Getting rid of the buss bars

[Dclare52]

I am not finding what I am looking for.
I am building a 12 volt battery box for camping and running ham radios in off locations.
I am not fond of the buss bars to connect the battery posts together, I can see something being dropped on them and shorting the system.
I know that I can use wires in lieu of the bars, but am confused as to the size wire I will need.
I have some 6 gauge wire that I was planning on using instead of the bars.
Will this be sufficient to carry the current between the batteries.
I am using 4 3.2 volt 280 ah LiFePo4 batteries for this project.
I am new to all of this, so the nomenclature may not be correct. I hope that you can look around that part and still be able to answer my question.

 

[Zapper77]

Put heat shrink over the entire bus bar. Use a razor to trim away the heat shrink material where the bolt contacts the bus bar and where it touches the battery terminal.

 

[Q-Dog]

Can you put a cover on the box?

 

[Dclare52]

Can you put a cover on the box?

I will eventually actually have it in a wooden box.

 

[Dclare52]

Put heat shrink over the entire bus bar. Use a razor to trim away the heat shrink material where the bolt contacts the bus bar and where it touches the battery terminal.

I have thought about this as a solution, but am still wondering about what size wire I would use to just eliminate the buss bars.

 

[Poncho67]

Are you connecting between 4 cells inside of one battery, or between 4 batteries?

 

[JRH]

I am not finding what I am looking for.
I am building a 12 volt battery box for camping and running ham radios in off locations.
I am not fond of the buss bars to connect the battery posts together, I can see something being dropped on them and shorting the system.
I know that I can use wires in lieu of the bars, but am confused as to the size wire I will need.
I have some 6 gauge wire that I was planning on using instead of the bars.
Will this be sufficient to carry the current between the batteries.
I am using 4 3.2 volt 280 ah LiFePo4 batteries for this project.
I am new to all of this, so the nomenclature may not be correct. I hope that you can look around that part and still be able to answer my question.

Buy some 1/8 inch thick rubber sheets .. cut out a shape to fit and cover the posts , or use a plexiglass stand off shield… or buy rubber boots made for your needs… good bussbars are wonderfull to have, especially if your going to expand ….. buy larger ones than you need at the present…
everyone always grow…everyone always needs extra posts.….at least I have.
J.

 

[chrisski]

The 6 AWG wire may work if the load AND charge is low.

Because of wire ampacity, at 12 volts, I’d not plan on running more than 500 watts with 6 AWG wire.

Also, that includes charging.

If you can limit charging and discharging to 50 amps, than yes.

I’d need to be cautious about that. There is some Wiggle Room that higher insulation rated wire could give more amps.

I’d recommend you look at a case for the battery. These are pricey, but after my experience building my own, I’ll use that next time

 

[mikefitz]

can use wires in lieu of the bars,

You need a low resistance connection between cells, this needs quality buss bars with correctly torqued terminals. Many cell suppliers offer suitable buss bars.
Note you will need a BMS for the battery.
Useful advice here,

Overkill Solar – More is Better…

overkillsolar.com

 

[Dclare52]

Are you connecting between 4 cells inside of one battery, or between 4 batteries?

Between 4 cells.

 

[Dclare52]

You need a low resistance connection between cells, this needs quality buss bars with correctly torqued terminals. Many cell suppliers offer suitable buss bars.
Note you will need a BMS for the battery.
Useful advice here,

Overkill Solar – More is Better…

overkillsolar.com

Thanks, I do have a BMS.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I am not fond of the buss bars to connect the battery posts together, I can see something being dropped on them and shorting the system.

They shouldn't be exposed. Put a cover over top. I don't care if you have wires or bus bars, there is still risk if something is dropped on top (a screwdriver will easily short across cell terminals minus bus bars, you know Murphy's Law). Put a cover on top!

 

[Dclare52]

They shouldn't be exposed. Put a cover over top. I don't care if you have wires or bus bars, there is still risk if something is dropped on top (a screwdriver will easily short across cell terminals minus bus bars, you know Murphy's Law). Put a cover on top!

