Experience With Cutler Hammer (Eaton) CH Series Panels


I am in the midst of new construction and am working with an electrician who is recommending a Cutler Hammer (Eaton) CH series 400 amp panel. He prefers these to Square D panels. The CH series panels have "one-piece silver flash plated copper bus provides superior conductivity throughout the entire product line". I will be running multiple dedicated circuits for audio rooms and am wondering if anyone has an opinion on these panels.

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CH panels are considered among the best in the industry, which is why electricians use them a lot.  I have a 200-amp CH panel that was part of the original house construction in 1992; I have 4 dedicated 20-amp circuits in that panel for my home theater/stereo, and it has worked perfectly for 32 years . . . 

John C.

Well, Federal Pacific were among the most notoriously bad panels ever made. Not only did the back planes make poor contact but the breakers often failed to trip on overload.

Square D, Siemens, Eaton CH are all really good. My preference is for in-panel surge protectors as opposed to bolt on units. I’d suggest go with whichever your electrician recommends that allows a surge protector to plug directly onto the back plane instead of being wired in. This minimizes inductance and puts the surge protector closest to the incoming power lines.

Another thing, if this is new construction, consider where your cable modem and wifi router will be. You might want to run fiber between them, and locate the wifi router in a more wifi optimal location than the cable modem. The main reason for the fiber is to prevent surges from outside the building from entering and frying everything connected to an Ethernet cable.

Also, if your wifi router will be 30' or more from your streamers, consider fiber there also, as it will reduce/eliminate chances of lightning induced surges from being picked up.

I also, lastly want to point out that I don’t know why audiophiles are obsessed with the best connection to the outdoor supply. A little resistance and inductance in the wiring and panels can be very beneficial to reducing noise and the effect of surges. There’s little guarantee that noise goes down as you get closer to the transformer outside. 

Some R and L at the panel, and wiring from the transformer can be quite beneficial.

Have two 200A CH panels; only downside I’ve seen is whole panel (house) surge protectors are external and still leverage two slot for a 50A breaker; i’ve seen other panels that offer the panel surge protector in the breaker, which is nice, as my panels are in the finished part of the basement.

 

Curious; why are folks needing multiple or more than one 20A circuit for Home Theater? I have one dedicated circuit; all equipment is plugged into nice power conditioner, and that conditioner is plugged in the single dedicated circuit.