Photos of my Sub Panel and Outlets

[Will Richards 0]

how many amps do you get coming in to your house total (from the street)

-will

www.computerizedchristmas.com

[nutz4lights 2]

Will Richards wrote:

how many amps do you get coming in to your house total (from the street)

My house is 200A service, that is 200A per leg....

-Louie in Melbourne

[Will Richards 0]

nutz4lights wrote:

Will Richards wrote:

My house is 200A service, that is 200A per leg....

-Louie in Melbourne

what do you mean by 200a (PER LEG)=?

[nutz4lights 2]

We have what is referred to as '200A service'. That 200A, as it comes in from the street, is at 240V (or 220V). Anyway, our electric range, AC, dryer run at 240V, Christmas lights run at 120V. 240V power is comprised of two 120V legs, in this case, each carrying 200A service..... so 200A per leg.... each 120V leg can sustain 200A, or you can get 200A at 240V, you pick...

-Louie in Melbourne

[Entropy 0]

nutz4lights wrote:

Entropy wrote:

Please expound.... I can see the box not being to code, anything else?

-Louie in Melbourne

In the second photo.

The NM (Non-Metallic) cable must be anchored within 12" of the box.

The NM cable must be protected from mechanical damage. It appears that the wall isn't going to be finished because the boxes are flush and coverplates are installed. In this case, MC or AC (BX) cable and metal boxes should have been used or the wall closed-up.

I can't see the wiring or grounding system of the sub-panel or receptacles so I can't comment on those.

[chowell 0]

Richard, I assume these panels are located inside your basement? I'm new to computerized this year and will not actually be installing my LORs until 2008. In my mind, I'm going to install my extra circuits on my exterior walls around the perimeter of my house. Yours appear to all be in the basement. Can you elaborate? I'm just wondering if I have the wrong idea on staggering my circuits about the exterior perimeter of my house. I of course have an unfinished basement which will allow me to do so. Do you install your controllers inside near the panels? I want to make sure I expand my power properly to be easiest and most efficient. Thanks in advance for any help.

Corey

Ogden, Utah

[RichardH 0]

Entropy wrote:

nutz4lights wrote:

In the second photo.

The NM (Non-Metallic) cable must be anchored within 12" of the box.

The NM cable must be protected from mechanical damage. It appears that the wall isn't going to be finished because the boxes are flush and coverplates are installed. In this case, MC or AC (BX) cable and metal boxes should have been used or the wall closed-up.

I can't see the wiring or grounding system of the sub-panel or receptacles so I can't comment on those.

Thanks for the info. I assumed that this was ok because when they built my house the electrian ran a single outlet this same way below my breaker box and it passed iinspection fine. They must have missed it. After this season I will have to fix it.

[RichardH 0]

chowell wrote:

Richard, I assume these panels are located inside your basement? I'm new to computerized this year and will not actually be installing my LORs until 2008. In my mind, I'm going to install my extra circuits on my exterior walls around the perimeter of my house. Yours appear to all be in the basement. Can you elaborate? I'm just wondering if I have the wrong idea on staggering my circuits about the exterior perimeter of my house. I of course have an unfinished basement which will allow me to do so. Do you install your controllers inside near the panels? I want to make sure I expand my power properly to be easiest and most efficient. Thanks in advance for any help.

Corey

Ogden, Utah

I also have an unfinsihed basedment and what I do is plug in extension cords and run them out a window is the basement.

It would be best to install them on the outside but figured this would be easier.

[jrez 0]

Keep in mind that if you spread your outlets throughout the exterior of your house, if a GFI trips you have to go find it in the dark. I run a similar system to what Richard has, being that all my outlets are located near a basement window, and I run all the cords out the window. If a GFI trips, I just walk down to thebasment and click the button.

[nutz4lights 2]

Ok I think I have my electrical figured out. Please see above for the original post, not trying to hijack this, but figured, someone in this thread caught my error, wanted to see if this looks right. I think I can get away with running just one 50A-240V breaker and one 50A-240V electric range receptacle to my sub-panel (which is capable of 125A, which I'm well within). 50A @ 240V is 100A @ 120V, I will connect my two 30A LOR cards (60A total) and my one 40A LOR card (which makes 100A) to this line. Now, keep in mind, that when I distribute my loads on my LOR cards, I stay within 80% on each card, so the 40A won't go past 32A (actually, around 28A this year) and the 30A cards won't go past 24A (right around 24-25A this year). So that is 78A max current draw and we all know that 90% of the time, it is pulling much less.... The electric range receptacle and plug go between the 50A breaker in the main panel and the sub in the picture below.

