meter line side

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The top of the meter base is always hot in as much as that is where the utility power ties in.

Disconnects can have the power tie in wherever the unit is designed or designated as line side. SqD makes a main breaker panel with the main right in the middle of the buss.
 
Every one I've seen is on the top. The Milbank pedestals have the line side lugs on the bottom but then there are bus bars that go to the top of the meter socket. Obviously for underground lateral, you don't want to have to bend the wires around to the top.
 
For the meter to function properly the line side of the meter itself must be the top - if meter is to be installed so the reading is not upside down. The place where supply conductors land could be elsewhere though and sometimes is elsewhere in cases of equipment designed for underground feed.

For fused disconnects - you want (and code generally requires) the fuses to be de-energized when the switch is open, this does allow you to grab and change fuses with them being de-energized. This typically by design means the line side is the top side.

For circuit breakers - If not marked line/load they typically can have supply at either end. Usually not a problem with most typical inverse/time type breakers they function just fine being fed either way.
If they are marked line/load you must use them as marked. There may be good reason they are marked line/load with some special designed units.
 
Awesome- I had the utility coming from underground and the load going out of the top of the can. Almost made a mistake . There's no marking on the meter can but something just didn't seem right. Good thing I couldn't find my ratchet cutters right away :dunce:
 
Michaelmechanic said:
Awesome- I had the utility coming from underground and the load going out of the top of the can. Almost made a mistake . There's no marking on the meter can but something just didn't seem right. Good thing I couldn't find my ratchet cutters right away :dunce:
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If you had done that, and POCO for some reason didn't catch it and make you change it, the meter would have counted down instead of up, unless it were installed upside down.
 
Michaelmechanic said:
Awesome- I had the utility coming from underground and the load going out of the top of the can. Almost made a mistake . There's no marking on the meter can but something just didn't seem right. Good thing I couldn't find my ratchet cutters right away :dunce:
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I have seen times that I wish it could be wired that way.
 
Is there such a thing as a meter socket in a NEMA 1 cabinet? If so there wouldn't really be a TOP side, at least not to a plain socket with no other accessories making it more necessary to have one side be the top.
 
Line is always on top for most meters. If bottom fed, the meter would run backwards. That's why people used to try turning their meter upside down once in a while. There are meters designed to count up regardless of power flow. Others will count up only in the forward direction, but will not count down in reverse. Some meters also have two registers, both forward and reverse for solar type installations. Lots of options nowadays. Factory options when ordering.
 
meternerd said:
Line is always on top for most meters. If bottom fed, the meter would run backwards. That's why people used to try turning their meter upside down once in a while. There are meters designed to count up regardless of power flow. Others will count up only in the forward direction, but will not count down in reverse. Some meters also have two registers, both forward and reverse for solar type installations. Lots of options nowadays. Factory options when ordering.
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I think the original point was that, while meter sockets are always fed from the top, the lugs for the line side are not always on top. In fact, in every pedestal socket I've installed (Eaton and Milbank), the line lugs are on the bottom, below the load lugs.

pedestal.jpg

As you can see the line lugs are located below the load lugs, but there are two bus bars that carry the current to the top of the meter socket. It's engineered this way so lateral feeds to not have to bend around to the top, thus allowing the enclosure to be narrower.
 
kwired said:
If you had done that, and POCO for some reason didn't catch it and make you change it, the meter would have counted down instead of up, unless it were installed upside down.
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I don't think any of the meters made in the last 10 or 15 years do that. I believe they all have ratchets that only let them spin so that they count up. Of course if they are back fed they don't count any use if they have the ratchet.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
I don't think any of the meters made in the last 10 or 15 years do that. I believe they all have ratchets that only let them spin so that they count up. Of course if they are back fed they don't count any use if they have the ratchet.
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Actually, they make meters to purposely be able to count backward to allow the utility company to credit you for net energy you generate from your solar/wind installation.

EDIT: but the process is a little more complex than just reversing the leads on the lugs.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
I don't think any of the meters made in the last 10 or 15 years do that. I believe they all have ratchets that only let them spin so that they count up. Of course if they are back fed they don't count any use if they have the ratchet.
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Actually, the ones I have seen have a ratchet and overrunning clutch combination so that whichever direction the disk turns the dials count up.
A PV system put into service without a meter change will charge the customer for excess power.
 
I should just keep quiet, as I don't know everything there is to know about meters.

I do agree there is some variety out there that you maybe didn't see several years ago. And when it comes to the ones with some electronics incorporated into them - there is quite a bit of possibilities.

That said most all of them still have an intended input and output and changing that around may impact how well they do what they are supposed to do. And if you have on site power production that is intended to sell excess production to the POCO some of these details become very important if you want accuracy in the metering.
 
I would think the utility company's accounting software would automatically audit and discover your Kw/hours are going backwards lol. :lol:
 
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