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Why would you have 115 vac on your neutral bus in the panel that has a separate ground buss?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Certainly your neutral bus is not properly bonded to the ground buss and grounding electrode conductor. But the size of your voltage worries me. You need a competent electrician to check this one for you.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
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Why can't the ground wire be connected to neutral at the receptacle instead of in the main panel?
First off, this is for a single phase 120/240V system only. The ground and neutral can be bonded at the receptacle but not instead of bonding them at the panel.You should always have them bonded together at the panel in a single phase 120/240V system. Otherwise you risk having a floating neutral in your system.
How do you connect the wires for a 200 amp sub panel to a 200 amp main panel?
Assuming garage is detached less than 80 ft away. You need a 60 AMP double pole breaker for the 200 AMP house panel, and need to have two spare slots. Additionally you should have conduit in running in ground, and have #4/3 W/ground Stranded cable running to the sub panel. This setup will allow for 110V's and a 220V circuit. Connect the two hots, Red/Black to the Breaker on your servicing the panel. Connect the neutral (White) to the Neutral bus bar along with the Ground wire. Sub panel on detached Garage. Attach the White neutral wire to the Neutral ground bar. Attach the ground to the ground bar on the Sub panel. Pull the permits and have it inspected! If your house has the wires from the meter going straight into your panel box then you tie the neutral and ground to the same busbar. However; If you havve a disconnect on the outside of your house then you must separate the neutral andground inside the 200 amp panel box. This is usually prevalent on a mobile home or any time the pnel box you are using is fed from another panel or disconnect.
Is the neutral bus bonded to the equipment ground in a subpanel?
Definitely not. The neutral wires must be put on the neutral buss and that is the only place that they are to be terminated in a distribution panel. In a distribution panel there is no ground buss, it is just the metal enclosure that is used. The ground wire is only used to return a system fault back to the distribution panel to trip that circuits breaker.Distribution panels typically have two "busses"-- one for ground and one for neutral. These are terminal strips where the ground and neutral wires are connected. In some panels, these busses are electrically connected or "bonded." In other panels they are isolated. Most panels come with an optional "bonding screw" that can be installed or removed depending on whether the busses need to be connected. NEC is very specific on when these busses are to be connected. Ground and neutral busses should only be bonded at the main panel where the service enters the building. Other distribution panels will have separate ground and neutral busses and they should be isolated electrically--connecting these is a commonly seen mistake.I believe the question refers to the case where the two busses are properly bonded together, so are electrically equivalent. Then is it acceptable to have some ground wires on the neutral bus and vice-versa. Electrically it will work, but code or electrical inspectors may deem it to be confusing or sloppy practice and reject the installation.As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.Before you do any work yourself,on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOBSAFELY AND COMPETENTLYREFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
When wiring a 120V outlet from a 240V 3 wire service can you just connect the neutral white to the middle wire of the 240 and grab a ground from another source?
The 240 transformer that delivers power to your home has a "center tap", which gives 120 VAC to each side from the center and 240 from "hot" to "hot". It sounds like you're describing it correctly. Use the center tap and one of the hot lines to give you 120VAC, and there should be a ground bar inside the breaker panel that you would use to provide ground to the plug. The neutral and ground may or may not come from the same "source", depending on what you're trying to do. If you run a 240 feeder to a subpanel in a separate building you run two hots and a neutral and you put in a separate grounding rod to connect to the ISOLATED ground in the subpanel. The neutral and ground are not allowed to be connected together in that configuration. If you're running a 120 circuit instead, you run hot, neutral and ground together from the main panel to the subpanel.
What does the earth pin do on a 3 pin plug?
The earth, or ground, pin on a 3 pin plug is a connection to safety ground. It is intended to be connected to the chassis of the appliance, in such a way that operational current neverflows on that conductor. The intention is that, if hot were to become shorted to chassis, then fault current would flow and the protective device in the distribution panel would trip. This works because ground and neutral are connected together in the distribution panel, and only in the distribution panel. It is also possible that, if the circuit is protected with a GFCI (Ground Fault Current Interrupting) protective device, then even slight imbalances between hot and neutral, i.e. partial current flow on ground, would trip the protective device.The earth, or ground, pin on a 3 pin plug is a connection to safety ground. It is intended to be connected to the chassis of the appliance, in such a way that operational current neverflows on that conductor. The intention is that, if hot were to become shorted to chassis, then fault current would flow and the protective device in the distribution panel would trip. This works because ground and neutral are connected together in the distribution panel, and only in the distribution panel. It is also possible that, if the circuit is protected with a GFCI (Ground Fault Current Interrupting) protective device, then even slight imbalances between hot and neutral, i.e. partial current flow on ground, would trip the protective device.
Why can't the ground wire be connected to neutral at the receptacle instead of in the main panel?
First off, this is for a single phase 120/240V system only. The ground and neutral can be bonded at the receptacle but not instead of bonding them at the panel.You should always have them bonded together at the panel in a single phase 120/240V system. Otherwise you risk having a floating neutral in your system.
Why would you have 115 vac on my neutral bus in the panel that has a separate ground buss?
Certainly your neutral bus is not properly bonded to the ground buss and grounding electrode conductor. But the size of your voltage worries me. You need a competent electrician to check this one for you.
Why do you have 230vdc from neutral to ground in a three phase 460vac panel?
Neutral is grounded in a distribution panel. At best, it is only a few tens of millivolts away from ground and it certainly would not be DC - it would be AC.
How do you hook up the distribution panel box with red white black and ground wires?
