# Battery Box Terminals?



## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

Look at Tweco or Dinse welding cable connectors. They are awesome. You can get panel mount (bulkhead) version . . . this is what I used on my boxes.

Check out post #166 on my battery box thread... you can see one of them, kinda... lol

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/battery-box-design-54878p17.html


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## PeterH (Mar 20, 2009)

I checked out your thread, wow, nice battery boxes! Obviously I've got a long way to go before mine are ready to be mounted!

Do you have any idea how much of the smaller wires you used? Wondering how much I'll need to buy to individually wire each cell for external management. Oh, and what size of wire did you use? 

I'd love to run all those wires to enough terminal blocks mounted under the hood to make it easy to check each cell manually... or with a BMS that lives outside the boxes.

Oh, another quesiton while I'm thinking about it... did you band your cells together? My local vendor says I have to band them to prevent swelling. Seems to me, swelling is an indicaiton of abuse which naturally, I'd like to avoid!

Thanks,
Peter H.


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

Sorry, I don't know how much wire I used. Just measure the "mean" or middle of the box to the destination and multiply by # of cells. Wire gauge doesn't matter since it carries no current. I just picked what would work with ring terminals. Make sure terminal is not between main current conductors. 
My personal opinion is that swelling is the secondary reasoning for banding. As u said, it happens from abuse. Main reason is to prevent interconnections from stressing battery terminals. If u use braided, less of an issue. Mine are banded together and banded to the bottom of bat boxes through slots. I used Stainless strapping. I would recommend Nylon tho for obvious reasons. 

If u care to learn a bit about batteries, u may be someone who could live without a BMS.


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## madmike8 (Jun 16, 2011)

Red 3/8 Stud Junction Block

Black 3/8 Stud Junction Block

Might try searching cooper camloks on eBay too...


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## PeterH (Mar 20, 2009)

Good deal, those look like they will work great! Sure a lot better than paying over $100 each!!

Thanks
Peter H.


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## GizmoEV (Nov 28, 2009)

Peter,

You might consider using wire from here: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/unshieldlwire.php It is tinned and the jacket is very resistant to chaffing. It is rated to 600V and a relatively thin jacket, too. I just bought 100' of each color and have been much happier with it than with what I could find at places like RadioShack.


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

The use of proper wire for ALL the conversion is a good topic to bring up here, David. You have an interesting link with very reasonable prices for aircraft grade wire. I have been using 600 volt 105C PVC insulated stranded tinned copper wire from Powerwerx. There is a good color selection of colors, it is UL Listed, and available in a large range of colors for about 2/3rd the price of aircraft wire.


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## GizmoEV (Nov 28, 2009)

That looks like a good source too. The 22 gauge wire is 7 strands of 30 gauge wire. I don't know how flexible that is compared to the 22 gauge wire I got from Aircraft Spruce but I just counted 19 strands. Any idea if that makes a difference in an automotive application?


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

I don't have any 22 gauge wire installed, but the 20 gauge wire (10 strands of 30 gauge) seems plenty flexible. I never really noticed that before but they are all made of strands of 30 gauge wire. The welding cable I bought (from an ebay store) is also made of 30 gauge wire, about 1000 strands.


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