500a Shunt Question

Typical shunt hardware is brass because it is stronger than copper. Electrical they will do the same thing. McMaster Carr has brass hardware online.

Brass which is stronger.

You can use stainless steel studs, nuts, and lock washers just fine. Electrical terminals get stacked one atop another against the brass shunt block. The fastener carries 0.00 current. This is the way professionals do it. NONE of my high dollar Manganin shunts arrived with anything but stainless steel hardware. Take a look how Blue Seas makes their stuff. Brass and stainless steel get along just fine, not so with aluminum. 18-8 stainless will not strip as easily as cheap brass. I choose studs with SAE threads for the nuts. FAR less likely to loosen due to thermal flexing.

Awesome, thanks!

I know a little about galvanic action, but wasn't sure if it was a concern here; that is, as long as I went with something compatible. I'm guessing SS will be easier to obtain, locally.

Thanks, again.

I would use brass only. Dissimilar metals will react to each other and corrode. Especially when electric current is passed between them.

I managed to over-torque one of the bolts in my Trimetric's 500a shunt and it broke off. I drilled out the stump and now use the now shorter bolt in the threaded hole, but now I can't stack as many terminals with that bolt :( ( Ok I am a spaz)

Mex says not to stack at the battery post and I use the shunt as the neg bus, so I cleverly use the longer bolt as the "outer end bolt" and the now short one to take the single shunt to batt wire.

So the inner end shunt and the batt only has one ring terminal ( with a 12" #1 wire from shunt to batt.) If the longer bolt on the outer end of the shunt can't take any more stacked terminals, I create another bus that can take some more negs, and run that over to the shunt's outer.

It's horrible to look at but it works great! :)

For me it's not so much a need for a longer bolt, I just find it very awkward to work with the (upside down) bolt and lock washer, as is. It's just so much easier to place rings over a stud and then fasten things down with a nut. (I guess I'm somewhat of a spaz too, in that regard! lol)

Where I am lacking space for enough rings is on the pos terminal stud. When I switched to the heavy duty rings, I found I could barely get two battery cables and a few thin rings on the stud, and that's using a shallow nut. So now I'm considering my options for that, as well. I will need to hook up 3 heavy duty rings and at least a half a dozen thin rings.

sch911,

Yes, I will likely use brass if I can get what I need, without too much hassle. Otherwise it's SS.

I used Silicon Bronze on my project.

jrnymn7 wrote:
For me it's not so much a need for a longer bolt, I just find it very awkward to work with the (upside down) bolt and lock washer, as is. It's just so much easier to place rings over a stud and then fasten things down with a nut. (I guess I'm somewhat of a spaz too, in that regard! lol)

Where I am lacking space for enough rings is on the pos terminal stud. When I switched to the heavy duty rings, I found I could barely get two battery cables and a few thin rings on the stud, and that's using a shallow nut. So now I'm considering my options for that, as well. I will need to hook up 3 heavy duty rings and at least a half a dozen thin rings.

Stack a few on one nut and bolt with a fat wire over to the next nut and bolt to stack the rest and then from there, just one really fat wire over to the battery pos post. That gets you Mex's one ring terminal (lug) per battery post.