Without more information that appears to be a 240 volt circuit. Red & black would connect to the 240 volt breaker, white connects to the neutral bar, and ground conductor from the ground rods or ground plate connects to the neutral bar. Make sure that the bonding screw is in the neutral bar and it is screwed through to bond the distribution panel enclosure to the neutral bar.
How do you connect the wires for a 200 amp sub panel to a 200 amp main panel?
Assuming garage is detached less than 80 ft away. You need a 60 AMP double pole breaker for the 200 AMP house panel, and need to have two spare slots. Additionally you should have conduit in running in ground, and have #4/3 W/ground Stranded cable running to the sub panel. This setup will allow for 110V's and a 220V circuit. Connect the two hots, Red/Black to the Breaker on your servicing the panel. Connect the neutral (White) to the Neutral bus bar along with the Ground wire. Sub panel on detached Garage. Attach the White neutral wire to the Neutral ground bar. Attach the ground to the ground bar on the Sub panel. Pull the permits and have it inspected! If your house has the wires from the meter going straight into your panel box then you tie the neutral and ground to the same busbar. However; If you havve a disconnect on the outside of your house then you must separate the neutral andground inside the 200 amp panel box. This is usually prevalent on a mobile home or any time the pnel box you are using is fed from another panel or disconnect.
Is the neutral bus bonded to the equipment ground in a subpanel?
Definitely not. The neutral wires must be put on the neutral buss and that is the only place that they are to be terminated in a distribution panel. In a distribution panel there is no ground buss, it is just the metal enclosure that is used. The ground wire is only used to return a system fault back to the distribution panel to trip that circuits breaker.Distribution panels typically have two "busses"-- one for ground and one for neutral. These are terminal strips where the ground and neutral wires are connected. In some panels, these busses are electrically connected or "bonded." In other panels they are isolated. Most panels come with an optional "bonding screw" that can be installed or removed depending on whether the busses need to be connected. NEC is very specific on when these busses are to be connected. Ground and neutral busses should only be bonded at the main panel where the service enters the building. Other distribution panels will have separate ground and neutral busses and they should be isolated electrically--connecting these is a commonly seen mistake.I believe the question refers to the case where the two busses are properly bonded together, so are electrically equivalent. Then is it acceptable to have some ground wires on the neutral bus and vice-versa. Electrically it will work, but code or electrical inspectors may deem it to be confusing or sloppy practice and reject the installation.As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.Before you do any work yourself,on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOBSAFELY AND COMPETENTLYREFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
What happens if neutral wire goes in earthing hole?
That would be a ground-fault if it occurs anywhere other than inside the service panel.
When wiring a 120V outlet from a 240V 3 wire service can you just connect the neutral white to the middle wire of the 240 and grab a ground from another source?
The 240 transformer that delivers power to your home has a "center tap", which gives 120 VAC to each side from the center and 240 from "hot" to "hot". It sounds like you're describing it correctly. Use the center tap and one of the hot lines to give you 120VAC, and there should be a ground bar inside the breaker panel that you would use to provide ground to the plug. The neutral and ground may or may not come from the same "source", depending on what you're trying to do. If you run a 240 feeder to a subpanel in a separate building you run two hots and a neutral and you put in a separate grounding rod to connect to the ISOLATED ground in the subpanel. The neutral and ground are not allowed to be connected together in that configuration. If you're running a 120 circuit instead, you run hot, neutral and ground together from the main panel to the subpanel.
Where do you hook your neutral in your breaker panel if there is no neutral bar?
Unless the panel is the Main Panel (first panel in the system after the service feed) all panels have a neutral bar. Otherwise you are missing pieces. If this is the Main Panel, the neutral bar is bonded to the ground by a bus-bar. If this is the case, neutrals should all be connected to the same side of these bonded bars. Electrically it makes no difference, however it is a good practice to keep electrical panels neat and organized. If this is not the Main Panel and there is no neutral bar, STOP, PUT DOWN THE TOOLS, CALL A PROFESSIONAL. This panel is missing pieces and may be dangerous. It is possible to have a panel without a neutral. This panel would serve only 240 volt loads where no neutral is needed, however I have not seen this done in residential applications.
What does the earth pin do on a 3 pin plug?
The earth, or ground, pin on a 3 pin plug is a connection to safety ground. It is intended to be connected to the chassis of the appliance, in such a way that operational current neverflows on that conductor. The intention is that, if hot were to become shorted to chassis, then fault current would flow and the protective device in the distribution panel would trip. This works because ground and neutral are connected together in the distribution panel, and only in the distribution panel. It is also possible that, if the circuit is protected with a GFCI (Ground Fault Current Interrupting) protective device, then even slight imbalances between hot and neutral, i.e. partial current flow on ground, would trip the protective device.The earth, or ground, pin on a 3 pin plug is a connection to safety ground. It is intended to be connected to the chassis of the appliance, in such a way that operational current neverflows on that conductor. The intention is that, if hot were to become shorted to chassis, then fault current would flow and the protective device in the distribution panel would trip. This works because ground and neutral are connected together in the distribution panel, and only in the distribution panel. It is also possible that, if the circuit is protected with a GFCI (Ground Fault Current Interrupting) protective device, then even slight imbalances between hot and neutral, i.e. partial current flow on ground, would trip the protective device.
Will a GFI outlet keep tripping because it's line is wired to a fuse box panel where the neutral and ground are together?
No, that alone would not cause a GFCI to trip because that is the proper way to wire a panel.
What would happen if a wire is cut between the wall switch and ceiling light?
The light wouldn't go on unless just the neutral was cut and there was a separate ground.
