Questions for new system
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 3:51 pm
I'm planning on buying a GEM soon. I'd like to make sure I've got the right list of bits and pieces before I make the purchase...
First, here's what I know about my current panel and my goals for monitoring:
I have a 40 circuit panel in the house basement and an 12 circuit sub panel in the garage. I don't plan on monitoring the sub panel, so we can leave that out for now. The main panel has (I think) 200 Amp service. It's got what appear to be 4 breakers tied together, each labeled "200" and behind the panel cover, there are two very thick cables going to this assembly. I've read that this probably means I have 200 Amp service with each half of the main panel being served 100 Amps. The circuits in the main panel are a mix of mostly 15 and 20 Amp single pole circuit breakers. These are pretty easy and I've already decided which ones I will monitor with a single CT. Together, I can cover these with 25 CT-50s. There are also 5 double pole breakers of various amperages (40, 40, 30, 30 and 20). Here's where I get confused. I'm hoping that I can monitor each of these circuits with a singe CT-50, but I'm not quite sure about the wiring. Two of the circuits are fairly easy: they each have a red and a black wire screwed to the breaker and nothing else (they go to the oven and my septic pump). There is a white wire for each of these circuits going to the bus bar. The remaining 240V DP breakers are wired thusly:
1) Two black wires going to the breaker, labeled "1" and "2". Also two bare wires going to bus bar. Very large wires, 8 gauge or so. This is the 40 Amp service to the garage.
2) Two black wires going to the breaker, no labels. Also a white wire going to the bus bar. Larger than a "regular" 12-14 gauge wire. Call it 10 gauge. This is 30 Amps to the A/C Compressor.
3) One black, one white wire going to the breaker, no labels. Bare wire going to bus bar. This appears to be a regular 12 gauge sheathed cable. This is 30 Amps to the clothes dryer.
I think these are all considered "balanced" (except maybe the service to the garage panel). But I'm not sure....
Either way, my BOM looks like this (I think):
1x GEM
2x Split-100 CT (+ 1 spare)
30x Micro-50 CT (+2 spare)
Does that all sound right?
Thanks!
Ian
First, here's what I know about my current panel and my goals for monitoring:
I have a 40 circuit panel in the house basement and an 12 circuit sub panel in the garage. I don't plan on monitoring the sub panel, so we can leave that out for now. The main panel has (I think) 200 Amp service. It's got what appear to be 4 breakers tied together, each labeled "200" and behind the panel cover, there are two very thick cables going to this assembly. I've read that this probably means I have 200 Amp service with each half of the main panel being served 100 Amps. The circuits in the main panel are a mix of mostly 15 and 20 Amp single pole circuit breakers. These are pretty easy and I've already decided which ones I will monitor with a single CT. Together, I can cover these with 25 CT-50s. There are also 5 double pole breakers of various amperages (40, 40, 30, 30 and 20). Here's where I get confused. I'm hoping that I can monitor each of these circuits with a singe CT-50, but I'm not quite sure about the wiring. Two of the circuits are fairly easy: they each have a red and a black wire screwed to the breaker and nothing else (they go to the oven and my septic pump). There is a white wire for each of these circuits going to the bus bar. The remaining 240V DP breakers are wired thusly:
1) Two black wires going to the breaker, labeled "1" and "2". Also two bare wires going to bus bar. Very large wires, 8 gauge or so. This is the 40 Amp service to the garage.
2) Two black wires going to the breaker, no labels. Also a white wire going to the bus bar. Larger than a "regular" 12-14 gauge wire. Call it 10 gauge. This is 30 Amps to the A/C Compressor.
3) One black, one white wire going to the breaker, no labels. Bare wire going to bus bar. This appears to be a regular 12 gauge sheathed cable. This is 30 Amps to the clothes dryer.
I think these are all considered "balanced" (except maybe the service to the garage panel). But I'm not sure....
Either way, my BOM looks like this (I think):
1x GEM
2x Split-100 CT (+ 1 spare)
30x Micro-50 CT (+2 spare)
Does that all sound right?
Thanks!
Ian