Powering a garage/shed without connecting to mains power

[d000hg]

Daft question but what do you mean "cannot practically/affordably be hooked up to the mains", its nothing more complicated that creating a spur from your consumer unit and running the 3 core cable to the shed where you have another Miniature Circuit Breaker.

Yes I know. But you have to get the cable from A to B in some fashion. If that means digging up a road it may be very difficult to get permission, and prohibitively expensive for what you achieve.


It's actually a private road - houses on one side, garages on the other. So permission _should_ be doable but I fear doing it officially would mean digging a 2 foot deep trench, resurfacing the road, etc... not worth it!

[Mich the Tester]

Yes but he did say that the garage is on the other side of the road ...

Bob can help;

[Platypus]

Ok here's my utterly useless suggestion:

[Platypus]

Here's a better suggestion: make a deal with someone who has got power on the other side of the road. You do the installation and pay them X for their power.

[DimPrawn]

Buy one of more of these:

12V 20W CFL Fluorescent Lamp Light Bulb Bayonet Fitting B22 For Garden Lighting | eBay

It's 12v and 20w (100w light equivalent).

Wire it to one of these:

Batteries 4 Leisure. Caravan Batteries, Marine Batteries.

Charge it with one of these:

http://www.trueshopping.co.uk/produc...534/70694.html

60W Solar Power Kit : Amorphous Solar Panel Kits : Maplin Electronics

PS: Don't forget the on/off switch!

[DimPrawn]

Or move house so your triple garage block is on your five acre plot.

HTH BIDI

[stek]

Powering a garage/shed without connecting to mains power

Hook your gym kit to a dynamo, to a battery, the more you exercise the more you can see..

[Paddy]

A question for the electrical types here... if you have a garage shed which cannot practically/affordably be hooked up to the mains, is it feasible to add enough power to have lighting? e.g. a car battery hooked up to a solar panel, that kind of thing, and either low-voltage lighting or perhaps using an inverter?

I'd quite like to use the garage at our new house as a gym but it's over the road, has no windows and I don't want to have to leave the door open for the world to watch... plus in the winter months indoor lighting is a must anyway.

All kinds of Heath Robinson approaches are welcome, ideas on costings are helpful

How far away is it? You could suspend or bury a mains power cable or use a 12v supply by cable from your house.

[vetran]

Any chance of putting a Velux in? Even in Winter a Velux will give you a lot of light.

how long will you use it daily? Most solar shed lights only seem to last a few minutes (no premature jokes please) and aren't very bright if you want hours of illumination you need a seriousish install as posted by the prawn.

[d000hg]

Hook your gym kit to a dynamo, to a battery, the more you exercise the more you can see..

I did in all seriousness** wonder if I could hook up an exercise bike to charge car batteries but I'm not sure how many hours of cycling would be needed, or how easy it would be.


Wow, DP, that was an unexpectedly useful post. Ta!

Any chance of putting a Velux in? Even in Winter a Velux will give you a lot of light.

A window of some sort is probably doable but the issue is it's dark by 3.30-4pm for several months which is rather limiting.


** though is is a rather fanciful project, to tinker with if I get bored