Re: Buss Bar Sizing

["Chuck Hursch" <chursch@yahoo.com>]

Rich Rudman wrote Friday, March 29, 2002 9:39 AM:

> Nathaniel Martin wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know of a good resource for buss bar sizing? I
need to find
> > out what size bus bars to use for 1000A peak, 300A for 5 min,
and 150A
> > continuous.
> >
> > I've seen several charts of ampacity for bus bars, but none
of them
> > state if the current they list is continuous or peak.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Nathaniel Martin
> > nbmartin@calpoly.edu
>
> I use 1 by 1/4 on Goldie for 1200 amp draws. They do warm up ,
but not
> by much.
>
> Rich Rudman
> Manzanita Micro

On my Rabbit for the new pack last year we changed over from the
VoltsRabbit kit bussbars that were for the L-type posts and went
to 2/0 cable for automotive posts.  The calculations using the
wiring handbook indicate that I now have 37% less resistance
through the cabling.  The bussbars were equivalent to 1-2 ga.  I
suspect this is the best thing we did in all the stuff we did
last year to the car.  Even with flooded batteries and a Curtis
1231C controller (so we're not talking high performance here),
the car feels noticeably zippier than it ever did with the old
pack (I now have Trojan T-125s rather than US2300s).  Going down
a flat road at 25-30mph with 25-50 battery amps, the pack voltage
is about 1-2V higher.  Downside is the expense of the cable and
automotive cable lugs, plus all the time to make them up.  So I'm
not sure bussbars are all that great for performance unless
they're monsters.


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