How Do Electrical Panels Work - An Explanation of All the Parts!
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
- As electricians, we know that panels are where we source our power for devices, fixtures, and equipment. But how do they really work? In the latest episode of Electrician U, Dustin explores this topic in the hopes of helping us understand.
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To start, lets explain the basic components that are in electrical panels. We have incoming lugs. This is where you would land the wires from the SOURCE feeding the panel itself. You will have one for each phase (or hot) conductor, one for the neutral, and one for the ground. Next, we will have the panel interior itself. This contains the buss for each of the phases and is where the load side breakers will attach. It also contains a few pieces of insulating material that keep the phase busses isolated from the metal current carrying pieces within the panel that it shouldn’t touch. Finally, we have a main breaker. This allows us to shut the entire panel off with one throw of a single switch. It also provided overcurrent protection for the panelboard as a whole. There are instances where a MCB (main circuit breaker) are not needed, in which case you will only have the MLO (main lug only) that we discussed above. As a side note, main breaker kits are available for some panels, so you have the provisions to add that main breaker if desired or necessary.
The buss bars within the panel alternate and are usually the point that many starting out electricians have confusion. Breakers in panels are generally lined up in two rows. Odd numbered circuits on the left and even numbered circuits on the right. So, the top slot usually contains circuit numbers 1 & 2. These are on the A phase (or the black incoming wire). The next slot contains circuit numbers 3 & 4. These are on the B phase (or the red incoming wire. This pattern repeats itself all the way down thru the entire panel. A, B, A, B, A, B……... This changes a little when we introduce a 3-phase panel in that the sequence goes A, B, C, A, B, C…... So, breakers across from each other are on the same phase, but the breakers provide a different circuit for each.
What is important to know here is that via the breaker, the outgoing wire, your load, and the returning neutral form a complete circuit (loop) allowing current to flow. The current leaves the breaker, travels thru the load (or loads) and comes back to the panel on the neutral (or other hot if you are using a 2 or 3-pole breaker. In the panel itself, the neutral wire is attached to the neutral buss, which is attached to the neutral wire back to the transformer. The phase that you are using is also attached to the incoming phase wire from the transformer. The loop is now complete, and current is allowed to flow.
The individual breakers in the panel provide protection for the conductors and the load that they are serving. They also allow us additional control of those loads by affording us the opportunity to shut them off if needed. These breakers can come in several different ampacity ratings and a few different protection types (AFCI and GFCI being among them). Breakers can also be single pole (serving one single circuit), 2 pole (serving 2 hots) or three phase (serving equipment that utilize 3 phase power like motors, other panels, transformers, etc.).
We hope this has been helpful in understanding the different components of a panel and how those components work together to form loops and let current flow. Is there a topic you would like to see a video made on? Leave a comment in the comments section and let us know. Please continue to follow Dustin and Electrician U as we are constantly updating our content to assist our followers in becoming the best electricians they can be.
#electrician #electrical #electricity #panel #neutral #ground
Dustin I just started an apprenticeship 4 weeks ago and honestly I feel lost and dont know wtf is going on most of my working hours but you have a way of explaining electricity that is just so sublime. You really explain everything in a way that just makes it click in my brain and I cannot thank you enough. You're a great teacher and if you are ever in the Chicago area I would love to buy you a beer! Take care man :)
I can relate. I felt completely lost for a while when I first started and I had zero mechanical abilities. 9 years later I had a masters license. You got an edge over me back then, though. You got RUclips and channels like Electrician U! We barely had internet. Stick with it. You got this my man.
@@Ephesians-ts8ze I am sorry I learn from my mistake never ask questions again
@@jeremynguyen2346 what do you mean?
Please help me join the server lol 😂
Hey man, I was in the same boat as you. Had absolutely no knowledge of electrical nor any trades, and I couldn’t tell the difference between an impact driver and a drill. Just show up everyday with the willingness to learn and you will start to understand electrical 👍
You literally made everything crystal clear man thank you.
