Hooking up an inverter

chetjester · Jan 9, 2007

I purchased 2 10 ft. 4 ga bulk battery cables from O'Reilly's auto store. I put battery connector ends on each and "inverter connectors" on the other ends. I connected the ends to the battery. I connected the black to the negative lug on the inverter and the red to the positive. I got a lot of sparks as I made contact with the inverter. I may have burned the fan out in the process. But, it worked when I plugged in the tv. But, I disconnected the cables until I went back on the road.

I'm no rocket scientist. Dave Corfman will confirm that for me. I'm sort of scared to connect the inverter now. Is there any magic to connecting an inverter? Is there a company that sells a device that can be installed between the inverter and battery so that I can connect the cables without the sparks?

My truck sat for so long at home, that I had to jump the battery. I connected the cables on the same leads where my inverter cables are. When I connected my pickup truck, everything started smoking. Yes, they were connected black to black and red to red. I quickly disconnected the jumpers and used 2 different lugs and the truck recharged just fine.

Help me. I'm stupid and I can't figure out trucks.

Thanks.

davekc · Jan 9, 2007

Kinda like car batteries. Connect the red to red first, and then the black to black.That should eliminate the spark storm. Make sure inverter is off when doing this.
You likely connected the black to black first.

Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

chetjester · Jan 9, 2007

I'll be darned. That is exactly what I did. How simple. I never knew that rule. It wasn't taught to me in school.

Thanks.

rollnthunder · Jan 9, 2007

Also most Power inverters have a on/off switch on them to totally shut them off.I turn mine off every time i part the truck for longer then a day.IF not it will drain the batteries and even thow it has a low voltage kill on the inverter 9/10 times it wont start the truck.

bryan · Jan 10, 2007

Hi

If the check engine light comes on make sure to tell the shop that you connected red first.When you do that the computer will register a 603 code.Its no big deal an can simply be ignored and erased if the shop knows before hand what caused the code.But if they don't know and they just go by the code reader, then they will think that there is a major internal problem.

If the check engine light doesn't come on don't worry about it.It only comes on everyother time this is done.No harm no foul.

greg334 · Jan 10, 2007

Hey Chet,

I would fuse the battery end of the positive cables. Go and get a maxifuse holder and a fuse the 20% the size (I think, anyone can corect me) of the max draw of current.

If you ever seen a cable glow in daylight, it is something else.

Fr8 Shaker · Jan 10, 2007

Hey Chet,

It sounds to me like you are also running your inverter off of your truck batteries, If so I'd suggest you get a seperate deep cell marine battery with an isolator switch. You can get the isolator at any rv store for about 12 to 15 bucks.(kinda looks like a selenoid swich on an old ford)... that way when your running your TV, Laptop and anything else you might have, you can run that battery dead and not have to worry about your truck starting.

Once you run a regular battery dead they won't last very long.
and you know Murphys Law. You'll finally get that load you've been waiting for and then roooo,roooo,rooooo, click. LOL. (GOT CABLES?)

Power to You,
Fr8 Shaker