So, can someone tell me why this is not a good idea? Seems awesome to me… First, take a copper tube with an ID of around .135 (for 12-14awg wire). Drill it like this:
Next, feed the wire through, like this, and crimp and solder:
Slip the whole thing through some heat-shrink and you have a bulletproof, low-profile bus. No?
Here’s something even simpler. Start with a copper pipe hanger from the Home Depot. Don’t give me crap about the solders, I did it quick with only two cups of coffee, just for a test.
Then, a little heat-shrink and voila:
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Well, can’t fault you for simplicity. Because my car has thundersky batteries, I’m using thundersky busbars to connect cells together. The thundersky busbars are lots of strips of thin copper laminated together rather than a solid block of copper.
It was explained to me by a fellow who works closely with Richard Hatfield that electrons travel along the surface and that by having laminated copper there is more surface area for electrons.
Your friend is absolutely correct if you are using high frequency AC.
For DC or even 60 Hz AC, a solid block of copper is comparable to laminated copper strips if they are the same mass. Since we are discussing electric vehicles, DC would act the same in solid versus multi-conductor.
All that said, it is preferable to use multi-conductor just for the ease of use due to its flexibility.