I thought that I posted this in the DIY part of the forum but I believe I did not. I am sorry about that.
I put in a 10' x 20' metal shed about 9 years ago. It is about 200' ~ 70 meters from my house. It is on a 6" concrete pad. At the time of pouring the pad I put a conduit through the floor for the future possibility of putting electrical power into the building. I own my own 40 hp 990 JD tractor with an FEL and BH which this shed houses and use it often for many purposes. Through providential circumstances with my well and having to dig that all up I decided it would be a good time to put power to the building. I would like to put in some LED lights and a couple of outlets so I can run some tools when I need to at the shed. The best way I am thinking to do that is to put a subpanel into the building. I have calculated the distance of the wire needed to be ~300'. I want to use direct bury cable. Cu wire is pretty expensive now a days. I have had many suggest I use Al wire instead for making the run. I am planning on having 20 amps per leg for the power. Using the referenced calculator Voltage Drop Calculator | Southwire it comes up with 2 gauge on the Al wire to keep the voltage drop to a minimum. I could go with 4 gauge if I use Cu. I can get this wire from Lowe's 2-2-2-4 3E AL USE-2 RHH RHW-2 MOBILE HOME FEEDER 500 FT | Southwire which is 2-2-2-4 @ $3.87/ft. There is also 2-2-4-6 3E AL USE-2 RHH RHW-2 MOBILE HOME FEEDER 500 FT | Southwire at Lowe's which is 2-2-4-6 at $3.50/ft and they have it in stock. I am not so concerned about the price difference since it is only $141 difference. The 2-2-2-4 I have to wait to get and the 2-2-4-6 is available. My question is would the latter with the 4 gauge neutral be heavy enough gauge for the return or should I stick to the 2 gauge for the neutral?
I am looking at the following subpanel since Eaton is what I have in the house for the main panel and also an existing subpanel which I put in when we had the kitchen redone and put in central a/c in order to give us more breakers. My existing panel is a 150 amp and the sub panel is a 100 amp sub panel which is directly connected to the main panel and of course the neutral and ground are not bonded in the sub panel.
I'm looking at these two Eaton subpanels. I am not sure what the difference really is in both of them accept the price. I want to stick to the Eaton because it is always nice to be able to use the same breakers.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-125-Amp-6-Spaces-12-Circuit-Main-Lug-Load-Center/3015036
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-125-Amp-6-Spaces-12-Circuit-Main-Lug-Load-Center/3047889
There is this one also with a little more space but I do not think I would need so many spaces but you never know and it is not a whole lot more money for it either.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-125-Amp-8-Spaces-16-Circuit-Main-Lug-Load-Center/3014061
With any of these I could add a couple of extra circuits like a 15 amp for the lights and have 2, 20 amp outlets obviously knowing I can go max 40 amps at 120 V and 20 amps on the panel at 240 volts.
Obviously the neutral and ground will not be bonded in the subpanel and I will also be driving a ground rod for the sub panel because it is detached from the main building and a long ways away with no other connections and this is what code requires.
Thank you for your input on the wire gauge and any other thoughts you would have.
P.S. I will be digging the trench with my BH and putting it at least 24" deep (bucket is 18" wide) and even though I will be using direct bury wire I will put it into a conduit.
I put in a 10' x 20' metal shed about 9 years ago. It is about 200' ~ 70 meters from my house. It is on a 6" concrete pad. At the time of pouring the pad I put a conduit through the floor for the future possibility of putting electrical power into the building. I own my own 40 hp 990 JD tractor with an FEL and BH which this shed houses and use it often for many purposes. Through providential circumstances with my well and having to dig that all up I decided it would be a good time to put power to the building. I would like to put in some LED lights and a couple of outlets so I can run some tools when I need to at the shed. The best way I am thinking to do that is to put a subpanel into the building. I have calculated the distance of the wire needed to be ~300'. I want to use direct bury cable. Cu wire is pretty expensive now a days. I have had many suggest I use Al wire instead for making the run. I am planning on having 20 amps per leg for the power. Using the referenced calculator Voltage Drop Calculator | Southwire it comes up with 2 gauge on the Al wire to keep the voltage drop to a minimum. I could go with 4 gauge if I use Cu. I can get this wire from Lowe's 2-2-2-4 3E AL USE-2 RHH RHW-2 MOBILE HOME FEEDER 500 FT | Southwire which is 2-2-2-4 @ $3.87/ft. There is also 2-2-4-6 3E AL USE-2 RHH RHW-2 MOBILE HOME FEEDER 500 FT | Southwire at Lowe's which is 2-2-4-6 at $3.50/ft and they have it in stock. I am not so concerned about the price difference since it is only $141 difference. The 2-2-2-4 I have to wait to get and the 2-2-4-6 is available. My question is would the latter with the 4 gauge neutral be heavy enough gauge for the return or should I stick to the 2 gauge for the neutral?
I am looking at the following subpanel since Eaton is what I have in the house for the main panel and also an existing subpanel which I put in when we had the kitchen redone and put in central a/c in order to give us more breakers. My existing panel is a 150 amp and the sub panel is a 100 amp sub panel which is directly connected to the main panel and of course the neutral and ground are not bonded in the sub panel.
I'm looking at these two Eaton subpanels. I am not sure what the difference really is in both of them accept the price. I want to stick to the Eaton because it is always nice to be able to use the same breakers.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-125-Amp-6-Spaces-12-Circuit-Main-Lug-Load-Center/3015036
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-125-Amp-6-Spaces-12-Circuit-Main-Lug-Load-Center/3047889
There is this one also with a little more space but I do not think I would need so many spaces but you never know and it is not a whole lot more money for it either.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-125-Amp-8-Spaces-16-Circuit-Main-Lug-Load-Center/3014061
With any of these I could add a couple of extra circuits like a 15 amp for the lights and have 2, 20 amp outlets obviously knowing I can go max 40 amps at 120 V and 20 amps on the panel at 240 volts.
Obviously the neutral and ground will not be bonded in the subpanel and I will also be driving a ground rod for the sub panel because it is detached from the main building and a long ways away with no other connections and this is what code requires.
Thank you for your input on the wire gauge and any other thoughts you would have.
P.S. I will be digging the trench with my BH and putting it at least 24" deep (bucket is 18" wide) and even though I will be using direct bury wire I will put it into a conduit.
