Someone told me to buy these, now what?? Need help with lug connectors

[Santa]

Someone told me to get these to last a lifetime, but there aren't any instructions. Can someone show me a picture or a video how to install these for my inverter wires? https://www.newegg.com/p/1X0-004E-00031?Description= Ring Terminal Ground Lug &cm_re=Ring_Terminal_Ground_Lug-

P.S. I am using Will's blueprint: https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/simplified-400-watt-fewer-wires-and-alternator-charging.html I want to use them on the 4/0 inverter terminals, I bought 8 of them.

EDITED: That would be 2 Battle born 100 Ah lithium, 400 watts solar, 2000w/4000wPEAK pure sine wave inverter, Renogy DCC50S 12V 50A DC-DC On-Board Battery Charger with MPPT (later I will hook it up to the starting battery and add another 100 Ah lithium. Here is what I am trying to make:

I will start with 2 100ah battleborns, and add the starter battery LATER.

 

[somewhereinusa]

What are you trying to connect to?

 

[JeepHammer]

Screw it down to whatever you are trying to ground, then run the ground wire through the Allen head bolt hole.
If you orient the lug correctly, the ground wire runs through it and continues on to the next ground lug terminal and so on.
Direct ground for for everything that needs it.

If the lug body is aluminum, use some grease in the hole where the wire gets attached, and in the Allen head screw threads on final assembly, that little bit of grease will save you a real headache later.

 

[SolarRat]

My local Lowes stocks them in all large sizes in copper, cheap! I use them a lot when experimenting with different configurations. I usually use dielectric grease on the wire before installing. Sometimes I tin the ends of the wire first.

 

[JeepHammer]

My local Lowes stocks them in all large sizes in copper, cheap! I use them a lot when experimenting with different configurations. I usually use dielectric grease on the wire before installing. Sometimes I tin the ends of the wire first.

"Code" won't allow copper on aluminum panel frames in some places, although I prefer copper or brass,
And a brass bolt/nut when I can get away with it.

I got my sack smacked by a code inspector in town for tinning wires to keep them bundled.
That moron actually believed soft electrical solder was 'Hard' and wouldn't conform to the lug/screw, but a solid terminal reducer end was perfectly fine, even though it's work hardened brass/bronze and 100 times harder than soft copper with tinning!

I got another sack smack using generic dielectric grease (clear) instead of 'Ox-Guard' (brand name & brown) even though it's exactly the same thing! The guy said it 'HAD' to be 'Brown' or it didn't count...

What's funny, the code inspector here doesn't have to be an electrician!
Just whoever the mayor appoints to the position, no education required...

When it's single circuit, I use never-seize on threads.
Since that stuff is conductive, I can't use it on multi-circuit connectors, but there isn't anything better for keeping corrosion out of screw threads,
And copper never-seize between dissimilar metals will keep the corrosion from happening, like aluminum lug to steel frame.
It works wonders, the only issue I have is a drop the size of a pencil eraser will coat the entire interior of my vehicle!

 

[SolarRat]

...the only issue I have is a drop the size of a pencil eraser will coat the entire interior of my vehicle!

And your hands, pants, and usually a little shiny stuff finds it's way into beards and eyebrows. That stuff gets around! :?

 

[JeepHammer]

Yup! One drop can coat 3,422 sq.ft., Or that's the way I'm telling the story!

I have no idea why, but the silver/zinc is worse than the gold/copper based.
I owned old bikes, like Harleys and every fastener needed either loc-tite or never-seize.
My fingers were constantly either stuck together or stained.
I swear I had silver smears on my body/cloths for an entire year trying to put one old bike back together...
Everything I owned was stained.

 

[Santa]

What are you trying to connect to?

I am using Will's blueprint (almost to the T): https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/simplified-400-watt-fewer-wires-and-alternator-charging.html So I am using them for the 4/0 wires for the inverter. I bought 8 connectors.

 

[Santa]

Screw it down to whatever you are trying to ground, then run the ground wire through the Allen head bolt hole.
If you orient the lug correctly, the ground wire runs through it and continues on to the next ground lug terminal and so on.
Direct ground for for everything that needs it.

If the lug body is aluminum, use some grease in the hole where the wire gets attached, and in the Allen head screw threads on final assembly, that little bit of grease will save you a real headache later.

I don't know what grease is and see you all are discussing it below. I am using them for Will's blueprint (I added it above) for the 4/0 inverter wires. Thanks.

 

[Santa]

My local Lowes stocks them in all large sizes in copper, cheap! I use them a lot when experimenting with different configurations. I usually use dielectric grease on the wire before installing. Sometimes I tin the ends of the wire first.

