080121/1543h PST 🇺🇸 Thank you for the video demonstrating how to make busbar. Good job. A lot of effort have been put into preparing the busbar base, the 4mm Cu busbar, the 6mm bolts, washers and nuts. The home made Al lugs look good too. Remember two dissimilar metals ( especially Cu/Al combination) may cause chemical reaction at the contact area ( with the aid of moisture ) and form oxides. This, in turn, will make the contact area more resistive and builds up heat etc etc. Therefore Pure Cu lugs are highly recommended. Also it’s preferred to use SS bolts and washers and nuts. SS is impervious to oxidation Once again, thank you for your demonstration. Stay safe and 73s…
What about the resistivity of stainless steel bolts, washers and nuts ? It is 40 times higher than copper while carbon steel is only 8 times that of copper.
What I don’t like is the fact that when you tighten your top nut, the process will have a very good chance of causing the threaded bolt to back out slightly. This will lead to a loose connection. Loose connections heat up. And it’s heating up on A PIECE OF WOOD! Of course I can’t see the fire from my house. Best solution is to mount the bus bar on insulated posts so you can get a wrench on the bottom bolt and prevent it from loosening.
Thanks for the inspiration! I've been thinking of making my own bus bar. I was hoping to use a high density self extinguishing plastic base however. I think perhaps that the bolts could be further secured with a bolt at the base. I appreciate your video sir.
Addendum to the previous comment, I wish to point out that the use of organic dielectric material (wood) may cause yet another issue, as wood will absorb moisture and cause issues to the high current. Like you said, Perspex or Phenolic fiber (15mm) my be used replacing the organic material. My thought…… Best wishes…
HDPE aka cutting boards (the material has natural anti-microbial properties) make for an EXCELLENT all weather mounting material. In fact, it's widely used in the marine/boating industry and relabeled as "Star-board". Witty huh? The term starboard is a marine term and the material comes in a sheet or "board" form. LOL! It's salt, UV, and warpage resistant. It has an almost waxy feel so you're not going to be able to paint it. You can find it on ebay and suppliers in many different colors that are added when making the plastic. It's also very good for making speaker adapter rings for vehicles.
I'm going to be out of luck when I need a bus bar during the zombie apocalypse, because I won't happen to have a copper bar of the right shape already.
😅 You had better prepare one right now then! Also aluminium works very well and does not rust like the copper. Thanks for watching the video and for your comment. Much appreciated! 👍
Unfortunately I don't have more of the alu pipe that I used. But I mere took a piece of alu pipe and squeezed the one end flat in a vise and the drilled a hole in that part. I hope this helps?
Hi Sonny, thank you for your feedback and support! Luckily for me, the bar does not get nearly hot enough to set the wooden block on fire. It is also a hardwood and would require a greater temperature to catch fire. I do however reckon that this could be a hazard in a large setup, but for my smaller setup it works fine. 👌
If I may add something here, if you have too much heat you have resistance, so make the buss bars for the amps you need, and don't forget that inverters draw a lot of amps , a 3000 watt inverter can draw up to 300 amps at 12 volts
Hi, some advice, I need to extend an equipotential bar, is it possible to join it with two 8 bolts instead of doing it all over again? or is it not recommended? Thank you
Hi, depending on the purpose and total current requirements that your entire system needs, I would reckon it should work if they are thick and big enough.
@@DIYwithDeon the bars are 3mm thick and 2cm wide, I basically have to remove the fuse after the battery positive to connect them directly to the hunt, so as to put the fuse after the shunt, I have a 2p16s battery pack
They probably can be, but mine are still working fine. I have replaced the lugs with copper lugs when I changed the cables, but the bolts and copper bar are still good. 👌🏻
Hi Matthew, in my setup it remains nice and cool. There is no extra heat generated from the lugs or the busbar. And from another point I feel that the connections are more stable than all of them put together on a battery terminal. Thank you so much for your feedback and support! 👌
This find was pure luck. I at first thought that it was a sort of alloy, and only once I started sanding it, I saw that it was actually copper. I would suggest having a look at your local scrap or salvage yard for a piece of coated copper or aluminum as it does not rust as much as copper. That would most probably be the cheapest solution if you do not have a piece of this metal laying around. 👍
