Wiring for a new Hamshack
Paul - KL7OO
I'm getting ready to wire up my basement shack and would like some
advice. We've recently bought a house in Bellingham and I'm lucky
enough to have a 14x28 foot room that I have successfully procured
from the XYL. I want to isolate the room electrically on it's own
electrical sub panel.
RIght now, I'm allowing for 2 x 20 Amp 220V circuits and 2 x 20 amp
120V circuits. There is existing lighting and 15A service to the room
that would be re-routed to the new sub panel.
---Does this seem sufficient/overkill for capacity for the room? I
want to allow for HF and VHF amplifiers in the future. I also have
a bit of computer equipment and misc. power needs as this will double
as my office.
--Isolation transformers... Anyone use them? Opinions? I have
noticed a product from I.C.E. ( http://www.iceradioproducts.com/filtersrf.html#1)
that is designed to shield the house from the outside overhead power
lines. What about putting this between my main panel and subpanel?
Would this, along with a good ground system, help reduce power line
AND house generated noise in the shack?
--Bulkhead penetrations. The walls are cinder block and I'm wondering
how much of a PITA this is going to be to drill through for cable and
ground penetrations? Anyone care to guess if the outside walls would
be filed in with concrete or hollow? Anyone ever done this? I'm
hoping to take a hole saw and put in a PVC cableway terminated on the
outside with a weatherproof stuffing box.
I realize it's a dodgy proposition asking a bunch of hams their
opinions but bring 'em on...I'd appreciate any guidance anyone has.
73, Paul / KL7OO
Kevin Imel
I also erred in that I didn't put 220V at the work bench which meant a long extension cord over to under the operating table for 220V projects.
I also quickly realized I wanted two 120V circuits at the bench: one for projects and one for tools. That way I could throw the breaker on the project line and still have my tools.
This was before the PC era so you might want to consider a separate circuit for the PCs just for grins.
Also, what is your heat source? If you will need an electric heater add another 220V circuit just for that.
Put lights on their own circuit so you don't end up in the dark when you blow a breaker.
Right now is definitely the time to do it right and breakers are inexpensive. Also, buy a panel that is big enough to allow for that inevitable expansion. The cost differences are usually very minimal.
I put the PC on a UPS device which gives some amount of isolation but have not specifically built in isolation transformers.
GFCIs might also be a good thing to have, especially on the work bench circuit (if you will have one).
I would suspect your wall is concrete filled but am not familiar with the building codes in that area nor the era when the house was built. Easiest way to find out is take a 1/4" masonry bit and, taking into account the anatomy of your typical concrete block, drill a test hole. That is a small enough hole that you can easily patch it in if you decide you drilled in the wrong place. :-)
Good luck with the new shack! I can't wait for the day when I get to do a shack again. Using a spare bedroom with a single 20A 120V circuit that is shared with another room and the lights is driving me nuts.
73,
Kevin
Martin Hibbs
> Howdy All -
>
> I'm getting ready to wire up my basement shack and would like some
> advice. We've recently bought a house in Bellingham and I'm lucky
> enough to have a 14x28 foot room that I have successfully procured
> from the XYL. I want to isolate the room electrically on it's own
> electrical sub panel.
>
> RIght now, I'm allowing for 2 x 20 Amp 220V circuits and 2 x 20 amp
> 120V circuits. There is existing lighting and 15A service to the room
> that would be re-routed to the new sub panel.
>
> ---Does this seem sufficient/overkill for capacity for the room? I
> want to allow for HF and VHF amplifiers in the future. I also have
> a bit of computer equipment and misc. power needs as this will double
> as my office.
>
I've done much as you, but I've left the overhead lighting on the house
panel. My reasoning for
this is that when I get overly ambitious (or when there is a
catastrophic event in the shack) there
will still be light to do what needs to be done (i.e. find and pull the
red handle that turns off all the
shack power). I also run a second lamp from a shack 120v line to
provide additional lighting at the
operating position. I've only had to use this system once and that was
during a full power check on a
4-1000 HF amp when it decided to make explosive noises and fill the
shack with noxious smoke and
fumes. I was glad to be able to see the "Oh, s..." handle.
Regarding 120v lines, figure out how many outlets you need and then
double that number. I have 16 and
they are all in use. 4 plug outlets are nice, but wall warts, etc, take
up a lot of space. I figure that I should
have installed a separate row of 2 plug outlets just for the various odd
sized accessories (power supplies,
battery chargers for handhelds, scanners, etc., that I like to use.
As for the computers..... I run them from UPS supplies and this gives me
ample time to shut them down
in case of power failure regardless of cause.
marty...
