Has anyone tried, successfully or not, to connect 4/0 fine stranded copper cable to a Xantrex 175 amp DC breaker, Trace/Xantrex DCBB negative/grounding block, or to a FB-300T 300 amp fuse holder?
It seems impossible.
4/0 was recommended by my Xantrex inverter manual, and these items are supposed to handle 4/0, but there is no way I can get all the strands in there. Is there some magic trick to it?
Xantrex says it can be done.
I may contact a Xantrex service center in Orlando and ask if I can hire them to do it, but that is not convenient.
Wish I had just gone with 2/0 or 3/0 now. But I already purchased the 4/0 cable.
tia

Xantrex fuses have bolt on as well for connection to a cable luge with a 3/8 hole in it. Same for Midnight solar inverter breakers? I would have thought xantrex would have the same stuff being the same guy invented both brands. Humm Live and learn.

scrubman,
the problem is you went with the stranded wire rather than solid and that is rather difficult to work with at times. if you were to get the majority of the wire(95% or more) connected you should be ok. any excesses sticking out would have to be cut off if there's any risk of shorts. remember this will be a weak point or resistive point in the wire and if a failure were to occur it would most likely happen there. you could find something that will allow for the wire to be adapted so to speak and an electrical supply house may be able to help you with that. even an automotive dealer may have something. i'm thinking along the lines of a battery type connector, but in any case run it by them as to your dilemma and see what they can advise that'll work for you without having to replace the wire with solid #4/0.

the older xantrex breakers had a set scre lug the newer ones havea bolt the 4/0 is supposed to fit i have seen it in the dc block you can almost never get all the strands into them they tend to swell out a little when you remove the insulation

If swelling is the issue, could you solder the wire with the insulation on?

Try stripping say 1/2" of the insulation, use a BIG soldering iron and let the copper wick the solder into the wire. Then trim the insulation as needed .. should make a big difference in the diameter of the 4/0 as the solder will hold the compressed shape

if going the route of soldering then a large wattage soldering gun or small propane torch may be needed to heat that much wire to accept solder. if using the torch be very careful not to overheat the wire or blacken the wire with carbon. it will also melt the insulation on the wire. i like the combination of preheating the wire with a torch and finishing it off with a large wattage soldering gun.

I have a soldering torch with the hard tips and no matter what you do it will melt the insulation. Might stop by Radio shack and get some shrink tubing to make it look good.

My technique for soldering on terminal lugs..

First start with Excelene welding cable. Its insulation is very resistant to heat damage.

Before cutting off the insulation, push the insulation back as much as possible, compressing it up, exposing as much of the wire end as possible. This little additional trick will result in final cable having the insulation with a nice snug fit against the terminal lug.

Cut the insulation to the 5/8 inch or so exposure. Coat the wire end and inside of terminal with water soluble flux.

Place the lug bolt hole end in a vice at about a 45 degree tilt angle with wire opening up.

Insert the exposed copper wire about half way into the lug.

Wrap about a 1 inch wide strip of water soaked towel cloth around the insulation at the end. This helps protect the insulation from flame heat.

Heat the lug in the middle with propane torch. After a minute or two you can apply solder at the inside edge of the lug opening between wire and lug casing. The lug will begin taking solder first then after about another minute the wire will start to absorb solder. When you have put enough solder in (this will take some experience not to under or over fill) then the last thing is to push the cable fully into the lug while still holding solder molten with torch.

Push the wet towel strip onto end of lug to help cool it.

For the original posting you can remove the lug at last step which will give you a nice round solder tinned cable end.

Follow-up.
I was able to use the 4/0 fine stranded cable.
By removing the terminal blocks from the DC disconnect, for example, so I could get to it.
The 300 amp fuse was the most difficult (tightest fit).

Thanks for all replies.

It's very hard to get all the strands in - did you consider using 2/0 cable? I thought that's what they recommended for 175A breakers...