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by sdk77 3686 days ago
Voltage drop is one way to look at it, but since efficiency is paramount, it's better to look at losses. Losses in the conductor are I^2 * R, so when there's a current of 3.5A, losses are 6.6W at an input of 3.5*13.4=46.9W. Efficiency is 88% which is very bad. An average inverter that converts the low DC voltage to AC is much more efficient and even with taking into account the wiring loss, there is a net gain. Generally, using a low voltage DC grid isn't a good idea.