We live in what was my grandfathers house, which he built in the early 40's, and it had a 60 amp service, with the 2 main fuse plugs and a row 15 amp fuses under that. All the wiring in this house is the BX cable, with 12 ga. wires.
Insurance said no more 60 amps, so in 1990, I had 100 amps put in. Everything around here is now 200 amps., even our small place in northern WI.
The reason I asked the OP, is can he run maybe a 20 amp or 30 amp sub panel for power in his shed.
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That would definitely be the way to do it, if possible. At this point, I have stuff running everywhere - there is now a sub panel in my basement in the finished part, and there already was a panel, run through a heavy duty GFCI, out at my pool.
Going to need some AC for the summer, a small window unit will do the trick if the walls are insulated - a really small one, for an 8x10 space. ANd going to need heat for the winter. Couple of LED shop lights for lighting, and a couple of outlets to plug the trains into. Biggest loads would be the heat or AC.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I'm pretty sure the house inspector said it was a 100 amp or a 150 amp, I don't remember right off hand. I was actually thinking of putting a sub panel out on the garage and having one of those breakers run to the shed. Right now one plug in the garage, the one my heater is on, is on the same circuit as the microwave and the plug next to it, lohjt above the sink and the garbage disposal. With the heater going and microwave, we can't use anything else on that circuit without it popping, and the wife loves her air fryer and instant pot.
I suppose I could put a small AC unit into the wall. I was planning for heat my little electric radiator. It heats my garage up well, so once the shed is done, should heat that up even better.
It sounds like your garage outlet is tied into the kitchen circuit, mine's the same way.
On your main panel, the switch(s) that turn off the power, usually have what amps they are on the switch.
Those electric heaters do draw a lot, and if you read the fine print on the heater directions, it will probably tell you it's best to plug the heater into it's own dedicated 20 amp outlet. Yea, right!
Having an electrician set you up with a sub panel in the garage would be the best way to handle it, then you could probably run a 20 amp circuit out to the shed, with a GFI breaker.
You'll have lots to do this summer!
Mike.
Wdodge0912 Right now one plug in the garage, the one my heater is on, is on the same circuit as the microwave and the plug next to it, lohjt above the sink and the garbage disposal. With the heater going and microwave, we can't use anything else on that circuit without it popping, and the wife loves her air fryer and instant pot.
Right now one plug in the garage, the one my heater is on, is on the same circuit as the microwave and the plug next to it, lohjt above the sink and the garbage disposal. With the heater going and microwave, we can't use anything else on that circuit without it popping, and the wife loves her air fryer and instant pot.
That brings back memories. Years ago, in a prior house, I installed a microwave above the stove and hard wired it into a nearby circuit. Worked fine...until Thanksgiving Day.
With family and relatives sitting at the dining room and a 10 light chandelier (600 watts) sitting above the table, my wife went into the kitchen and warmed up a bowl of turkey gravy in the microwave. Poof! The microwave shut down and so did the dining room chandelier. Too many watts for the 15 amp circuit.
Fortunately, in the Chicago area where we live, conduit is required by code. So, it was somewhat easy to re-route the microwave to a less used circuit.
Rich
Alton Junction
After my wife immigrated from England and I was climbing out of the pit of the last recession, we lived in some basements for a few years. We were frequently popping the circuit braker with our little makeshift kitchen.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
There are some common items that require more current than many people think.
Vacuum Cleaners and Coffee Makers are common culprits causing breakers to trip.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
with lots of work ahead on this, plus working on my warships, it will be a bit before I am ready to start laying tracks. one thing though with the new idea to move it into the shed, could I possible go with a U shape or L shape and still have the continuous running on the inside. I know it'll be a bit of a strech to get to the backside if I kept it around the outside of the shed. I was also thinking a 5x8 in center, with one of the short sides butted up against the back.
i'm just not sure how I'd want to lay it out on the inside there. I think for a layout though i'm going to wait until it's up and then work on it from there. I know I should work the table around the layout, but I can't picture a layout in there right now. I suppose I could take the one I like and just stretch it to fit. But I definitely want a removable section if I have to make a donut out there.
You could do L or U shaped, it's just that for HO scale, you'd need at least a 4'x4' on each end for the loop to make it continuous.
Your 5'x8' with a short side against the wall might work better, or the donut thing, with the center open, but with that, you need a duck-under or lift out section for access to the donut hole.
Wdodge0912 could I possible go with a U shape or L shape and still have the continuous running on the inside.
The track (not to scale and poorly rendered) drawing shows my solution to add continuous running to a U shaped point-to-point layout.
mbinsewi You could do L or U shaped, it's just that for HO scale, you'd need at least a 4'x4' on each end for the loop to make it continuous. Your 5'x8' with a short side against the wall might work better, or the donut thing, with the center open, but with that, you need a duck-under or lift out section for access to the donut hole. Mike.
I was thinking maybe a 2ft wide U around the walls of the shed. Then have a lift out by the doors to make it continuous. Might have to make that part a little wider, and can play with the width throughout the layout.
I'll be happy with a passing siding, 2 industries and a 4 spur yard. I'll play the bridge/lift off section as if the train has left the scene. Im not aiming for something super realistic, just something to run some trains and move some frieght.
So I came up with a 10x10 U layout, with a lift out section for the continuous running. Has more than I need and everything I want, so now just to see how it holds up. It's all sectional track save for a few peices of flex off of switches.
the width of the table is 30" with the back depth being 32", but the software I'm using doesn't allow for cutting out sections, so it's stuck at a square. but that is something I would do to make it easier to get to parts of the track. I can always adjust the infield stuff as well, but I figured the outer loop would be a good basis to start the layout.
Think about adding a yard lead so you can run two trains at the same time.
Be carefull with the 30" wide tables unless you got long arms. I was going to do that on my layout and changed to 24", glad I did or I would have to use a stool all the time to reach stuff.
corsiarBe carefull with the 30" wide tables unless you got long arms.
I agree, but I understand the OP's problem with his current "drawing program", and he states in his post, that the "infield" areas will change.
I would like to know what radius sectional track that he shows, 22" ? 24" ? on each corner.
That's 22" on the outside and 18" on the inside. There isn't 24" or anything like that in the software, at least for code 100 track. I could go through and redo it with flex to get the bigger radius, but flex track is a pain to work with in the software imho. You have to select 2 points of track to connect with it, you cant free shape a section to place it in. So it's a lot of deleting and adjusting to get a decent radius to work. Those spurs on the right I'd like to make closer to the mains, but working with the flex in the software, that's the best I could do in a timely manner. I'm going to go back and mess around with it some more later.