When I had my home built, I had them put in a BIG breaker box and set up the 200amp service. I knew I wanted to do some stuff in my basement to set up a my network center, eventually an entertainment space and the big garage. It made the most sense to start with the big panel from the beginning.

I find LED bulbs hit or miss. When I was at my old home, I used incandescent bulbs with a technology known as X-10 (it was "smart home" tech around since the 70's). The X-10 switches relied a LOT on incandescent bulbs, as they sent a tiny amount of power constantly through the bulb (but that power did not light the bulb). Ultimately, I believe that tech had an added bonus of extending bulb life. I also had a bulb over my kitchen sink that kept burning out, as I used a 40watt bulb and the fixture trapped heat. Using X10 to auto turn on and off that light, I replaced it with a 60watt bulb and had X-10 also dim the light when it turned on. Resulting in the lower illumination I wanted (as it was just basically a night light type thing, not needed for cooking or cleaning).
I too remember LED bulbs promoting a longevity, such as an estimated 10 years! I suspect a few things at play. First, there was a push to use lead free solder. The issues with that, the lead free stuff I believe has a lower melting point. This has resulted in issues with home electronics that generate high heat (such as, I believe it was part of the issue with the old XBOX red ring of death, I had a Sony Stereo receiver have an issue with solder joints and look at the many instrument cluster issues that are a simple solder issue). So LED bulbs generate a good amount of heat, hence the heat syncs on them. If they are put in fixtures that trap heat, I am guessing it breaks lead free solder joints and/or over heats resistors.
I have actually exercised the 3 year warranty on the LED bulbs that came pre-installed in my home. I have two fixtures that I have constant issues with (one I am a bit surprised I have issues with, as it is open on the top, but having three bulbs in it must be too much).
I feel ensuring items on the ceiling can be easily services is very important and a big problem later if I don't plan for it today.

 

Interesting, Id heard of the lead free push and all of the issues it caused, but Id never thought about the coincidence in timing with the LED changeover. That makes a lot of sense.

I do very vividly remember the red ring of death, I also remember the 'towel trick' to fix it (console was essentially bricked and I was in college at the time / couldn't afford to re-buy another one but had too many games to just scrap it). I want to say they extended the warranty at some point and I got a replacement, only for it to do the same thing eventually.

 

I FINALLY HAVE POWER!!!
Through out this year, I have been running wiring in the workshop for outlets (indoor and outdoor outlets). And then I had a bunch of stuff going on that said "not the right time to trench the yard". I started planning late August/Early September to get supplies and trench the yard mid-late September. I lined up a trencher from the local Home Depot, went to use it, long story short did not go well, would not dig deep enough and had trouble digging at all. After I returned it, I learned a friend of mine brought his Kubota Tractor that has a back hoe on it from a property he is working on (hour away from here) home for some repairs and a tire. I know it is a pain to load and transport, hence why I did not ask if he could bring it by (him and his wife are there every weekend using that machine). Since he already had it in town, he was able to loan it to me after he got the repairs done and the tire. Took a little while, but was well worth the wait! I still had to hand dig near the house to avoid damage to the sprinkler lines and downspout drainage to the house.

Saturday, 10/25/2025 I got the use of the Kubota for about a week, my dad and I went to work. I let dad have the fun job lol. I wanted to go 24 inches deep, but ran into remaining footers from an old garage or house or something. Fortunately, it was down deep enough that I got 18 inch depth. I have 4 trenches. Two for the down spots to go to pop-up emitters in the yard, one for electrical and the last one for conduit for network wire and a gas line. At this moment, we are working on the gas line (just to get it stubbed into the house and the garage). I am running a pressure test on it so I know all connections underground are good before back filling.
This is a the gas line kit, pretty slick and easy to work with:
Underground 1in IPS New Install Kit (1)1in x 100 ft. Pipe (2)1in Couplers (2)1in Meter Risers, Gas Line Detection

By 10/30/2025, the garage now has POWER!

