Electrical wiring question

[crowbar032]

So I ran an underground wire to one of my sheds off of another electrical box. I installed a new small breaker box in the shed, it only has two breaker slots. Its the weirdest thing though. One of the breaker slots work perfectly, but the other does nothing. I've switched the breakers and wires around and no change. The slot on the left of the box works, but the right doesn't. What in the world could I have done wrong?

 

[murphy1244]

how many wires wire in the line you ran? what color are they? did you run a neutral?

 

[k0ua]

So I ran an underground wire to one of my sheds off of another electrical box. I installed a new small breaker box in the shed, it only has two breaker slots. Its the weirdest thing though. One of the breaker slots work perfectly, but the other does nothing. I've switched the breakers and wires around and no change. The slot on the left of the box works, but the right doesn't. What in the world could I have done wrong?

Normally the left breaker (if 120 volt) will be on one leg of the 220 to Neutral and the other breaker will be on the other leg of the 220 volt to Neutral. You did run 3 wires Hot Neutral Hot to this other box correct? and you did measure to see that you have 220 volts between the legs and 120 volts from each leg to Neutral, correct?
If all of that is correct, take both breakers out and inspect where they connect up to each leg.

 

[k0ua]

A photo would be worth... oh, about a thousand words...

 

[murphy1244]

Normally the left breaker (if 120 volt) will be on one leg of the 220 to Neutral and the other breaker will be on the other leg of the 220 volt to Neutral. You did run 3 wires Hot Neutral Hot to this other box correct? and you did measure to see that you have 220 volts between the legs and 120 volts from each leg to Neutral, correct?
If all of that is correct, take both breakers out and inspect where they connect up to each leg.

That's why I asked how many wires were ran..

 

[k0ua]

That's why I asked how many wires were ran..

You wanna lay a wager on how many he ran?

 

[grsthegreat]

yup....i can see it right now. one side of the panel has no power. If you want to keep it 120 volt but have 2 circuits, you can jump both sides of the main. however if you only ran 20 amps to the panel, you wont have any benefits of having 2 separate 20 amp circuit breakers.....you still have only 20 amps , 120 volts going there...need pics, wire size info, wire type info, what sized service you ran and how large of a service you are feeding from.

 

[murphy1244]

You wanna lay a wager on how many he ran?

I kinda had a feeling.

 

[crowbar032]

I ran 3 wires. Pic should be attached.

 

[B7510HSD]

I ran 3 wires. Pic should be attached.

It looks like the breaker on the right goes to where the white neutral wires are??????? maybe it's just the way the photo looks I hope!!

 

[ENG18LT]

Should have 4 wires going to a sub panel. Two hots, one neutral, one ground. The neutral and ground need to be isolated from each other in a sub panel.

It sounds like you have only powered one side of the panel.

 

[grsthegreat]

ok, you ran a 20 amp 3 wire circuit , 120 volts to a panel that is set up for 240 volts. not the end of the world. You need to run a jumper from one side of the panel to the other. Also, i can tell if you have a separate ground bus on the panel. a subpanel has to have a separate ground and neutral busbar. you are not supposed to attach the grounds and neutrals together at this point...only at the main (original) panel can they be connected.

the pic you posted isnt very clear, and when i pasted it into photoshop it got real blury..but this is what im talking about

 

[grsthegreat]

mind you, since you only ran 20 amp 120 to panel, using 2 separate 20 amp circuit breakers wont do a thing to getting more power. you might as well eliminate one of the and just connect everything to the one breaker. no matter what you do, you only have 1 circuit worth of power.

 

[Papasmirf]

On the top left lug you have a black hot lead. Correct? And on the top right you have no wire. Correct? BUT on the right breaker lug you have a black wire going to your ground/neutral bar on the far left of your box...remove this wire from the ground/ neutral buss bar. Remove the other end from the right breaker. You were surely going to have a direct short. If you want two twenty amp circuits you will need to have two power leads, usually black and red, a neutral (white), and a ground (green) coming from your "service" panel to this "sub" panel. Go get you an electrician, please.

 

[Ken45101]

I ran 3 wires. Pic should be attached.

Three wires. 12-2 with ground? For 220 service to a pair of 120 outlets, you need 12-3 with ground. You would only use 12-2 with ground if it was only going to be used on 220 only (e.g. a 220 motor.)

How do you have the line tied in at the originating breaker box?

If you don't really know the basics of wiring, you really should get someone qualified to either do the work or at least check it over.

ETA: "12-3 with ground" is a total of four wires. "12-2 with ground" is a total of three wires.

 

[Papasmirf]

Yes, yes, yes to what he said plus what I said.
Understand???!!!) please be careful, we really don't want to lose you. Be smart and get help.

 

[grsthegreat]

On the top left lug you have a black hot lead. Correct? And on the top right you have no wire. Correct? BUT on the right breaker lug you have a black wire going to your ground/neutral bar on the far left of your box...remove this wire from the ground/ neutral buss bar. Remove the other end from the right breaker. You were surely going to have a direct short. If you want two twenty amp circuits you will need to have two power leads, usually black and red, a neutral (white), and a ground (green) coming from your "service" panel to this "sub" panel. Go get you an electrician, please.

i think that black wire on the breaker not being fed is actually doing a loop and dropping down. it doesnt appear to land on a lug.

Also...clean up all the loose wire at base of box. all insulation has to be cleaned off of wires so only 2" of it intrudes into panel. The base of that box is a mess of wires not needing to be there. it just makes it a mess to work with.Theres no way to tract those wires to see whats going on


you want something that looks like this




not this

 

[grsthegreat]

then again...it could be worse

 

[Papasmirf]

His photo of his sub panel looked to me that the black lead on the terminal of the right breaker is going to the ground lug. And if that's true and he puts a hot lead to the right line voltage buss bar lug then he has a direct short. Also, all that extra wire in the bottom has to be removed. You should not have more than 12" of lead length in a box rated 200 amps or under. It.could create a heater and burn all the wiring or start a fire.

 

[grsthegreat]

i honestly cant tell whats going on in the picture. the quality is too poor.

you might be right about the black wire. but when i try enlarging the picture, it gets too hard to tell.