Bending Copper Bus Bars

[guidecca]

What is the best way to connect the battery positive and battery negative terminals (BC0 and BC8) on the cells to the BMS and the + bus bar? I want to bend the copper bus bars to 90 degrees, run a 3/8" stainless bolt through the wooden compression wall for the bus bars for battery positive and battery negative, connect 1/0 awg wire to each and run both wires out a hole in the battery box. From there to the fuse, bus bar, or fuse and BMS. Is there a good way to bend the copper? Can it be heated and bent?

 

[JRH]

What is the best way to connect the + and - terminals (BC0 and BC8) on the cells to the BMS and the + bus bar? I want to bend the copper bus bars to 90 degrees, run a 3/8" stainless steel bolt through the wooden compression wall & through the + and - 90 degree bus bar, and connect my 1/0 awg or 3/0 awg wire there and run it out a hole in the battery box. Is there a good way to bend the copper? Can it be heated and bent?

comment deleted…J.

 

[Coaldust]

Copper will go soft to bend if you heat it to near red color and quinch in water, it will work harden if bent cold.

 

[JRH]

Copper will go soft to bend if you heat it to near red color and quinch in water, it will work harden if bent cold.

If I understand what you wrote , you don’t want to work harden it. That is stressing it and creates breaks and voids in its molecular structure.. .Harding is done after the shaping and bending… sorta like ironing cloths .. once they are heated and pressed they cool and hold thier shape..

 

[Coaldust]

Worked with copper in my blacksmith shop to make ornamental items and even after a short period of hammering on copper would go back to the fire and heat it and then cool in water to soften it so as not to have it crack or split when shaping it.

 

[JRH]

Worked with copper in my blacksmith shop to make ornamental items and even after a short period of hammering on copper would go back to the fire and heat it and then cool in water to soften it so as not to have it crack or split when shaping it.

Yeah …ok cool, we’re saying the same thing.. true with gold , silver, iron steel… , and probably many other metals…

 

[Ellcon123]

Opposite. Copper goes soft with quenching and you slow cool or work it to harden.

 

[JRH]

Opposite. Copper goes soft with quenching and you slow cool or work it to harden.

Nope.. but partially true .the OP was asking about bending large lugs .and heating them first.. work hardening with a hammer would not apply to his scenario… but if you want a metal to continue its workability it cools slowly then is work hardened by striking or flexing ,to a point and then repeated… yes it will slowly regain some if it’s durability and hardness cooling but we are getting off in the weeds about detailed definitions…and what is defined as what…

without getting into a metallurgical discussion , you can bend a 4/0 lug in a vice and not heat it .. but you are causing stresses in the material. you can do a better job if you heat it then let it cool and and use it… I just did about 20 large lugs bent 90 degrees that way this spring..

 

[Ellcon123]

Quenched Copper is soft while most other metals go hard.

 

[JRH]

Quenched Copper is soft while most other metals go hard.

in some cases with some alloys ….Copper is soft anyway… so is gold and others too ….we are not talking about the same definitions and and results …
I will say this and end it from my side, so much more goes into what we’re talking about than a one sentence blanket statement generally can cover well…
there are many variables that come into play making it impossible to speak in absolutes without considering all other applicable conditions that “may “ apply. It can get very geeky.
but , thx.J.

 

[JRH]

Worked with copper in my blacksmith shop to make ornamental items and even after a short period of hammering on copper would go back to the fire and heat it and then cool in water to soften it so as not to have it crack or split when shaping it.

That’s A way, not THE only way… but thanks.

 

[TacomaJoe]

Bending copper aside, I don't like the 3/8" bolt as a current path.

 

[guidecca]

What are the LiFePO4 battery terminals made of? The 3/8" stainless steel bolts hold the 1/0 awg lug down onto a copper bus bar. How much resistance is present? The only equivalent copper bolts were for sale on E-Bay. The big box stores have copper split bolts.

 

[TacomaJoe]

What are the LiFePO4 battery terminals made of? The 3/8" stainless steel bolts hold the 1/0 awg lug down onto a copper bus bar. How much resistance is present? The only equivalent copper bolts were for sale on E-Bay. The big box stores have copper split bolts.

I was thinking the bent bus was on the inside and the wire lug was on the outside. You don't want a copper bolt, it will stretch. Holding a lug to a bar doesn't need any conductivity (it's all about surface area/tension).