Nice job! Clear, concise and knowledgeable. Keep up the good work and I'll be tuning in often. Thank you!
I love your videos. I'm an estimator working in construction and not having been a field guy, your videos go a long way to demystifying the electrical work.
I'm so glad this man is helping a lot of people out I guess I've been doing it too long because it's just 2nd nature to me. But I remember when it was not.
High level overview of load center design. Nice work!
Hey Dustin! Nice video, as always. Thank you for all your work. I recently came across an A/C unit which was wired with 12/2 romex in a pvc conduit going to 40 amp Square D breaker in a GE panel. I tried to explain to the customer it’s not the way it should’ve been done, but she didn’t seem to understand what the big deal was. Could you please do an experiment where you have too much current traveling through a 12 ga wire 😅
I'm not in trades and you explained this perfectly. Thank you. You actually made me understand this !
Am so happy the day I come across your channel and be a subscriber, because I learned so much which definitely opened widens my knowledge.
This guy is worth his weight in gold as a pro & a teacher! TY E.U.!
Nice explanation. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Great diagrams and explanations.
This is one of my favorite videos. Thank you
Great job explaining it for a regular person.
Great video, explaining things simply. Thanks man! 🧠 💡
Thank you sir!!! Blessings to you and yours!!
Asome ! thanks for the refresh 👍🏽
Super super informative. Love your videos. Keep it up 🤘🤘
Your introduction alone is electrifying.
Yo. So cool to meet you in person at the NECA BBQ. Once again thank you for all I’ve learned from you on my journey to master!
wow. Great explanation.
Excellent explanation. Explains why only half of ny circuits worked after having service panel replaced. Discovered one phase was loose in connection coming into house.
Yo dustin you have inspired me so much to become an electrician love you man 🖤
Thank you for your videos they help me a lot
Great explanation!!
Excellent video thank you
I'd love to see some videos about solar wiring. Especially line side tapping vs load side and ground neutral bonding at the solar ac load distribution vs at the home.
All clear. Thanks!
Boy I learned a lot from here. Keep it up man.
Great explanation, Thanks! Please do a review of the SPAN smart electric panel. I would like to here your opinion on it.
Excellent. Thx
Great video. Really good explanation. The only two things are missed.
1. I do not have main 200A breaker at home on main panel, so how I can switch down all electricity when I need to install a new 60A breaker for electric car?
2. You do not show how exactly new breaker should be inserted, how it locks inside the panel and how to remove a breaker if needed.
Super. Thanks!
Great video!
I just found your channel today. I am not an electrician, but I am trying to understand the problem we are told we have in our older house. I enjoy learning, and I am wanting to gain a better understanding of what the electrician was explaining. In our breaker box, the white wires and bare wires are in the same place. He was trying to explain how the grounding and grounded should never be like that...and that is how I landed myself searching your videos! Do you have anything else that explains this? I am really wanting to understand it better.
Search for ground neutral bonding at the main panel. Any sub panel needs to be separate. He has a great video that visualizes the ground fault loop that can be created if it's done wrong.
Great explanation 👌
Hey brah…… could you explain how to determine a lose neutral on service side? I want a clear explanation on signs or steps to see this faster….. I know two pole breakers can mess with readings
I would start with this: Test L1 to L2. Divide that by two and that should be about what you can expect when testing L1 to N and L2 to N. Conduct those two tests. If neutral is loose, I suspect the sum of those two tests will fall short of L1 to L2. I say suspect, because a tester doesn't really put a load on the circuit, which may not be enough to see a problem. Make sure all tests are done at service entrance lugs, preferably in the meter socket not the panel. If you test from the panel, a loose neutral could exist in the meter socket, not the service.
If client tells you " when i turn on the oven, the lights turn on but dimmed." Or .. if you dont understand the reason why something weird is happening, It's probably a loose neutral
i conected my power source to 100 double pole breaker. This allows me to avoid a hot bar n hot lugs when working on panel, everything is dead with breaker off. I fed my sub panel using lugs of main panel as jumpers to sub. Appears to work great.
