Battery Bussing [RE-wrenches]

[Windy Dankoff, Dankoff Solar]

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>.....Seems like I remembered Windy once saying that the vaseline goes on
>  after the clean, dry connections are made??

Nope. I have applied vaseline before assembly since that was told to 
me by some old maestro 25 years ago. Just a thin film of the stuff. 
It doesn't look gross or attract much dust. It's a poor metal 
lubricant so it gets out of the way under pressure and doesn't 
interfere (apparently) with conductivity.

>
>  Regarding "any other rules",  I have one client who pulls his battery apart
>  once a year and swaps their series/parallel positions around.  I told him I
>  thought this wasn't necessary but based on recent comments, sounds like it
>  might be worth the effort.  Perhaps ever other year or so when cleaning the
>  bus bars.
>
>  Kurt Nelson

Swapping or rotating is certainly a good idea if the environment 
causes uneven temperatures between cells. Otherwise -- ??

The annual proceedure that Joel recommends is fine, but how many 
customers perform or have such service performed annually, especially 
after they start to take it all for granted after the first few 
years. I really like prevention from day one. I've seen corrosion 
begin literally on day 3, and once it starts, it takes on a life of 
its own and can be a challenge to keep in check for years to come.



>Another thing I do is to heat a can of Vaseline to almost boiling with a
>propane torch and brush it on the terminals then dip the cable ends in it to
>seal them.
>The ONE terminal I have had to clean with Vaseline on it was not as hard as
>the dozens without it.
>
>Bob Ellison


Yes. When I install a lug on cable, especially finely stranded like 
welding cable, I heat the lug (doesn't take much heat) and dip it in 
the jar of vaseline. The cable strands wick up the grease and make a 
really good seal. I've seen very few, slight traces of corrosion on 
systems that weren't messed with for 10-18 years.

I don't know why installers have so much resistance against this 
age-old time tested advice, but they do. I cringe when I see dry, 
unprotected battery assembly.

Windy

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