Question on busbar connections

[Big_Moose_Wakesetter]

I picked up the busbar pictured below from a relatively local person on the Moomba forum. I believe the bus bar itself is tinned copper amd the posts are stainless.

I'm not sure about how I should connect the ring terminals on my power cables. As shown, one of the posts has a stainless washer and brass locknut. I'm not sure if the ring terminals of the power cables should go on top of the stainless nuts on each post (with a locknut on top) or if I should remove those nuts so that the ring terminals are directly against the busbar (with those nuts or lock nuts on top). That way the ring terminals would be directly against the more conductive tinned copper (I pursue) busbar rather than just the stainless nuts and posts (bolts).

I picked up some stainless washers and lock nuts so I'm ready to go either way. Not sure if washers should go on top of the ring terminals, below them or both. Probably doesn't matter much with the exception of putting one below the ring terminal if it should be directly against the bus bar.

Thanks for any help. I tried to look for a manual for the similar Blue Sea busbars but couldn't find one online.

(Sorry this probably belongs in the stereo section. Feel free to move it of course!)

Edited June 8, 2013 by Big_Moose_Wakesetter

[FastFreddy]

I would put the ring terminals right on the busbar but I don't think it would make a big diff. Nice busbar by the way.

[Big_Moose_Wakesetter]

Thanks a lot. I got impatient and figured I couldn't go wrong going that route so that's what I did.

And yes I like the bus bar a lot. The guy who sold it to me was nice enough to give it to me pretty cheap. According to his ad it came out of a stock 2012 Moomba XLV. I like how it has a ground post as well - it's really cleaning up the wiring on the amp board I'm putting together. Almost done - just have to figure out the mounting blocks and then I'm going to disassemble the whole thing and coat the board with some spray-on bedliner. Interested to see how that part comes out...

[FastFreddy]

Can't see the ground in the picture. If it does have both pos and neg that will make the install very clean. I used two separate car distribution blocks.

[shawndoggy]

It goes without saying but make sure your amps are fused.

[Big_Moose_Wakesetter]

Thanks for the input! I didn't even notice that the ground connection is cut off in the pic above, but here's what it looks like. Both my amps recommend a 50A in-line fuse so I've got those running off of the two "(X) CH AMP" connections on bus bar. I'm connecting the 100A ANL fuse shown below between the battery and bus bar and I've also swapped out the 200A ANL fuse shown on the bus bar for a 100A one. I might end up bumping both of those up to 150 though because I've got a power inverter I'm probably going to add to the amp board.

Pulled the carpet back on the wall last night so today I'm finally going to tackle trying to get some mounting blocks to the hull to mount the board to. Off to Home Depot (or somewhere similar) to see if I can't get some composite decking or something like that for those...almost there!

[FastFreddy]

Update?

[Big_Moose_Wakesetter]

Hey thanks for checking back! The bus bar's been working out great - hooked it up as described above.

I was able to get some of the take-home samples of composite decking from Home Depot to use as stand-offs and they worked out perfectly. They were just free samples (maybe 5"x5") that you can take home to compare colors. I've been meaning to get some pics posted but I've been working on WAY too many projects this summer and was going to wait until they're done before doing so.

So far the amp board is done and I've run some RBG LED's along the sides. Last night I finished a TON of soldering of LED strips, wires & connectors to put them in 6 new Exile cabin speakers and my kicker tower speakers..almost there!