 

I FINALLY HAVE POWER!!!
Through out this year, I have been running wiring in the workshop for outlets (indoor and outdoor outlets). And then I had a bunch of stuff going on that said "not the right time to trench the yard". I started planning late August/Early September to get supplies and trench the yard mid-late September. I lined up a trencher from the local Home Depot, went to use it, long story short did not go well, would not dig deep enough and had trouble digging at all. After I returned it, I learned a friend of mine brought his Kubota Tractor that has a back hoe on it from a property he is working on (hour away from here) home for some repairs and a tire. I know it is a pain to load and transport, hence why I did not ask if he could bring it by (him and his wife are there every weekend using that machine). Since he already had it in town, he was able to loan it to me after he got the repairs done and the tire. Took a little while, but was well worth the wait! I still had to hand dig near the house to avoid damage to the sprinkler lines and downspout drainage to the house.

Saturday, 10/25/2025 I got the use of the Kubota for about a week, my dad and I went to work. I let dad have the fun job lol. I wanted to go 24 inches deep, but ran into remaining footers from an old garage or house or something. Fortunately, it was down deep enough that I got 18 inch depth. I have 4 trenches. Two for the down spots to go to pop-up emitters in the yard, one for electrical and the last one for conduit for network wire and a gas line. At this moment, we are working on the gas line (just to get it stubbed into the house and the garage). I am running a pressure test on it so I know all connections underground are good before back filling.
This is a the gas line kit, pretty slick and easy to work with:
Underground 1in IPS New Install Kit (1)1in x 100 ft. Pipe (2)1in Couplers (2)1in Meter Risers, Gas Line Detection

By 10/30/2025, the garage now has POWER! The lighting I did is temporary, so I have something for now. It actually works fairly well, it will be better if I can spread them out further. Having a 16ft ceiling height, I have been concerned on how to service any lights I hang. But seeing how well these cheap-o LED shop lights work when held on the wall, it might lend itself to a plan to get the lighting I need and making it easy to service.

 

Looking good!

Once the power is totally finsihed - what are the plans for the interior - are you doing insulation and drywall?

 

Thanks! I have a trench with conduit for network wiring and wrapping up stubbing a gas line in the house and garage for future use. For the network wiring, I am trying to figure out what I need. I am thinking 2 for my Lorex camera system, 1 for a wireless access point (bump up my wifi performance), and 2-3 for data (a PC on a bench and an old streaming music player and another "just because")....

I also want to build a mezzanine, then insulate. No drywall, plywood or OSB instead, paint it white. No mudding, no taping.

 

Since I no longer have the Kubota, making use with other tools. Using Dad's rototiller, I ran that to break up the mounds of dirt (and clay, this area has a lot of clay). And then my dad rode a small Craftsman lawn tractor with a plow blade and made a LOT of progress. Today's progress stopped when the tiller started acting up. We did not bury one part of one of the trenches to re-pressure test the gas line under ground (I was going to trim the tubing and started to open the coupler, I want to re-test before it gets buried). The gas line is only being stubbed into the house and shop for use at a later date. THe part of the line in the house is all done and secured, still need to finish the garage side. Once we finish the back filling, the yard will wait until spring to bring in some top soil, fix everything that needs fixed and plant some fresh grass.

 

Interesting topic - I hadnt thought much about internet. So you're going to run 6 separate cat cables out there? Stupid question, but where do you plug them all in at on the other end? Im pretty IT ignorant, but our wifi router only has 4 hardwire ethernet ports in total.

Do you just run them in electrical conduit into some kind of distribution box?

 

I don't run home networking like most people. My home is like a small office lol. In my basement is a "network center". I have some good pics of that project here:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/of...-center-63361/


WARNING: Here's the of my geek speak. I apologize in advance. And if there is a want to chat more, PM me.
My internet is ATT Fiber service (I am only on the 500 plan, it is way good for my needs). I disabled the Wifi on the ATT device as it is not as good as what I am using and honestly, the ATT box is in a crappy spot for quality WiFi in my home. Nothing connect direct to the ATT box (not all my network traffic is Internet bound traffic and let the ATT box hand JUST Internet traffic). The ATT modem/router then connects to my 48 port managed network switch that supports gigabit (2.5gig and 5gig are much newer and I have no reason yet to make those leaps). I refer to this as my "core switch". A managed switch means it has a LOT of fancy features I may not really need (like bandwidth throttling, support for VLANs aka multiple different segmented networks and more). People ask why I got this. Easy. I have had it for about 7ish years, bought used from eBay, many sellers don't know how to test these, especially since it is NOT Cisco, so they sell it CHEAP. I think I paid $50 or less. I cannot beat that deal!

