battery bars-tabs?

[hydro guy]

hey i was wondering if you could substitute pure copper wire for deans battery bars. i have 10 or 12 gauge copper wire, i could flatten the ends to lay against the batteries better......what do you guys think, what is the resistance level of pure copper? i just dont want to have to buy bars everytime i make a pack, if pure copper is just as good well........ and i would have some sort of insulation, correct? as to not short the cells? any help would be appreciated!

[Paul]

Hey hydro guy,

Good question, battery bars are copper with the manufacturers choice of plating. (silver/gold) The only real drawback may be needing to glue the cells together before you solder. As far as flattening the ends, I'm not sure it's needed. I rebuilt several packs this weekend to run the barrel/banana plugs and the barrels are soldered directly to the batteries with no problem. I belive the bars are rated at 10 gauge so give it a shot. Personally I'm going with the 60 amp braid from now on, no more bars for me.

Paul.

[Allan]

Yes,

You can use for example a piece of solid copper conductor from a 30 amp cable doubled or tripled over. For the brushless motors the conductor needs to be as wide as possible.

Allan

[Dan Proulx]

Paul,

When you solder the barrel part of your connectors to the batteries, how do you do it? That is, is the barrell laying down or do you solder it to the cell standing upright?

[Paul]

Hello Dan,

Soldering the barrels on is kind of a PIA. If I try to hold it in position with my jig they melt the jig. What I found was to put a good bead of solder on the battery then heat the barrel until it melts into the solder.

http://www.skullcaps.com/boats/batts.jpg

Let me know if that helps, Paul.

[Dan Proulx]

Thanks Paul,

That's the way I thought would be best - more contact area with the cell rather than standing them upright.

[Jeff Wohlt]

How does this benefit besides the resistance? I see many of the Germans do this. Is it easier to move packs around or what?

I guess a person does not need any connector to the motor this way and series wiring would be a simple lead running to the other pack.

Looks like a pretty nice way to go.

[Paul]

Hello Guys,

I guess a person does not need any connector to the motor this way and series wiring would be a simple lead running to the other pack.

Bingo, that's exactly why I'm doing it. Simple jumper wires nice and short interconnecting the packs.

Paul.

[Allan]

Just a word of warning here - If you use tubes at both ends it is dead easy to reverse connect everything. Personally I use tubes on all the +ve sides and use colour sleeves. Never had an accident. Watch out for quality on these connectors - all that glisters is not gold!!