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Battery bus bars for 280Ah EVE cells?

RobOfYork

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Mar 28, 2021
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I have 4 280Ah EVE LiFePo4 cells to be wired to a 12v battery configuration. I need to get bus bars to connect the cells together.

The BMS to be attached to the battery is a 250A BMS.

The battery cells came with 4 bus bars but I keep reading they are not that good. Also I need enough bus bars to top balance the cells anyway.

What bus bars are recommended and where can I buy them?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
More than likely you got 15mm or 20mm wide X 2mm thick tinned copper bars which is the usual. These can take 200A but not for long.
You can use them as drilling templates and just buy pure 110 Copper Bar Stock and make your own.

I used: COPPER C110 FLAT BAR ASTM-B133 0.125" x 0.750" which is 3.1mm X 19mm.

Where to Buy: Depends where you are.
I bought mine from a Metal Shop in the big city and had then cut the barstock to length and send it out by courier to me (did not feel like driving 8 hours), then a Drill Press to make the holes and a file to remove the burrs and ridges.

Remember, always wiped off & clean connection points, there are cutting oils & waxes used to protect the metals (cell terminals too) and that can cause havoc with readings.
 
How many amps are you going to actually pull from the battery? If it's only 100 amps (or so), then the stock bus bars are fine.
 
How many amps are you going to actually pull from the battery? If it's only 100 amps (or so), then the stock bus bars are fine.
I'm not sure and never will be. What I want to plan for is if someone decides to plug something in that should not have been that the bars don't give me a problem. I want the BMS to do it's job before the bus bars melt or something.

I have no problem paying more to oversize everything for safety.
 
 
More than likely you got 15mm or 20mm wide X 2mm thick tinned copper bars which is the usual. These can take 200A but not for long.
You can use them as drilling templates and just buy pure 110 Copper Bar Stock and make your own.

I used: COPPER C110 FLAT BAR ASTM-B133 0.125" x 0.750" which is 3.1mm X 19mm.

Where to Buy: Depends where you are.
I bought mine from a Metal Shop in the big city and had then cut the barstock to length and send it out by courier to me (did not feel like driving 8 hours), then a Drill Press to make the holes and a file to remove the burrs and ridges.

Remember, always wiped off & clean connection points, there are cutting oils & waxes used to protect the metals (cell terminals too) and that can cause havoc with readings.
Are you not concerned with putting raw copper on the aluminum terminals?
 
Are you not concerned with putting raw copper on the aluminum terminals?
No issues, I put a Very Wee Dab of OxGuard on there and zero issues. I have some packs with straight clear copper & others with Tinned bars and never had a problem.

BUT, I am offgrid residential. I have a Heated Powerhouse which is also my Pumphouse. The structure is also hyper-insulated with solid foam core insulation & thermally broken walls. (That was the 1st prototype for my house which is a passive-haus design). Therefore there is little humidity and it is quite controlled.
 
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