slipperysam
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2021
- Messages
- 22
I can't seem to find a small breaker box that fits my needs, but perhaps I am misunderstanding how they work. I am very new to this.
I only have 10 AC circuits planned, all 15-20A. I'd like a small breaker box that fits at least 5 tandem breakers to support these in addition to a main breaker for the panel itself, to protect incoming wire between the AC panel and the inverter. However, all such residential boxes I see from e.g. Home Depot or Amazon (Homeline 100 Amp 6-Space 12-Circuit Indoor Surface Mount Main Lugs Load Center) look like "sub panel" boxes that are expected to be fused from a main panel. Such sub-panels would also need an extra grounding bar to keep neutral and ground separated.
Contrast this with the Progressive Dynamics panel layouts here which show that there is a designated main breaker to accept the incoming hot lead from the inverter, and when that breaker is closed, that hot lead is connected to a bus bar which feeds the current through the rest of the circuits' breakers. Unfortunately for me, the panel doesn't quite work; it can be split into two separate 4-space 50a-breaker panels to power 8 circuits per side (but I only have one single-phase 120V lead), or a single 9-space 30a-breaker panel (but I want to power more than just 30a at a time).
1. Am I misunderstanding something?
2. Is there a typical way to take one of those sub-panels and wire it with a main breaker like the Progressive Dynamics one?
3. Do I even need that main breaker? It would seem to me that, without it, the wire between the inverter and the AC panel wouldn't be protected. You could, for example, have 6 awg triplex between the inverter and the AC panel, expecting to support around 50a, then pull close to 20a on, say 4 circuits, causing your inverter output to surge to 80A, much more than the ~ 6AWG triplex could handle. Is this correct? What do people normally do? Links appreciated.
I only have 10 AC circuits planned, all 15-20A. I'd like a small breaker box that fits at least 5 tandem breakers to support these in addition to a main breaker for the panel itself, to protect incoming wire between the AC panel and the inverter. However, all such residential boxes I see from e.g. Home Depot or Amazon (Homeline 100 Amp 6-Space 12-Circuit Indoor Surface Mount Main Lugs Load Center) look like "sub panel" boxes that are expected to be fused from a main panel. Such sub-panels would also need an extra grounding bar to keep neutral and ground separated.
Contrast this with the Progressive Dynamics panel layouts here which show that there is a designated main breaker to accept the incoming hot lead from the inverter, and when that breaker is closed, that hot lead is connected to a bus bar which feeds the current through the rest of the circuits' breakers. Unfortunately for me, the panel doesn't quite work; it can be split into two separate 4-space 50a-breaker panels to power 8 circuits per side (but I only have one single-phase 120V lead), or a single 9-space 30a-breaker panel (but I want to power more than just 30a at a time).
1. Am I misunderstanding something?
2. Is there a typical way to take one of those sub-panels and wire it with a main breaker like the Progressive Dynamics one?
3. Do I even need that main breaker? It would seem to me that, without it, the wire between the inverter and the AC panel wouldn't be protected. You could, for example, have 6 awg triplex between the inverter and the AC panel, expecting to support around 50a, then pull close to 20a on, say 4 circuits, causing your inverter output to surge to 80A, much more than the ~ 6AWG triplex could handle. Is this correct? What do people normally do? Links appreciated.