5000 Watt AC Inverter by Wagan Tech
7
User’s Manual—Read before using this equipment
8
Two Negative DC (−) Input and Two Positive DC (+) Input Terminals
Both negative terminals are wired together inside the inverter. Similarly, both positive
terminals are wired together inside the inverter. For AC loads up to 2,500 watts only one
positive and one negative cable set is required. For AC loads from 2,500 to 5,000 watts use
two sets of cables.
After DC cables are installed, both sets of DC terminals should be insulated to protect from
accidental short circuits.
Ground Terminal.
This connection is located on the lower left of the rear panel. It is for attaching a 6 gage
insulated safety ground wire. This safety wire is for protecting personnel if there is an
unlikely failure in either the cabling or enclosure insulation. Do not directly connect this
ground connection to the negative DC terminal. This safety wire is to be connected to the
vehicle frame or earth ground. This is described in the installation procedure.
PLANNING THE INVERTER SYSTEM
Any large wattage inverter system requires planning before installation. There are several
steps to the planning process so the user must determine the following:
• Maximum inverter wattage required.
• Operating time (run time) needed between battery recharges.
• Battery bank capacity in amp-hours.
• Charger requirement to charge batteries within a practical time.
• Distance between battery bank and inverter.
DETERMINING MAXIMUM APPLIANCE WATTAGE
Maximum AC appliance wattage is the first factor in planning battery and charging systems.
Some background:
Large microwave oven specifications list cooking power (watts) and appliance power.
Appliance power is the AC load the inverter has to supply.
Most other electrical tools, appliances and audio/video equipment have labels that list the
unit’s power requirements in watts. If the tool or device is rated in amps, multiply the amps
by 115 (115V AC) to determine the watts. For example, a power tool rated at 4 amps will
draw 460 watts. Determine the wattage of each appliance you need to simultaneously
operate. Add all of the appliance wattages to obtain an estimated “total watts” number.
Remember to consider the startup surge that motorized appliances will cause. Do not exceed
the surge rating of this inverter (10,000 watts) this can cause immediate overload shut down.
At 5,000 watts continuous output this inverter requires a DC power supply (battery bank)
that can continuously supply 500 amps at 12V DC for the duration of the run time.
CONFIGURING THE BATTERY BANK
To determine the minimum battery ampere-hour rating that you will need to operate
appliances from the inverter and any DC appliances powered by the battery bank, follow
these steps:
1. List the maximum continuous wattage that the inverter has to supply.
2. Estimate the number of hours the appliances will be in use between battery
recharges. This will vary depending on appliances. For example, a typical home-
use coffee maker draws 500 watts during its brew time of 5 minutes. It maintains
the temperature of the pot, requiring 100 watts. Typical use of a microwave oven
is only for a few minutes. Some longer operating time appliances are lamps, TVs,
computers and refrigerator/freezers.
3. Determine the total watt-hours of energy needed. This is done by multiplying
average power consumption in watts by hours of run time. For example: 1,500
watts for 10 hours = 15,000 watt hours. To get an estimate of the maximum current
(in amps) that a battery bank must be capable of delivering to the inverter, divide
the load watts by ten. For example a 1,500 watt appliance load will need 150
amps at 12 volts DC. Using the 1,500 watts (or 150 amps) for 10 hours example
as above, then 150 amps is needed for 10 hours. This provides us with the basic
amp-hours (AH) of battery that is required. Ten hours at 150 amps equals 1,500
amp-hours (AH). This answer is just a beginning because there are additional
factors that determine actual run time. These include:
• AC appliance load and time in use (basic AH).
• Cable gage and length (cable losses).
• Charge level of the batteries (between use, chargers have to be able to
fully charge the batteries).
• Temperature of the batteries (colder batteries provide fewer amps).
• Age and condition of the batteries (older batteries lose AH capacity).
• Compliance with turning off unnecessary AC loads.
• Use of DC appliances and compliance with turning off unnecessary DC
loads.
DERATING THE BATTERY BANK
Most lead-acid batteries have a rating expressed in amp-hours (AH). The most common
rating of AH is “at the 20 hour rate”.
NOTE: Despite several internet explanations, there is no relationship between cold cranking
amps (CCA) and ampere-hours (AH).
www.wagan.com
© 2010 Wagan Corporation
All Rights Reserved
Wagan and wagan.com are trademarks used by Wagan Corporation
