Driveway electric run using existing service poles

Question

We have a 1200 ft long driveway and are planning to install a motorized gate at the entrance, along with cameras. We're also considering adding lights along the driveway - I'm guessing in the end a 10 amp sized wiring would be plenty. The existing utility poles along the driveway currently carry both electric and Verizon fiber lines. This is a large property (over 20 acres), and no other neighbors are connected to these poles.

I’m trying to find out if it’s legally permissible and up to code to run electrical wiring from our house (where the meter is located) down to the gate using these existing utility poles. I understand that PVC underground conduit is typically recommended, but the terrain here poses significant challenges for excavation, with lots of rock and two small creeks under the driveway.

Answer 1

There are basically 5 very different options for getting power to the end of the driveway:

Poles

The catch is that the poles are probably owned by the utility. If they are, then the utility would need to give permission for you to run your own wires on the poles. While that is not impossible - utilities routinely give each other access(e.g., electric, cable TV, telephone (copper or fiber)), there are serious safety and liability issues that may make it very hard to get permission to run your own wires. If you are allowed to run your own wires then you will need to run them high enough (e.g., lowest point between poles at least 8 feet above the ground, higher where there is any possibility of traffic crossing under the wires) to be safe but at the same time low enough to be far away from the higher-voltage utility lines. You would also need to run a fiber connection for your cameras. The electric cable will need to be rated for outdoor above-ground use - regular Romex won't work.

Conduit

Conduit comes in various types. The type determines how deep it needs to be buried. In particular, rigid metal conduit generally only needs 6" for residential use, except when passing under driveways. On the other hand, PVC generally requires 18". That makes quite a difference in the work involved, though with a 1200' run there are likely to be other complications due to changes in elevation, streams, rocks, etc.

When using conduit you run individual wires rather than cables. The wires need to be rated for wet areas (conduit underground will inevitably fill with water over time) but that is not a big deal.

If done properly, you can run a fiber for the cameras through the same conduit.

Direct-bury Cable

Instead of burying conduit and running wires through the conduit, you can use cable rated for direct burial. Materials cost will be lower and installation might, depending on the terrain, be easier. However, the cable needs to be buried 24" deep and, most importantly, if the cable is ever damaged then repairing/replacing gets very expensive.

You would need to run a separate direct-bury fiber cable for the cameras.

Separate Meter

Have the utility install a separate meter and service near the gate. This may have significant up-front costs with the utility, depending on the work involved and their policies, but you then install a small panel at the meter and the wiring is all short easy. There will typically be minimum monthly charges for the service but you will save a lot on conduit/cable/digging/etc. However, you will need to figure out a different method to connect the cameras.

Solar Power

Installing a solar/battery system will have significant up-front costs but have no utility costs or conduit/cable/digging/etc. The batteries should be large enough to handle a few days (e.g., due to short and cloudy winter days) worth of power for multiple gate openings, but since cameras and gate controls use very little power (only the gate motor uses much) that shouldn't be a big deal. However, you will need to figure out a different method to connect the cameras.

And now the elephant in the room:

Voltage Drop

Normally voltage drop is not much of a concern. But at 1200 feet it is a huge concern. Using the 10A figure and assuming 120V and a maximum 5% voltage drop (and the handy Southwire Voltage Drop Calculator:

• 1200 feet, 120V, 10A, 3 AWG copper or 1 AWG aluminum

but there are other options. For example, if you go to 240V:

• 1200 feet, 240V, 10A, 6 AWG copper or 4 AWG aluminum

but if the 10A requirement is based on 120V and you really only need 5A @ 240V:

• 1200 feet, 240V, 5A, 8 AWG copper or 6 AWG aluminum

which is starting to look a lot more reasonable. Motors are generally available in 240V. Cameras and similar devices typically run off of a small power supply that can be powered by 120V or 240V.

Another possibility is to make use of transformers. If you bump up the 240V to 480V for transmission and down to 240V (or possibly even 120V) at the end then you can use 12 AWG copper! Transformers aren't free, but at that distance they can be cost-effective.

And one more thing...

