bus bar depth and cable diameter

[Stiffmeister]

Is .250 x 1" tinned copper acceptable for making bus bars? There is an option of .1875 x 1" but copper only. I'm pulling the cells out of of my SHUNBIN 12v batteries and making a 48v setup with Overkill Solar 16s BMS. Considering that this setup is 100 amps max drawing from battery bank, is 2/0 battery cables an acceptable size? My original solar setup came with 4/0 cables for the main +/- to inverter (I now have two Outback Inverters). Charging these four batteries in series with the original BMS, it was feeding over 2000 watts and the positive connector would get warm.

 

[HRTKD]

3/16" x 1" will work. The DC Bus Bar Ampacity table in the link below does not have 3/16", but it does have 1/8" and lists a minimum ampacity of 271. That should be plenty for your battery considering a max draw of 100 amps.

Electrical: Busbar - DC Copper Busbar Ampacities

The following tables have been provided by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), T1 Committee, and represent ampacities for busbar sizes and arrangements typically found in the telecommunications industry.

www.copper.org

 

[msmorrell]

Here are a few bus-bar ampacity charts.
Busbar Wateredge
Storm Power
Busbar Ampacity

 

[Stiffmeister]

I didn't go with less than 1/4" because it wasn't the tinned copper bar. Ordered after another guy was ordering the same thing today and sent a message. Thanks.

 

[Stiffmeister]

Nice find on the busbar info...saved on laptop.

 

[time2roll]

1/4" x 1" is 250,000 mils compared to 4/0 is 211,000 mils

 

[Just John]

Is .250 x 1" tinned copper acceptable for making bus bars? There is an option of .1875 x 1" but copper only. I'm pulling the cells out of of my SHUNBIN 12v batteries and making a 48v setup with Overkill Solar 16s BMS. Considering that this setup is 100 amps max drawing from battery bank, is 2/0 battery cables an acceptable size? My original solar setup came with 4/0 cables for the main +/- to inverter (I now have two Outback Inverters). Charging these four batteries in series with the original BMS, it was feeding over 2000 watts and the positive connector would get warm.

Likely the busbar that came with the cells is fine for 100 amps. 1/4 inch by 1 inch is overkill, but should give no problems. Just make sure the connection to the terminals are good.

 

[Stiffmeister]

Likely the busbar that came with the cells is fine for 100 amps. 1/4 inch by 1 inch is overkill, but should give no problems. Just make sure the connection to the terminals are good.

bus bars were hacksawed aluminum.