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Possible. Buss Bar solution for DIY

Micky

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Feb 4, 2021
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Looking through the Galco website at the various flexible buss bars they offer, I came across this:


It's a multilayer, flexible, insulated, tinned copper bar. Prices vary with the Amp capacity but for $50-70 you get 2 meters with a 200A rating. You might get 20-30 buss bars for that. It can be cut with shears, terminal holes made with a punch or a drill, and it can also be bent, twisted and otherwise shaped to fit any unusual configurations. Granted that cutting the insulation off for the area to be punched is probably fiddly but I would guess its still easier than the alternative methods I've seen and tried.

It's a European product and so has both very comprehensive testing data and a dizzying array of matching components and tools. The tools are insanely expensive and I'm sure out of range for most of us, especially for someone needing only a small lot. Though maybe the manual insulation cutting knife would be worth it. However it does sound like it's easy to work with using conventional tools. Not sure if there is enough flexibility in the material itself over a short run between battery terminals but simple to stamp a curve into the middle. And because of the flexibility it would not require super high precision hole spacing or length.

I've ordered some and will experiment. I'm also thinking that this could replace heavy wire for the battery wires. Set one end, bend and shape the bar to the destination terminal and punch a hole in that end.... No trying to force heavy wire into bends and odd spaces, no terminals or crimping tools needed, no stressed crimp joints and a nice flat connecter to work around. I'll report back once I've tried it.
 
I ordered some Braided Flexible busbars from them a while back, the price (at sale) was fine but as I could not pick courier etc... by the time it was all said & done I paid 2-1/2 times the cost. Shipped from US to Canada, only option was their choice UPS. IF possible try to locate similar locally or from an EBay/Amazon vendor with better S&H.
 
In a restrained cell arrangement, has anyone had problems with solid busbars?
 
In a restrained cell arrangement, has anyone had problems with solid busbars?
All of my packs have the cells bound with Fibretape, with the cell blocks (blocks of 4) installed into snug plywood cases. Charged & Discharged lightly & heavily, even a bit abused during the Thrash Testing, no issues. * Serrated Washers are better than split ring btw.
 
All of my packs have the cells bound with Fibretape, with the cell blocks (blocks of 4) installed into snug plywood cases. Charged & Discharged lightly & heavily, even a bit abused during the Thrash Testing, no issues. * Serrated Washers are better than split ring btw.

Is that using the flexible or solid busbars?
 
I use solid busbars within the packs.
280AH & a pair of 175AH

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Thanks for sharing. I use the same method, cells restrained and solid bars - have never seen an issue with this setup so not sure on the need for flexible links?
 
I did get the bus bar but have been too busy to experiment with it yet. I will post details when i do have the time. And its not so much about flexibility but ease of making custom tinned bars.
 
Finally got the chance to use some of the Galco solid copper flexible bus bar. I'll post a few fotos later as I'm having trouble transferring them w/ Bluetooth. I haven't used it for my battery bus bar yet but have used it instead of cable and crimped terminals for some of the connections on my main panel. Batteries are next. So far it's been really handy. You can bend it any way you want to make tidy and semi-rigid connections at different heights, angles etc. Not needing crimped terminals means the overall length of the connections can be much shorter, especially when replacing heavy wire. And since all you need to do is drill a hole to install the bar over a post you don't need a variety of terminals and heavy crimping tools, just a few drill bits.

Cutting the insulation is easy and if done carefully gives a nice clean edge, bending is easy by clamping the body down under a piece of wood and using vice grips on the end of the bar. Incidentally I clamped the bar between paint stirring sticks to protect the insulation when bending it. I tried heavy duty scissor type shears first then bought a set of cheap bolt cutters from Harbor Freight. They work perfectly for cutting the bar. Drilling the terminal post holes was best done with the bar sandwiched between two pieces of wood clamped down to the table and drilling through the wood. That gives a nice clean hole. If you don't clamp it the drill bit can suddenly bind in the soft copper and the sharp ends of the bar become whirling knives of fury. A piece of clear perspex/plexiglass on top with a pre-drilled hole the needed size would be better so you could see exactly where you're drilling.

This experiment wasn't about flexibility between batteries in the final installation and I don't care about that debate at all. So please don't clog this thread up more with your opinions on that. This was about flexibility in easily and reasonably inexpensively making custom bus bars. This is much quicker and easier than buying heavy copper bar stock, cutting and having to drill it very accurately, then plating it in some way. It's quite a bit cheaper too. With this you can just snip off a piece a bit longer than the terminal spacing, drill the holes, strip back the insulation on both ends, bend a small hump in the middle, place it on one terminal and you can move the loose end either way to get it to fit perfectly over the other terminal. No additional plating needed.

The one I got from Galco is Model 534016, it's 24mm wide with two layers of bar in the thick insulation. It's rated at 244A, 1000V at 115C. I consider it a very successful experiment and wish I had found this before I went down the conventional route of solid bar and DIY plating... Would have saved myself a lot of time, money, experimentation and hassle. This stuff is so easy to use, hopefully it can help other DIY battery assemblers as well.

Incidentally I also experimented with a rotating tubing cutter for stripping insulation on large wires. It does not work on welding cable as the softer, rubbery insulation sticks in the jaws, but is perfect for quick, clean cuts, adjustable to just the right depth on regular harder plastic wire insulation.



 

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Why did you choose the 24mm version, 534016, vs the 20mm product, 534010 you linked in your original post? They both are rated for 250A.

Great find. Very reasonable price and if it saves labor, it's worth the expense.
 
I read the chart. Is product you have 2 layered? Is there a advantage to having two layers as to more layers?
 
T, I bought it a while back and don't remember exactly why I chose that size. Galco list a huge number of them and the catalog is a bit cumbersome; you have to go up a level from the basic description to get the specs. I probably just picked the first one that worked for my application. But anything that will carry the current within the size parameters needed should be suitable.

Z, Mine is two layers. I think that as it carries the bulk of the current on the surface, more layers of thinner copper may give you higher ampacity for the total copper content and also that the more layers would be easier to bend and shape. But the two layer really is no issue to bend as I described above. But compare a few feet of this to the weight of comparable wire and you will see another advantage. 2/0 AWG is heavy! Worth noting that when you do make a significant bend, say a 90 degree, the individual bars do shift and will not line up exactly at the end. I just trimmed the tiny bit off to make them symmetrical. That problem might be worse with a many-layered bar but probably causes an inconsequential waste of material.

And yes, it's so much easier and quicker than the solid bar solution, I wish I'd found it earlier.
 
I took a better look. The difference in individual layer thickness. Only .02 millimeter difference.

The surface conductivity only applies to V High voltage AC current, or V short wave length ac voltage.. Not with our lower dc voltage.
 
I didn't know that Galco sold these. I buy a lot of stuff from them. Now, I'll add these to the list.
Thanks
 
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