ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area What should a perfect panel have?

"All breakers have astonomical timeclock"

hey e57 was that an astromomical time clock or a gastronomical time clock???

or a gastrointestinal time clock???

astronomical - the other two you mentioned are pre-set for 8AM DLST as a convienient pre-break-break to consult the to-do list, and general calander dates of critical path items, write change orders etc., if you really need to know?.

ETC's lighting panels have the astromonical clock in them...

I like the knockout idea...nothing worse than trying to knock out one size and the next size up breaks away too, so my vote is for no KO's

Something that I've only seen once is an FPE panel that had a KO for a duplex receptacle right on the can...thought that was a good idea.

Although I favour Siemens, the one thing I don't like is the buss bar sticking up....too easy for a bare ground to flip around and hit....I think FPE buss bar is good at preventing that. Maybe some plastic knock-out things over the buss bar that can be easily removed when installing breakers.

How about some real space to make a proper label job without resorting to minature script. I can barely fit in "upstairs lights". Have to spell it "lites" to fit.

Not sure what panels you guys use but Siemens incorporates a bunch of the things you are looking for already.

Knockouts for breakers come out easy. Tools not even required.
Neutral bar terminals accept up to # 4 in all holes.
There are tabs in the top screw holes to line them up and help bear the weight of the cover.
The label spaces are the largest of any panel I have seen.
There are plenty of ko's. Sorry Fred but having to make all your own would be a HUGE timewaster.

I have a love/hate relationship with knockouts. When I need them I love them, when I have to cut a 2" hole through a bunch of them I hate them.

Dave

Perfect Panel ? Lets put a twist on this -
The perfect panel is one where the electrician that installed and trimmed it out actually gave a dam about what he/she was doing! Too many times I have opened panels only to find a rats nest of wire stuffed back into the panel. Seems a lot of folks are so worried about time/speed they don't take the necessary time to cut in a panel correctly! I hate finding wires that have not been separated and are still twisted together,multipule wires in the ground/neutral lugs, and wires that are not formed in a professional manner. It becomes a real PITA to add/remove anything from these panels. I am not going to say which side of the trade I feel is worse( resi. vs commercial) as I have found it on both sides.
The funny part is I have never found an electrician that will own up to doing this. Everyone says I won't do that! I can say with total honesty that I do not tie in panels this way. I will take the time to separate the hots from the neutrals from the grounds. Tie in the neutrals first ,then the grounds, then the hots.All in a neatly formed fashion one conductor per lug opening!
I guess this is one of my pet peeves!

[This message has been edited by luckyshadow (edited 03-15-2006).]

As far as many current British panels go, I'd like to see an end to the thin, cheap, flimsy plastic cases that have become the hallmark of some brands. (Metal panels are quite rare here for residential.)

On the sharp edges issue, I've noticed that becoming a problem on normal switch/outlet boxes here in recent years. In the old days, the manufacturers seemed to finish them off properly, deburring the edges before sending them out. Nowadays, the boxes seem to arrive with very sharp edges and burrs, just ready to cut into your fingers.