Renewable Energy Questions/Discussion > Renewable Energy Q&A

What kind of hardware for battery connections ?

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WooferHound:
Should I use hardware made from a certain kind of metal when making electrical connections to the batteries. Or maybe I shouldn't use a certain kind of metal. Seems like I heard about some metals that cause or prevent corrosion in the electrical connections. Does it matter?

I guess this is the best area for a battery question . . .

A of J:
My personal preference is for lead plated terminals crimped with a "proper" tool with stainless steel bolts combined with some kind of battery terminal treatment to prevent corrosion (most important with flooded batteries.

A of J

rossw:

--- Quote from: A of J on January 09, 2012, 10:32:18 pm ---My personal preference is for lead plated terminals crimped with a "proper" tool with stainless steel bolts combined with some kind of battery terminal treatment to prevent corrosion (most important with flooded batteries.

--- End quote ---

Allan is probably right. Flooded cells seem to be hell on battery interconnects.

That said, I've been very very happy with the solid copper interconnects I made for my sealed AGM cells:

A handfull. These are about half of one bank. (I have 72 cells in 3 banks)


One important consideration is to torque them up to the manufacturers specifications.
I've had no problems of bad connections or things heating up at all.


The first two banks in place and running.

bj:
   Hey Woof--pretty much the same as A of J, but I solder after crimping, and cover with the glue type heat
shrink.  Clean, bolt it up, and give it a coating of silicone grease.  Seems to keep corrosion at bay.

tomw:
My Absolyte Bank has "tinned" copper bars for the interconnect straps with stainless bolts into lead posts.

A big factor is not Using metals too far apart on the periodic table together to minimize galvanic corrosion.

I know for a fact (don't ask) that aluminum will simply disappear when used with flooded lead acids.

Some kind of connection treatment / coating like "NoOx or even gun grease will help seal oxygen out of things which is needed for oxidation (corrosion). No oxygen no corrosion more or less and oversimplified.

Just from my experience.

Tom

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