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Joel

Member Since: 18 Oct 2020
Location: Rotherham
Posts: 76

2002 Defender 110 Td5 DCPU Santorini Black

Dual Battery - Busbar Amps

Hi All,

I know this has been done to death, but i had a question about the busbars. I am using 35MM cable, my wiring looks like this

Click image to enlarge

The busbars i ordered are 100A with 5mm studs.

Using a T-Max split charge system with solenoid (middle circle thing).

Are the busbars going to be too small - should i get some 150A / 200A ones? Obviously the battery box is pretty tight, and most of the 150A+ Busbars seem to be massive.

What size bars are everyone else using?

18th Dec 2020 12:44pm

miker

Member Since: 13 Sep 2015
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1763

What physical size are the busbars? Current rating is not a uniform thing sadly.

Generally though, I'd have no issues using a 100A rated busbar. The distances are so short and the reality of drawing over 100A for a sutained period are so slim that it'll never be an issue in the real world.

18th Dec 2020 1:40pm

Joel

Member Since: 18 Oct 2020
Location: Rotherham
Posts: 76

They are about 100mm long x 10mm wide on the metal strip.

I was more worried about the start draw, but I guess that’s only going to be a lot for a very short period.

18th Dec 2020 1:57pm

kmac

Member Since: 07 Oct 2009
Location: Middlesex
Posts: 1309

2009 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Santorini Black

Hi - I had the same dilemma when building my dual battery system.

High amp rated busbars are super expensive- like more than £50

There are some other options:

1) Buy some copper strips on ebay, drill holes in them and add them to your existing busbar, increasing the cross sectional area of the bars in total and thus its amp carrying capacity

2) Buy this busbar from Mobilecentre (previously of this parish) which is a good quality busbar with cover for reasonable money (no connection to the company, I just have two of these in my set-up)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372821191566 (they also come in red, just search his shop)

18th Dec 2020 6:36pm

MadTom

Member Since: 10 Sep 2013
Location: Olomouc
Posts: 623

Are you sure you need a buss bar? What about battery terminals with more studs (M

? At least for the main high power (thick) cables. And use some smaller solution for the rest of wires - thinner ones. "Drobek" = The Small One - Discovery 2, "Blufínek" = The Blue Thing - Defender 130, and for me at least Ford Mondeo

18th Dec 2020 7:43pm

macfrank

Member Since: 05 Nov 2015
Location: somewhere in the north
Posts: 1076

2015 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 SW Keswick Green

^^
So did I. Left original ground and positive wires and 500A starter fuse untouched.

Click image to enlarge

18th Dec 2020 9:15pm

Joel

Member Since: 18 Oct 2020
Location: Rotherham
Posts: 76

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have bought a clamp meter so I will do some testing, but I think I am going to just update the bus bars I have with some copper strip, I have some spare from another project. I will get some better busbars in the new year once funds allow.

20th Dec 2020 11:07am

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