How do you install 1/0 aluminum wire into a 100amp breaker on the bottom of a breaker box?

Ok so, I have an out building roughly 100ish feet away from my breaker box that I am wiring with a 100amp subpanel. I used a calculator and found I could use a 1/0 aluminum wire for that distance with acceptable voltage drop.

The current house I'm in was a total gut. I did the wiring but I let my dad do the breaker box so it's... messy. I recently installed a 18kw PV system myself though. Im semi comfortable with residential electrical work. There's only 4 slots left on bottom of the box and I've read it's okay to put large breakers on the bottom (I read this through various electrician forums and read their citations, but am not sure).

So I install the equipment up in the shop, bury the wire 24" down, do everything I need to pass inspection, etc... except when I ran the wire up from the crawlspace, it has to turn to sharp to make this even hard. I don't want to muscle it for fear of hitting the hot bus bars and I can't add the wires after the breaker is in because... well, I'm not sure I'm strong enough.

Is there a trick I'm missing? Do I need to rewire the entire box when I'm on my ADHD medicine? I've never struggled this much with something like this.

Terrible picture but here's one: https://imgur.com/a/G4ILqJR

Tldr: how do I bend 1/0 wire to fit into a crowded breaker box?

Posted Nov 2, 2023, 1:31 AM UTC

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