Stingy49
Solar Tinkerer
So I've been trying to figure out how to make my own custom size bus bars and while Will's idea about hammering copper tubing is effective I wanted something that looks a little nicer.
I came across 1/16" and 1/8" by 1/2" copper strips at onlinemetals.com for reasonable prices. $7.01 and $12.55 for a 6 foot length. Has ~$20 shipping though
I then saw they have 1/8" by 1/2" aluminium for $2.63 for a 6 foot length. Still has the same shipping. Looking on Wikipedia it looks like aluminium's resistance is roughly 2x that of copper but we're still talking micro ohms (not milli) for a 2 inch long bar. I also saw a blog post from Schneider Electric about aluminium being used in modern bus bars.
I think I might pick up a few bars, 3d print a jig to cut them all the same length, and then print another jig as a drill guide and make some for my 25ah cells.
I'd love to hear anybody's thoughts on this.
-Derek
I came across 1/16" and 1/8" by 1/2" copper strips at onlinemetals.com for reasonable prices. $7.01 and $12.55 for a 6 foot length. Has ~$20 shipping though
I then saw they have 1/8" by 1/2" aluminium for $2.63 for a 6 foot length. Still has the same shipping. Looking on Wikipedia it looks like aluminium's resistance is roughly 2x that of copper but we're still talking micro ohms (not milli) for a 2 inch long bar. I also saw a blog post from Schneider Electric about aluminium being used in modern bus bars.
I think I might pick up a few bars, 3d print a jig to cut them all the same length, and then print another jig as a drill guide and make some for my 25ah cells.
I'd love to hear anybody's thoughts on this.
-Derek