Electrical – use a 150A cable to feed through a 200A breaker subpanel

electrical-panelsubpanel

I am installing a 200A main breaker panel as my service disconnect. The Eaton BR816B200RF panel will have feed thru lugs on the bottom. I want to feed a 150A sub panel from those lugs. The subpanel will be 50 ft away and have it's own 150A breaker.

I would rather not run 4/0 Al SER cable if 2/0 Al is sufficient to feed the 150A subpanel. Not sure why the cable would have to be sized for 200A if it will never see current greater than 150A. This work will be inspected but in any case I want to follow the code. Can I use the 150A cable? Thanks.

Best Answer

The conductors will have to be full size to the 200A breaker. Remember what protects the conductor is the 200A breaker if you reduce the conductor size there must be an additional breaker to protect the the current carrying conductor. NEC does allow for the feeder to be reduced for the final 1/3 distance of a feeder which is probably impractical, but it does allow the subpanel to have 150A buss.