[RE-wrenches] Large current battery combiners, UL Listing

Michael Morningstar mjmorningstar at gmail.com
Sun Sep 11 19:00:42 PDT 2022


We've gotten around needing UL listings for one-off in house fabrication by
running things through a licensed engineer. Right now we are building a
gutter bus which has two 1/2" x 4" x 20' copper bars in a 10" x 10" gutter.
We are using 2" x 9" x 9" UDPM plates with slots routed out for the bars as
insulators. This is for 24 Discover AES and 8 Sol-Ark's. It usually costs
about 1K to have an engineer sign off on our designs.

I'd be interested in learning tricks for tapping 3/8" in thick copper. I've
never been able to get consistent results and resort to thru-bolting.

On Sun, Sep 11, 2022 at 4:49 AM Dana Orzel via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> You might possibly check with Northwest energy storage all of their hup
> solar one batteries come with solid copper bars lead plated I don’t know
> what the ampacities are but Rob might be able to assist you there
>
> Dana Orzel
> C: 208.721.7003
> E- dana at solarwork.com
>
> On Sep 10, 2022, at 7:17 PM, Kirk Herander via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> 
> SolarBOS can possibly make one custom for you, it will be listed, and it
> will not be cheap. I was going to order a 2000A w/ multiple OCPDs on both
> inputs and outputs from them, but then Midnite came out with a 2000A
> combiner, and I don't need it listed for my application.
>
> On Sat, Sep 10, 2022 at 6:15 PM William Miller via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> Mac:
>>
>>
>>
>> Getting listing on something as specialized as you are talking about may
>> be difficult.  I would turn to the telecom industry for solutions.  Here is
>> one link
>> <https://bertholdelectric.com/dc-telecom-products/battery-termination-bars/>
>> I found.  Their product line is pretty sexy and it is listed.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you are rolling your own, you can find ampacities for standard copper
>> bar thicknesses someplace like here
>> <https://www.copper.org/applications/electrical/busbar/busbar_ampacities.html>.
>> You might fabricate something that looks like one of these
>> <https://millersolar.com/MillerSolar/Portfolio/Inverters/battery_iinverters/JP_Radian/Images/Battery_busses_open.jpg>
>> but bigger.  Threading is desirable so you can avoid wrangling nuts on the
>> back sides, but tapping copper at a reasonable bolt size (likely 3/8-16)
>> can be tricky.  I am looking for any excuse to buy one of these drill
>> presses
>> <https://www.grizzly.com/products/teknatool-18-nova-voyager-dvr-variable-speed-drill-press/t30589>
>> which can automatically chip-clear.  Basically at this point in my life my
>> only reason for working is to support my tool addiction.
>>
>>
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>>
>>
>> William Miller
>>
>>
>>
>> Miller Solar
>>
>> 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422
>>
>> 805-438-5600
>>
>> www.millersolar.com
>>
>> CA Lic. 773985
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
>> Behalf Of *Mac Lewis via RE-wrenches
>> *Sent:* Thursday, September 8, 2022 8:46 PM
>> *To:* RE-wrenches
>> *Cc:* Mac Lewis
>> *Subject:* [RE-wrenches] Large current battery combiners, UL Listing
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello Wrenches,
>>
>>
>>
>> Is anyone aware of a high current, (~3000A DC rated, 48Vdc nominal)
>> battery combiner panel that would allow for ~36-48 x 4/0 cables to connect?
>>
>>
>>
>> Seems like nothing will be close to UL listed on this.  How do you go
>> about building a 60 kW off-grid system on the battery side of things?  Do I
>> need to increase battery voltage design?
>>
>>
>>
>> I have gotten a custom busbar fabricated by Storm Power rated for about
>> 2kA before, but I'd love to have a UL Listed solution for large battery
>> combining.  Any suggestions are appreciated.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Mac Lewis
>>
>> "Yo solo sé que no sé nada." *-Sócrates*
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>
> --
>
> *Kirk Herander / **kirkh at vermont.solar <kirkh at vermont.solar>*
>
> *Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC*
>
> *Celebrating our 31st Anniversary 1991-2022!!*
>
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>
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>
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-- 

Michael Morningstar


Morningstar Electric

PO Box 1494

Mount Shasta, CA 96067

530-921-0560

mjmorningstar at gmail.com
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