Easier said than done. I will figure something out. No one seems to be able to answer the question anyway. I know that I have seen a lot of builds with wires instead of bus bars, it just never tells the size of the wires connecting the cells.
My other thought is that it will be easier to tape over, cover up just the terminals with wires than with bus bars.
Thank everyone for the time they took to answer my questions and with your help.

 

[Dclare52]

The 6 AWG wire may work if the load AND charge is low.

Because of wire ampacity, at 12 volts, I’d not plan on running more than 500 watts with 6 AWG wire.

Also, that includes charging.

If you can limit charging and discharging to 50 amps, than yes.

I’d need to be cautious about that. There is some Wiggle Room that higher insulation rated wire could give more amps.

I’d recommend you look at a case for the battery. These are pricey, but after my experience building my own, I’ll use that next time

My EPever MPPT solar charge controller is 150 volts, 60 amps. I have not bought my panels yet, but the charge controller for 12 volts can take 740 watts.. I was planning on getting 2 400 watt panels, figuring I would probably not get 100% out of them very often.
The wires would only be used to ties the 4 3.2 volt cells together. They are 280ah cells.
Thank you for that reply, it actually answers my question to a great extent.

 

[BobR]

I am not finding what I am looking for.
I am building a 12 volt battery box for camping and running ham radios in off locations.
I am not fond of the buss bars to connect the battery posts together, I can see something being dropped on them and shorting the system.
I know that I can use wires in lieu of the bars, but am confused as to the size wire I will need.
I have some 6 gauge wire that I was planning on using instead of the bars.
Will this be sufficient to carry the current between the batteries.
I am using 4 3.2 volt 280 ah LiFePo4 batteries for this project.
I am new to all of this, so the nomenclature may not be correct. I hope that you can look around that part and still be able to answer m

Add up your current usage 'amps x volts = watts' . https://www.cerrowire.com/products/resources/tables-calculators/ampacity-charts/

 

[SparkyJJO]

Easier said than done. I will figure something out. No one seems to be able to answer the question anyway. I know that I have seen a lot of builds with wires instead of bus bars, it just never tells the size of the wires connecting the cells.
My other thought is that it will be easier to tape over, cover up just the terminals with wires than with bus bars.
Thank everyone for the time they took to answer my questions and with your help.

Well there isn't enough info available.
How many amps is your BMS capable of? What is your load and charge rate going to be? That will determine what size of wire/bus bar you'll need.

And how hard is it really to throw some sort of insulator over top of the pack? I mean heck, even sticking an upside down cardboard box over the cells would prevent a dropped screwdriver from shorting out stuff (ask me how I know, I have one over top of my currently disconnected pack!)

 

[Dclare52]

Well there isn't enough info available.
How many amps is your BMS capable of? What is your load and charge rate going to be? That will determine what size of wire/bus bar you'll need.

And how hard is it really to throw some sort of insulator over top of the pack? I mean heck, even sticking an upside down cardboard box over the cells would prevent a dropped screwdriver from shorting out stuff (ask me how I know, I have one over top of my currently disconnected pack!)

150 amp bms

 

[Dclare52]

Well there isn't enough info available.
How many amps is your BMS capable of? What is your load and charge rate going to be? That will determine what size of wire/bus bar you'll need.

And how hard is it really to throw some sort of insulator over top of the pack? I mean heck, even sticking an upside down cardboard box over the cells would prevent a dropped screwdriver from shorting out stuff (ask me how I know, I have one over top of my currently disconnected pack!)

I will either use a 20 amp LiFePo4 battery charger from the grid, or am planning on buying a couple of 400 watt solar panels. The MPPT charge controller is capable of 740 watt input on 12 volts. I really did not know that the wires connecting the cells together was that big of a deal (NEWBIE!!!). I thought it would be a simple answer of yes or no! LOL
Little did I know, but have learned a lot from the answers I have gotten.
Thanks.

 

[400bird]

150 amp bms

If you plan to use a significant portion of the available 150 amps, no, 6 awg is not large enough.

 

[Dclare52]

If you plan to use a significant portion of the available 150 amps, no, 6 awg is not large enough.

I will be running a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter with it, mainly to use lights, fans, and very small appliances while camping, I will also be using it to power my ham radio when out camping, they run about 25-30 amps.