New Square D NQ Panelboards Easy To Get To Job Site, Install

Palatine, IL - Designed with feedback from electrical contractors, new Square D 240V NQ lighting panelboards from Schneider Electric are easier to get to a job site and install compared with similar products. This helps maximize a contractor's ability to meet tight deadlines and keep a project on schedule, resulting in more satisfied customers.

"Schneider Electric places heavy emphasis on listening to customers and meeting their needs, and the new NQ panelboards are a great example of that philosophy," said Steve Vining, Square D product marketing manager for panelboards. "We've done extensive field surveys, focus groups and customer interviews while developing NQ panelboards, and the feedback we've received indicates that contractors want reliable delivery and product that is easy to install."

NQ panelboards offer electrical contractors many time-saving conveniences. For example, they feature 11 standard enclosures and are designed to use the same trims as Square D NF panelboards. Both increase the probability that a distributor will have the correct-sized trim and enclosure at any given time. NQ panelboards also will accept Square D QO plug-in and QOB bolt-in circuit breakers, providing continuity and convenience for customers currently using NQOD panelboards, which NQ will eventually replace.

NQ panelboards offer a full complement of ready-to-install subassembly kits to outfit the panelboard interior, which help a contractor meet virtually any power distribution requirement. They include:

• Feed-through and sub-feed lugs
• Sub-feed circuit breakers
• TVSS interiors
• 200 percent neutrals
• Copper neutrals and grounds
• 6-, 12- and 18-inch box extension kits

In order to simplify the installation process for electrical contractors, more visually oriented and easier-to-read installation instructions have been developed to minimize the time it takes a contractor's workforce to install the equipment, increasing job-site flexibility and productivity.

In addition, a change in the 2008 National Electrical Code eliminates the 42-circuit limit for lighting panelboards, which allows manufacturers to be much more flexible in the number of circuit counts they can supply to their customers. NQ panelboards will be available with six interior circuit counts - 18, 30, 42, 54, 72 and 84 - which means contractors will no longer have to fashion two-section panels when more than 42 circuits are required, in order to meet previous NEC requirements. This saves a contractor's installation materials, labor time and wall space.

Finally, for situations that require a factory-assembled panel in a short lead-time, Schneider Electric is enhancing its Laser Service quick-ship program to include three-day, five-day and 10-day on-site delivery. This program is also available for NF, NQOD and I-Line panelboards.

SOURCE: Schneider Electric