Good to know! I didn't know that and ordered online. I prefer paying cash and buying locally. Thanks!

 

[Santa]

So you all are discussing "grease", but I never heard of it or saw any videos or discussions of it. We all have different ways of learning. I learn best by watching a live demonstration (or video) while listening. (Some people are visual learners, audio learners, and some can just read things (my worst way of learning...kind of dyslexic I guess). @Will Prowse do you use grease? Can you do a video on it and/or a video on the lug connectors I am in need of instruction on? Thank you!

 

[JeepHammer]

Dielectric grease doesn't conduct electricity, so it won't short terminals out.
Grease keeps the wire from corroding, it keeps screwed from corroding into threads,
And it keeps moisture/pollutants that cause corrosion out of the wiring connection.
Since it doesn't conduct electricity, but seals out moisture that causes corrosion, an example would be to fill the electrical plug connectors to seal them up without fear of a short circuit.

'Tinning' is using electrical solder to coat the copper stands of the wire.
The solder keeps stands together, protects the copper from corrosion where it's exposed outside of insulation, and it's electrically conductive, so the electrical connection is solid and will carry amperage.

Never-Seize is a grease with sacrifice metal ground up in it.
Dissimilar metals corrode at a much faster rate when in contact with each other, passing current through those metals speeds up corrosion even more.
Never-Seize is a brand name of grease/soft metal mix that offsets much of the corrosion process and makes things easier to take apart later, like when something fails and needs to be replaced, and a bolt has rusted in a bolt has rusted in a nut or threaded hole and twists off instead of coming out.
Never-Seize stops that from happening.

Since you didn't specify where that lug was going to be used, we had no idea if it was going g to be the ground d wire connector on panel frames, used on a terminal block, etc.

Electrical code (and common sense) require the use of an oxidation/corrosion coating on aluminum wires for instance.
Oxygen in the air, moisture in the air attack aluminum, a layer of anti-oxidation grease keeps that corrosion from happening.
Oxidation/corrosion builds electrical resistance, which eats up your power from panels or batteries.
Enough electrical resistance makes heat, and the terminals get hot.
Too much heat and insulation melts, and can potentially start a fire.
A little dielectric/anti-oxidation grease slows that corrosion/electrical resistance down, or stops it entirely.

Dielectric grease (non-conductive) is sold as 'Tune Up' grease in auto parts store, and it's usually 'Clear' or opaque,
Electric terminal grease is sold in every electrical supply place, from big box stores to farm supply stores,and is commonly 'Brown'.

You pay a LOT of money for your wires, cables, terminal ends & lugs, and a cheap coating of grease protects that investment from corrosion/failure/replacement.
While common automotive grease can work in some applications, I wouldn't recommend it, you don't know what all is in it, from conductive graphite that would cause a short circuit to chemicals that might react with conductors/terminal materials or degrade/ruin insulation.

Does this help?

 

[Santa]

Dielectric grease doesn't conduct electricity, so it won't short terminals out.
Grease keeps the wire from corroding, it keeps screwed from corroding into threads,
And it keeps moisture/pollutants that cause corrosion out of the wiring connection.

'Tinning' is using electrical solder to coat the copper stands of the wire.
The solder keeps stands together, protects the copper from corrosion where it's exposed outside of insulation, and it's electrically conductive, so the electrical connection is solid and will carry amperage.

Never-Seize is a grease with sacrifice metal ground up in it.
Dissimilar metals corrode at a much faster rate when in contact with each other, passing current through those metals speeds up corrosion even more.
Never-Seize is a brand name of grease/soft metal mix that offsets much of the corrosion process and makes things easier to take apart later, like when something fails and needs to be replaced, and a bolt has rusted in a bolt has rusted in a nut or threaded hole and twists off instead of coming out.
Never-Seize stops that from happening.

Since you didn't specify where that lug was going to be used, we had no idea if it was going g to be the ground d wire connector on panel frames, used on a terminal block, etc.

Its going to be used on the 4/0 wire in this blueprint (for the inverter.) https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/simplified-400-watt-fewer-wires-and-alternator-charging.html I know what solder is, but heard not to use it on terminals like these?? I am a beginner building my first system. I had an all-in-one before but it was stolen. I want to learn, but I need to comprehend everything I am doing so I can expand later.

 

[JeepHammer]

4 AWG and 0000 AWG (4/0 or 4 'Ought') are two entirely different sizes, 4/0 is HUGE, the conductor is bigger than your thumb!

4 AWG, or 4 Ga. (American Wire Gauge) is a thicker vehicle starter cable size.
4 Ga. will have a conductor bundle about the size of a common pencil.
The diagram you linked calls for 4 Ga./4 AWG... NOT 4/0, (0000) AWG.
Most passenger cars use a 8 Ga, or a little thicker 6 Ga, while pickups might have a thicker yet 4 Ga.

