Steve Merrick
Member
- Location
- Anchorage, AK
Thanks Gang!
Thanks Gang!
I appreciate all of your input. You guys have really made me do my homework. I am now confident that a bare (non-insulated) bus bar is an approved wiring method for stationary batteries. While most of my interpretations in the earlier discussion may or may not have been on the mark, I was really looking in the wrong section of the Code - I should have been looking in Article 480.
NEC Article 480 covers storage batteries. NEC 480.2 lists conductor bars as a means of connecting adjacent cells, and NEC 480.3(C) specifically states, "Terminal plates shall be used where practicable." Thus, bus bar terminal bars or plates are not only an allowable wiring method for connecting storage batteries, such plates are required to "be used where practicable."
As to whether the intercell connector and terminal bars are requiremed to be insulated; rather, 480.8(C) states the live terminal bars are required to be readily accessible for cleaning, inspection, voltage measurements, etc., so long as the accessible live parts are guarded in accordance with 110.27 (480.9(B)). So there it is.
Thanks again for all of your input.
Steve
Thanks Gang!
I appreciate all of your input. You guys have really made me do my homework. I am now confident that a bare (non-insulated) bus bar is an approved wiring method for stationary batteries. While most of my interpretations in the earlier discussion may or may not have been on the mark, I was really looking in the wrong section of the Code - I should have been looking in Article 480.
NEC Article 480 covers storage batteries. NEC 480.2 lists conductor bars as a means of connecting adjacent cells, and NEC 480.3(C) specifically states, "Terminal plates shall be used where practicable." Thus, bus bar terminal bars or plates are not only an allowable wiring method for connecting storage batteries, such plates are required to "be used where practicable."
As to whether the intercell connector and terminal bars are requiremed to be insulated; rather, 480.8(C) states the live terminal bars are required to be readily accessible for cleaning, inspection, voltage measurements, etc., so long as the accessible live parts are guarded in accordance with 110.27 (480.9(B)). So there it is.
Thanks again for all of your input.
Steve