neat main wiring

[gumbudah]

so im not an electrician, but im going to wire my main panel in the garage. Ive know the electrical side such as where to land wires and wire sizing and such. What id like to learn is how to make it super neat/tidy. Anyone have a process laid out to do this best? Any tools work better than others? Anyone have any pics of any really tidy panels?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

No unusual tools needed. With the wires going to breakers, I cut them long, and pull them straight down the sides and use the tip of my finger to act as the radius to bent the wire 90 degrees to the breaker, cut and strip and insert in the breaker, Don't make sharp bends with needle nose pliers or the like, make them smooth with some radius

Charles

 

[dittle fart around]

The only one who will see this is you and the inspector. That's why there's a cover. Wired high voltage substations for years. The goal was to have enough wire to reach any terminal on the rack.

 

[Cuda]

I used to wire up load centers in pre-built homes. I always got great satisfaction in having the panel looking clean and neat when finished. Especially when compared to what it looked like before I started with all the home runs just crammed in there.
And to the non-electricians on sight who would see the before and after , I looked like a freakin genius.

 

[BigSteve63]

As mentioned, long enough to reach any spot in the panel - then, my OCD kicks in. I run them straight down or over, then wrap a loose pigtail loop before inserting into the breaker. looks nice and gives a bit more slack if you need to reposition the wire.

 

[Rosco]

Currently finishing the hook-ups in my 200A panel in the garage. I like the look of a clean wiring install inside the box, but to ensure extra wire I left a good bit of slack above the box in the wall cavity. Used a 2X6 brace in between the studs to staple the wires to for security above the box.

 

[Falcon67]

I typically try to cut back the romex sheath close to the box entry, then route the wires along the top, down the side then turn in towards the breaker. Kinda depends on the internal layout. Just leave yourself a bunch of slack hanging out of the load center before you start terminating.

 

[mrb]

if you take the cover off mine all this wire flies out at you like one of those snakes in a can things.

 

[A_Pmech]

if you take the cover off mine all this wire flies out at you like one of those snakes in a can things.

Same.

 

[Falcon67]

if you take the cover off mine all this wire flies out at you like one of those snakes in a can things.

Recommendations needed to get coffee stains out of a flat panel monitor.

 

[newlywv]

It has to be neat for me, I cant stand to see a messy one.

 

[Delta74]

when I am doing a panel from scratch, what I will do is strip all outer insulation back to the connector, from there I start with usually the top of the panel ( or sides, or whatever depending how the wires enter the panel and how its mounted ) anyway I group all the grounds together and tie them in, then do the same with the other side or bottom, then repeat the process for the neutrals, and finally the hots, but also group them and leave them long enough to go anywhere, but bundle for circuits 1,3,5,7 ect. then repeat the even side, so when its done, all the grounds are at the back of the panel, neutrals in front of them, and hots up front.

hope i did not confuse anyone with that explination, but its what i do and makes the panel neat and easy on the eye, and usually the inspector looks see's that and smiles and leaves.

 

[AussieDan]

This thread needs pics! I'm especially interested in how you get the wiring neat while leaving enough to reach anywhere in the panel.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Adding a second grounding bar on the opposite side in a panel helps a lot with being able to do it neatly, as the grounds can run down either side of the box, like the neutrals and hots do.

 

[Cryptic1911]

They don't get much neater than mine in the garage.. the guy did an awesome job on everything:

 

[dittle fart around]

They don't get much neater than mine in the garage.. the guy did an awesome job on everything:

Looks good. Most people never have to use circuits for other than what they were originally intended for, but if you ever had to, say use the lighting circuits at the top of this box for a different purpose. The wire wouldn't reach much farther down the panel. That's the reason most electricians would leave enough wire to reach any breaker in the panel.

 

[AussieDan]

Yeah that's what I was wondering about, mine in the garage isn't quite that neat but has the same issue with moving things around because each wire is cut to length.

It's easier in a main panel with shared ground/neutral bars each side vs a sub-panel where you'd need to have 2 ground and 2 neutral bars if you wanted to keep the wires for each circuit on the same side of the panel.

 

[dittle fart around]

There's no need to keep the neutral or ground on the same side as the hot lead. The neutral or grounding buss is a common point. Electrically it's the same point no matter what side of the panel the buss is mounted on.

 

[TWX]

Recommendations needed to get coffee stains out of a flat panel monitor.

Plug it into 240V and burn the coffee out...

 

[Grape Ape]

Here's the panel in my garage. I am in the process of wiring now.

 

[Nostraquedeo]

I take a 1" sleave of romex, label it and put it on the black wire right before it enters the breaker. Perfect for when the schedule gets lost or whatever.