Connecting Generator to Inverter

The wires that connect the power source to the inverter will be smaller gauge than the cables that connect the batteries to the inverter. The reason we can use smaller wires is that we are using a higher voltage. The higher voltage means that a lower current will flow and it is current that governs our choice of wire size.

Number 8 gauge wire, as an example, carries 40 amperes of current at any voltage. If our voltage is 100 volts, then the total power being supplied by the wire is 4000 watts (40 times 100). But if our voltage is only 12 volts, then the power supplied by the same number 8 wire is only 480 watts.

Our battery bank, because of the relatively low voltage, must use heavy wires to carry the high currents that result from the power we need. To avoid having long, heavy wires running from our generator to our inverter, we will want to use a high voltage generator. This reduces our current, and increases the amount of power we can deliver for any given wire size.