How to Connect a Breaker for New Circuit Wiring Part 2

This is a three part series on how to connect breaker circuit wiring. In this second part, learn how to connect bare copper grounding wire, connect white circuit wire and strip insulation.

Step 1 – Connecting the Bare Copper Grounding Wire

Locate the grounding bus bar on the electrical panel and run the bare grounding wire to this location. Insert the wire into an open terminal on the bar and secure it using a setscrew. If the panel does not have a separate grounding bus bar, then run the wire instead to the neutral bus bar and connect it to one of the open terminals. The excess bare wire should be positioned away from the bus bars so make sure it runs along the panel’s inside edge.

Step 2 – Stripping the Wire Insulation

On both black and white wires, the insulation should be stripped off before connecting them to their designated terminals on the electric panel or breaker. The white wire should be connected to an open terminal on the neutral bus bar. If the wire is too long, cut it short with a wire cutter before stripping its insulation. The black wire should be connected to the terminal on the breaker. If the wire is too long, cut it short before removing the insulation. Remember to strip only ½-inch of the insulation on both white and black wires.

Take the white wire and position it into the proper slot on the wire stripper. Understand that the wire stripper has separate slots for different sizes of wires. Wires for main circuits are usually 12-gauge. To check for the wire size, there should be a value written on the insulation. If the stripper does not have separate slots, it should have an adjustment screw. Adjust this screw to fit the correct wire size.

With the wire positioned at a slight angle, rock the stripper back and forth until the insulation is severed. Pull the insulation away from the wire in a swift motion. Do the same with the black wire insulation to prepare it for connection later. If the breaker is to be connected to a 240V circuit, there will be an additional hot red wire. Strip the insulation as well following the steps detailed above.

Step 3 – Connecting the Neutral White Circuit Wire

The white wire should be connected to the neutral bus bar on the electrical panel. Bend it a bit so that it can fit easily at the back of the panel cover plate. Insert the stripped wire into an open terminal in the neutral bus bar and secure it into position using the setscrew. Remember that the neutral wire is only present when the breaker is to be connected to a 120V circuit. If the circuit is 240 V, there will be no white wire, but instead a red hot wire as mentioned above.

To learn how to connect the wiring for 120V and 240Vcircuits and complete the wiring process, proceed to the third and last part of this series.