-Louie in Melbourne

[nutz4lights 2]

I updated the drawing above to reflect that the sub-panel is 125A and that there is a plug & receptacle between the main panel and the sub.... and also that the 20A circuit dedicated to icicle lights is connected to the LOR through an SSR.... Does this look good?

-Louie in Melbourne

[schristi69 0]

Looks reasonable to me. This is probably what I will have to do for this year since I may not be able to get a Hubble type connector or even Cam-Lok plugs. I hate wiring things twice

[ryanshow 0]

RichardH wrote:

nutz4lights wrote:

That is correct. It is a whole house surge suppressor.

ah, ok. couldn't see that. thanks!

[nutz4lights 2]

schristi69 wrote:

Looks reasonable to me. This is probably what I will have to do for this year since I may not be able to get a Hubble type connector or even Cam-Lok plugs. I hate wiring things twice

Those Hubbel things are nice, but man, $$$$ We had a ton of them when I was in grad school, all the old lasers used to use those and we had probably 10 lasers in my research lab.... had a whole wall of those.

The easiest way isobviously to hardwire the sub-panel into place, up to code, etc. Problem is, our city doesn't allow homeowners to pull a permit, which is required to get an inspection to have it certified.... and I'm not paying someone $1,000 to install $75 worth of electrical stuff which will take me a Saturday to finish.... My money is more valuable than my time.

-Louie in Melbourne

[chowell 0]

Richard, so I take it you run extension cords from the outlets out the window, then run those cords to where your controllers are? Do you still space the controllers throughout the exterior of the house and yard as needed or are those in one central location outside? How do you close the window in the basement? I guess if all the controllers are close to one another, cat5 connection is easy, or do you go wireless? Thanks again in advance for your response. I just want to make sure I get this right for next year.

[RichardH 0]

chowell wrote:

Richard, so I take it you run extension cords from the outlets out the window, then run those cords to where your controllers are? Do you still space the controllers throughout the exterior of the house and yard as needed or are those in one central location outside? How do you close the window in the basement? I guess if all the controllers are close to one another, cat5 connection is easy, or do you go wireless? Thanks again in advance for your response. I just want to make sure I get this right for next year.

I place the controllers in different locations throughout the yard. I place my controller for my megatree right at the base so I don't need any extension cords for the channels.

I put foam strips on the cords going out the window and then close down on them. I then put a stick in the window to secure it and then put a strip of duct tape over the small opening on the bottom to keep the wind and elements out.

It does not look pretty, but the basement is unfinished and nobody hangs out down there (besides me). The window that it comes out of is a window well on the side of the house so the cords go up and out onto the lawn and you can't even tell from the outside.

I also have cords coming out a side window in the garage where I also do some more power runs and the CAT5 comes out of there. The computer lives in the garage along with the transmitter.

If you ever come down to look at the display, let me know and I can give you a tour.

[Mr.Tim 0]

Looks like SER type cable to the sub-panel which wouldn't provide 2 hots+neutral+grounding conductor.

Just make sure the grounding conductors are separated (electrically) from the neutral in the subpanel and ran back to the main panel on separate conductors.

You may already have it that way, just don't want anybody getting hurt!

Also, no more than 42 circuits in any panelboard. Looks like you are close on the main panel, can't really tell which breakers are twins.

I'm all for DIY (I got an attitude from the building dept when I did my own electric), but an even bigger advocate of being safe!

Tim

[Jean Krack 0]

Here are a couple of photos of my setup. 12-20amp breakers going to the 12 switches then into the GFCI then to the outside. The little night lights will indicate if the GFCI trips. The shed has 8 of the circuits and the MB, MP3, FM Transmitter and 5 15 channel controllers. There are two 60 watt lights that will remain on and keep the chill off of the equipment

If you can believe it, my wife was complaining that I was behind schedule!!

Jean

[Jean Krack 0]

here is the shed