diy solar

diy solar

Test run with a small system first?

SSC00 said:
Wait I thought that row of screws at the top was the ground/neutral connections. I have one of those screw things i can put in.
Click to expand...
That is a bar, but I can't tell if it's insulated from the metal box or not. The only place your neutral wires and your ground wires should ever be connected is the main panel where there is usually a screw or bar already installed to make that happen.

You can either use green wire for the ground or grab some spare white and wrap green electrical tape around the ends to denote it's a ground wire.
 
Rednecktek said:
That is a bar, but I can't tell if it's insulated from the metal box or not. The only place your neutral wires and your ground wires should ever be connected is the main panel where there is usually a screw or bar already installed to make that happen.
Click to expand...
It looks insulated from the box to me.
 
just check continuity of it to the box?

and this is what I mean from my other post, just run it right up behind these to the other box
1712017775148.png
 
SSC00 said:
It looks insulated from the box to me.
Click to expand...
take another pic of your box with the focal point of the left side and top
it looks like you have 3 or 4 different bus bars there all attached to each other
ones on top of the others
hard to see
SSC00 said:
would that cause any conflict with with those wires at the bottom if they touched or am i just being paranoid?
Click to expand...
depends if they hot or not I'd assume the breakers would have tripped if it was though hahahaha
check it with multimeter, wear gloves.. or like I said ask power company to shut it down for an hour
or just pull out your meter outside and that'll kill it
 
gotbeans said:
take another pic of your box with the focal point of the left side and top
it looks like you have 3 or 4 different bus bars there all attached to each other
ones on top of the others
hard to see

depends if they hot or not I'd assume the breakers would have tripped if it was though hahahaha
check it with multimeter, wear gloves.. or like I said ask power company to shut it down for an hour
or just pull out your meter outside and that'll kill it
Click to expand...
1712018263335.png


There are two separate bars in the main panel.



1712018328747.png



Here is the one in the sub panel. it looks insulated to me.
 
Well it's safe to say that's where ground and neutral connect lol.. like 20 times over
you got 2 different bars there and then on the top 2 larger lugs for the main ground / main neutral
and then some second smaller aluminum one 👀

I'm guessing the bar underneath these two are connecting the two together
1712018745698.png

as for your second box.. sub panel..
they should be separate
You should have a second bar in there and use that as your ground as it screws directly into the box

your current bar is not connected to the box (THAT IS CORRECT), the connection screw is here:
1712018835010.png
So don't screw anything in that one..



basically yours should be the same as mine, white on top and copper grounds on bottom or wherever you put your bus bar (there are 4 places for it)
however unlike mine, don't put a screw in that hole
and probably don't spray spray foam all over the box like some guy did either
1712019061075.png
 
gotbeans said:
Well it's safe to say that's where ground and neutral connect lol.. like 20 times over
you got 2 different bars there and then on the top 2 larger lugs for the main ground / main neutral
and then some second smaller aluminum one 👀

I'm guessing the bar underneath these two are connecting the two together
View attachment 206379

as for your second box.. sub panel..
they should be separate
You should have a second bar in there and use that as your ground as it screws directly into the box

your current bar is not connected to the box (THAT IS CORRECT), the connection screw is here:
View attachment 206380
So don't screw anything in that one..



basically yours should be the same as mine, white on top and copper grounds on bottom or wherever you put your bus bar (there are 4 places for it)
however unlike mine, don't put a screw in that hole
and probably don't spray spray foam all over the box like some guy did either
View attachment 206383
Click to expand...
Wait. so I do need to put the little bar on the bottom like that? I thought the neutral and ground all went into the same thing. So this is wrong?

1712020831790.png
 
Yep that's what this talk has been last few pages. You only have the neutral & ground connected in 1 place.
If you do it your way, you have them connected in 2 places, thus forming a loop

You want them separated in your sub panel so they only connect in your main box

You can put it on any of the 4 places in the box, it can go in any of the top left / top right / bottom left / bottom right
all of them have 2x holes for it to screw into
 
gotbeans said:
Yep that's what this talk has been last few pages. You only have the neutral & ground connected in 1 place.
If you do it your way, you have them connected in 2 places, thus forming a loop

You want them separated in your sub panel so they only connect in your main box

You can put it on any of the 4 places in the box, it can go in any of the top left / top right / bottom left / bottom right
all of them have 2x holes for it to screw into
Click to expand...
ok so second bar for ground and top bar for neutral to complete circuit?
 
SSC00 said:
ok so second bar for ground and top bar for neutral to complete circuit?
Click to expand...
Yes, the one I linked earlier is for your box it's $7 (no idea if others work or not)

The neutral needs to go back to the main panel and the ground also needs to go back to the main panel.

The reason they do this is so there's no electrical "loop" (circle)
think if they connected to both places, you'd have a circle of ground/neutral
 
gotbeans said:
Yes, the one I linked earlier is for your box it's $7 (no idea if others work or not)

The neutral needs to go back to the main panel and the ground also needs to go back to the main panel.

The reason they do this is so there's no electrical "loop" (circle)
think if they connected to both places, you'd have a circle of ground/neutral
Click to expand...
even if I am technically running the sub panel as off grid? Well, as technically off grid that is.
 
If it was off grid it shouldn't be connected to the main breaker at all in any form
 
gotbeans said:
If it was off grid it shouldn't be connected to the main breaker at all in any form
Click to expand...
I only wanted to connect the ground to the ground rod. apparently you aren't supposed to have more than one or something and its ok to do this. at least i was told in another thread.
 
SSC00 said:
I only wanted to connect the ground to the ground rod. apparently you aren't supposed to have more than one or something and its ok to do this. at least i was told in another thread.
Click to expand...
oh yea should be fine there
I'd still keep the neutral/ground bridge only in the main panel though

seems weird to even have them connected though <__<
 
gotbeans said:
oh yea should be fine there
I'd still keep the neutral/ground bridge only in the main panel though

seems weird to even have them connected though <__<
Click to expand...
i'm not touching anything else in the main panel aside from putting that ground rod in the lower bar. I almost have it there.
 
@timselectric Aren't you the resident forum electrician? How bad is this wiring? I don't intend it to stay in this position for super long period of time, but want to keep any fire risks to an absolute minimum. it is clearly not to code. but I still think I should get near it, if that makes sense.


1712024669455.png
1712024757295.png
 
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