replace all of your 1/0 run with 2x2/0 runs as is called for at that round-trip distance (or take it back to the installer and have him correct his work).

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rvnomad avatar image rvnomad commented ·

Yes, the former, one 1/0 red and one 1/0 black.

Fully willing to believe that this is inadequate. But all the online calculators show that the drop for 1/0 at 130 amps at this length should be only 0.25 V. What am I missing or misunderstanding?


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Justin Cook avatar image Justin Cook ♦♦ rvnomad commented ·

The MultiPlus can pull a lot more than that, and underspec'd cabling can lead to AC ripple on the DC line, voltage drop, all kinds of stuff. Follow the manual when installing, it's usually written the way it is for good reason.

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rvnomad avatar image
rvnomad answered ·

Update: To keep things simple, I removed the long run of 1/0 cables and installed a pair of 2/0 cables, i.e. one black and one red.

Result: My voltage loss across the cables was reduced from about 1 volt to 0.3 volts! Total voltage loss is now about 0.48 volts. I can still make improvements by simplifying the battery box layout, but this is a huge improvement.

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