Thread: Split Bus Wiring

I saw this at my inspection this morning. The panel appears to be wired as a split bus panel but I've never seen connections like this on the cables for the main that powers the other half of the bus bar. For that matter, I didn't see a split bus at all in this panel. To further cloud the matter, the panel data labels were on the inside walls of the panel box and covered up by the wires so I could not see the wiring schematic.

These pics are not the best as there was not a lot of room to work with considering how close the partition wall was built around the panel.

Pic #1 is of the full panel
Pic #2 is the connection of the cable for the main on the left-hand side of the panel
Pic #3 is the connection of the cable for the main at the bottom of the panel

I couldn't see anything that looked like an actual lug for these cables to be secured to. The panel is a Cutler Hammer and the breaker these cables are connected to is a 60 amp double pole breaker.

Are these connections legit or is this a DIY split bus connection? You can clearly see in the 3rd pic how the cable goes behind the back of the hot bus bar.







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Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

... the breaker these cables are connected to is a 60 amp double pole breaker.

Which breaker are they connected to?

I have not seen connections like that either, but knowing which breaker those conductors are connected to may help answer you question as to whether that is a split bus panel.

Based on the lack of a single main and the 6 double pole breakers I think this is a split buss panel. Did you check the directory for circuit labeling ?

The large wires feeding to the back of the buss certainly make it look like a split buss panel.

Originally Posted by Jim Port

Based on the lack of a single main and the 6 double pole breakers I think this is a split buss panel. Did you check the directory for circuit labeling ?

The schematic labels were on the inside of the panel box and covered by the wires and cables. The cables didn't have enough flexibility to allow them to be pushed to the side for full viewing of the labels.

The breaker the cables come from is a 60 amp double pole breaker on the upper left-hand side of the panel. Not the top breaker but probably third breaker down.

The part that is confusing me is the way these cables attach to the hot bus. No visible lugs and one cable connecting at the left hand side while the other connects at the bottom of the hot bus.

One just feeds the top of the bottom bus, while the other feeds the bottom of the bottom bus. Also the feet on the breakers mark this as an older panel along with the breaker size feeding the lights and receptacles.

Looks legit to me. I have seen some SB panels that were built that way. It was a soldered connection to the buss bar from factory.

Thanks for the replies guys.