diy solar

diy solar

This Busbar config ok?? (Pic included)

Those look similar to my bus bars from Current Connected.... in the description the small screws you have attached to on those are only rated for 20amps, the bolts are rated much higher.

@HighTechLab It is somewhat misleading that these busbars are listed as "300A" in the title when you have 250A Victron busbars that are 2.5x the cost and could handle that amperage through the busbar itself since it is at least 3x the thickness of those 300A brass ones and it is made of copper.

I think why there is discrepancy in some of these busbars including how Current Connected labels them is you have to stack the battery connections AND the inverter cables on the same studs (and why people in earlier part of this thread said you need to use the studs). When you do that the current can flow directly from battery cable to inverter cable without going through the brass busbar. This is also why when you use those small screw connections it states it is severely limited in the amperage since you can't stack those and it has to travel through a lot of that thin brass busbar.

Seems like it would be a lot clearer if the titles more accurately reflected a difference between them. On Current Connected at least, instead of "300A 4-Stud Bus Bars – Distribution Block w/Cover – Red/Black" it could be "300A stacked 4-Stud Bus Bars – Distribution Block w/Cover – Red/Black". That would at least make people realize there is a difference and look closer at what that means.
 
@HighTechLab It is somewhat misleading that these busbars are listed as "300A" in the title when you have 250A Victron busbars that are 2.5x the cost and could handle that amperage through the busbar itself since it is at least 3x the thickness of those 300A brass ones and it is made of copper.

I think why there is discrepancy in some of these busbars including how Current Connected labels them is you have to stack the battery connections AND the inverter cables on the same studs (and why people in earlier part of this thread said you need to use the studs). When you do that the current can flow directly from battery cable to inverter cable without going through the brass busbar. This is also why when you use those small screw connections it states it is severely limited in the amperage since you can't stack those and it has to travel through a lot of that thin brass busbar.

Seems like it would be a lot clearer if the titles more accurately reflected a difference between them. On Current Connected at least, instead of "300A 4-Stud Bus Bars – Distribution Block w/Cover – Red/Black" it could be "300A stacked 4-Stud Bus Bars – Distribution Block w/Cover – Red/Black". That would at least make people realize there is a difference and look closer at what that means.
You can run 300A through our bars from stud 1 to stud 4. They do not have to be stacked. I have a bank of power supplies and tested it continuously for 24 hours - there were no issues. I was using 4/0 AWG cables.

I think Victron's basic 4/6/8 stud busbars are severely underrated, but they are the ones that get to specify their ratings, not me. I would not hesitate to run 400A through their 250A bars. Victron's 600A bars have double the cross-sectional area as their 1000A Lynx Distributor's bus bars.
 
?
drilling through copper is a nightmare just FYI to anyone/everyone. Get one with holes already lmao
Unless you have a drill press that can go slow
Aw heck, even with a drill press it's pain in the keister... Lot of patience, nice & easy... helps to have 2 blocks to keep the bar in place. I used hardwood and mitered a slot so the bar could slide along and not pop up if the bit caught...
 
Aw heck, even with a drill press it's pain in the keister... Lot of patience, nice & easy... helps to have 2 blocks to keep the bar in place. I used hardwood and mitered a slot so the bar could slide along and not pop up if the bit caught...
Yep it's truly impressive how difficult copper is to drill through. Nobody believes me when I tell them, maybe because it's "soft" like aluminum lol
has some tricks up it's sleeve somehow. Drilling through hardened steel, aluminum, iron, stainless steel, etc all much easier
 
I actually don’t care for either of those buss bars in the video. The brass one is obvious but the bigger one has a major flaw. The bolts sandwich and tighten through the plastic. Plastic over time can flow and that bolts can loosen. Now you can have the same problem you find on cheap fuse holders. Either a thicker buss that’s threaded and/or jam nut/bolt head on the back side so it’s not possible for it to creep loose.
 
Yep it's truly impressive how difficult copper is to drill through. Nobody believes me when I tell them, maybe because it's "soft" like aluminum lol
has some tricks up it's sleeve somehow. Drilling through hardened steel, aluminum, iron, stainless steel, etc all much easier
Use a quality straight flute step drill and keep the speed down. Spiral flutes are more likely to grab in copper.
 
I use PIKE's... That is not a soft crappy plastic, and they don't loosen up. With that statement of yours, implies all busbars like Victrons or Bluesea will have the same issue.
 
Use a quality straight flute step drill and keep the speed down. Spiral flutes are more likely to grab in copper.
yea yea we know special snowflake shit can cut through copper


hahahahaha I didn't know those insanely expensive bus bars use plastic for the screws/bolts sad... that's even more embarrassing to use
 
yea yea we know special snowflake shit can cut through copper


hahahahaha I didn't know those insanely expensive bus bars use plastic for the screws/bolts sad... that's even more embarrassing to use
I make my own, I know it won’t pull through and can also put it in and enclosure with another device like a breaker or shunt.
I use PIKE's... That is not a soft crappy plastic, and they don't loosen up. With that statement of yours, implies all busbars like Victrons or Bluesea will have the same issue.
“PIKE”? Not familiar with that. Do you mean Peek?
 
1-918zj0EXaEL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

 
Tks for pointing these out. No matter the search terms I couldn't find this style on Amazon.

Drilling metal isn't the issue for me, unless it's stainless. Tks again for all the input everyone!
I had that trouble first looking too. Not sure why. After I finally found them there were tons in the related searches
those don't need to be drilled they have holes already, stainless is massively easier to drill than copper
 
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