Neutral looks wrong

I am doing an inspection and the neutral wire on the right side that is going into a rather small bus bar and it appears that this was done because the wire was cut too short. Is there anything wrong with this installation?

It is the neutral going into the right side bus bar.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

I don’t see a neutral going to the right-side terminal. I see a total of 4 egc’s, one bare and three insulated.

What I DON’T see is a bonding connection (jumper or screw) to the neutral terminals adjacent each side to the breaker. This appears to be service equipment, in which case, the bond is required.

Its bonded behind the lugs with a metal strip Jeff.

The service conductor being too short and tapped into the right buss was his issue.

Honestly, I cant answer, because thats a new one. I would think it has the potential to loosen up installed in this manner. If the wire was trimmed to fit under one screw then its wrong all togheather.

Yeah, it doesn’t look like the terminal is large enough for that white taped conductor on the right.

The neutral feeder to the sub panel, I assume. I can’t see the connection so I really can’t comment.

The bond in these panels is usually accomplished with a green bonding screw, inserted in the open screw-hole in the top of the right-hand terminal.

This looks like a panel that can be used as either service equipment or load-side equipment. Removal of the bonding screw allows for isolation of the neutral terminals.

Again (I could be wrong), I don’t believe it’s bonded.

I can’t comment on the that but look at the Neutral in the panel to the right to make sure it is well connected as it looks like too much stranded copper is showing and may be loose.

Do you have a picture of the entire panel and a picture of the panel next to it?

Panel may or may not be bonded, we can’t see so we can’t comment with any certainty. The bare conductor may be a ground for the panel or it may clamp to the conduit at the base of the panel.

The size of the terminal connection and the neutral conductor would really determine if it is an adequate connection. You can say the neutral isn’t installed in the lug provided, may not have an adequate connection and you recommend evaluation by a qualified electrician.

Ground and neutral bars typically state on the panel the maximum size wires they are able to handle. I seriously doubt that wire size was acceptable for the neutral bar to which it was connected making it an incorrect installation.

While there would be two options, either one would require splicing and extending the neutral wire. You can add the proper size lug to the top of the existing neutral bar to which it is attached. Or, you could simply add a splice to the wire and place it in the existing lug on the left side neutral bar.