Is this allowed or a defect?

It appears to me they simply spliced all the wires from the old main metered panel to a new panel. I also see double wiring at one breaker and missing breaker labels. Any Advice on how to go about? Is the main panel considered a junction box now or still need a main shut off? If it is considered a sub panel, then the grounds/neutrals should be separate as well. This one has me a bit confused.




There is a lot more going on with that panel than just the double tap and labeling.

The 1st disconnecting means after the meter (house side) is the SERVICE DISCONNECT CABINET, where the grounded (neutral) and grounding (bare wire, typically) conductors are bonded together.

Everything after that is a REMOTE DISTRIBUTION CABINET where the grounded and grounding conductors are separated.

I hope this helps.

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Couple questions for you… Is that panel with the breakers fed from the meter directly now? I cant tell from the photos.
If so, do the feeders go to that panel, and then the other junction box come after the disconnect? It appears the old box is now just a junction box, but they still have the grounds and neutrals bonded in that box. They need to remove the neutrals off of that grounding bar. It is not a subpanel at this point, just a junction box.
I am not sure if a junction box is allowed with the meter box, someone else would need to answer that one.
And, is that 100 amp main feeding the whole home?
A photo from further back may help others

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They used conductors with green colored insulation wrapped black tape as a ungrounded conductor, not a allowable practice, but they went from Zinsco, to Zinsco II (BR) which cannot be called out as a defect, but it’s a mess.

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Where’s the Zinsco?

I see a meterbase with a wiring compartment on the top is used for junction wiring in picture #1. It is unclear where the SE conductors enter and exit with an incomplete picture.

Pictures #2, #3, and #4 are of the panel assumed to be downstream of that although that again it’s unclear from the pictures. It has a branch mounted main breaker (100A) which is the service main if that is in fact the first panel downstream from the meter. It is a Cutler Hammer/Eaton BR panel with all Cutler Hammer BR breakers. No Zinsco there.

The incoming feeder conductors enter from a back knockout which may be a LB and conduit run behind the wall to the meter. The outdoor panel is surface mounted whereas the meterbase with wiring compartment is recessed next to it which probably made the odd configuration necessary.

And what’s that black cable draped over the corner on the outside, unsecured to the wall. What’s going on with that? There is some kind of other electrical enclosure to the left of the meterbase with an LB from it run into the front cover of the meterbase. The more I look the more I think we’re only seeing part of the puzzle here.

The panel they converted to a J-box is a Zinsco*, I call any BR series panel “Zinsco II” it’s the worst product on the market, and shares Zinsco heritage, the interiors are a Challenger design, who was the successor company to Zinsco/Sylvania**, I will use any other product, although Eaton CH is my favorite, any other product is fine by me, even GE. :laughing: Please note, any current production product. The black cable looks like NM cable which is for dry locations only
*The panel is a Zinsco Underground service from the 1970’s.

**GTE decide to dump their Electrical Equipment Group, which became Challenger Electrical Equipment Corp., they were later bought by Westinghouse, & they dumped the Westinghouse BR panels & had the Challenger panels listed as BR, and replaced the Challenger breakers with Westinghouse after going through UL to list them, BR breakers are listed for use in Challenger panels, not UL classified like Eaton CL, which is classified to be used in most competitive panels.

Its getting a little off topic, but I respectfully disagree with the characterization of BR style panels as Zinsco heritage. Although there is some overlap in ownership, the panel and breaker designs were unrelated. Its complicated, but here’s a basic timeline:

1950-1972 Zinsco designs, sells, and evolves its plug-in panel and breaker line.
1973 Zinsco sells company to GTE Sylvania who continues selling product
1978 Panel line rebranded as “Challenger”, design remains the same
1982 GTE divests Zinsco to a new company created with Challenger Electric. The new company immediately stops making all Zinsco panels and redesigns all new panels and breakers with compatibility to Bryant and Crouse Hinds interiors. Replacement Zinsco breakers are continued to be made separaely for aftermarket purpose.
1988 Westinghouse acquires Challenger Electric, Bryant and Challenger brands merged and redesigned as BR, production moved from Bridgeport. CT to Jackson, MS.
1994 Westinghouse acquired by Eaton/Cutler Hammer, Zinsco breaker business unit sold to T&B. Eaton separated BR and CH plug in panel lines and moved both to production to Lincoln, IL.

So the only thing Zinsco and BR panels ever shared was the Challenger name briefly, but there was never a common design between them. I know that won’t change your mind if you already dislike BR panels, everyone has their own opinions, I just wanted to point out that they are not the same as Zinsco.

I tend to look at all the 1" wide breakers as about the same quality (Siemens, BR, SquareD Homeline, GE) and all the 3/4" wide breakers as a bit more premium (CH, SquareD QO.)

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Zinsco had two lines, one is the most reviled brand, they also had American Switch, a lessor known but since they were from the same company used a lot of common parts where they could, they were both branded Sylvania under GTE ownership, but under Challenger (they also bought FPE) the infamous Zinsco panels were dropped. I would not call Eaton BR dangerous, just cheap like Zinsco, they were advertised as “Engineered Value” which is another name for cheap, and with every type of product, somebody has to be the Yugo, & Eaton BR is it, Zinsco was the prominent product for projects where cheapness is required like tract homes, apartment buildings, like in the heyday of aluminum branch circuit wiring, where a $20 difference between copper & aluminum meant choosing AL, but $20 went a lot farther then too.