The first step in any project is to identify problems and bugs, figure out a solution, and then either intergrate into the existing system or rip everything out and start again! So the first bit, identify problems:

• Not enough flexibility - if I trip the garage RDC, that one rcd trips all the lights, the server room, the freezers, the mill etc

• the roof is a bodged together rats nest - it needs to be more orginised and safe

• its all bodged! - cables chock blocked to other ones because we diddnt have one long enough! 

• LED lighting, there are three incandecant lighting strips in the garage - they are not bright enough, they blow to easily, easy to knock and draw a lot of power 

We ordered a load of bits and peices for this, a full Bill Of Materials will be avalable after the project has been completed! 

we ordered:

• 10 new 2 gang sockets

• a new Consumer unit

• 10 disc joiners

• 10m of 20mm conduit

• 25 conduit couplers

• 4mm2 cable for the server room 

• 2.5mm2 cable for the sockets

• 1.5mm2 cable for other sockets

• 1mm2 cable for the lighting ring

• 150mm/6inch trunking for the roof

• loads of cat5e and cat 6 cable 

The consumer unit is the heart of any system, for our system we went with the following:

RCD 1: 6A 6A 16A 32A 32A (All B-type)
RCD2: 6A 16A 16A 32A 32A (All B-type)

we started by installing two dual gang sockets below the consumer where the table is going. these are on their own 16A MCB, this helps us test and iron out faults when testing equipment in future without isolating the whole socket system! 

we also installed multipule other sockets around the workshop all of them on a 32A MCB

We went for 6 3ft cold white led strips, from ebay. they all have very short tails so a circular junction box was needed for each one. the lighting ring was all out of 0.75mm2 two core cable, the led strips only have live and neuteral so running two core to everyting was perfectly fine. 

In my area the main telephone cable terminates in the house where the router is. There is a cat 6a cable that runs between the house and the workshop but if this ever goes down I want a wireless backup. so I purchased a shnider outdoor box, a socket, a 19mm backbox, some chock blocks and a netgear wireless extender. Then i put it all together and drilled some holes in the wall and this is what I ended up with.
The netgear adapter that I bought takes the wireless signal from the router and then boosts it around the garden, it also has a network out connection so you can connect a device to it, this is the reason i purchased it. that network cable then runs through the trunking and into the server room. 

Speaking of trunking I used two different types, 150mm and Xmm (I need to re measure). they run from the consumer, across the ceiling and to the server room. this is the most common path cables take and therefore the most efficient. all the cables will be tied down to the trunking and there are also 3 CPC cables that connect all the bits of trunking together and making sure is all properly earthed incase of something becoming live. its all 6mm2 earth cable so more than adiquate. 

The big moment finally came where we switched the power from the old consumer unit to the new one, as id already put in a few sockets below the board, it wasnt too hard to swap it all over and just run extention leads to critical apliences such as the freeser and server room.

Yeah that lasted ages.....  about 1/2 of a year to be exact, and now weve installed solar, check out the other page in the projects section!