Hey all,
Sometime in the future I plan on adding lights, switches, and a receptacle to a covered patio project I've been working on. Right now, I am just trying to figure out the wiring and would like some feedback on how my wiring diagram looks.

One attachment shows the covered patio and very basically where I plan on putting the lights, switches, conduit, etc... I plan on adding a new breaker from the breaker box in my shop and bury the conduit leading to the covered patio. Does this look like an okay way to lay all of this out? Any other opinions or ideas?

The other attachment is the wiring diagram I made. The blue outline represents electrical boxes and conduit. I'm not very good at all of this so I tried to make it as clear as possible for my own reference so sorry if it's a little confusing. The orange dots are wire connections, the solid gray bars indicate where I can use 12/2 or something similar. Anyway, my main question is did I do this correctly? First time even considering trying something like this so any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks, folks.

 

Your diagrams did not show up. I will say if there is already power to the patio you are going to need to remove it and add a feeder with a sub panel out there. Only one source of power to an outbuilding.

 

Looks good to me.
Except I would bring the conduit up into the bottom of the receptacle box for the sake of less visible pipe.
Use a 4x4 and a raised cover for the receptacle too in case you ever decide to run something else out in the yard, then you will have room to pull in extra circuits.

 

Scratch that last post about the 4x4, this is outdoors, need weatherproof fittings and such.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

pcboss,
There is currently no power to the patio. There is a breaker box in my "shop" that is just couple feet away from where I want to wire the switches and outlet. the power to that breaker box comes from a main source, as in from the power lines that hook up to the box attached to the house (sorry for the poor terminology). I was hoping to just put it all on its own breaker from the shop and run the conduit underground and up the post. Is this not acceptable? Would I still need a sub-panel?


Mr. Awesome,
Running it from bottom is a good idea. I didn't think of that. I had another idea for hiding the conduit. Please see the picture below. I'm capping the posts and adding more trim anyway so it wouldn't be too much extra work to set the conduit in the post. But would this be acceptable or is this against code or something?

 

It sounded like there was already power out there and you were adding a second source of power. Your explanation clears this up and sounds fine.

 

Hiding the conduit through a channel in the post is ok from electrical code. Make sure it doesn't violate the structural code for your minimum post dimensions after you cut out the post. Entering and exiting the box could be akward getting proper bends and fittings that might be difficult to hide with trim. Did you consider recessing the box into the trim so the conduit enters on a straight shot?

 

ibpooks, that's a really good idea, too! I will definitely consider recessing the boxes.
Thanks for everyone's input.

 

The few yards I've worked on, they cut notches in the deck posts so the conduit and boxes were all recessed then covered the posts with an additional layer of lumber. Looked awesome in the end.