From the core switch, I have two over grown desktops running as "servers". I also have my Ubiquiti/Unifi Nano-HD Wireless Access Point connected to it (this is ONLY wireless, not a router). Ubiquity makes some cool stuff and there target audience is the high-end home user and small business (who is not able to afford Cisco or Cisco licensing). I see a LOT of restaurants with Ubiquity Access Points. When I built my home, I have three network connections in different spots on the ceiling. If I can use one AP (which I am), I use the center spot. If I needed two, I use the other spots. When I am ready to mount the an AP in the shop, I want to buy a pair of NEW APs form Ubiquity (as the Nan-HD is about 10ish years old, there are multiple newer ones available). But I admit, with how good the Nano-HD works, I am also tempted to look into buying a second used one and riding it out a bit longer.... I get good WiFi to the Shop now, but having a second AP out there only makes things BETTER.

Then the additional network connections for things like a PC and an old music player and what not, those will go to the core switch.

Lastly, I have a Lorex NVR (Network Video Recorder). It can support up to 16 cameras. I am using all hardwired cams and they use Ethernet cable between the NVR and the cams. The NVR actually sets up it's own network for the cams and uses POE (Power Over Ethernet) to power the cams. Part of me almost wonders if I should have bought two smaller NVRs and put one in the shop and one in the house, but I am where I am. So I want to put 2-3 cams around the shop.

Now.... The big question.... How far can I run with this lol. Well, I am using Cat6 cable, and I went with full copper (not copper clad steel or copper clad aluminum). From what I understand, a run can go up to 100 meters (328 feet) before performance degradation or failure. When I bought the electrical wire for the sub-panel, I bought 145 feet (probably wasted 10-15 feet). So I believe I am plenty good for these cable runs. If I wasn't, I would look into using fiber. I would need to set up a second switch for the shop (so fiber between the core switch in the house and the switch in the shop). And in the shop, I could go with a smaller switch (8 port or more would probably do). And the handle the fiber, I would most likely look for copper-to-fiber transceivers.

BTW - Side fun fact. Back in the days of DSL and home routers like Linksys and before Wifi was a thing.... Back then you would have a DSL modem, then connect to a router (Linksys was one of the first and most popular ones). I did testing with a 24 port managed 10/100 switch, dsl and a Linksys router. Got faster speed tests if I connected the devices to the managed switch, and let the LinkSys router handle JUST Internet traffic vs remove the managed switch and go direct to the router. Not sure that still holds true these days as the home equipment has evolved a LOT. Back then, the "switch" that was part of the LinkSys router was really a fancy hub. Short story on hub vs switch. You have computers A, B, C, and D. A wants to talk to D. Hub sends that pack to ALL devices to find the destination (which means B and C are seeing the data packets but ignore them as they are for D). When too much traffic hits, you can have "collisions" and result in re-transmitting of data from the source. Switches, managed and unmanaged, they are aware of which devices are on which ports. This means when A wants to talk to D, the data packets go direct.
In my example from the DSL, this means if what I believe is right that the 4-port switch built into the LinkSys router back in that time frame was more of an over glorified hub, well, that proves why letting the LinkSys device be dedicated to Internet traffic and using a managed switch yield improvement.

And that is probably WAY more than one ever wanted to know about my home network lol.

 

That sounds like a really hardcore setup - very interesting to hear the detail behind it!

I really like that idea about hardwired cams. We started off on the Ring ecosystem with the doorbell and over time have probably dumped another grand into their products. Im starting to regret going down that path though as there are a lot of downsides. We have supplemented that with a few other cameras lately, but Id love to bite the bullet one day and put in the effort for a system like yours. It's a pretty big project for us though as we're on a slab and have no attic, so running the wires will be a good bit of work.