diy solar

diy solar

Using aluminum lugs on 280Ah terminals

I saw these standard aluminum lugs at Hime Depot and asked myself if there is any reason I could not use these for the first - connection to the BMS (B-) as well as the final + connection to the fuse: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerc...-Rated-Mechanical-Lug-2-Pack-G99002/310741850

And now that there is all of this focus on flexible busbars, I’m asking myself whether these could work for all busbar connections (replacing solid busbars with short lengths of whatever AWG cable)?

Finally, not that we seem to be moving to welded terminals at least for 280Ah cells, I’m wondering whether welding on aluminum lugs might prove to be an effective and low-cost solution?

Thoughts from anyone who has used these aluminum lugs for DC battery-based applications - is there an issue with these Aluminum-Lugs-to-Bare-Copper-Wire connections that I’m overlooking?

Heck, with these you could even use aluminum wire eliminating any possibility of galvanic corrosion...
I used them with some of my connections to both my battery wires and in my solar set up in conjunction with copper welding cable. I am redoing my wiring and I am not going to use them again. I had problems with both corrosion and the strands working loose and some strands breaking. These connections also showed signs of overheating. Yes, I maybe could have avoided all this by checking connections more often etc but the crimped connections clearly outperformed over a five-year period. This was in a RV so vibration may have played a role.
 
I used them with some of my connections to both my battery wires and in my solar set up in conjunction with copper welding cable. I am redoing my wiring and I am not going to use them again. I had problems with both corrosion and the strands working loose and some strands breaking. These connections also showed signs of overheating. Yes, I maybe could have avoided all this by checking connections more often etc but the crimped connections clearly outperformed over a five-year period. This was in a RV so vibration may have played a role.
Thanks for saving me the trouble of relearning those same painful lessons - that was exactly why I started the thread ;).
 
I used them with some of my connections to both my battery wires and in my solar set up in conjunction with copper welding cable. I am redoing my wiring and I am not going to use them again. I had problems with both corrosion and the strands working loose and some strands breaking. These connections also showed signs of overheating. Yes, I maybe could have avoided all this by checking connections more often etc but the crimped connections clearly outperformed over a five-year period. This was in a RV so vibration may have played a role.
For both you and the op... as long as not in a corrosive environment, and with fine stranded cable, a ferrule on the cable end will solve many issues...
 
In the USA the most (only?) used type of wire is romex which is like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...Romex_cable.agr.jpg/800px-Romex_cable.agr.jpg as you can see it's solid core cable.

I don't know where the transition from solid to semi-rigid typically is in the USA but here (France) it's between the 2.5 and 4 mm² (our standard and most used sizes are 1.5, 2.5, 4 and 6 mm²) so all our lighting (1.5 mm²) and socket (2.5 mm²) cables are solid core and the higher power stuff is semi rigid (typically 7 strands).
I look at panels all day every day. I understand the tiny wires you are referring to. Those are not the size wiring that you connect a 280ah batt to a 3000w inverter.

Now show me a 2g, 1g, 0g, 2/0, 4/0 etc solid core wire
 
I could crash this server with just my pictures of of electrical panels. I look at several of them all day, everyday. I take pic of each one for CYA

So show me a panel with solid core 2g, 1g, 0g, 2/0, 4/0 etc wire... or anything above 12-14g. You might find the occasional 10g. I have never seen anything different in 12 years of looking at residential, with a few commercial panels throw in
 
I could crash this server with just my pictures of of electrical panels. I look at several of them all day, everyday. I take pic of each one for CYA

So show me a panel with solid core 2g, 1g, 0g, 2/0, 4/0 etc wire... or anything above 12-14g. You might find the occasional 10g. I have never seen anything different in 12 years of looking at residential, with a few commercial panels throw in
Yeah, I agree.
Apparently there are special cases where larger solid copper conductors are needed... I cannot fathom where that would be... but they wouldn’t make it if the need wasn’t there.
 
Yeah, I agree.
Apparently there are special cases where larger solid copper conductors are needed... I cannot fathom where that would be... but they wouldn’t make it if the need wasn’t there.
Typically non-load carrying ground, for very high voltage/amperage systems
 
Back
Top