Just crossed 200 panel installs and noticed something scary

Hit my 200th commercial alarm panel install yesterday, and I realized nearly 30 of those had wiring that was basically just hanging by a thread inside the box. I started double checking my own work after the first 50, but what got me was the older installs I ran into. Last week I opened up a panel from 2019 and the ground wire was barely touching the terminal, could have caused a false alarm or worse. Anyone else gone back and found their early work way sloppier than they remembered?

3 comments

3 Comments

victorcoleman7d ago

Buddy of mine found a 2018 panel where he'd left a screwdriver resting on the backup battery terminals.

miles548d ago

Barely touching the terminal"... man, that gave me a chill just reading it. I pulled a panel last month from a 2017 install and the main power lug was so loose it slid off when I barely touched it. My own work from back then is honestly embarrassing to look at now, I know I rushed through some of those early jobs. Makes you wonder how many false alarms or system failures out there are just from a loose screw or a wire not fully seated. You ever find any of your old panels where the labeling was totally wrong too?

wren_rodriguez7d ago

Ever had a screw actually snap off in the lug because you torqued it too hard trying to fix that exact problem?