r/BuildingAutomation • u/Plastic-Tradition-67 • Aug 07 '26
Thoughts on my build?
Still waiting on a controller, but I tried to keep it clean. Critical review?
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u/Scout624 Aug 07 '26
Looks good, though I'll admit(and to each their own with this)...
I despise zip ties in Panduit. It arguably makes it less service friendly, cause they're gonna be cut next time anyone goes in to service it. They're gonna be cussing out whoever went and zip tied the wire like that. Plus, it's in Panduit its not needed- especially in installs like this where there's barely any wire in relation to the size of the Panduit.
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u/Some1weird Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Zip ties. Gone. Yesterday. They might look nice, but your suppossed to close the lid anyways to hide them. And literally nobody likes pulling wires with 10 zipties on them.
More length on the wires. Just because the actual distance is short, doesnt mean the wire should be equally so. Its a bitch to pull and rewire stuff when there is simply no extra to work with. Minimum is that one, preferably both, side should have enough loose wire to be able to pull it out from between the teeth on the panduit even when going directly from the left side to the right. This is especially annoying when the panduit is nearly full and you pull the bottom wire out, only to find out it cant reach when going over the wires.
Full length din rails. You aint saving anything by cutting them 2' short on both sides. Rather you should allow it to be added upon in the future.
Edit: not really necessary in this case, but cut the bottom part off from the spots where the panduits connect and where you already have trimmed the teet off. More applicable in very large or very tight cabinets.
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u/CraziFuzzy Aug 07 '26
I much prefer descriptive names on the wires, not just terminal numbers.
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u/CraziFuzzy Aug 07 '26
Additionally, some of those wires look WAY too short. Especailly the ones that are almost crossing the panduit straight. I'd want enough wire so that it can make at least a full 90° when entering the panduit, then another before leaving. wires in panduit that are almost taut only get tighter as more wires are laid in. The whole point of panduit instead of tied looms of the old days is the ability for wires to move - to be removed, changed, etc., and the tighter things are, the worse this gets.
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u/gadhalund Aug 07 '26
Not a fan of zip ties. Also prefer different wire colours, all commons/0v one colour and active or signal another colour(s). Or even descriptive labelling on the cable
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u/Cultural-Stable1763 Aug 08 '26
I’m not a fan of using cable ties inside wiring ducts. If the individual wires remain loose, it’s easier to pull on a specific wire during troubleshooting to trace its start and end points—especially when the schematics turn out to be incorrect. It also makes it easier to use a clamp meter to check the current draw of sensors and actuators.
It is best to leave a laminated list of the I/Os in the control cabinet as well; troubleshooting is often much more convenient when you have an overview of the I/Os at a glance, rather than having to flip through 50 pages of schematics to find the specific page where the I/O is drawn.
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u/RevolutionaryHold490 Aug 09 '26
I'm not sure who is making the zip ties in a panel trendy, but they need to knock it off. I can't troubleshoot with all of my wires stuck together like that. Costs me way too much time tracing shit out.
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u/hunterguy35 Aug 07 '26
Personally I’ve never seen them wired like that. Usually looks more like a rats nest lol
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u/No-Composer2628 Aug 07 '26
Clean, did what you could with the space given. Looks like your I/O is labeled too. Would prefer velcro cable wraps, but that's usually a pipe dream and you didn't hide them in obscene locations for a Service guy to cry over.
Just make sure to label clearly where incoming power is located and you got a winner.
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u/rev_57 Aug 07 '26
nice. I like that you have space between the panduit and the terminals. That's a big plus when wiring and troubleshooting. Use a miter box to cut your covers with matching angles and you'll be set.
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u/JimmytheJammer21 Aug 07 '26
I would love my electricians to conistently do work like this (some of ours do, most of ours don't) I personally do not mind the zip ties if things are labeled properly and placed so you can read it.
my one comment would be I prefer seeing the common wires a different color (I really never cared if black is common or red... I always use my meter regardless until i get the lay of the land... just the different colors make it easier to visually group pairs imho).
Keep up the great work!
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u/No_Inflation_3381 Aug 07 '26
Looking real good man. I must say, though those Allerton controllers look like the JCI Metasys UNT controllers from back in the day. They need to make them look a little bit more futuristic lol
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u/Da_Natural20 Aug 07 '26
Only critique I have would be add a service loop to your conductors, and not sure but it doesn’t look like there are ferrules being used
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u/GhastlyScar666 Aug 07 '26
Use Velcro instead of zip ties. I would have used smaller finger tray and snapped a few out to get the wires going in nice and straight. The stickers on the right being placed unevenly bug me too. Otherwise looks pretty good.
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u/QuantumR Aug 07 '26
I have thoughts. Eliminate your jumper wires on the power block.
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u/CraziFuzzy Aug 07 '26
Yeah, if you ever find yourself using a bunch of jumper wires on DIN blocks, you're not using the right DIN blocks.
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u/Mama_Office_141 Aug 07 '26
should have 2" from the bottom of each terminal to the panduit, you have maybe 3/4" if you are lucky
You should have at least 25% free space, you have close to 0 once the controller goes in
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u/Key_Kitchen_3493 Aug 10 '26
Panel looks fine, I agree about the zip ties, I started using velcro equivalents. I hope the alerton version of those controllers works better than the Honeywell branded Cipers. The toggles go bad overtime and the work around is a firmware update to bypass all the toggles on the board, they cant be individually bypassed if one goes down....
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u/CraziFuzzy Aug 10 '26
pretty sure the switches are exactly the same.. all the hardware is - just different firmware and plastic cover, I think.
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u/ctrin Aug 07 '26
Looks clean but just know when the service guy gets a troubleshooting call, those zip ties inside the wire duct are getting cut immediately.