Best way to connect 8AWG to 20-amp receptacle

[wgipe]

Morning, guys and gals of TFP! When I had the back yard torn up last summer to install the pool, I trenched and laid a conduit to the back part of the property with the intent of having power there for maintenance needs as well as an eventual landscape lighting transformer to light some of the trees on the edge of the woods. It's about 220 feet from the 125-amp subpanel I'm feeding it from. I'm pulling 8AWG because of the distance. I'm not a licensed electrician but grew up in the trades and am comfortable in a panel, etc., but have never had the need to connect a larger wire to a receptacle. What's the best way to do that? I assume I could install a larger weatherproof box on the post I set and step the wire down to 12AWG with wire nuts before terminating at the receptacle, but thought I'd check here in case there is another better way. I posted this in the Mike Holt forum, but was promptly told I was not a licensed electrician, they couldn't help me, and had my account locked...good grief. Makes me super grateful for this place. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Newdude]

What's the best way to do that?

A sub- sub panel. Run your wires and use a 'quick disconnect' breaker box like a 220V hot tub would use.

'Mini' sub panel

Both legs of the 220V panel get bridged with your hot wire if you only pull 1 for 120V to save on cost. You can add as many sub panels as you need providing you don't exceed your max Amps ratings for the circuits or wires.

 

[MSchutzer]

Assuming that you have a standard 20 amp breaker feeding your #8 wire and that you’re just feeding a receptacle there’s no reason that you can’t use #12 pigtail wires to connect to the receptacle. Wire nutting the #8 wires to the #12 pigtails is fine as long as the wire nuts are within an electrical box. You can use a deep box or a 4” square box so that you have enough room in the back for the wire nuts.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

… I posted this in the Mike Holt forum, but was promptly told I was not a licensed electrician, they couldn't help me, and had my account locked...good grief. Makes me super grateful for this place. Thanks in advance for your help!

Makes sense. The MH Forum is not for DIY’ers. His forum is for licensed electricians. There are lots of trades forums on the web (HVAC, plumbing, etc) and most are quite explicit in telling people not to sign up if they aren’t licensed. It’s a liability issue. Fine if you want to read it and do it on your own but no electrician wants to lose their license for offering How To advice.

On TFP all the advice is voluntary and you accept the risks and liability for anything that you do. No one here claims they are anything but novices so it’s up to you if you want to take the advice or not. All of the wiring advice above is merely suggestive and TFP recommends you consult with a licensed electrician and follow all local ordinances before engaging in any electrical work