I just moved and now do not have a garage. There is a sketchy old shed about 200ft away from the house. I am trying to figure out the best way to run my entire setup out there: Raspberry and Motors, Router, Laptop, and ideally a shop vac as well.
Looking for some help.
Does anybody know roughly how much power the entire setup will draw?
200ft of #8 extension cods? Will 1 strand do the trick? or do I need to run 2 seperate strands out there?
I agree with @Jayster… the laptop and Maslow motors/electronics do not draw much, but the router uses about 11 amps at peak. A shop vac will probably draw another 5. You will lose about 4% of the available power with 200 feet of 8 gauge extension cord (something you would probably want to make yourself… most ready-made extension cords are 14 or 16 gauge, which will kill you @ 200 ft.) A dedicated 15 amp circuit will be sketchy… a 20 amp circuit would be best. If this is your property, you could add a 20 amp breaker to your panel and run outdoor wire on poles or trees across to the shed (or underground). If it were me, I would probably run a 30 amp 220v service to the shed, with a 2 circuit breaker panel in the shed. That would allow you more flexibility out there (you might want lights, maybe a fan)… or heat! (Need a larger service for that).
The generator is an interesting idea, but having a permanent service would be so much less a poa.
I would not recommend running electronic devices like a laptop and the Arduino who are sensitive with a genarator like the one you mentioned. That one is made for example like the use with power tools . @Dustcloud is right about the extension cords besides it would be more expensive than buying a roll of outdoor cable .
Check your local codes, in my area, if you are a homeowner, and you follow the NFPA codes, you are allowed to do your own electrical work, however I know that in other places, this might not be allowed.
If you can do it yourself, I’d strongly recommend going with buried outdoor rated conduit, just for the increased protection against people accidentally driving a shovel into it at some time in the future. And you’ll want to have breakers inside your garage and inside your house feeding the line to the outside - no one wants to run into the house to flip a tripped breaker, but if someone does manage to cut the cable, it had better be protected by a breaker on the inside of your house.
