Negative Bus Bar

[bobholthaus]

I added a Blue Sea unit to my 2023 JLRD. Need to wire it, but lid closes perfectly. After doing bypass delete, the stud on negative terminal was too short to add winch, Kraken, and some other items. This fits here perfectly and almost looks OEM.

EDIT: due to this thread and the great replies, I did not end up using this bus bar. Keep reading, there’s an Amazon solution that I think will work perfectly.

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[Pareto Offroad]

What's getting connected to this? If it's those items you mentioned, you might be pushing too much current.

 

[bobholthaus]

What's getting connected to this? If it's those items you mentioned, you might be pushing too much current.

Zeon 12 Winch, an ARB Twin, and a 30 watt solar panel. Are those three more than 150 Amp? Thanks for pointing this out.

Winch and ARB compressor will never be run at the same time, ever. The Warn Winch uses 2 gauge wire, so I'm in the process of ordering a custom 2 gauge wire from THIS site.

 

[Pareto Offroad]

Zeon 12 Winch, an ARB Twin, and a 30 watt solar panel. Are those three more than 150 Amp? Thanks for pointing this out.

Winch and ARB compressor will never be run at the same time, ever. The Warn Winch uses 2 gauge wire, so I'm in the process of ordering a custom 2 gauge wire from THIS site.

Oh yeah, the Warn 12 Zeon has a max amp draw of 469 according to their website.

For custom wires, I'd recommend running a quote from https://www.customcableusa.com/collections/custom-cables. They're where I get all my boat wire and are very reasonable.

Also, is the solar panel a 12v panel? If not you'll need to use a controller.

Good luck!

 

[bobholthaus]

Oh yeah, the Warn 12 Zeon has a max amp draw of 469 according to their website.

For custom wires, I'd recommend running a quote from https://www.customcableusa.com/collections/custom-cables. They're where I get all my boat wire and are very reasonable.

Also, is the solar panel a 12v panel? If not you'll need to use a controller.

Good luck!

So I really need this one, which handles 600 Amps DC.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/2104/PowerBar_600A_BusBar_-_Four_3_8in-16_Studs

Thanks again for this heads up. This is why I love these forums!

 

[bobholthaus]

Wait a minute, I just checked my AWG wire sizing chart, and 2 gauge wire only handles 188 amps! I checked, mine is a Zeon 10-S, which max amps is 409 Amps. How do they get away with 2 gauge wire?

 

[bobholthaus]

Oh yeah, the Warn 12 Zeon has a max amp draw of 469 according to their website.

For custom wires, I'd recommend running a quote from https://www.customcableusa.com/collections/custom-cables. They're where I get all my boat wire and are very reasonable.

Also, is the solar panel a 12v panel? If not you'll need to use a controller.

Good luck!

Solar panel is Cascadia 4X4 and has a controller. THIS one.

 

[Pareto Offroad]

Wait a minute, I just checked my AWG wire sizing chart, and 2 gauge wire only handles 188 amps! I checked, mine is a Zeon 10-S, which max amps is 409 Amps. How do they get away with 2 gauge wire?

It probably has to do with Duty Cycle.. I won't recommend which direction to go, but I will say I follow the 12v charts, accounting for engine or environment temperature and up to 2% loss whenever I do wiring.

I've got enough on my mind usually to not have the spare capacity to also worry about my wire sizes. I like to be conservative when dealing with large currents.

 

[bobholthaus]

All good points. I will call Warn on Monday and see what they have to say.

Thought: I don't know electrical that well when it comes to pulling Amps; are 409 Amps "flowing through: to the negative wire? Or is that just the draw on the positive cable? I know they're always the same size, so I'm guessing the answer is yes.

Thanks for the heads us. The last thing I want to do is undersize this stupid bus bar and burn down my Jeep! If the damn stud on the negative terminal was 1/2" longer, I wouldn't need this thing!

 

[bobholthaus]

@Pareto Offroad Question: Since this one fits so perfectly, and I already drilled my mounting holes, and there's extra length on all four studs, do you think if I bought another one (or two) of these and just doubled up the metal plate that connects all four, would that double (or triple) the AMP rating on this? The only difference in this one and the 600 AMP unit is the bar that connectes the studs is WAY thicker. Am I think about this correctly?

Again, Warn Industries will be my first call on Monday morning. BTW, the 150 Amp unit is $25 and the 600 AMP unit $87, so I can buy three of the 150. The 600 AMP unit is longer and won't fit the same place, which is why I'm even considering just doubling the plate (or tripling if Warn recommends).

 

[Pareto Offroad]

Those are pretty specific questions and I'm not really qualified to advise on them... sorry. It is a common practice to run multiple smaller wires roughly equivalent to the cross sectional size of the appropriate wire. So, there may be some truth to how you're thinking about doubling the buss bars. If Warn will answer these questions, I'd take my advise.

Additionally, maybe you could connect the warn directly along with the extension you're planning. Then everything other than the warn gets run off the extension.

 

[bobholthaus]

Those are pretty specific questions and I'm not really qualified to advise on them... sorry. It is a common practice to run multiple smaller wires roughly equivalent to the cross sectional size of the appropriate wire. So, there may be some truth to how you're thinking about doubling the buss bars. If Warn will answer these questions, I'd take my advise.

Additionally, maybe you could connect the warn directly along with the extension you're planning. Then everything other than the warn gets run off the extension.

The stud on the battery is only long enough to handle one additional wire connector. That’s why I can’t put the Warn on there and the ARB.

I’ll post here after I talk to Warn on Monday. Thanks.

 

[Pareto Offroad]

Maybe checkout something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Battery-Terminals-Wrangler-Gladiator/dp/B09W24MCHD/

 

[Plumbean]

As per the chart below from Blue Sea Systems, 2 AWG wire with insulation rated for 105 degrees celsius is rated for 179 amps when installed in the engine room. Since Warn is using 2 AWG wiring on the Zeon 10S, I would be surprised if the 409 amp draw spec from Warn is talking about continuous draw. I suspect that there are folks on here that have tested this and know for sure. I just installed a Zeon 10S, and if I remember to bring it along I can put a clamp meter on it when I use it in anger.

 

[Old Jeeper]

Zeon 12 Winch, an ARB Twin, and a 30 watt solar panel. Are those three more than 150 Amp? Thanks for pointing this out.

Winch and ARB compressor will never be run at the same time, ever. The Warn Winch uses 2 gauge wire, so I'm in the process of ordering a custom 2 gauge wire from THIS site.

I do not know who that battery cable guy is, but I can tell you this I went through this site I would strongly recommend using him. I used to make battery cables he’s doing all the right things.

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