Confusing, I know, we all started somewhere...

-----------

'Tinning' the stripped wire ends is NOT soldering them into the terminals.
Soldering the wire bundle into a terminal is a different thing.

'Tinning' simply keeps the bundle of wire strands together, and protects the stripped wire from corrosion.
The wire strands don't 'Fly Off', they don't squish out and bend away from the bundle.
Corrosion protection can also be grease, grease worked into the joint between insulation & wire will keep moisture from entering the insulation/bundle,
And grease in the bundle/terminal keeps the terminal/bundle from corroding without limiting the connection.

'Tinning' a bundle make the 'fly away' wire strands more or less a plug in connector to the lug you show.
Just makes life easier when you go to replace something or want to clean the connections later.

 

[Santa]

4 AWG and 0000 AWG (4/0 or 4 'Ought') are two entirely different sizes, 4/0 is HUGE, the conductor is bigger than your thumb!

4 AWG, or 4 Ga. (American Wire Gauge) is a thicker vehicle starter cable size.
4 Ga. will have a conductor bundle about the size of a common pencil.
The diagram you linked calls for 4 Ga./4 AWG... NOT 4/0, (0000) AWG.
Most passenger cars use a 8 Ga, or a little thicker 6 Ga, while pickups might have a thicker yet 4 Ga.

Confusing, I know, we all started somewhere...

-----------

'Tinning' the stripped wire ends is NOT soldering them into the terminals.
Soldering the wire bundle into a terminal is a different thing.

'Tinning' simply keeps the bundle of wire strands together, and protects the stripped wire from corrosion.
The wire strands don't 'Fly Off', they don't squish out and bend away from the bundle.
Corrosion protection can also be grease, grease worked into the joint between insulation & wire will keep moisture from entering the insulation/bundle,
And grease in the bundle/terminal keeps the terminal/bundle from corroding without limiting the connection.

'Tinning' a bundle make the 'fly away' wire strands more or less a plug in connector to the lug you show.
Just makes life easier when you go to replace something or want to clean the connections later.

I know, I am using 4/0 ought for the 2000/4000 inverter. Did you look at the blueprint ^^ ?

 

[Santa]

4 AWG and 0000 AWG (4/0 or 4 'Ought') are two entirely different sizes, 4/0 is HUGE, the conductor is bigger than your thumb!

4 AWG, or 4 Ga. (American Wire Gauge) is a thicker vehicle starter cable size.
4 Ga. will have a conductor bundle about the size of a common pencil.
The diagram you linked calls for 4 Ga./4 AWG... NOT 4/0, (0000) AWG.
Most passenger cars use a 8 Ga, or a little thicker 6 Ga, while pickups might have a thicker yet 4 Ga.

Confusing, I know, we all started somewhere...

-----------

'Tinning' the stripped wire ends is NOT soldering them into the terminals.
Soldering the wire bundle into a terminal is a different thing.

'Tinning' simply keeps the bundle of wire strands together, and protects the stripped wire from corrosion.
The wire strands don't 'Fly Off', they don't squish out and bend away from the bundle.
Corrosion protection can also be grease, grease worked into the joint between insulation & wire will keep moisture from entering the insulation/bundle,
And grease in the bundle/terminal keeps the terminal/bundle from corroding without limiting the connection.

'Tinning' a bundle make the 'fly away' wire strands more or less a plug in connector to the lug you show.
Just makes life easier when you go to replace something or want to clean the connections later.

BTW, I am using 4AGW on the other areas

 

[JeepHammer]

BTW, I am using 4AGW on the other areas

Lets do a little math (as I hear people running for the doors & squeeling tires at the mention of math )

12 volt battery X 167 Amps = 2,004 Watts (2,000 Watt Inverter)
That's 0 Ga. (1/0) wire to do safely, on both the positive & negative to the inverter.

12 volt battery x 250 Amps = 3,000 Watts (3,000 watt inverters)
That's 000 Ga. (3/0) wire to do safely, on both the positive & negative to the inverter.

12 volt battery X 334 Amps = 4,008 Watts (4,000 Watt inverter)
0000 Ga. (4/0) has an absolute maximum limit of 312 Amps without heating up in use.
(with no safety margin so everything would have to be done EXACTLY correctly)
Around 280-290 would be the amperage limit on 0000 Ga. (4/0) virgin, 100% copper cable.

