Some help needed on wiring up a new 110VAC electrical outlet for relocating my ham shack.

Thanks for asking. It seems to me that the prudent course of action is to hire an electrician to help you determine what and where you want to provide power for.

There are several ways to go depending on your budget and future requirements. As noted before, it may be very simple to provide power for your needs. There’s also the possibility that for not too much, you can have the electrician wire up enough power to have you covered for future needs in one job.

 

I may have wired my garage with lighting a breaker box with a disconnect switch, and outlets, all done properly.
But there were no permits and it was actually done to code, properly, But I will not swear to it in court !!!

I am not an electrician but I have done some comm site wiring and learned a lot about house wiring on that part of my job !

 

Yeah I hear that,,,,
I know a guy who is a friend of a friend that did similar thing in his garage and he sure as heck never admits to anything,,,, But rumor has it that he is a real live wire, with some very interesting DYI going on in his garage.... separate sub panels with a couple of big industrial contactors that parallel the mains pre panel and are energized post metered panel. The contactors heat up a second panel that distributes power to several power conditioning devices for some sort of surge control and power factoring? The juice then feeds a large expensive VFD device that makes three phase to power shop machinery . Another contactor branch provides 220 to both central air conditioning and secondary shop air conditioning. This is all buried into a false exterior wall within a breezeway between the garage and exterior change room for his pool area and sun deck. The main panel and meter appear normal and nothing unusual going on. The branch circuit to the garage is the source that energizes the contactors. Switch off the breaker and the power to the machinery shuts down.
Some people are too smart and too dishonest for their own good!!! Of course, he did make power for many nefarious operations.
Or so this is a story as I was handed down from a third person I once knew.
I certainly would swear to nothing anywhere near the courts or otherwise,,,, could be dangerous to know who had such a shop but i will say that they did have some awesome toys and a very awesome lifestyles of the grossly overly wealthy type of pad, which begs to ask the question why does this person need to be so cheap that they would go to such extent to manipulate the power meter in the first place?

 

Me neither, but I have learned enough to do any kind of residential-type wiring including sub-panels and generator transfer panels and a few thousand feed of Romex (now aka NM). The OP can learn too. The little book "Wiring Simplified" is wonderful and cheap. (https://www.amazon.com/Wiring-Simplified-Based-National-Electrical/dp/099790531X) But. BUT. The OP's post indicates complete ignorance (not criticizing, we were all ignorant once.) and that is not a good starting point for DIY wiring. Hence all the posts, including mine, telling him to hire an electrician.

 

I would do 2 things:
1. Get a good book on how to wire houses. You can learn this stuff.
2. For THIS one, get a friendly electrician and watch what he does.
3. Keep asking questions. There are no stupid questions, but they do set a level of experience.
For example:
"I got a big amplifier with glowing glass bottles in it and it has a real thick cord that looks like it plugs into a dryer outlet. Should I stick my hands in there to wiggle the wires on the top of the glowing bottles while standing barefoot or is there a better way to make it work" would normally be answered by "Get some help and don't open that thing up!". Since you are starting from scratch with 120/240 volt wiring that can kill people, for this first project someone experienced should jump in and help.

 

Agreed. This is single phase 120/240V relatively low current wiring. It isn't rocket surgery. But it is also easy to screw up and cause a potential fire danger if one doesn't know what they are doing. Not something I would recommend to a newcomer either. But I would recommend the OP to watch some videos/read a book on the methods, and watch how the electrician does it. Especially for things like identifying the circuit and what is already on it, type of wiring and judging current capability, testing that neutral and ground are wired correctly, etc. Be nosy and ask the electrician why they are doing each step. Even when more knowledgeable/confident to try it oneself still pay an electrician to verify the work before powering it up, at least the first time or two. Personally I think that this is a skill that all hams should know. But not blindly on one's own the first time.

The comments may have come across a little harsh, but they were inspired by good intentions. At this point the OP needs some experience before doing a DIY.

 

Certainly not the most desirable solution but how about keeping it consumer simple at its finest and just use a long heavy duty outdoor style extension cord and tuck it around the baseboard of the walls, under a rug and or hang overhead whichever way to get to a plug that can power the radio?

Sheesh, my brother had a squatter once that moved in next door to him and had similiarly routed an extension cord quite stealthily thru a planter and into the expansion joint of a sidewalk and under a fence where it was plugged into the other neighbors house. Poor old Mrs Kravetz never noticed until my brother alerted her to the issue. Took my brother a hell of alot of complaining and to alot of entities to get rid of those homeless squatters .
This was right when a huge wave of foreclosures hit the So Cal economy hard.
My brother lost so much equity he walked out of that house just to get into a better deal in a nicer neighborhood without so many abandoned homes!
But ah,,,, yeah,,, the old extension cord trick.

 

Another vote for hiring an electrician to properly do the job. This is not something you want to tackle on your own if you have zero experience... but glad that you asked here!

I'm comfortable with some wiring projects in the house, BUT I have a close friend who is a licensed electrician who inspected all my work and assisted on any final panel hookups / pre-inspection checks.

 

I agree. Hire a qualified electrician.
Another thing to consider is the outside light that comes on at dark. This may be a source of RFI. ( I speak from experience) The "light sensor" is some sort of switching semiconductor(s) which may cause wide band hash. I would take a portable AM radio and hold it close to the lamp to see if it produces RF noise. (both when the lamp is on as well as off) If this is close to your new operating position or on the same circuit, it may be a problem.
Tom WA4ILH

 

It may all work as desired. But an insurance adjuster may see things differently should there be a claim, whether the wiring was at fault or not.