Re: Bus Bars for 12 Volt Car Stereo System

Seriously, is this a troll?

Realize, using bus bars for a car stereo is a bit of a stretch for many of us, unless you are of course an employee of Monster Garare!

Can I assume that every sterio speaker in your home is wired with "Monster Speaker Cables" as well? ROFL!

Realize that people in the car audio business pray for guys like you to walk in the dooor!

'Nuff said...'

Harry C.

Thanks for taking time to anser my post...

You said: ""

""

For one, I don't really want to go that route.

I am trying to design this system for show as well as functionality and I want something that looks a tad nicer than plain old autozone cables.

My system will put out over 3000 watts so I'd like is to use a heavy guage wire, (even if a little bit of over kill) say 0/1 guage that I already have, from front to rear then bus the 3 batteries in the rear together.

I had some top mount post to use sort of like your idea, but when the three batteries are mounted together its hard/impossible to fit the battery terminals on there that have dual 0/1 connections and be able to arc/bend the cable from terminal to terminal to terminal, with that short of a radius.

Hence where the Bus bar idea came in... If I can find the right materials, this should not be that hard.

Scott

I didn't see anything really trollish about his post, yours however is another matter.

You should re-read the OP's post, the application is as much about looks as it is functionality. It's for a show truck, so he wants it to look good. Of course >3kW for 12V system is a tad bit of a current, wouldn't you agree?

Nice ad hominem attack Harry, I take it the OP has offended you somehow before? I'm not sure how you made the leap from DC power busses to audio cable, but whatever floats your boat.

Very good Harry. I never cease to be amazed at your incredible ability to parse a few statements from someone into a "air-tight, case closed, you're an idiot" judgment call. I enjoy the way you waste no time actually conversing with someone in order to clarify their position before pronouncing sentence. I'm sure that works out quite well for you as you then get to interpret things solely the way you wish, without regard to any confusing facts.

Yes you have said quite enough, once again.

| My system will put out over 3000 watts

Scott, I hope a lot of this power is in the "Feel It" range rather then in the "Hear It" range.

As a Kid, I loved to play it loud. Now, when aproaching

50, I have to really crank up the volume to get it all.

Naturally, it can only be when all the others are out of the house.

Hearing damage is not only a bitch, but irreversable.

Tom

To the original poster,

You would be well advised to have two positive bus bars, or terminal blocks, with one connecting the batteries, and a fuse between the battery buss, and the load wire buss. The available energy if the bus, or one of the load wires, were to become shorted staggers the imagination!

You might even consider (the best option in my book) one bus with a bolt-on type fuse between each battery positive terminal, and the bus. Sub-fusing each load connecting to the bus would also be a good plan.

If this is for show applications you might also consider plating the bus after machining to avoid the discoloration that would occur to copper.

Louis

Huh??

Huh??

HUH???

Speak up dammit! I can't hear you!

Look at companies that assemble room sized UPS systems. They have exactly what you want, some even in shiny tinned copper. A lot of those systems are designed with a big "show" factor too. When the CEO is getting off a substantial part of a million bucks they want a show.

It sounds like you are planning to parallel the batteries directly with the bus bars. Is that correct? If so I wouldn't recommend it. ARM

has copper bars up to 2" x 4"

Nate

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 13:39:42 -0700, "smullen" Gave us:

Hahahha... The bar size you give is about 3 times overkill. 3/8" or a quarter inch thick is plenty. Hell, get it silver plated or clad even. That is the best bet. But sure, an aluminum version would work. Those thicknesses you gave are easily available for that media.

Be sure to remove the batteries from the set when testing their voltages so you can characterize each battery individually, and do test them often, like once a week. Keep the terminals in top order as well, and make sure that your re-connections are firm.

The silver plated/clad copper would sure be cool. You could have a jeweler engrave it like the old gunsmiths did. For that, clad would be the only way to go. No cheap, but a definite item to set you apart with, electrically or otherwise... :]

Copper may not be as easy to find in that size, but most other metals are, and a few qualify to carry the load you are talking about acceptably. Silver, Copper, Aluminum, and Brass would do for valid choices, with copper and silver being impossible to find without custom order. Copper strips that are slightly thinner are easier to find. Getting that clad in silver is fairly easy as well.

It all comes down to how much you want to spend , really, how refined, and hand crafted the bars need to look... or just rough cut raw stock? I'm sure you are going to want to de-burr, and polish the bars to either a brushed or mirror finish. Again, silver clad copper... Yee Haw! Hey, what about brass!??? As a base metal for the silver, or alone as the "gold look" version of your quest!

Good luck!

It is extremely unlikely that you can find two, and I'd say impossible to find/build three 12V batteries with EXACTLY the same charge/discharge/ voltage/current characteristics. Since that is the case, one battery is always going to be discharging into the other two batteries, possibly at a very high rate. Multiple battery vehicle electrical systems is not my area of expertise, but can guarantee that in any viable system the batteries are not paralleled. ARM

I am still not sure I understand the function of the batteries. How are you going to keep them charged if your sound system exceeds the output of your alternator? If the alternator can keep up, why so many batteries?

Aluminum will likely pit and corrode in response to exposure to electrolyte. Tin plated copper would be better. Stationary batteries generally use lead coated copper for this purpose, but they're not too showy.

The bars will stress your post seals. Even if relative vibration and movement is minimized by firmly strapping the batteries to a common rack, you still have the temperature extremes of a vehicle to consider. Perhaps curved bars of thinner material, or a braided material.

Same concept as motors on a generator.

The booming base sounds place short, but high, current demands on the electrical system. If the current capacity isn't there the wave forms produced will be clipped, and distorted sound will be the result. I suspect that the alternator would be able to keep up with the overall average, but not the instantaneous peak loads of the "ear killing" sound systems that are common today.

Louis

Yes they are.

sQuick..

The telephone company used to parallel LOTS of lead acid batteries. Perhaps they still do - I don't know. I think - but do not know - that submarines use banks of lead acid batteries in parallel. Why do you guarantee that in any viable system batteries are not paralleled? What problem do you foresee if the batteries have slightly different charge discharge characteristics? Circulating currents - what do you have in mind??

Are you envisioning a scenario where battery A is charged to say .2 volts less than battery B, which is in parallel with battery A, when the charger is removed? So battery B now charges battery A, raising A's voltage by .1 and decreasing B's voltage by .1 ? What's so bad about that (other than the fact that the charger was removed before fully charging the batteries) ?

You seem so positive about this with the guarantee, so I want to understand your point of view. I may learn something!

I stand corrected. A quick Google search on 'battery parallel' brought up this:

I learn something every day and I'm not one to say that what I "know" is necessarily the truth. ARM