Can you please make a video playlist for basics maybe in order. I like this channel and I’m new to this craft
I love your videos! You guys are great! I need your professional knowledge on my panel. I have a 100amp 20 circuit General Electric 1960 era. I'm out of neutrals i want to add a type 1 surge protector. Is it code to add a neutral bar and a bumper wire from old to new? Also does the addon neutral bar need to be isolated the original? Lastly no ground bar can i just simply screw one into the panel?
I becoming a professional because of yours knowledge hahaha the way you explain everything is espectacular haha thanks I’m not an electrician but I love to learn .every day that we pass without learning something new it’s a lost day
Appreciate the video 💪🏿
Thank you so much Sir
Hey Dustin nice video
Great video
Good morning,
We live in an old house whose breaker is only 100 amps, 24 spaces.
We want to change to 200 amps, because 100 amps is no longer enough.
We would like to know what you suggested for changing the 100-amp breaker.
Which is better: 20 spaces for 40 circuits, 42 spaces for 42 circuits, 40 spaces for 80 circuits?
Alternative?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and have a nice day!
Very good sir 👍
Appreciate ya bro bless 🆙
Awsome bro🔥🔥🔥
Thank you
Have a vid on phase colors / their ordering depending on the orientation of the panel, etc?
Cool video Dustin keep them coming back 😮!!$$$&!!!!!!
I like to nerd out about electrical and electronic stuff 🤓
Thanks for the great content! I often meet linemen or other electricians who have destroyed their bodies - bad back, shoulders, etc. Is it possible to be an electrician for a long time without ruining your body? What advice would you give to young electricians to take care of themselves?
Stay in the gym, stay active
Eating right is a start 😂
Work slower 😆🤣
The guys that are on disability early worked their butts off or were injured. More productivity from the additional 10 years of work vs living off of the taxes you've paid in 😆🤣
Good boots... Most say good boots adds a good 5 years to your working life. I buy "Red wings" and wont buy any other boot. 340bucks, well worth it... No break in, works and feels good day one. 100% American Made. No BS assembly in USA, it is 100% USA made. Goto an actual red-wing store. They will size you and they sell electrician boots(can't make a ground thru your feet basically). Then spend the extra 60 for their inserts that will fix your posture. Might feel weird to walk correctly at first. It fixed mine, made my foot feel much better 6+ months later.
and if you buy boots, buy actual boot socks.....
Video idea. How to wire latch circuit and how it operates
So to get a 240v circuit you use 2 circuit breakers and 2 hots and 2 neutrals to the load?
More like this 👍
What benefits if any does a dedicated line offer? I’m considering placing a dedicated circuit in with the goal of reducing/eliminating the noise that exists on a shared circuit. Is this a wasted effort or is there benefit as I’ve described for doing it?
In the single phase 240 v system, if a circuit requires 240v then the breaker needs to be attached to both hots? Is that right? Is that why higher amp breakers attach to and pull from both main input lugs? Instead of combining end to end on one input?
Hey can you explain what the new 12-2 blue wires are for?
HELP! I'm replacing an old Federal Pacific 100-amp panel with a 200-amp Square D Hameline panel, so I will need to upgrade the service entrance cable and want to use 2/0 THHN copper.
The outdoor meter can/box is mounted low, (30" off the ground at bottom edge of can) outside, so if I use the bottom rear 2-inch knockout of the meter can, it will put the hole through the wall below the bottom edge of the new breaker panel by about 8 inches, so I will have to make a vertical 90 upwards turn from hole in wall to bottom knockout of the new panel. I cannot find a 2" close 90 PVC electrical fitting so I'm guessing they don't make one.
My question is: how do I make that vertical 90 turn upwards? It will eventually be covered in drywall. Do I need to have the inside copper leads in conduit at all? If I use switch to 4/0 aluminum, do I need conduit inside the wall cavity? thanks in advance!
