The breaker box from Hell

[pioneerMan]

Don't blame me, I didn't do this mess. The guy on this property before me wired this thing up. He's dead now. The 6 heavy duty black wires coming into the box supply power to 2 mobile homes, 3 wires each. I think maybe the wires are aluminum, but not sure. The run to my house is at least 400 feet. It's crazy to me that the Outback inverter's AC output is the small yellow Romax wire coming in to the breaker box. Not sure why he thought we needed such heavy gauge wires going to the mobile homes, considering the most this inverter can put out is 2800 watts. Maybe thinking ahead for a future upgrade?

Is there anything I can buy that I can shove the ends of those 3 wires into, which would then offer a smaller tip to go into the breakers better? Just trying to clean this up and make it safer.

Thanks.

[raysun]

When it comes to AC wiring I mainly leave it to the guys who do it for a living. All that definitely looks sketchy.
The inverter is an FX2812 yes? They are rated around 25AAC @ 120V so 10AWG wire with 30A disconnect would be good for AC output to the load panel.

[SumPowerRays]

Polaris lugs!
This link is for wire sizes 1/0 through #14 awg.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Polaris-1-0 ... /303578418
They also come in size #4 awg to 14 awg.

If your local home depot doesn't have stock and you don't want to wait.

Then there is a Platt Electric Supply in Logan, Utah and Platt in Ogden. Platt will usually have these Polaris lugs in stock. If not it is 1 day delivery to the store to get stock. Great supply house.

You should probably place a Romex connector on the yellow romex wire entering the box to prevent it from moving around and chafing the insulation.

[pioneerMan]

Polaris lugs!

Perfect, this is just the solution I was hoping for. Thank you.

[JRKsolar]

Sunpower,
Thanks for the link, I've always wanted a good solution.

[fcwlp]

The reason for the large gauge wire is to minimize the voltage drop after the long run. The reason to use Al is cost. I just did an install where the house was 500' away. With a 60A draw, to keep in the ~3.5% voltage drop range required 3/0 Al or 1/0 Cu. Al URD (direct burial) Quadruplex cost $2,350, Cu wires 2x 1/0 L1&L2, 1 AWG N and 4 AWG G cost is ~$12,000. Plus installation time in the trench for the URD was about 15 minutes versus many hours of assembling conduit and pulling 500' of wire.
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On Al wires always be sure to use an antioxidant when making connections. The Polaris type connectors generally have an antioxidant in them.
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To clean up your breaker box, put a junction box below the breaker box and make the Polaris splice within that box. All splices must be made in an accessible junction box. Makes the load center much cleaner.
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It also time to replace your load center. It is definitely an obsolete panel with breakers no longer available. If it is a Federal Pacific or Challenger panel, I would definitely replace as the breakers have a history of overheating and causing fires.

[pioneerMan]

To clean up your breaker box, put a junction box below the breaker box and make the Polaris splice within that box. All splices must be made in an accessible junction box. Makes the load center much cleaner. It also time to replace your load center. It is definitely an obsolete panel with breakers no longer available. If it is a Federal Pacific or Challenger panel, I would definitely replace as the breakers have a history of overheating and causing fires.

Thank you for the advice. I think I'm going to hire an electrician.