I bought a repo 1976 modular home on land a few years ago and have been using it for storage (5 AC's). Vandals (thieves) snipped all the wiring they could get at out of the breaker box before I bought it. Spliced in wire to get some circuits on the left side of the panel so some lights and outlets work to use as a shop doing lighter work. Now I want to get the electric up and running to use as a place to stay at times.

Question: How do I determine what wire goes to which breaker. Is there a meter that can be used at a outlet or a baseboard heater and check the stub at the box for current? I'll be using a couple of splice boxes above the breaker box  with the push on connectors to neaten this mess up.

Any help appreciated!

OK.. what I'd do....

1) disconnect BOTH black and white of ONE wire from the box connections

2) short them out(twist together lightly, clip, jumper them)

3) use meter on OHMS( best with beeper mode) and test every receptacle.

eventually you'll find one that beeps or show zero ohms. THAT'S IT !

This costs you nothing...

the 'pros' use a fox and hounds pair. It's a transmitter that you plug into the receptacle

and a probe that you use to locate which wire has the signal.

Whatever way you do it, WRITE IT DOWN !! Tape a copy onto the panel, store a copy in cutlery drawer, another in your shop,somewhere.......

Jay

Jay, what do you use to track down lights to find which breaker they belong to?  Is there some kind of screw in tester?

Dale 

I would wire it up and let her rip.

Every time or if a breaker flips, i would then label the corresponding breaker.

I have a bunch of breakers in my box that are not labeled. 

 Any splices need to be a solid connection and in a enclosure that allows access to check and maintain the protection of the wires and splice. Also a spliced wire is counted as 2 wires when figuring the content or % fill of a box or enclosure - as they are governed by the NEC guidelines 

AWG 14 wire to 15 amp breaker

AWG  12 wire to 20 amp breaker

AWG  10 wire to 30 amp breaker

re: to check a light circuit

1) disconnect the main power !!

2) turn light 'on'( check bulb first...)

3)connect ohmmeter to neutral, use other lead probe the black wires. One will go zero ohms and buzzer will sound indicating that the light. turn light switch off to confirm.

Jay

good info there TMiller, I forgot to mention the wire size in relation to the amp of the breaker.

Chas, No pain no gain lol. 

Get someone to help you and use either walkies or cell phones to communicate.  Otherwise you will be walking all over the place and end up forgetting where you found what.  I borrowed one of the units Jay was talking about and between me and the wife it took about two hours to map out the breakers for the entire house, garage and basement.  The PO had very little labelled. 

Another thing I remember reading in the NEC was that lights are on 15A and receptacles are on 20A breakers . .. . supposed to be!!! 

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are usually more than one receptacle or light on each breaker, and they are usually grouped in one room or nearby adjoining rooms.