breaker box install question

[daisy]

a while back I removed a backyard pond. I connected the old wiring from pond to my shed. Three 10 ga wires - black, white and green. I picked up a 30 amp breaker box from Menards and it has room for two 15 amp circuit breakers. I am not an electrition but I am just putting in a couple of lights, two outlets and one switch which I know how to do. The ground connection is obvious but I am not sure about black and white wires to the breaker box.... The circuit breakers have a place to connect a wire at the bottom. The top end the circuit breaker connects to a terminal (not sure that is right name) to which another wire will be connected. The black wire is hot and the white is neutral. Which wire goes where?

[Ralph Mowery]

If you don't know enough about which of the 3 wires go where, don't mess with it.

If you are sure the wires you have is for 120 volts ( I do assume you are in the US) the black wires go to the breakers. Usually a terminal at the top will connect to all the breakers. The white wire will go to a terminal strip where you hook up the white wires comming from the equipment or outlets. The green wire will go to another terminas strip.

In other words you want to make sure the breakers go between the incomming black wire and the equipment black wire. The white wires feed through, same as the green.

[daisy]

1. I am certain this is 120 volts.

1. There are only two terminals on this breaker box. One terminal is for ground........ and second terminal is for either the black or the white wire that the circuit breaker connects to at the top. the other connection is on the circuit breaker itself.

My only question is about the black and white wires..........................which goes to the second terminal or does it matter?

[FrozenNorth]

Get an electrician, I have wired many new circuits, but with your lack of knowledge this apparent, no help is forthcoming.

[bob_villain]

The pink (corral or orange) is the ground.

[clare]

The white goes to the neutral (center) connection and the black goes to the other two. The box is designed for 240 volt input - black, white and red with one fuse on each "phase" giving 120 volts on each fuse.

[clare]

Make and model number of the panel please. Without it we are ALL guessing

[Doug Miller]

[e-mail] wrote in news:QxSjz.29561$ [e-mail]:

You can't use this cable for that purpose safely. You don't have enough wires. You need four wires, black, red, white, and green or bare.

Then you need to hire one. BTW, you'll have better luck finding one, either online or in the Yellow Pages, with the correct spelling: electrician.

You're in over your head on this one. Hire an electrician.

Sorry, not going to help you with this. You need an electrician before you kill someone.

[Bill]

How about if he only brings 120v to his box, using B-W/C-G. Then he could create some safe circuits, right (at least on one side/pole)--he would just need to make sure that he is sending in 120v to his panel and not 240v, and consistently treat W as common. Of course, my thoughts should be just considered fodder for argument. For instance, I don't know what the electrical code says about any of this, etc. blah, blah, blah.... As everyone knows, it's really hard to resist an electrical question!

Bill

online or in the

[Rusty Boldt]

Since you said shed and not workshop, can we assume you only want a receptacle/outlet and a 15 watt LED bulb?

[John G]

I would forget about a breaker box. The wire is probably 10 gauge to alleviate voltage drop. Just install a junction box and wire your outlets and lights from that. Black is hot, white is neutral, green is ground.

John Grabowski

[TimR]

alleviate voltage drop. Just install a junction box and wire your outlets and lights from that. Black is hot, white is neutral, green is ground.

And, properly label the breaker back in the house. It says pond now (hopefully) and it needs to say shed. What size is that breaker?

[Paintedcow]

That house breaker is likely a 30A. Way too large for any outlets or lights. It needs to be changed to a 15A or 20A. (20A will require 12 gauge wire to all devices, but the existing 10 gauge is fine).

However, we are not sure if this is 120V or 240V.

I also recommend getting an electrician, or at least finding a friend or neighbor who knows what they are doing.

[dpb]

...

While certainly ok and easiest, it surely might be handy to have a cutoff in the shed, too...

I wonder about how the wire is run from its previous location of the garden feature to the shed...

[DerbyDad03]

alleviate voltage drop. Just install a junction box and wire your outlets and lights from that. Black is hot, white is neutral, green is ground.

If I am not mistaken, a junction box is fine, but the shed also needs a main disconnect "nearest the point of entrance" of the circuit. If a simple light switch is used, it would be nice if it was labeled as the disconnect so that it is not confused with the actual light switch.

On the other hand, the fact that 10 gauge wire is being used, the OP should use something that is designed to accept the larger wire size.

[trader_4]

+1

[Ralph Mowery]

alleviate voltage drop. Just install a junction box and wire your outlets and lights from that. Black is hot, white is neutral, green is ground.

Well Mr. Electrician that might be advice for those that know what they are doing, it is clearly not in this case.

As # 10 wire has been ran, this indicates that a 20 to 30 amp breaker is in the main box. That would need to be changed if smaller wire was ran to the outlets and lights from just a junction box. I doubt that you will find any 120 volt outlets that will be wired with # 10 wire. Number 12 and most likely # 14 wire would be used in his shed.

[Davej]

You don't explain where this wire is coming from or how long it is. It should come from a 15a or 20a breaker on the main panel.

Black is hot. White is neutral. Green is earth ground. That is the standard color code but you can't trust that is true until you verify it. A 10 gauge wire at 120V should go through a 15a or

20a breaker. If the wire is long then a 15a breaker may be best. The black (Hot) wire goes to the breaker. The box may accept two breakers but you can only use one breaker. Turn off the power before messing with it. Contact an electrician if you are uncertain. Use a test light to verify that black is indeed the only hot wire.

[clare]

Since it is not going to be 100% to code anyway, there IS a way to use both breakers in that panel. Using a lug or large wire nut, split the black to both breakers, and put the white on the neutral as you normally would. Make sure the #10 wire is fed on the black from a single 30 amp breaker, with the white on neutral at the main panel so you are only getting 120 volts, not 240.. Connect the bare or green to the panel case.

[Doug Miller]

Bill wrote in news: [e-mail]:

[snip]

That would work, and I thought briefly about explaining how to do that, but reconsidered in light of the OP's obvious lack of knowledge. I think it best to advise the OP to hire a professional.