1200 Amp bus bars?

[Darcy Costa Rica]

Hello, this is my first post. I recently ordered a system with 2 battery racks capable of outputting 600 amps each. They need to be joined to connect to the inverters. The vendor said I needed to source 1200 Amp bus bars, but so far I have not been able to find any. I'm sure they are out there. Any leads would be appreciated.

 

[John Frum]

Hello, this is my first post. I recently ordered a system with 2 battery racks capable of outputting 600 amps each. They need to be joined to connect to the inverters. The vendor said I needed to source 1200 Amp bus bars, but so far I have not been able to find any. I'm sure they are out there. Any leads would be appreciated.

Please provide a product link to the inverter.
Also to the battery and rack.

 

[OzSolar]

Welcome!

Could you provide a bit more detail on your set up? A battery rack capable of 600 amps would be rather uncommon. Is each rack six 48v batteries in parallel? If that was the case you've likely got a battery rack capable of 100 amps continuous.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Welcome!

Could you provide a bit more detail on your set up? A battery rack capable of 600 amps would be rather uncommon. Is each rack six 48v batteries in parallel? If that was the case you've likely got a battery rack capable of 100 amps continuous.

6x 100a BMS's is capable of 600a continuous, no?

 

[John Frum]

Is that 1200 amps continuous or fault?

 

[629658]

6x 100a BMS's is capable of 600a continuous, no?

Correct however what system out there is capable of pulling 600a continuous?

 

[Lt.Dan]

Correct however what system out there is capable of pulling 600a continuous?

2x Sol Ark 15k's will do it. But idk what loads would require that, especially because they have 2x 600a packs, meaning 1200a continuous.

Blue Sea makes a 1000a Bus Bar. But again, We need more info on the system to know what to recommend.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/category/18/111/BusBars/PowerBar_1000

 

[629658]

2x Sol Ark 15k's will do it. But idk what loads would require that, especially because they have 2x 600a packs, meaning 1200a continuous.

Blue Sea makes a 1000a Bus Bar. But again, We need more info on the system to know what to recommend.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/category/18/111/BusBars/PowerBar_1000

Sol Ark 15 is 275 A max each I thought

 

[Lt.Dan]

14,000-14,300w at 275a depending on batt voltage. So its pretty close. Either way, what loads would you have to power to do that continuously??

 

[629658]

14,000-14,300w at 275a depending on batt voltage. So its pretty close. Either way, what loads would you have to power to do that continuously??

Can’t imagine anything residential.

 

[629658]

The Victron Power In is another option. Bought for around $150 on Amazon and it solved a lot of issues for me. I couldn’t construct both a negative and positive bus bar for that.

 

[Danke]

Sol Ark 15 is 275 A max each I thought

Yep.

 

[Darcy Costa Rica]

Hi, thank you for all the replies. I had no idea this board was so active.

I purchased the 13.6KW system from Signature Solar. It comes with 6 100Ah batteries, and I bought an additional 6 in a second rack.

Schneider Kit with 2 XW Pro

Extra battery rack

It was the sales rep at Signature who suggested I needed the 1200A bus bar.

 

[John Frum]

Hi, thank you for all the replies. I had no idea this board was so active.

I purchased the 13.6KW system from Signature Solar. It comes with 6 100Ah batteries, and I bought an additional 6 in a second rack.

Schneider Kit with 2 XW Pro

Extra battery rack

It was the sales rep at Signature who suggested I needed the 1200A bus bar.

Sig Solar strikes again.

 

[kromc5]

At 11600w I see around 198 amps, I'm using .25 copper plate. Looks like they are listed 6800W each so the max amps would be just slightly more than what I see.

Found my camera: 3rd image is my blue sea 1000 amp busbars I use to combine the batteries, scc, inverters.

Ampacities of copper and aluminum busbars comparison table.

Ampacities of copper and aluminum busbars comparison table.

diysolarforum.com

 

[629658]

Well I would size my Bus bars according to max load and then some. For me I have a Sol Ark 15 (275 A max). I currently have 4 230Ah batteries (soon to be 6). Each battery BMS can output 200a. So I wouldn’t need an 800 amp bus bar although my bus bar is rated at 1000a. When I get my additional 2 batteries using their logic I would need 1200 a bus bars which is incorrect. The wire would fail way before the bus bars went. So size your bus bars to the max load of the inverter with some headroom.

 

[OzSolar]

6x 100a BMS's is capable of 600a continuous, no?

Totally, but given the context I had a theory that ended up being what I thought was going on. Cheers!

 

[629658]

At 11600w I see around 198 amps, I'm using .25 copper plate. Looks like they are listed 6800W each so the max amps would be just slightly more than what I see.

Ampacities of copper and aluminum busbars comparison table.

Ampacities of copper and aluminum busbars comparison table.

diysolarforum.com

At 11333w I’m seeing 206 amps on my system. Looks like yours may be a little more efficient than mine

 

[kromc5]

At 11333w I’m seeing 206 amps on my system. Looks like yours may be a little more efficient than mine

That is interesting they are still very close, mine are the growatt 12k inverters.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Battery voltage will play a big part in that. Current difference from 48v to 56v is a big difference.

 

[Quattrohead]

Poor guy only asked if anyone knew of a source of 1200 amp bus LOL.
The Victron bus system is the best you can buy.

 

[Darcy Costa Rica]

Sig Solar strikes again.

Is this good or bad?

I know there are an infinite number of options for solar but I chose this system. I will need to live with it. Hopefully, it will serve my needs in Costa Rica. I will be assembling it myself, so you may get tired of my posts.

One of the reasons I purchased it this way is the duty in Costa Rica. Separate components (batteries) have 46% duty. If they are part of a kit, the duty is 13%. Huge difference when buying 2 racks.

 

[John Frum]

Is this good or bad?

I know there are an infinite number of options for solar but I chose this system. I will need to live with it. Hopefully, it will serve my needs in Costa Rica. I will be assembling it myself, so you may get tired of my posts.

One of the reasons I purchased it this way is the duty in Costa Rica. Separate components (batteries) have 46% duty. If they are part of a kit, the duty is 13%. Huge difference when buying 2 racks.

Sig Solar sales and support drop the ball more often than a blind basketball team.
Hopefully that is just growing pains.

The kit comes with a PDP(power distribution panel).
I would like to see what is in the PDP before we start to make balance of system purchases.
Also as has been already said you don't need 1200 amps.
800 fault amps(640 service amps) would be fine.

 

[629658]

You will be ok in the end we are haggling over semantics. I would have made the same decision. 50 ways to skin that cat

 

[John Frum]

Sig Solar sales and support drop the ball more often than a blind basketball team.

To be fair we mostly see the failures and not the successes.