Wiring in a Subpanel. (pics)

bewareofdogandowner

Active Member
Be carefull when oversizing your wire, you are not offering any protection to your breaker, if you hook up a load to big then it can overheat your board and before your breaker will even trip it can start a fire. AL is nice becuase it light, but it can become very brittle.

Hopefully you wont be having this inspected =P:hump:
make sure that #4 al. is going to fit the standard fixed trip breaker
 

nathenking

Well-Known Member
Couldnt get all of em but I took new ones of where Im at now... everything hooked up and I got a can fan and a 1000watter runnin off my new system with no problems...

1st pic is the 60amp breaker on the main 200amp panel

2nd pic is the neww 100amp sub panel in my room

3rd pic is a close up of 2.

It looks like shit I know. but just started learning about electrical stuff in the last couple of weeks...
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.....

Peace&Love
 

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nathenking

Well-Known Member
I have the neutral from my 100 amp panel running to the neutral bar on the 200amp main. then I have the ground from my 100amp panel running to the ground on my 200 amp panel.

On my 100amp sub panel the grounding bar is disconnected from the panel... You probably cant see that in the pics...

Bricktown told me that you can have your neutral and your ground on the same bar only on your main panel, but not on sub panels... (Thanks bricktown)

I hope that clears things up, or am i a lil too high and missing somthing?????


those neurals and grounds need to be seperated..the neutral should be isolated from the metal panel.
 
hey nate im taking on a similar adventure not quite the scale you are but im trying to run 4 600w lights, AC, fans, filter, etc. I am still in the process of tracking down the proper Loadcenter for my application, my question though is how are you running a 100A sub panel off a 60 A bearker? Also im not an expert but i would definatley look into a wire tie down for the main power feer coming in. because if for some reason the box fell and the wires yanked out you would be looking at live 240v wires laying on the ground or worse starting a fire.
 

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
because he has a 60 amp breaker in the main panel, his sub will be limited to 60 amps.

Nathen, on your main panel, you need to redo all your connections,the 2 hot legs have 2 much insulation stripped off at the breakers (same for sub) & your neutral should not go over the breakers but bend around them. did you just stick the main cable through the knockout in the top of the subpanel w/out a connecter? not trying to be a dick but overall,it appears sloppy. not level, wires not run neatly in panels,ect. in the event of a fire,even if not caused by your work,a electrical inspector will tag it as improper wiring & you will pay hell to get your homeowners insurance to pay out.
 

nathenking

Well-Known Member
thank you mrmadcow... that was my first attempt at any type of wiring. I used that system for 2 years with no issues. amazingly now when I wire any type of sub panel my skills are defenitly improved from a 2 to a 8. thank you for the concern tho. I now have a friend (who is an electrician) come by and check my work and correct any mistakes I may have made before powering up. take care and a merry christmas to you and yours:)
 
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