Hallelujah...and HELP! My panel arrived.

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Hallelujah...and HELP! My panel arrived.

Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:36 am

Yesterday,I gave birth to a beautiful 8-pound bouncing baby 120V panel, and I don't know what to do with it. (I mean, what do you FEED these things!?)

Here we go, and thank you in ADVANCE for your patience. The rear photo is a little blurry (I had to get close), so if necessary, I'll take a better picture later.

Here's the front. There's a 30-amp main breaker at top, and two 10-amp and one 15-amp lines. The 15 amp will be dedicated for the air conditoning outlet. The 10s will be used for daisy chains on each side of the TD.
Image

Here's the rear--like I said, a little blurry. Please note the red and black wires coiled up at the top, and the red wires coiled and capped at the bottom.

Image

And most important, here's the schematic. (The amperage marked on this is WRONG. The two first breakers are 10-amp, and the bottom one is 15-amp.)

Image

Okay--what the hell do I do NOW?

Let me take this slow and easy...

As you see on the schematic, it seems to indicate those top red and black wires as "Backlights/12 Volts." What does THAT mean? This is a 120 panel.

I guess the best place for YOU to help ME here is to first help me figure out how to connect the main feeder line. Know what I mean? I'm going to be mounting a female receptacle (which I've yet to buy) on the outside of the TD. A cord will go from this receptacle to shore power.

Which wires/screws here get connected to THAT?

Once you can teach this dummy here this little detail, we'll take it from there.
Here we go again!
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Postby Sonetpro » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:22 am

Black = Positive, White= common, Green=Ground
Red from breakers=Circuits pos
12v black=neg battery ground,red=pos battery
}><)))'> ~--------------·´¯) SteveT
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Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:44 am

Oh, that helped.
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Postby madjack » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:03 am

Ira, it is kinda hard to tell from the pic/schematic but the green and white wires on the left(next to each other) are ground(green) and commom(white)...the respective wires from your source go their common buses. On the left, connected to backs of the breakers is a brass/copper colored common bus that is connected to the breakers...this is where the black wire from source goes...it appears that the rest of the red wiring is for LED indicator lights
madjack 8)
p.s. here is a pic for ya
Image
Last edited by madjack on Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby Jiminsav » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:10 am

the red and black wires at the top..those are 12 volt wires for the panel lights..keep 110 away from there...the red wires at the bottom are for the LEDS that ain't installed..leave um alone
hook the neutral wire from your shore plug to the top breaker..left side..should be a emptt screw there..
hook the hot wire from the shore plug to the breaker right under the neutral breaker..what you have there is whats called neutral switched breaker..when it trips..it disconnects power and neutral..
if'n i were you, i'd remover that small white jumper wire..take the ground wire off the neutral breaker, and wire nut the ground wire from shore plug to it..then, run all your wires to the busses on the left side, and put the hot wires on the screws on the three breakers..you'll be all set
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Postby Chip » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:11 am

Ira's gonna get shocked,,,,Ira's gonna get shocked,,,, nanner nanner boo boo,,, Ira gonna get shocked,,,, :lol:

be a real electrician ,,, lick ya finger and grab a wire,,, if it bites its live,,,

Just kidding ya Ira,, I aint got a clue on electricity,, I get son to wire up stuff fer me,,, that way I dont get shocked, the trailer dont burn down and the lights work,,,

good luck bud,,chipper
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Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:19 am

I'm dead--toasted Ira.

Jim, I'm printing your post out and am going to try and absorb this. But maybe I'll do better after lunch and after a few beers.

Actually, this box DOES have LEDs that are connected. Why else would I spend a hundred bucks on this just to die?
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Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:33 am

madjack wrote:Image


God bless you--this is what I need, visual aids!

So what you're showing me here is how to connect the source, correct? Will my receptacle that I get at West Marine have three feeds/three screws to attach lines to--positive, neg and ground?
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Postby Steve_Cox » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:42 am

Ira,

That's the same panel I've got. I like MJ's response best so far. If you want, drag the Crab up to St Augustine, we still have Budwiser here, and we can wire it up.... just remember moderation is the key when mixing Bud and electricity, It is possible to get too many volts.

Steve 8)
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Postby Jiminsav » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:00 pm

i drew a pic maybe it will help Image
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Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:04 pm

Okay--I think we're 46% of the way there, men. Thanks to ALL.

So let's review; shall we class?

Jim--there's no empty screw on that top breaker, the neutral breaker. So is there any reason not to just forget about the other modifications you're recommending? I mean, without that stuff, it all looks pretty simple.

So I connect my source lines as Madjack illustrates. So now I'm confused about connecting each circuit:

1) I have 3 ground wires. Do these all get connected to the same screw as that source ground wire is connected to?

2) Do I connect my three neutral wires to the RIGHT sides of the three breakers?

3) Do I connect my three hot wires to the LEFT sides of the breakers, on that common copper bus? Note that one of the screws is already in use with a short black wire coming from the main breaker. Do I just choose a line to "share" this screw?

Am I getting CLOSE here?
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Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:08 pm

Jiminsav wrote:i drew a pic maybe it will help Image


What do these modifications do?
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Postby madjack » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:21 pm

another pic for ya...
Image

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Postby Ira » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:27 pm

Jack, are you saying that each of my three white wires go on that silver strip--and the three hot wires go on the LEFT of those breakers? There's a little black wire from the main power breaker that attaches to the copper bus on the LEFT side of those breakers.
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Postby Jiminsav » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:36 pm

the mods seperate your ground wires from your netral wires..lets see..the scematic shows a screw sez white..a screw sez black, and green going to the bottom of the grouns bus..so there has to be a terminal on the left side of those top breakers..hook it like it sez..I personally like keeping my ground and netraul seperate, but my house is wired hetral to ground..so i guess it's ok.
oh yeah..like Jack sez..hook the hot wires from your tear circuit to the lugs with the red wires..leave the red wires..they indicate that the circuit is hot in the LED panel..hook all your netrals to the netral bus, and all the grounds to the ground bus..you can wire nut them all together and run one wire to the busses..it makes it easier.
Last edited by Jiminsav on Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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