N7MX
Michael Hatzakis Jr MD
I did this as well with my new shack, wired special and glad I did. Here's
a couple of pearls:
1. Put a couple of reverse 120v plugs into the wall and a large circuit to
a UPS. Run these circuits through your subpanel so you can reconfigure
other outlets to be UPS powered.
This way you can run entire wall outlet circuits on the UPS rather than
having multiple extension cords going to the UPS. You can mark these
outlets with red or other colors to signify they are UPS circuits. This
gives you power for network devices, PC's, and other vital equipment powered
in the event of a power failure or surge (surges and glitches really mess
with firewall/routers) that may not be a convenient distance to the UPS.
2. Try to run conduit under the floor to the outside. I have one solid 3"
conduit straight from my tower base to the back wall of my equipments, one
shot. In hindsight, I thought 3" was too big, now I would have done at
least 4".
3. Run conduits from parts of rooms if you have walls open. Having paths
you can pull wires is absolutely invaluable as you are going to constantly
change configurations, new antennas etc
Otherwise, the I echo and support the other excellent comments already
posted
Michael K3MH, Bellevue
Michael Hatzakis Jr MD
how much of a PITA this is going to be to drill through for cable and ground
penetrations? Anyone care to guess if the outside walls would be filed in
with concrete or hollow? Anyone ever done this? >>>
Diamond carbide drill, no sweat. Drilled through 16 inches of solid
concrete to run my ground cables.
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: PNW...@googlegroups.com [mailto:PNW...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
Of Paul - KL7OO
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 4:45 PM
To: PNWVHFS
Subject: [PNWVHFS] Wiring for a new Hamshack
Lynn Burlingame
the XYL into a 14 X 28 foot room...... Please refer her to the PNWVHFS
membership roster if she ever becomes a widow!
I have some advice on concrete drilling. Two years ago I did an earthquake
retrofit on my house. I had to drill about 30 5/8" holes into concrete
piers in very tight quarters. Paying about $60 for a neat little Black and
Decker impact drill motor was a mistake . It was about the size of a
regular drill motor and was generally useless for a hole of that size
despite what the teenage salesman told me. I am sure it would be fine for
stuff under 1/4", but it would not handle the bigger stuff. I could not do
all of the drilling at once, so it would have added up to a lot of money to
rent a drill.
I hit the jackpot at Harbor Freight. I have discovered that Harbor Freight
tools are often "good enough" for a job and that was the case with my
concrete drilling project. They had a monstrous looking hammer drill on
special for $60, complete with accessories and a case. I looked over their
warranty and decided that if it didn't work I could get my money back and if
it died on the job I could get a replacement, so I did not have much to
lose. A set of SDS bits was $10 and I bought two sets in anticipation of
breaking a lot of them.
I was blown away at how well it worked. I was working in a tight crawlspace
and could not get good leverage on the drill, but it would punch 5/8" holes
five inches into 50 year old concrete in less than a minute. In some cases
I had to start the hole at an angle because of lack of overhead clearance
then tip the drill up. This gave me no problems, especially when I started
using the Black & Decker to drill pilot holes.
As for their cheap bits, I had absolutely no trouble. The price was a joke
when compared to the $30 or $40 that Tool Town wanted for a single bit.
Lynn
N7CFO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul - KL7OO" <marin...@gmail.com>
To: "PNWVHFS" <PNW...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 4:45 PM
Subject: [PNWVHFS] Wiring for a new Hamshack
Howdy All -
73, Paul / KL7OO
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7:37 PM
Edward Cole
I do not plan to run more than one kw amp at a time, in fact all my amps will be run by the same HVPS. But the current use of plug strips is way beyond sane! So I will probably keep the room lights and computers on house lines and run radios and work bench on the new service box.
I already have an UPS running the computers and DSL modem. At work I have the service bench test equipment on one iso xfmr and the bench powere supplies on another iso xfmr. Often one does not want the scope ground lead to ground the radio under test.
In the old house I ran three 2-inch PVC conduit nipples thru the wall to a cable box (plywood) where they were connected to buried lines. In the new house I am going to cut a 24x30 inch opening in the wall and install a metal plate for bulkhead connectors. All my outside cable will connect on the outside with short jumper cable run from the panel to radios inside. My control cables will route thru multi-cond jacks. The panel will be grounded thoroughly.
My house is 2x6 wood frame with T-111 sheathing so this is easy to saw. I am not burying my cables at the new house (too much work). I am running them over the surface of the ground or overhead on Tee frames (think old style clothes line posts). The overhead run keeps the cables off the lawn for easy mowing. The cables in the other direction to the eme tower and satellite tower. I will make gravel paths for them to lie on. This makes the cable very accessible for maintenance and replacement. {I have a very understanding wife}
Ed - KL7UW
73,
Ed - KL7UW
======================================
BP40IQ 50-MHz - 10-GHz
www.kl7uw.com
144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xpol-20, 185w
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Greg Chartrand
In getting cables out of the shack, I looked at the clothes dryer vent the was above the concrete wall and on the side of the house. I went to the hardware store and purchased a dryer vent. I cut the hole in the house, easy to do. Once the hole was in, back to the hardware store I bought an electrical PVC box that fit the hole and provided a nice weather tight seal.
