Best way to power a shed

In My Humble Opinion
41

A generator is the cheapest and most reliable solution. Imho I posted earlier that the propane models use the same refillable tank as a barbecue grill. The generator is less than $700.

I would wire the shed with a breaker panel and supply the power. That should be a simple DIY. There’s no live power until the generator is started. At most, $250 for the small 4 breaker panel, receptacles, switches, boxes, and wire.

Then you have a simple procedure to start the generator and start working on projects in the shed.

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42

I agree that it would be highly unusual for the porch to be solid concrete throughout. Most likely it’s built like a standard slab, with its own footings, like this http://langaricaconstruction.net/wp-content/themes/langarica/images/slab.jpg

Do you have a basement? If so you could bore through the wall to see what you’re dealing with.

43

Does that extend all around the house? Running the cable underground a few more feet, from the side of the house say, could be much less expensive (and much less work) than getting through this.

But concrete several feet thick??? Are you sure? The runways that 747’s land on aren’t that thick!

44

If you’re anywhere near western PA, I have a generator, ten years old but never used, that you can have.

I thought it would be good for my business to have backup power for outages. I had an electrician set things up so I can plug the generator into my building, flip some switches, and I’m back in business.

But then I realized that power outages of any length only happen during miserable weather and I’d rather just lockup and go home. Generator has sat in my shed, never started, for a decade. Come get it!

45

I don’t know how far the depth of the concrete extends, but from my ignorant untrained eye it looks like a lot? :slight_smile: Here is a picture that is representative.

A very thick footing is not surprising. When I built the shed the county required a pretty thick footing, I think at the max it is 3 feet, with 2.5 feet below grade. That’s just the perimeter footing. I know that one because I saw it pour.

No basement unfortunately.

I am also installing solar for the house, with home batteries as well so it would be kind of neat to have a separate system for the shed. Right now I’m thinking I will go with the solar route and try it. At worst it will be enough to power everything but the big tools.

46

Again IANA expert on solar.

But it’s almost for sure that equal money spent on a single combined solar power system will provide more total power and have more total value to you than two separate systems.

47

I’m hearing a distinct lack of doing any math here. Did you go on PVwatts and calculate your panel efficiency? Have you done even a rough estimate of what your load is? Did you know that battery you picked out will take severe damage if you discharge it under 50%?

How are you going to wire it? Where will the equipment go in your shed? What are you going to use for lighting?

Lots of ways to go wrong here.

48

Yes, I’m a bit light on the math part of it. The load is trivially light (pun, hah!). The most common usage will be overhead lights x6 which will be pretty low usage. I will probably run chargers for the battery operated tools, shop vac, drills, sanders, etc. The biggest tools will be miter saw and table saw, maybe a router (not the networking kind). I spent the better part of the day outside futzing around, doing some organizing, building a few new shelves, etc. I ran the circular saw for 3 cuts, total operating time of 25 seconds maybe. I ran the corded drill about 2 dozen times, total operating time less than 1 minute, and the chop saw for 6 cuts for a total operating time of 25 seconds maybe. It was day time so no lights necessary.

That’s what originally motivated me to look for alternatives - it seems silly to run wiring from the house for such little usage. The cost was high, but not so high I’m not willing to pay. Other household members vetoed the hardline from the house so that was the biggest stumbling block. But now, the prospect of being able to tinker with it and find out what works, I’m willing to pay a bit just to have fun with it :slight_smile: I am eyeing a few different parts, and when I pull the trigger and finally install it it will probably be about a month or so.

I’ve considered generators since they are essentially meant for this type of application, but i’d hate to have to power on the generator each time I need to turn on the lights, or even run some outdoor night lights. Plus, maintaining the generator doesn’t sound like fun at all. I do know that batteries shouldn’t be drained below 50%, but adding a new battery is not that expensive, on balance.

Now, wiring, I got nothing. I figure I can add a few receptacles, a master power strip, and probably one of those retractable power cables from the ceiling. I don’t know much about wiring but I figure that’s just a matter of calculating distance and the right gauge.

As for the home system, that is being installed professionally. For that need permits, it’s tied into the grid, etc. The battery is from Tesla so I figure it’ll do what it’s supposed to do. I’ll probably post a thread on that when it gets installed in about 1.5 months.