Installation in a small cramped box

[jmak209]

Hi all,

I tried to install it this morning, but realized I don’t have very much space in my box.  I recently had solar installed and I wanted to monitor my production/consumption. With the way the mains are oriented and only a small gap for the 200A CTs, I think I need the flexible sensors? Hopefully someone can confirm. Along with that, it’s already bunched up as it is in there, would it be best to get an external box and just have the flexible CTs and 50A sensors inside my main panel and the rest of the hardware in another box? I feel like I’ll barely have any space to install the 50A sensors as it is. And unfortunately the neutral bus bar is on the left side, behind the wires too. Please see below for pictures of panel and spacing:

[jmak209]

I already read somewhere that the flexible CTs can be snapped apart to go around the mains and then re-snapped together. Can anyone confirm this? Also looking into the installation instructions, the flexible CTs needs to wires to go onto the neutral bus bar, but I think I maxed out after connecting the the white and blue wire to the bus bar. Is there anything I can do?

[jmak209]

After some more reading I think I will get the flexible CTs as they can be unlatched and relatched. I’m going to get an external box to run everything into. Will there be an issue if I double up the white and blue wires from the connector to 1 spot in the neutral bus bar? Furthermore, I have a few double breakers, does that mean I should only run 1 50A sensor on 1 leg of the breaker?

[emporiacs]

The flexible sensors should work for this installation and they ‘snap’ open and snap close, also an external box is a good idea as this panel does look pretty full.  For double breakers you can put one sensor on one leg, and in the app use a multiplier of 2 to double the measurements for this balanced load. You can place the blue and white wire together on the neutral bar.

[Scooter133]

I’ve twisted my Blue and White Neutral leads together on all 5 of my panels and landed them in a single neutral screw. It should not be an issue.

I also have a Sub Panel that had an old Siemens Power Meter on it mounted in a 6x6x4 panel. I removed the meter and ran the connections through the chase and put the Vue in that enclosure.  You will need to be sure yours in Water Tight. 

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