Cables

This is part of the Inverter Power project.

The B2B 60A over 10 or so feet requires a 4 gauge cable…. or fatter. Happened to have a brand new 1 gauge 24′ jumper cable……perfect for all my connections! Proper lugs and a proper crimping tool and viola, cables. Add a shutoff (with key to avoid accidental activation) and an 80A fuse, connect the charger and temp sensor to the batteries, select the proper chemistry and we have “driving charging”.

Running said cable up there was another thing. This is the hot side (exhaust) of the engine and there was really no elegant way down. Eventually I settled on running on the inside of the plastic inner fender. Soft, dry and not too hot. Some lugs, heat shrink tube and the battery end was connected. I put in an 80A fuse, per the installation instructions, and it just sits there nicely on top of the felt like stuff on top of the battery. I wanted the fuse as close to the source as possible to protect the wire. And, to have a way to disconnect the whole show from the outside.

The keen observer will notice cables coming up through the platforms. (The cable to the truck battery still to go) In my quest to molest the truck as little as possible I decided to bring the cables in through the plastic tubs that form the storage compartments under the rear mat. I wouldn’t have access to them anyways, and…. it is a double layer. An outer tub which is bolted to the truck, and an inner tub that comes out. I can repair a hole in the outer tub without anyone ever finding it. To get in and out of the bed I found two holes with slitted grommets already in there. More on the bed-end of it later.


Inner tub pulls right out. Remove the four torx and the lid comes off. Didn’t want it sitting there to get beat up by the wood. So then drill some holes and we have cable from bed to energy center.

Word is to keep the cables between batteries, the paralleling cables, all the same length on each side….. The longest stretch was 20″, both the + and -, so that’s what I did for all of them. 2 gauge, except for the connections from the bank to the IC which are 1/0

Installed a shutoff and a power switch for the Bluetooth Dongle, as well as a small light with a switch so you can see the inevitable items that are going to fall down there.

Put this fuse in the battery feed to the Inverter/Charger. Yes, I drilled all the holes in there. It gets warm, not hot, and I wanted max airflow.

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