-----

This doesn't take into consideration what the specific amp/hour rating of your battery/batteries will be, or what the type of battery you will be using (lead/acid, metal etc) and what your intended DoD will be. (Depth Of Discharge without damaging the battery)

 

[Santa]

Lets do a little math (as I hear people running for the doors & squeeling tires at the mention of math )

12 volt battery X 167 Amps = 2,004 Watts (2,000 Watt Inverter)
That's 0 Ga. (1/0) wire to do safely, on both the positive & negative to the inverter.

12 volt battery x 250 Amps = 3,000 Watts (3,000 watt inverters)
That's 000 Ga. (3/0) wire to do safely, on both the positive & negative to the inverter.

12 volt battery X 334 Amps = 4,008 Watts (4,000 Watt inverter)
0000 Ga. (4/0) has an absolute maximum limit of 312 Amps without heating up in use.
(with no safety margin so everything would have to be done EXACTLY correctly)
Around 280-290 would be the amperage limit on 0000 Ga. (4/0) virgin, 100% copper cable.

-----

This doesn't take into consideration what the specific amp/hour rating of your battery/batteries will be, or what the type of battery you will be using (lead/acid, metal etc) and what your intended DoD will be. (Depth Of Discharge without damaging the battery)

I ordered (2) Battle Born 100Ah lithium batteries. I will start with just those two and not using the starter battery until later I will connect that. Can you please show me the above again with my set up? I am following Will's blueprint exactly. ^ Edit: I plan to expand later with more batteries and possibly a larger inverter.

 

[JeepHammer]

Let's go at this from your end of things,
Exactly what size inverter are you using?
The "Size These Wires For Inverter" and "Size This Circuit Breaker For Inverter" requires we know the size of the inverter...

FOR SAFETY, The battery cables MUST be sized to feed the inverter without heating up, and potentially catching fire.
Likewise, the circuit protection (breaker/fuse) needs to be properly sized.

If you run a 4,000 watt inverter, I can't help since there isn't a common wire size that will support that inverter *IF* you ever draw the entire 4,000 rated Watts,
The load will simply over draw the cables and it's not safe.

In my opinion, the inverter circuit breaker NEEDS to be as close to the battery positive terminal as possible.
The idea of a fuse/breaker is to protect the WIRE/CABLE,
Everything from battery to inverter circuit breaker is unprotected.
*IF* something rubs through and shorts out the unprotected battery cable, there will be burning and molten metal.

Considering the battery you intend to use, I'd mount that breaker on the battery itself since LiFePo4 batteries don't leak acid.
I would screw that inverter breaker to the battery, and then connect the cable from breaker to inverter and the entire cable is circuit breaker protected.

If your batteries aren't going to be in a closet (like under the camper in a battery box), I would armor that cable until it comes up inside the vehicle and immediately attach the breaker, then go to the inverter.
Shit does happen, cable insulation does get rubbed through, critters do chew on it, etc.
A rat gnawing on my cables nearly burned my system down several years ago, so I learned to armor anything that isn't fuse/breaker protected.

 

[Santa]

Let's go at this from your end of things,
Exactly what size inverter are you using?
The "Size These Wires For Inverter" and "Size This Circuit Breaker For Inverter" requires we know the size of the inverter...

FOR SAFETY, The battery cables MUST be sized to feed the inverter without heating up, and potentially catching fire.
Likewise, the circuit protection (breaker/fuse) needs to be properly sized.

If you run a 4,000 watt inverter, I can't help since there isn't a common wire size that will support that inverter *IF* you ever draw the entire 4,000 rated Watts,
The load will simply over draw the cables and it's not safe.

In my opinion, the inverter circuit breaker NEEDS to be as close to the battery positive terminal as possible.
The idea of a fuse/breaker is to protect the WIRE/CABLE,
Everything from battery to inverter circuit breaker is unprotected.
*IF* something rubs through and shorts out the unprotected battery cable, there will be burning and molten metal.

Considering the battery you intend to use, I'd mount that breaker on the battery itself since LiFePo4 batteries don't leak acid.
I would screw that inverter breaker to the battery, and then connect the cable from breaker to inverter and the entire cable is circuit breaker protected.

If your batteries aren't going to be in a closet (like under the camper in a battery box), I would armor that cable until it comes up inside the vehicle and immediately attach the breaker, then go to the inverter.
Shit does happen, cable insulation does get rubbed through, critters do chew on it, etc.
A rat gnawing on my cables nearly burned my system down several years ago, so I learned to armor anything that isn't fuse/breaker protected.

I added the specs at my original post: 2 Battle born 100 Ah, 400 watts solar, 2000/4000PEAK pure sine wave inverter, Renogy DC-DC alternator MPPT Controller (there are 2 fuses and a circuit breaker in Wills blueprint and I'm adding a fusebox too.) May I ask if you looked at the blueprint? What is armoring? Sorry about the rats.