Raising a battery terminal

[WindWizard]

Copper bar is REALLY not THAT expensive.
If you need custom 4p busbars.
Hammer as much as you want on that copper pipe you'll never get it as flat as a milled bar.
Never.
https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy/copper/0-125-x-0-75-copper-rectangle-bar-110-h02/pid/4261

Very true indeed. I never got the pipe as flat as the copper stock. The price difference is $53.29 for a 8 foot flat bar vs $26.42 for a 10 foot pipe at home depot. You probably would need to add another $10 or so for shipping so the flat copper bar stock is more than twice as expensive.

I am not saying that pounding pipe is fun because it is not. Now if you had a press then that may be fun.

 

[Rocketman]

The real issue is you are trying to put too much on one battery post. Just have one cable that goes to a bus bar - each battery has its own cable (have them all the same - length,size.etc).

Go to a high quality bus bar - blue sea - Victron PowerIn,etc. they need to be 1/4” tin plated copper - not brass.

 

[TomC4306]

Very true indeed. I never got the pipe as flat as the copper stock. The price difference is $53.29 for a 8 foot flat bar vs $26.42 for a 10 foot pipe at home depot. You probably would need to add another $10 or so for shipping so the flat copper bar stock is more than twice as expensive.

I am not saying that pounding pipe is fun because it is not. Now if you had a press then that may be fun.

Right, couple thousand dollars worth of battery cells and you're worried about saving $30.
I just don't get it.

 

[WindWizard]

Right, couple thousand dollars worth of battery cells and you're worried about saving $30.
I just don't get it.

We are getting off topic, so I just wanted to give OP something to think about. I really do agree with you that using bus bars gives you a better result. You just need to figure out how to put a bend in it if you have some different height cells you are working with like OP has. With copper pipe it is easy to cut and shape it. Maybe you have a metal brake, but I don't.

 

[Robar]

Does anyone know if it is acceptable to take straight cable lugs and bend them to 90 degrees (or whatever angel fits best), or does that stress the connector too much? I would think that copper should be soft enough to handle this kind of forming, as long as it's done gradually with a vise and an appropriately-sized rod in the barrel part to maintain shape. I know there are right-angle lugs available for purchase, but are those pre-formed that way or just bent carefully from straight ones anyway? I'm probably going to need to use some for my bus bars.

 

[gr8pix]

I just picked up one of these to run my 2-24v 200AH in parallel.

T Tocas Heavy Duty 400A Bus Bar Power Distribution Block Ground Busbar Box 8XM10 (3/8") Terminal Studs Module Design 48V (Black & Red Cover) https://a.co/d/a65K8GI