Question on connectors

Joined
Dec 6, 2021
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1
Hi Guys,

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I am a bit of an amateur, I am building some basic solar storage.

I need to build my batteries and charge them up asap.

I want to connect the cells in relays of 7, Id like to source some good quality connectors but im not even sure "connectors" is the right name. I am based in the UK so would ideally like to buy from the UK.

I have ePLB-CO20B Units made by EIG. The terminals in the picture are what I am looking to connect in series or relays of 7.

Obviously a bit of a noob, can anyone help me to understand what it is I am looking for and possibly where to source in the UK, Europe or the US.

>


bHDYdZC


Thanks in advance.
Chaz
 
Charles Fookes said:
Hi Guys,

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I am a bit of an amateur, I am building some basic solar storage.

I need to build my batteries and charge them up asap.

I want to connect the cells in relays of 7, Id like to source some good quality connectors but im not even sure "connectors" is the right name. I am based in the UK so would ideally like to buy from the UK.

I have ePLB-CO20B Units made by EIG. The terminals in the picture are what I am looking to connect in series or relays of 7.

Obviously a bit of a noob, can anyone help me to understand what it is I am looking for and possibly where to source in the UK, Europe or the US.

>


bHDYdZC


Thanks in advance.
Chaz
Pictures aren't showing up, but you may have better guidance in the electric technology section of the forum:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=41
 
Tere are two versions of the holders for those cells. If yours are like they appear to be, and are made so that both angled tabs on the cell are within the top of the single plastic holder each cell is in, so nothing sticks out of any of the sides/etc of any cell, and they are all flat like a tablet or magazine or book, then you have the more common version. In that case, check with Jimbob01 here
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=102908
he has some busbars made for those cells, and can probably make others, depending on how many you want to parallel at a time. Makes the packs REALLY easy to assemble. You use a different busbar shape for 1P vs 2P vs 3P, etc. The pack just gets longer the more parallel cells you use, with this method (twice as long for a 2P than 1P, three times as long for a 3P, etc). Then you can use one busbar, cut in half, with a hole drilled into the "new end" for your main leads to bolt to, for the end cell terminations. So you get as many busbars as you have groups of cells. (a 1p pack gets as many busbars as there are cells, a 2p pack gets twice as many, etc). Then you have enough for all cells plus the ends, plus spares if you mess up the end bars. ;)

The busbars bolt down with machine screws about 3cm long. I don't know the thread pitch or shaft size, but you can bring a plastic cell holder (and cell if necessary, but the threads are in the nuts inside the plastic under the tabs) to a hardware store and test which size fits it perfectly. Get flatwashers and lockwashers for each screw; mine are the plain splitwasher type of lockwasher.

Then you can use a plate on the bottom with two rows of screwholes, and 1/4" long screws into the holes for that on the plastic holders the cells are in (IIRC they're the pointy wood-screw looking types; been a while since I had one of my packs apart). That keeps the cells together and lined up.

Then you can use metal end plates with long threaded rods thru them and the upper corners of the plastic holders, as intended, to apply the small amount of compression that's desirable for these pouch cells during use, and keep the busbars from shifting slightly as cells expand and contract in use the tiny bit that they normally do. (if a cell "swells up" it has failed and should be replaced).

I use both 1p and 2p packs of those with similar busbars for my packs on the trike and bike and lawnmower.

This is a pic of someone's pack I found on the forum using 1p busbars that look to be made of copper
file.php


I don't have any pics of my hardware but if you need me to I can take some and add them to a post here.

If you have the less common version, then it may use straight bars like this but this kind of bar will just short out the common version of the cells, and I don't think it's what you ahve based on the pic. I've only ever seen this one pack made this way--every other set of EIG cells I've ever seen used the angled busbars above, instead.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34438
file.php
 
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