Off Grid, DIY, Home Solar Install-P4- Making battery cables

[@jwsolarusa]

Brilliant setup Mate.

[@wateryblaze]

Another way to strip the insulation is to use a "hot knife". Pull a microwave transformer apart like they show for making a spot welder and put a couple of turns of 8AWG flexible wire in place of the high voltage secondary. The hot knife blade is made from thin 304 stainless steel and shaped like a letter 'U' so that you can attach a couple of lugs and connect it to the new secondary and these will act as a heat sink to stop the handle from over heating. Don't let the stainless get red hot by using a variac or a dimmer in the primary circuit. My handle is made from industrial Formica and I hold that in a vice and rotate the wire against the side of the blade. Do it outside if you are using PVC cable... gets a bit smelly. The big advantage is that the heated element doesn't cut the copper strands as I rounded the edges and you can run it to the full depth of the insulation. Other uses for the knife include cutting and sealing plastic ropes in one step, cutting plastic parts where pressure may damage what is inside... wall warts, for example. I've stripped dozens of cables by this method. I'll have to try your way and compare notes... Nice video, by the way.

[@Mandalaman]

yeah thats a great idea!! stripping the wire was the worst part of this job.

[@Dingbat217]

Nice attention to details! :-)

[@Mandalaman]

thanks man!! unfortunately I made most of those cables and wont be using them but maybe I can sell them.

[@ArizonaHotHomestead]

nicely done.

[@Mandalaman]

thanks mate!! they are actually pretty easy to make as long as you have a crimper. Just takes a while. It took me most of a day to make all those cables.

[@jwsolarusa]

What's the Gage of that wire ?

[@Mandalaman]

its 75mm2. Its in between 2/0 and 3/0. we have slightly different sizes of cable here in Europe.

[@jwsolarusa]

Mandala man I saw that. I really like 👍 that color. I suppose it's lime green. Thanks for sharing Mate

[@Mandalaman]

jwsolarusa yeah it makes my battery bank look very Christmassy, lol

[@jwsolarusa]

Mandala man That's awesome