When we left the house, I pulled out the cables and box and put the dryer vent in the hole.
Greg
---------------------------------------------------------
Greg Chartrand - W7MY
Richland, WA.
DN-06IF
W7MY Home Page:
http://webpages.charter.net/w7my/
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cn85be
Cool Topic!
Lots of suggestions. Consider your needs now. I have gone through just
what your doing. I have my shack with wired with an isolated system from
our home. We have a 400 amp service in the home and I have synthesized
200 amp three phase in the ham shack. I also have transfer switching to
a three phase generator and a 20 amp 400 hz source. This may all sound
silly, however the Reward is illustrated very quickly. As you now have a
facility allowing you to spend pennies on the hundred dollar for
Substantial ham equipment. This should be seriously looked at for anyone
remodeling or constructing a new facility. Just to illustrate what I
mean, I just purchased four amplifiers from the old Comsat uplink in
Colorado, $800. They are 3.5 kW, 5.9 and 12 GHz. Original cost, over a
million dollars...poor bastards! Anyway, I am keeping one of the
Varians, and likely Building another shop with the sales of the others.
So three phase, and the expense of it, the synthesizer pot and such,
easily covered, in fact some time ago.
The 400 Hz thing is not for everyone, and I would not have even
considered it, except the GSA auctioned the genset off, and because it
was 400 hz, and three phase, no one bid...go figure. Anyway, so now I
have small three pole load center for this and allows me to play with a
lot of aircraft surplus. One can of course also create this with audio
amplifiers and a 400 hz audio source if needed in a pinch, so the latter
is more of a convenience here.
Coring is something that seems to intimidate hams? Go for it! A source
for the finest tooling on the planet, would be the Black Hole, Los
Alamos, NM. Find their tele on the web. For $50 or a bit more, they have
one of a kind, line of sight tooling for concrete boring. These hole
saws are anywhere from 3 point something to about 36 something inches in
diameter. Nothing has a standard size there. I needed 6" holes, I bought
a 6.227" diameter saw there, 14 " deep, as it was the closest they had.
The thing is Beautiful, weights like a feather fabbed of some unknown
nuke lab alloy body, carbide flat faced, diamond coated cutting edge.
Mounts to an arbor that fits into a 3/4" hole hog or other large drill.
This particular one I bought for $60, brought it home and with my old
Milwaukee and a garden hose, cut three holes in 8" concrete in under an
hour, amazing quality, can't even imagine the scary cost for those one
of kind toys new?
Grounds? Well there's plenty of data for that out there. Here at w7eme,
I had to make some short cuts over what would consider to be good
industry standards. However, a bit of your topic, might suggest the 33
gallon metal trash can. I have three of these as part of "artificial"
perimeter ground. Simply braze a piece of brass flashing or sheet to it
for connection. This offers thousands of square inches discharge ability
over say ground rods, simply bury the entire trash can.
Good luck, do it right the first time...Jeremy w7eme CN85be
Paul - KL7OO
I'm still interested in hearing from anyone who plumbed in an
isolation transformer...is it worth it?
Thanks again to everyone on here and have a nice
holiday..............Paul
Jessie Oberreuter
The only thing I've ever heard of was a ham somewhere who had a
problem with ground phasing between his 220 lines (amp) and his separate
110 line powering the rig. I think he cured it by pulling 110 off the 220
with a balanced transformer. Otherwise, there isn't anything in my head
screaming for such a setup until you go way, WAY back (or, with the new
FETs, not terribly far forward :) to mains fed finals.
Isolating your house doesn't make much sense to me. The idea of
having an isolation transformer referenced to a local earth ground in the
shack sounds cool in that perfectionist engineer way, and is probably
exactly the kind of thing that a high-end audio nut would do just before
putting the house inside a Faraday cage, but in general, your DC bus is
already isolated to either a floating ground or the mains earth ground,
and if you did create a new gound reference in your shack, you'd have to
make sure nothing could bridge between it and the rest of your house,
because you /would/ see induced voltages across the two. Besides, as soon
as you bring a piece of single-shield coax in, you've brought the noise
back in.
Best advice (assuming this is a house and not a radio telescope)
would be to just make sure all of your toys are effectively shielded in
their own cages and that they are all strapped together to reduce loops.
Other thoughts?