I've been reading about battery buss bars, and I've seen mention of Ox Gard (Or NCP2? Is that similar?) and similar greases that sometimes have to be applied between contact points, particularly between cells in a battery. Is there a resource I should be reading to understand this better, because I'm think I might only know enough to be dangerous...
Anyhow, here are the specific questions I have on that topic.
1) I've got some tin-coated copper buss bars to connect the cells of my DIY battery. They came with the battery, and I basically have enough buss bars to double them up--which I will do, because otherwise they'll be too small for the 200 A max capacity that I'm designing it for. My understanding is that when I double them up (by putting two together and wrapping their middle in heat shrink wrap) I don't need to put ox gard or anything between them because tin-coated copper won't oxidize.
2) The battery terminals are...ok I'm not sure yet, but I suspect aluminum (I'm waiting to hear from Michael B Caro on where the spec sheet is). If the terminals are aluminum, and the nuts included with the terminals are stainless steel, and the buss bars are tinned copper, do I need to be concerned with corrosion anywhere in that sandwich? Do I need to use Ox Gard (or NCP2?) where these things touch one another?
3) I've read about people using loctite on the terminal nuts. If the terminal is aluminum is that something I should be doing? I assume we're talking blue loctite unless I do the "threaded rod plus bolt and washer" thing in which case it's red?
4) Is there anywhere else in my electrical system that I should be using Ox Gard or something similar? Or should will my crimp connectors use tinned copper or something that doesn't require ox gard? What about using Ox Gard et on the inside of a crimped connection? Is that just overkill?
5) What is the effect of something like Ox Gard on the desired torque? It reduces the friction so does that mean I need to tighten those nuts/bolts with more force than is originally recommended? If so, what's the rule of thumb?
6) Since I won't be using just one metal for the batttery connections, do I need to worry about corrosion prior to the death of the batteries in, say 17 years (I understand the LiFePO4 cells I've got would last for about 10 years if I used them every day...but it's entirely possible that in a few years they won't be used every day). If so, is this something that would be fixed with more Ox Gard?
Anyhow, here are the specific questions I have on that topic.
1) I've got some tin-coated copper buss bars to connect the cells of my DIY battery. They came with the battery, and I basically have enough buss bars to double them up--which I will do, because otherwise they'll be too small for the 200 A max capacity that I'm designing it for. My understanding is that when I double them up (by putting two together and wrapping their middle in heat shrink wrap) I don't need to put ox gard or anything between them because tin-coated copper won't oxidize.
2) The battery terminals are...ok I'm not sure yet, but I suspect aluminum (I'm waiting to hear from Michael B Caro on where the spec sheet is). If the terminals are aluminum, and the nuts included with the terminals are stainless steel, and the buss bars are tinned copper, do I need to be concerned with corrosion anywhere in that sandwich? Do I need to use Ox Gard (or NCP2?) where these things touch one another?
3) I've read about people using loctite on the terminal nuts. If the terminal is aluminum is that something I should be doing? I assume we're talking blue loctite unless I do the "threaded rod plus bolt and washer" thing in which case it's red?
4) Is there anywhere else in my electrical system that I should be using Ox Gard or something similar? Or should will my crimp connectors use tinned copper or something that doesn't require ox gard? What about using Ox Gard et on the inside of a crimped connection? Is that just overkill?
5) What is the effect of something like Ox Gard on the desired torque? It reduces the friction so does that mean I need to tighten those nuts/bolts with more force than is originally recommended? If so, what's the rule of thumb?
6) Since I won't be using just one metal for the batttery connections, do I need to worry about corrosion prior to the death of the batteries in, say 17 years (I understand the LiFePO4 cells I've got would last for about 10 years if I used them every day...but it's entirely possible that in a few years they won't be used every day). If so, is this something that would be fixed with more Ox Gard?
