Electrical question

[Daryl]

I built a garage and had electric put in it. I have a 200amp box and am using only 80amps. My question is I have a shed abot 125-150 feet away that I would like to put lights in and maybe 1 plug in. Can I hook on to box in garage and run wire to shed? What size wire and if i run it from maybe 60 amp breaker would I lose alot of "juice" by the time it got there? I know I would have to put another box there to go back to 120, or at least I think I would. Anyway any help would be appricated.
Thanks
daryl

 

[biggerten]

One outlet and some lights? Just run 12/2 on a 20A breaker. 60A service for what you describe as a shed seems like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.

 

[Jimmyp5]

I built a garage and had electric put in it. I have a 200amp box and am using only 80amps. My question is I have a shed abot 125-150 feet away that I would like to put lights in and maybe 1 plug in. Can I hook on to box in garage and run wire to shed? What size wire and if i run it from maybe 60 amp breaker would I lose alot of "juice" by the time it got there? I know I would have to put another box there to go back to 120, or at least I think I would. Anyway any help would be appricated.
Thanks
daryl

If it was me, running ~150 feet, and knowing I always need more power. I would go ahead and run 10/2 burry it (if recall a 12/2 would be a long reach - check the web there are sites to compute this) , put it on a 30 amp breaker, and go ahead and put in a 4 gang outlet box. With a 30 amp and you can start using air compressors, etc... For me I just look at what I think my need is and double it. And if you are going to a metal building, ground it directy or if using a metal box, ground that box. This is all above code in most places, assuming you live rual it is good to go (IMHO). If you live in a area that inspects your connection, you can normally do all the work, and call out a the inspector, fyi leave the breaker off until inspected and the trench open.

I have no trouble doing all my own wiring following advice on Electrical Wiring in the Home - Home Improvement/Repair - Home/Garden - AllExperts.com. These guys are all pros and can answer all our questions.

Good luck with the project.

Jim

 

[Daryl]

Thanks.. This won't be inspected. I just did not want to lose a lot of power in that long of a run. The main yhing will be a motion light. Dogs have been barking a lot in that direction and I want to make sure what is down there.

 

[kenmac]

I built a garage and had electric put in it. I have a 200amp box and am using only 80amps. My question is I have a shed abot 125-150 feet away that I would like to put lights in and maybe 1 plug in. Can I hook on to box in garage and run wire to shed? What size wire and if i run it from maybe 60 amp breaker would I lose alot of "juice" by the time it got there? I know I would have to put another box there to go back to 120, or at least I think I would. Anyway any help would be appricated.
Thanks
daryl

I did the same thing . I only have 100 amp box in my garage. I used 12/2 direct bury wire. 3 plugs & 2 lights in the shed. Probably should have added a box to the shed but, I didn't

 

[lovemytoys]

what are you going to plug in??i would run 10/3 .this way you have two circuits there .if you ever need 220 volt its there,you dont want to do it again.the code states every 100 feet you must go up in size.12 wire 100 feet and under is good for 20 amp .

 

[lovemytoys]

any help ask i been doing it for 27 years in new york city.

 

[Redbug]

Hi Daryl,

First, figure up how many amps you expect to use at your shed. Then use a voltage drop calculator like this:

Voltage Drop Calculator

You can plug in the different factors into the calculator to figure out what is the best and safest size wire to use for the run to your shed. Enjoy!

PS....Yew ain't runnin' no still out thar air yew?

 

[ray66v]

12/2 should give you enough power to run anything reasonable. #10 is going to cost a lot more dough, and in a shed you will likely never need it.
I strongly recommend you bury it in plastic conduit. It won't cost that much and you don't have to worry about the frost heaving a stone through it, (if you get frost there?) and it makes it harder to accidentally put a shovel in it.

 

[5030tinkerer]

You might also consider whether you future shed could become more than you presently envision. Sure, running 10/3 for now seems logical, but won't you just kick yourself later if you need more power over there later? I'd consider using a wire size calculator (Wire Size Calculator is a good one) to see what size wire you'd need over that distance to run the largest load you could possibly see needing and then pricing out that wire size in copper and redoing the calc for aluminum and pricing that wire size out. I'm an overkill kind of guy, no doubt, but it would be cool to have 220 service out there with it's own panel.

For example, a 220volt 30amp circuit at 150' would need 8 gauge copper, but 4 gauge aluminum. Depending on what your 200A panel supports and the costs of material, you could figure out what option made more sense for you. Of course, there's also logic in keeping it simple. I don't know whether code would allow you NOT to have your own disconnect out at the remote building or not. This is something you'd need to look into.