Building a 2.5 kW resistor load bank 

Building and testing a 100A PWM controlled resistive load bank for testing 48 volt batteries. The resistor pack is made up of (16x) 0.25 ohm resistors that can be connected in series, or parallel groups.
The resistor is made from 18 awg Nichrome wire. In ambient (still) air, it starts to glow at 8.5 amps, and is glowing orange at about 14 amps, and at 22 amps it's bright orange. With a forced fan blowing, I was able to draw 22 amps with just a trace of red glow, and 29 amps with an orange glow.
100A (mine died at 60A) solid state relay
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Nichrome wire 18 awg
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Bakelite / Phenolic plate
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Copper bars 10mm wide
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Ammeter 0-50A shunt
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High current disconnect
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