Thursday, May 19, 2022

Re: [electricboats] LifePo4 build questions

On Thu, May 19, 2022 at 04:43 PM, Skray775 wrote:
https://www.electrical4u.net/electrical/what-is-busbar-current-carrying-capacity-calculation-5-types-of-busbar/
Their rules seem to arrive at a lower number than I would use.  This chart:

https://www.electrical4u.net/electrical/what-is-busbar-current-carrying-capacity-calculation-5-types-of-busbar/

gives ~50mm2 for 0AWG, yet claims ~250A for chassis wiring and even ~150A for power transmission.  (Buss bars are definitely the first of those.)

So their rules result in a number, in this case, 4x too low.

Suffice it to say that there are a lot of factors going into current-carrying capacity.  Ambient temperature, insulation temperature rating, airflow, ... and of course the length of the conductor.  Sometime I'll instead use a voltage-drop calculator (when length is a big factor), and decide on wire gauge based on how much resistive loss I'm willing to accept.

I've even seen writeups on this question mention that the shape of the conductor makes a difference, even with the same cross-sectional area, due to different amount of surface area (where the heat transfer to the ambient air happens).

I'm confident that 1/4" x 3/4" Aluminum will easily handle 100 amps, as would 1" x 1/8" Aluminum.  So your 38mm x 6mm bars should be fine.
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