Posted: 8/9/2026 2:42:57 PM EDT
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I bought a second battery a while back that needs installing and was thinking that there might be a cleaner pre-build wiring harness available? It turned out that an upgrade is necessary anyway because the Amazon-sourced fuse holder between the solar controller and battery had melted. Also the small 1000w Schumacher inverter was found dead. Are their pre-made dual 12v battery harnesses available? I have one set of wires going to the inverter and one set goes to an Anderson power pole fuse block to power radios. Attached File Attached File Attached File |
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Originally Posted By phlat: I went to the auto parts store and got some short battery cables to wire mine into parallel. Doesnt get warm at all when running. Eta: your red negative wires make me nervous.  Is it normal to have to buy longer terminal bolts? With the three ring ends on each terminal they’re about at capacity currently. It’s what was making me think there may be something pre-built. |
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I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're asking. The fuse should be as close as possible (as in as short a wire as possible) to the battery. The fuse should be sized to blow based on the "smallest" component in the chain. The wire needs to be sized for max amp draw with considerations for allowable voltage drop and distance. A 1000 watt inverter will draw 83 amps at 12 volts. Which means you should be using 6 AWG at a minimum between the inverter and the battery. ETA: I just noticed your inverter is 2000 watts. Not 1000. 2000 watts at 12 volts is 166 AMPS. So your wire should be sized for 200 AMPS for safety margin. So... Get one of these with appropriate sized fuses. Get some Get some copper lugs and a cheap hammer crimp, or a hydraulic crimp if you want to be super correct. Often two batteries placed next to each other are simply connected with bus bars - no fuse. Up to you if you choose to fuse each one. Not considered necessary as long as the wire is less than something like 18 inches. However, if this has potential life safety implications it might be best to do so. Just get another fuse holder like the one above for the paralleled battery terminal. Build your parallel connection cables - Negative battery side. Positive battery side. Use the above fuse holder mounted to the positive terminal of one of the batteries. One of the fused connections to the inverter using your The second fused connection to the solar charger. The solar charger can't charge at more than 30 amps, so wire and fuse it appropriately. Minimum 10 AWG wire. The negative inverter cable will go to the OTHER battery (if paralleled) than the one providing positive power to the inverter. Ditto charge controller connection. There isn't really a harness for this. You can make it as fancy with distribution blocks and sub-panel fuse blocks etc, or super simple. The big thing is to protect your equipment, and it certainly looks as if you were attempting to draw far far too many amps for the wire / fuse holder. ETA: I just noticed your inverter is 2000 watts. Not 1000. 2000 watts at 12 volts is 166 AMPS. So your wire should be sized for 200 AMPS for safety margin. 1/0 AWG Cable size for a three foot run between the battery and the inverter.. Same for 6 feet. Don't have to go larger until the length exceeds 10 feet. If you think you'll eventually replace the inverter with a higher power model, nothing hurts you from up-sizing the wire. Just use appropriate sized fuses for the smallest / weakest / least powerful component in the chain. If you're not keen on building your own cables, powerwerx will build them to your spec. You'll need three sets. One set for connecting battery to battery to create a battery bank. One set for connecting battery bank to Inverter. One set for connecting solar charge source to battery bank. |
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Originally Posted By TinLeg: I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're asking. The fuse should be as close as possible (as in as short a wire as possible) to the battery. The fuse should be sized to blow based on the "smallest" component in the chain. The wire needs to be sized for max amp draw with considerations for allowable voltage drop and distance. A 1000 watt inverter will draw 83 amps at 12 volts. Which means you should be using 6 AWG at a minimum between the inverter and the battery. ETA: I just noticed your inverter is 2000 watts. Not 1000. 2000 watts at 12 volts is 166 AMPS. So your wire should be sized for 200 AMPS for safety margin. So... Get one of these with appropriate sized fuses. Get some Get some copper lugs and a cheap hammer crimp, or a hydraulic crimp if you want to be super correct. Often two batteries placed next to each other are simply connected with bus bars - no fuse. Up to you if you choose to fuse each one. Not considered necessary as long as the wire is less than something like 18 inches. However, if this has potential life safety implications it might be best to do so. Just get another fuse holder like the one above for the paralleled battery terminal. Build your parallel connection cables - Negative battery side. Positive battery side. Use the above fuse holder mounted to the positive terminal of one of the batteries. One of the fused connections to the inverter using your The second fused connection to the solar charger. The solar charger can't charge at more than 30 amps, so wire and fuse it appropriately. Minimum 10 AWG wire. The negative inverter cable will go to the OTHER battery (if paralleled) than the one providing positive power to the inverter. Ditto charge controller connection. There isn't really a harness for this. You can make it as fancy with distribution blocks and sub-panel fuse blocks etc, or super simple. The big thing is to protect your equipment, and it certainly looks as if you were attempting to draw far far too many amps for the wire / fuse holder. ETA: I just noticed your inverter is 2000 watts. Not 1000. 2000 watts at 12 volts is 166 AMPS. So your wire should be sized for 200 AMPS for safety margin. 1/0 AWG Cable size for a three foot run between the battery and the inverter.. Same for 6 feet. Don't have to go larger until the length exceeds 10 feet. If you think you'll eventually replace the inverter with a higher power model, nothing hurts you from up-sizing the wire. Just use appropriate sized fuses for the smallest / weakest / least powerful component in the chain. If you're not keen on building your own cables, powerwerx will build them to your spec. You'll need three sets. One set for connecting battery to battery to create a battery bank. One set for connecting battery bank to Inverter. One set for connecting solar charge source to battery bank. You did a good job answering what I was asking. The 10awg wire that melted was between the solar input and the battery and had a 40 amp fuse. I’d say that was China trying to burn my house down. I don’t understand why it would have melted. The 2000w inverter is only there because I bought it on sale as an open-box from Amazon last year and it was just sitting on a shelf. No need for 2000w but I bet it’ll power my laptop without failing like auto parts store 1000w model did. The second battery was so I could use it though. It’ll draw more than 1 battery can support but two should power it for a while. Not efficiently given the amps like you mention but it’ll work for a short time. I thought there might be a fused pre-made cable for at least going from the solar controller to the battery and to connect the two batteries but it’s okay if it doesn’t exist. I’ll piece it together. And will look into the fused terminal you linked. Not ever used one of those. Last big wiring job was years ago on an FJ40 but it was a color coded set. |
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Originally Posted By phlat: I went to the auto parts store and got some short battery cables to wire mine into parallel. Doesnt get warm at all when running. Eta: your red negative wires make me nervous. Would be great if they sold it as a pack of two reds and two blacks. :) |