Camera Connectivity

There are five main ways to connect remote cameras to your local network:

• Fiber

This typically requires converters at each end to Ethernet. But those are not that expensive now and fiber (a) can go very long distances (regular Ethernet maxes out at 100 meters = 328') and (b) can be run, if certain rules are followed, in the same conduit as power cables.

• Copper

Regular Ethernet can't handle more than 100 meters = 328'. There are various types of extenders/converters available for longer distances. But while those make a lot of sense when taking advantage of existing wiring (e.g., legacy POTS cables), for a new installation you are better off with fiber.

• WiFi

WiFi can typically go a few hundred feet outdoors, less indoors. But I don't recommend WiFi for cameras in general. If the cameras are in the same building as the network or a reasonable distance away then run Ethernet cables and use Power over Ethernet to take care of both power and communications on the same cable. And if they are a long distance away then WiFi will not be so reliable, depending on many factors beyond your control.

• Cellular

If you have good service in the camera location then this can work well. But you need to make sure the service and equipment can handle the bandwidth of cameras. There will be monthly fees as well.

• Satellite

With Starlink, satellite internet is practical in a lot of places where it wasn't before. The monthly cost is currently $120, which is significant, but it still may be worth looking into, particularly if you go for a self-contained solar/battery/etc. setup for power.

Answer 2

These poles are, more than likely, installed and maintained by the power company and are allowed to be there by some sort of easement or legal permission. You will need to get with your power company to verify this. It is highly unlikely that they will give you permission to attach to them. I've done utility work in many states and have never seen this done. There are all sorts of legal ramifications involved with this.

Answer 3

Who owns the pole? If a pole down, who comes out and fixes it for free? That's who you need permission from to hang your overhead line on the pole. It's not going to happen unless you own the poles. You could pay the utility for a service drop / meter at the gate I suppose. But I wouldn't.

Gates want to be on battery

We have a 1200 ft long driveway and are planning to install a motorized gate at the entrance,

We need to have a talk about how much energy a motorized gate actually uses. "it takes 1200 watts" no, that's power. Energy is power x time. Gates only open for 6 seconds. So 1200 watts at 6 seconds is actually 7200 watt-seconds or 2 watt-hours. Pop the AAA battery out of your remote, you're looking at 2 watt-hours.

The storage in a typical $140 deep-cycle "car battery" size thing is 1000 watt-hours or 500 gate openings.

These numbers change everything, really.

And the people in the motorized gate industry understand this, and realize it would be certifiably insane for someone in your situation to run 120V power out to your gate. So they design their gates to play well with solar/battery systems, with the machine itself running on DC power.

How big a solar panel? Size of an iPad. 2 watt-hours is a 10-watt panel for 12 minutes.

Security cameras too

Now you want to run security cameras too, and that's a much bigger draw to be sure. But the security camera companies know the same thing: these will often be on solar/battery, so they too make that easy. You'll need a bigger solar panel but still nothing heinous.

I realize some of these cameras can get pretty high-power, but that's still just a sizing issue regarding the battery and solar panels.

Lights along the driveway, though

If you're just talking about lights in the gate area, that's easy - use the most efficient LEDs and pile that onto the load you're already computing for the gate and cameras. Of course the lights will be the biggest of the three, so we are talking notably bigger batteries and bigger solar, both of which are Dirt Cheap compared to the wiring you are talking about.

Now if you want lights along the entire driveway, that really lends itself to solar and battery on each light. That way you don't have to cable anything at all to them.

Answer 4

I cannot add anything useful regarding the power that the other answers haven't covered. However, I can answer that I have had surprisingly good success using a pair of wireless bridge devices. You can find these online for well under $100 (USD). While many of them make claims up to 5KM range, I haven't gone that far with them. I have successfully used them for a line-of-sight installation that is just shy 850 feet apart. The devices use a directional antenna; thus they need to be aimed at each other. I did it by just eyeing it up, as I do have clear line-of-sight, and I was able to get a connection with max signal on first attempt. I'm able to successfully run two cameras at HD resolution over the wireless link. While the devices I use do come with AC adaptors, the power input is actually 12VDC.