Electrical advice (1 Viewer)

Sky_Blue_Daz

Well-Known Member
My garage has no source of electricty , i want lights and plugs in there is it better to dig a trench and run armoured cable from underneath or put a fuseboard in the garage instead, sorry if its a stupid question I have no clue on DIY
 

rob9872

Well-Known Member
Tbh I just drilled through the wall, put armoured cable out with a plug on one end and extension on the other and pinned it round the floor. Not too ugly, you barely notice it unless looking for it and very cheap / easy.
 

Marty

Well-Known Member
My garage has no source of electricty , i want lights and plugs in there is it better to dig a trench and run armoured cable from underneath or put a fuseboard in the garage instead, sorry if its a stupid question I have no clue on DIY

I would definitely have a consumer unit. Also, if you don't have a clue you really need a professional. Dig the trench out and get it all prepared though, you don't want to be paying a sparky £50 p/h to dig a trench.
 

olderskyblue

Well-Known Member
Don’t do what an old colleague of mine did. His missus didn’t want conduit running from the house to the garage, it would be too ugly, so he fitted sockets in the garage and when he needed power, he had a cable with a plug on both ends and plugged in the house and garage. He said the way he wired it, it worked fine. Except, he forgot one day, and took the plug in the garage out first…. and held it in his hand. Got the shock of his life and went to hospital with a badly burnt palm. 😲
 

Sky_Blue_Daz

Well-Known Member
Don’t do what an old colleague of mine did. His missus didn’t want conduit running from the house to the garage, it would be too ugly, so he fitted sockets in the garage and when he needed power, he had a cable with a plug on both ends and plugged in the house and garage. He said the way he wired it, it worked fine. Except, he forgot one day, and took the plug in the garage out first…. and held it in his hand. Got the shock of his life and went to hospital with a badly burnt palm. 😲
Ohh Jesus

as I temporarily measure we have outside sockets on the exterior of the house so I was going to run an extension lead into the garage and plug a fridge freezer into it
 

Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
My Garage power supply probably installed in the 1970's died a few months ago, To this day I have no idea where the cable ran but it was buried somewhere and if my neighbour's supply was anything to go on it wasn't an armoured cable. There was no option but to do without or get it replaced with a new supply.

I paid money for an electrician to run a new cable put in a new socket & small consumer unit. It wasn't buried it runs on top of a short length of fence where cables for a solar PV system already ran).

Frankly I wouldn't have been physically able to run the cable and I don't have the tools or expertise needed to piss about with a job like that on DIY.
 

Marty

Well-Known Member
Don’t do what an old colleague of mine did. His missus didn’t want conduit running from the house to the garage, it would be too ugly, so he fitted sockets in the garage and when he needed power, he had a cable with a plug on both ends and plugged in the house and garage. He said the way he wired it, it worked fine. Except, he forgot one day, and took the plug in the garage out first…. and held it in his hand. Got the shock of his life and went to hospital with a badly burnt palm. 😲

That reminds me of a story that my lecturer told us during my apprenticeship. He was giving his misses a seeing too and he dug his feet in for a bit of extra purchase and went straight through to the wiring on the electric blanket they had, the pair of them got a right good zap.
 

Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
That reminds me of a story that my lecturer told us during my apprenticeship. He was giving his misses a seeing too and he dug his feet in for a bit of extra purchase and went straight through to the wiring on the electric blanket they had, the pair of them got a right good zap.
Exactly what trade were you apprenticed to, porn movie star was it?
 

Sky_Blue_Daz

Well-Known Member
That reminds me of a story that my lecturer told us during my apprenticeship. He was giving his misses a seeing too and he dug his feet in for a bit of extra purchase and went straight through to the wiring on the electric blanket they had, the pair of them got a right good zap.
Was he robin askwith ( one for the youngsters )
 

wingy

Well-Known Member
That reminds me of a story that my lecturer told us during my apprenticeship. He was giving his misses a seeing too and he dug his feet in for a bit of extra purchase and went straight through to the wiring on the electric blanket they had, the pair of them got a right good zap.
Tell him to cut his toenails more often.
 

Kneeza

Well-Known Member
I put a Bluetti powerbank (that was surplus to requirements as I don't use it in the van any more) in the shed at the bottom of the garden. A solar panel (also surplus...) on the south-facing roof, and Robert's yer mother's brother.
It looks after itself, and has never gone below about 75% charge. Obviously costs nowt to run (yes, I know, upfront costs etc) and gives me 230v outlets (4), 12v outlet, and a few 5v ones, which run led strip-lights overhead and two pir led strips on the front and rear outside walls.
Perfect for my needs.
 

Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
I put a Bluetti powerbank (that was surplus to requirements as I don't use it in the van any more) in the shed at the bottom of the garden. A solar panel (also surplus...) on the south-facing roof, and Robert's yer mother's brother.
It looks after itself, and has never gone below about 75% charge. Obviously costs nowt to run (yes, I know, upfront costs etc) and gives me 230v outlets (4), 12v outlet, and a few 5v ones, which run led strip-lights overhead and two pir led strips on the front and rear outside walls.
Perfect for my needs.
I've heard you can get functional 2nd hand panels on Facebook market. May or may not be useful info.
 

Kneeza

Well-Known Member
I've heard you can get functional 2nd hand panels on Facebook market. May or may not be useful info.
Probably. Mind you, solar is getting cheaper and cheaper now. This 500w at City Plumbing is much less than half what I paid for a 400w three years ago.
Now's the time to buy!
 

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Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
Probably. Mind you, solar is getting cheaper and cheaper now. This 500w at City Plumbing is much less than half what I paid for a 400w three years ago.
Now's the time to buy!
That's not bad at all. :giggle: I can envisage a new project for the allotment.
 

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