No main breaker panels @ Home Depot?

[randomq]

Went looking for a breaker box, and all I found were "Main Lugs", which are breaker boxes without the main breaker. Are they just out of stock?

Since I'm off-grid on a 3000 watt inverter, I don't need much, maybe a 30 amp main breaker and 20 amp circuits for my rooms.

[Seeb]

You don’t need a main breaker, but has to be less than 6 to shut off all power in building.
Last I looked

But from the question I guess it means unpermited . So make it obvious what is so if fire department ever has to come no one gets shocked

[randomq]

Thanks Seeb. Are there any conventions to making it obvious for first responders?

[kalakoa]

Backfeed the panel through a 30A breaker. Panel should include a MAIN sticker which can be used to label this breaker. If inverter is single-phase, use a short piece of large-gauge wire (eg, #6 or #4) to bridge the L1/L2 lugs so that all breaker positions are energized.

I'm partial to the plastic GE load center because it's non-conductive and doesn't rust.

[randomq]

Great idea kalakoa, thanks!

[kalakoa]

Backfeeding a panel is (or at least used to be) code-compliant provided that a main breaker larger than 50A included a hold-down clip to make sure the breaker would stay in the panel. Large mains have enough thermal variance to walk themselves up off the stabs; in some panels, the main is bolted onto the bus to avoid this problem.

Note that this works because AC breakers have no "polarity", unlike DC breakers.

Aesthetics: I would use a full-size 30A and a couple of half-size 20A, making the "main" visually obvious.