Thank youuuuuuuhh
Can you explain generator transfer switches?
Hey there Dustin, could you please explain the reasons for humming or buzzing sounds coming from an electrical pane, the possible reasons, how dangerous it can be, and what to do about it? It would be much appreciated.
Not Dustin but an electrician here. One of your breakers is probably garbage and is arcing across it's contacts. Try turning every breaker off and see if there is no humming. Turn them on one at a time until you find the hum. You just saved yourself some time for an electrician to come out and swap the breaker for you. Do not do this yourself it's not something for the home handyman to do.
You mentioned explaining why the neutral bus bars should be isolated on plastic but not sure I saw that. Why is that? I had an electrician add new bus bars direct to the main panel for more neutral and they are not on the plastic part. Is that ok?
This dude always clears any trouble I got thank you Dustin
Please make a video on Eaton regular panel in comparison with Eaton Plug on Neutral Panel.
YEEESS!! SPARKY RAGE!!!
QO brother! Show that SE stuff!
Can I assume then for a 240v circuit (drier/range) the circuit breaker would tap the power from the red and the black bus bar?
Not accurate, but yes. The coil in the transformer is 240v. Your circuit goes all the way up and back. You need a load between the top of the coil and bottom so there isn't a boom 😏
The breaker lands on both bus bars. So, yes. The red and black
Cool
Here’s a tip for your drawings is to put circles in the Middle of the squares for the lungs
Can you show us how to do AIC calculations or voltage drop? Thanks!
AMP * Volts = Watts / 3va = SQFT * .8 = Amount-Of-SQFT-you-can-use-for-3%-volt-dropoff... Funny part is most electricans don't even know this, they just use rule of the thumb and do the work... 100-ft or less, 12gauge. Over 100-ft 10-gauge.
What digital board is that?
Hi Dustin Can you put out a video ( if you alredy did please let me know) on how a 277 V lighing works from Electric Pannel all the way to the light itself .... I whent to a Commercial building and the light switch give me a 277 volts reading on my volt meter
I wish you could teach my Algebra teacher how to use a digital board. He uses the mouse to make points, instead of the marker you use.
If I do a continuity test between the neutral bar and ground bar in a panel that is not connected to anything. Will there be continuity?
I never thought about why the bars were staggered to make sure double poles were drawing from each leg
In my panel there a a 150 breaker can I changet for a 200 ??
I have a tricky multiple choice question, hopefully someone can with more knowledge can help me out
A White/grey wire in a feeder circuit ________:
A)Be bonded or have a circuit breaker
B)Is the largest wire in that circuit
C)Should not have a voltage to ground
My notes:
On the main panel, neutral is connected to the bar that is BONDED with the panel, the green grounding wire is also connected to the same bar. (so does that mean the answer is A?)
In the sub panel, the neutral wire is connected to the neutral bar which is ISOLATED from the metal box with plastic between them, the Green grounding wire is separated and is connected to its own bar that is bonded to the sub panel box.
In the circuit that this question applies to,
--------- “The neutral wire is going to be sized larger than the Green grounding wire”
(But that doesn’t mean it’s the LARGEST in the circuit right? Because the two hot wire could be the same size)
--------"The neutral should have no potential difference(voltage) to the ground" (does that mean the answer is C?)
How do you know when you are connecting a breaker across the bus bars to get 240V on that breaker
The breaker is wide... it clips onto both bars
Please show how to balance a single phase panel.
Three phase is primary secondary and auxiliary or anything like a ceiling fan
so the bottom of the braker and the screw of the braker is hot?
No ground conductor coming into service panel. G and N bonded together.
Only the N going back to the transformer?
Yes. Neutral to transformer
Also can be a fish aquarium or light dimmer as long as it runs on electricity
I know you cover US mostly, but it would be interesting if you could cover European 240v… I cannot convince a coworker that their power is 240v line to neutral… they think it is just like here that it is 240 line to line.
