Editing Distribution board (section)

====Interior====

The photograph to the right shows the interior of a residential service panelboard manufactured by [[General Electric]]. The three service conductors—two 'hot' lines and one neutral—can be seen coming in at the top. The neutral wire is connected to the neutral [[busbar]] to the left with all the white wires, and the two hot wires are attached to the main breaker. Below the main breaker are the two bus bars carrying the current between the main breaker and the two columns of branch circuit breakers, with each respective circuit's red and black hot wires leading off. Three wires (hot black, neutral white, and bare ground) can be seen exiting the left side of the enclosure running directly to a [[NEMA connector#NEMA 5|NEMA 5-15]] [[electrical receptacle]] with a [[power cord]] plugged into it. The incoming bare, stranded ground wire can be seen near the bottom of the neutral bus bar.

The photograph on the left shows a dual panel configuration: a main panel on the right (with front cover in place) and a subpanel on the left (with cover removed). The subpanel is fed by two large hot wires and a neutral wire running through the angled conduit near the top of the panels. This configuration appears to display two violations of the current U.S. National Electrical Code: the main panel does not have a grounding conductor (here it is fed through the subpanel instead) and the subpanel neutral bar is bonded to the ground bar (these should be separate bars after the first service disconnect, which in this case is the main panel).

<gallery caption="North American boxes" widths="100px" align="centre">
File:ElectricalPanel.jpg| An American circuit breaker panel featuring ''interchangeable'' circuit breakers

File:OpenClosedPanelboardEEUU(GE)CloseupTop.jpg | Illustration of breaker numbering in a North American type panelboard. Some labels are missing, and some are additional. The numbers on the [[toggle switch|toggles]] indicate the rated [[Ampere|amperage]] before tripping. The top right breaker (Rated at 100&nbsp;A) feeds a sub panel.

File:Electrical panel and subpanel with cover removed from subpanel.jpg| Electrical panel and subpanel with cover removed from subpanel.

File:EEUU(GE)BreakerpanelInnards.jpg| The internal wiring visible.

File:Murray-fuse-box.jpg| An older style fuse box of the variety used in the United States.
</gallery>