Getting the Trace Xantrex power panel together- slowly but surely

I will be doing that very soon, too, LH2. As I said, these two inverters are marked as being built 2nd quarter of 1999 and the certificate is marked June 1999, so even though they've never seen life outside their shipping boxes and plastic wrap, they're still 23 years old! I chuckled when I saw the warranty card in the mix of items that came out of the plastic wrap. "Hey, I better send this in to get it on record that I'm just now firing them up!" I don't think there's anybody there anymore, Lee (sigh). All I can say is Thank God for forums! 

I found out something about 4/0 cable fittings that i never knew, even after 40 years of welding and welding cable- there are apparently 2 different sizes of 4/0 wire. I ordered 16' of 4/0 cable to make the battery and inverter DC cables with, and then ordered 6 tinned copper ring type fittings and shrink tube to use for them. I was down at the property the other day fabbing the cables, and after stripping the sheath off the copper, I had a hell of a time trying to make the fittings go on. I smashed, twisted, and even ground the leading edge of the copper to make it work. I checked the label on the package they came in and it was definitely marked 4/0. Couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong! I actually pulled some of the strands away from the center of the cable until it could insert it into the fitting, then crimped it, wrapped the excess strands around the base of the fitting, then added the shrink boot over it and figured that was as good as it was going to get. I learned in my early days of welding that you should never reduce the amount of conductor material, so i was hoping this would classify as "ok". That night i got on the internet and searched for why this happened. I had ordered the fittings (Anco fittings) off of amazon, and went back to check my order, and that's when i found on the list of fittings that there is an XL 4/0 fitting.(!?) I'd never heard of an extra large size of a welding lead. I thought 4/0 was 4/0. It's the only size that has XL fittings. Just my luck. So now I guess I'll eat those first six i bought and order the XL's and do it right. I hate wasting time. I hate re-work. Oh well. I'd rather do it over and know it's done right than wish I had after something screws up. 

I also flubbed on ordering the cable. I took the measurements off the set of Trace cables that came with the power panel I'd bought. (2) 5 footers and (2) 2 footers for the inverter/DC Disconnect run. Well, the 5' battery cables were fine, but when i came to the inverter cables, even before the cable arrived, I realized that the run from the DC disconnect to the lower inverter would NOT take the same amount of cable as the upper inverter, which is where the single inverter system was mounted. The path for the lower inverter has to go around the top of the 250A breaker, swing down to the lower outlet in the box and then head over to the inverter. I had already crimped the fitting and added the red shrink boot for the "positive" cable, but hadn't cut it to length yet, so I snaked it into the box to check what I would have left over. It was short by about 18". So now I have to order another length of 4/0 to complete the "negative" cable. Another purchase, another wait. The positive about this is that I'm getting it for $4.99 per foot and $4.99 shipping for new cable. Everywhere else is going for over $6/ft. So I guess it could be worse. The bad part is I ordered 16' the first round, thinking 2' extra would do it. All the while thinking to myself, "Man, I should probably just go ahead and get 20', but what would i do with a 4' piece if i didn't need it?" That's what I get for worrying about a piece of scrap wire. Now I have an 18" piece anyway. 

It sure is nice to see how many people have these units on the forum. I've been waiting to do this for 25 years. I've had the single inverter power panel for 10 years and the two new Trace inverters for 5 years. This set up was what I've always heard was top of the line, state of the art, bullet proof, and the 'tank' of inverters, and by golly, that's what I wanted to have. But I have to admit that there are times that I wonder what the heck I was thinking after Xantrex sold out to Schneider, not to mention that Trace was defunct once it sold to Xantrex. No support, no warranty, no body at home that I could contact about questions and problems. But hearing you all give these positive comments just restores my confidence. Thanks for all the comments and help. Don't think I won't be flooding you all with questions once the system is cranked up. You all are now the Trace Xantrex customer service replacement for me. I can't wait! 

Right! Actually, one of the things that inspired me to go this route was seeing, a long time ago, the pic of Robin's system that he had in his "early days". I think they still have it hanging around somewhere. I have the exact same system.

Yeah, these are very fine strands. I just never realized there are more than one size of specific gauges. This was marked AWG, as it should have been. I could see if it was the casing that was larger,  but 4/0 is 4/0, or so I thought!