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NEEDED: Quality Copper BusBars for LifePo4 cells (quickly)

Copper like other metals will of course carry voltage, the amount of amperage capacity s relative to the thickness of said material, Aluminiun versus Copper for example. Material composition & purity affects those factors and can be quite significant, too much resistance / impedance and you've made a Toaster when enough Amps flows through there. If you can get an Infrared Heat gun (about $70 for a Ryobi @ Homedepot) and load out youe battery packs and then scan them, wires, connections, everything, hopefully your pipe - bars will be cool when pumping 100+ Amps. Test to the max load you can, you know, the worst case scenario you can expect. Better to know everything is 100% when your doing it under control and monitoring because @ 03:00 you likely won't be watching your system. BE SAFE !
 
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Steve_S said:
Copper like other metals will of course carry voltage, the amount of amperage capacity s relative to the thickness of said material, Aluminiun versus Copper for example. Material composition & purity affects those factors and can be quite significant, too much resistance / impedance and you've made a Toaster when enough Amps flows through there. If you can get an Infrared Heat gun (about $70 for a Ryobi @ Homedepot) and load out youe battery packs and then scan them, wires, connections, everything, hopefully your pipe - bars will be cool when pumping 100+ Amps. Test to the max load you can, you know, the worst case scenario you can expect. Better to know everything is 100% when your doing it under control and monitoring because @ 03:00 you likely won't be watching your system. BE SAFE !
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Good greef. "
ANSI/ASME B16.22: Wrought Copper and Copper Alloy Solder-Joint Pressure Fittings
As its name implies, this specification governs the elbows, tees and other solder-type fittings used to join standard plumbing tube. The copper used in these products has the identical 99.9 percent purity as standard copper water tube. "
 
So.... The Tinned brass battery connect is better then 99%+ copper at 1/3 more mass?
 

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Steve_S said:
Copper like other metals will of course carry voltage, the amount of amperage capacity s relative to the thickness of said material, Aluminiun versus Copper for example. Material composition & purity affects those factors and can be quite significant, too much resistance / impedance and you've made a Toaster when enough Amps flows through there. If you can get an Infrared Heat gun (about $70 for a Ryobi @ Homedepot) and load out youe battery packs and then scan them, wires, connections, everything, hopefully your pipe - bars will be cool when pumping 100+ Amps. Test to the max load you can, you know, the worst case scenario you can expect. Better to know everything is 100% when your doing it under control and monitoring because @ 03:00 you likely won't be watching your system. BE SAFE !
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I ran 92 amps through the copper 3 days ago,

21° C in room that was 14° C.
 
Arghhhh.....

UPS just delivered my package from OnLine Metals. Two 36" tinned copper bars, both .25" thick x 2" wide. Except that the $100 worth of busbars are missing from the package. The box is crushed and black like it had been ran over, the end torn open, and the box is empty.

What's wrong with this picture?
 
Supervstech said:
rover.ebay.com

Copper Braid Flexible Busbar 60-68mm cc 6mm holes | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Copper Braid Flexible Busbar 60-68mm cc 6mm holes at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
rover.ebay.com
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Wow: ... First Flexible Bus Bar (for sale) link I have found. I notice there is no amp rating spec; ... and from looking at other amp ratings for braid wire, I would question if these could handle the 1.0 C ... up to 280 Amps that the 280Ah EVE cells are rated for ???
 
Capt Bill said:
Wow: ... First Flexible Bus Bar (for sale) link I have found. I notice there is no amp rating spec; ... and from looking at other amp ratings for braid wire, I would question if these could handle the 1.0 C ... up to 280 Amps that the 280Ah EVE cells are rated for ???
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These are the ones I use, and they are HUGE. I bought several cells from him, and they all came with the flexible bars.
thy appear to be able to handle 100 ish amps, maybe 125... I can measure them for you if you like.
 
Supervstech said:
These are the ones I use, and they are HUGE. I bought several cells from him, and they all came with the flexible bars.
thy appear to be able to handle 100 ish amps, maybe 125... I can measure them for you if you like.
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I guess if they could handle 100 ish amps, one could double em up to handle 200 ish amps, but then the price per connection goes up to $10 for each set of terminal connected. and still maybe not meeting my 280Amp max desire. ... I am happy to know about this option while still looking ... I will share web links on anything that looks good to me. Recently been looking at this supplier of flexible bus bars for EVs: https://www.rhibusbar.com/product/flexiblebusbars_1.html ... (not yet sure how to get prices).
 
