Terminals on studs: Four and no more

The terminals need to be in direct contact with the buss material which is normally a good conductor such as copper or tinned copper.
RoyB's would have the terminals directly to the buss work.
Biggest concern would be that the surfaces are enough to carry the load.
I am leaving aluminum out as I personally do not like it for busses.

Chris Bryant wrote:

OnaQuest wrote:

Chris Bryant wrote:
One thing to keep in mind- the bolt itself is not meant to be current carrying- it is simply to mechanically affix the terminal to the base. Using the bolt to carry current would mean using the threads to carry current- and that brings all sorts of problems.

Say what?

I thought that was pretty self explanatory...

I guess bus bars like the one RoyB showed, with multiple studs, are no good then?? Your comment is meaningless. I can't even imagine a connection where the stud (bolt) threads are the only current path.

OnaQuest wrote:

Chris Bryant wrote:
One thing to keep in mind- the bolt itself is not meant to be current carrying- it is simply to mechanically affix the terminal to the base. Using the bolt to carry current would mean using the threads to carry current- and that brings all sorts of problems.

Say what?

I thought that was pretty self explanatory...

Chris Bryant wrote:
One thing to keep in mind- the bolt itself is not meant to be current carrying- it is simply to mechanically affix the terminal to the base. Using the bolt to carry current would mean using the threads to carry current- and that brings all sorts of problems.

Say what?

6 wires on each bolt would be acceptable. More than that, and you sort of get into the problem of one might not fit flat, while the others are on it.

I like the one in the picture, for ganging many wires into one ground, or perhaps if properly insulated it will also work for the +12 or even higher voltages.

Bussman makes several items. If you look at Grainger.com and look up page 529 (or was it 509?) there are several Bussman terminal kits. They can handle upwards of 175 amps per unit.



Grainger 3XH63

Have fun camping!

Fred.

Thanks Chris, that makes sense.

One thing to keep in mind- the bolt itself is not meant to be current carrying- it is simply to mechanically affix the terminal to the base. Using the bolt to carry current would mean using the threads to carry current- and that brings all sorts of problems.

Acceptable? yes it would work. I sure would not want to troubleshoot it.
Stud size becomes issue and amperage of total loads.
Normally you would put the heaviest load items closes to the feed whether it fed by wire or single point entry on buss bar.
Terminal lugs have a rating as well A large conductor entering a stud as a feed would have maximum rating of the lug for everything else. In the OP's photo it appears that the stud could be fed by a parallel feed from the two larger black wires.

RoyB wrote:
You won't catch me doing all those ring terminals on one stud. I would use the BLUE SEA multiple Terminal Lugs.



Highly frowned on in the wiring industry - at least is was where I was working with the DOD Install guys across the country.

Roy Ken

I wonder... the studs in the guy's photo are tall enough to stack: 4 rings/ nut / 3 rings / nut 3 rings / nut. (I counted 10 rings on the lower stud, so I'm using that for my example.)

Would that be acceptable? Probably not to code, but as a practical matter it might be okay. ?

If you notice not only is there more then four conductors, a black and white wire coming off bottom has exposed bare conductors, and one has the incorrect sized insulated terminal.