Use a voltmeter?
@@tedlahm5740 I would but it's kinda hard with my job to fly to Europe and take a picture. And I have shown them that and they still think it is line to line, so maybe it's a moot point anyways.
is it still black red blue on the other side of breaker?
It would be cool to have a video on how circuits are split up typically in a house. (What all do you put on each breaker, how many outlets, etc.. and how you get the wire from breaker to all of the items on the circuit (say a living room) do you just daisy chain all of the outlets and lights or come off of a junction box?
Normally each room has it own home-run line, which is a dedicated line from breaker panel to said room. Which is normally ran to the switch box, then it is daisy chained to all outlets in said room. I don''t do more than 12 openings per home run, so each power oulet is one, each switch, each fan, each light is also one. With LED lights you can skip counting those sometimes. You don't wanna run junction boxes, unless it calls for it like a remodel. If new construction, I'd make you redo the entire thing if you put a junction box in the attic. The switch box in the room is the main junction box. Then home-runs should be 12-gauge or thicker. If past 100-ft then do 10-gauge. Basically... For in the end its alot more compliated than that. But to just do the work without understanding, that works. I normally tie in all lights to a different home-run than the room they're in, especially a kitchen, normally attach those to hallway or bathroom circuit. So if a breaker trips, people can still see. Might seem easy, but there is alot more to it. Especially if you're wiring 3-ways and trying to maintain a proper neutral balance. Which if you do not, then lights dim or flicker. Since a 3-way has power on 1-side, not both sides, you isolate the neutral to just that circuit, not everything inside the switch box. Then BOOM, see gets more comlicated and thats just basics.
When do we get another "day in the life" video bro?
How things change, in Mexico the electrical system is the same, only that the general panel is not 200A or even 100A...it is just a small general breaker of 30A...for the entire house, without subpanels hahaha
why no explain a double breaker in the panel?
Here’s a Good one. Why is a 200amp main breaker more expensive than a new 200amp main breaker panel 🤷♂️
Can u make a cheat code for electrical one exam I’ll litteraly pay for it
Just to study I haven’t entered my courses yet but studying everything
What I'm confused about is how do you know which one is phase 1 phase 2 or phase 3 because if all the wires are black how do you know which one is phase 1 phase 2 and phase 3 because not all electrical panels are going to be black wires phase one red wires face to blue wires face three a lot of times they will not be in order so how can you tell which one is phase 1 phase 2 phase 3 if it's not color coded and even if it is color coded how would you know for sure 100% that that is phase one phase two and phase 3?
Why would you want to know which transformer you're tapping into?
Isn’t that L1 and L2 the same phase?
Quick question. BTW I'm not in the trades. The single phase panel setup with L1 and L2 180 out phase...isn't that the same as split phase? Thx. Love your content.
Ok, next stupid question. What's the difference between a 100 amp box and a 200 amp box from the view of installation from the utility company?
Between 100 and 200 amps for home electrical service, the utility company will not care. Most new homes are being outfitted with 200 amp panels. The utility is only responsible for the conductors that attach to your home and then the meter. Everything beyond that point is in the hands of a licensed electrician.
@@SwitchingRooskies Thanks. I had to upgrade to 200 amp service and I believe they came out and did something.
@@JimAllen-Persona Did they change the loop/drop size of conductors to your
Premises ?
@@tedlahm5740 No idea. I'm trying to be a bit less of the clueless homeowner that I am. I know someone trenched a new line in and the power company was here at the time.
@@JimAllen-Persona why you needed to upgrade to a 200 amp service?
Always felt like panels could be improved. They come with almost no instructions or cryptic pictures and 5pt text, you can't easily read the breaker numbers for decades of life, hard to label, no diagnostics - even a water heater has blinking LED codes. How about they start with red/greed LEDs to see powered circuits and maybe a better cover instead of holding up an awkward conductive cover with one hand while trying to start one of 6 freaking screws. They just seem archaic.
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