Capt Bill said:
Wow: ... First Flexible Bus Bar (for sale) link I have found. I notice there is no amp rating spec; ... and from looking at other amp ratings for braid wire, I would question if these could handle the 1.0 C ... up to 280 Amps that the 280Ah EVE cells are rated for ???
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I don't think they are long enough for use with EVE cells. The hole to hole length is apx. 72mm.
 

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Proper sized welding cable with quality tinned copper lugs crimped on is quite flexible. The allure of flexible braided busbars is nice, but just an unnecessary expense in time and, well... time (in my opinion).
 
DerpsyDoodler said:
Proper sized welding cable with quality tinned copper lugs crimped on is quite flexible. The allure of flexible braided busbars is nice, but just an unnecessary expense in time and, well... time (in my opinion).
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I agree with you about using welding cable and lugs. However some including me do not have the capability of making cables or braided busbars. I live in an apartment and have no workshop and am very limited on space. So my quest continues.... :)
 
Gazoo said:
I agree with you about using welding cable and lugs. However some including me do not have the capability of making cables or braided busbars. I live in an apartment and have no workshop and am very limited on space. So my quest continues.... :)
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No need for a workshop.


of course, I’d never fault someone interested in form, I am too. I just didn’t think it was worth making a full on project for. To each their own.
 
DerpsyDoodler said:
No need for a workshop.


of course, I’d never fault someone interested in form, I am too. I just didn’t think it was worth making a full on project for. To each their own.
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Great $37 Deal on hydraulic copper lug crimper tool. I paid $48 about a year ago for same one minus the extra seal kit about a year ago. IMO: Thumbs Up ! ... if you want to crimp your own cables in the 10,16, 25, 35, 50, 70, 95, 120mm2 arena.
 
ArthurEld said:
2 AWG would work for me. That is a lot of crimping.
I'm ok with solid busbars. But non solid solve a lot of problems.
Less problems is much safer for beginners
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Wiser to be a safe newb than a sorry newb. Once you cut your teeth on the stuff, then you get a better feel for limits of what you can and can’t or shouldn’t do. Or..in some cases, what you SHOULD do when you’re intentionally doing something you SHOULDN’T do. ?
 
Steve_S said:
Hi folks,

I ordered & received some Busbars to eliminate the ShunBin pack's bar stock aluminium busbars, unfortunately what I got was for Headway Cells, wrong size, thin steel and completely useless.... Refunded and going back BUT now I'm in a lurch, the new BMS arrives today (3rd try by DHL, goodness gracious, what a lost cause) and now Fed up with this to the point of using 5 languages & cursing like a drunken sailor on a Saturday night after 12 months at sea.

I NEED 23 pieces of real copper bus bars meant for linking LFP cells. I know, it is an odd number... so let's do 24 pcs.
Something I can get FAST either from Ebay / Amazon or direct (sent msg to Bay Marine with hope) but none of this slow boat from China deals... having to use the genset to top off the fla's is really starting to irritate me in the worst of ways.... meanwhile I'm out $30 in S&H over the mistake which is even more irritating, which will be worse when I pay the postage to return the junk.
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I know this is an old post, but the problem of finding or fabricating busbars still sucks! I needed busbars for Topband 25Ah cells in a 4S6P pack. I found a great solution, my wife found a 100' spool of 12awg pure copper solid building ground wire at a clearance sale ($10 for 100'). I stripped the wire, built simple wire bending jigs and did what looks like a steam punk battery pack. All wires are bent together as a pair, and all connections are two pair per battery terminal. I have no problem with driving my 2000 watt GoWise inverter to cook a whole fresh beef roast in a NuWave oven (about 1500 watts), and the wires are never even warm!
 
chilidillo said:
I know this is an old post, but the problem of finding or fabricating busbars still sucks! I needed busbars for Topband 25Ah cells in a 4S6P pack. I found a great solution, my wife found a 100' spool of 12awg pure copper solid building ground wire at a clearance sale ($10 for 100'). I stripped the wire, built simple wire bending jigs and did what looks like a steam punk battery pack. All wires are bent together as a pair, and all connections are two pair per battery terminal. I have no problem with driving my 2000 watt GoWise inverter to cook a whole fresh beef roast in a NuWave oven (about 1500 watts), and the wires are never even warm!
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Nice, let's see some pics!

My redneck topband busbars are still going strong ;)

CX3KQV9.jpg


diysolarforum.com

Copper Strapping as BusBars?

I have four 25Ah LiFePo4 cells that I want to use temporarily as a small 12v trolling motor battery. I expect no more than 30 amp draw max, mostly 20 amp continuous. I'm in a remote area and don't have proper busbar material on hand (or handy), so I was thinking of connecting the cells using 8...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
 
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