circuit breaker flipped on me

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Pound Puppy

Member
hello I am running a 8x4 tent with two timber redwood vs, 600 watt led lights, I also had a veg tent with a t5 light in the same room. I had alot of stuff hooked up to one outlet so I'm guessing thats why the circuit got shorted. I had my wall unit ac (5000 btu) hooked up to the same outlet as one of the timber lights and I had the 2nd timber light hooked up to a 2nd outlet in the room. also a bunch of fans and couple small dehus. My question is how many lights can the electricity set up handle in one room? it is a 20 amp circuit. I made some changes to the room and I think it is going to be a lot better now but I was plannign on running a 3rd light in that room? is that not a good idea?
Any input or advice would be really appreciated.

Thank you
 
Hiphophippo

Hiphophippo

Well-Known Member
Try an split them up between different circuit in the house. I bet that breakers hot as hell. Even if your load doesn’t exceed your amp limit on the breaker having your lights on the same breaker as your supporting equipment is never a good idea. Those lights draw a constant none fluctuating load and the support equipment starts up and turns off, which dramatically increase load and decrease as well. Somethings shut off and start up create major drops and spikes if you have things doing that all the time on the same breaker it’ll ruin the breaker and or degrade equipment over time
 
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P

Pound Puppy

Member
Hiphophippo said:
Try an set up between different circuit in the house. I bet that breakers hot as hell. Even if you load doesn’t exceed your amp limit on the breaker having your lights on the same breaker as your supporting equipment is never a good idea. Those lights draw a constant none fluctuating load and the support equipment starts up and turns off, which dramatically increase load. Somethings shut off and create major drops if you have things doing that all the time on the same breaker it’ll ruin the breaker and or degrade equipment over time
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Thank you for the information that helps alot. I noticed that out of the 3 outlets in my room only one of them was still working after the circuit popped so I'm thinking this one is on a different circuit. Is that common in older houses to have 1 outlet in the same room on a different circuit? Idk how many amps that outlet is but I do know that the other two outlets I'm the room are both on the same 20 amp circuit that also supports outlets in my other bedroom. I have the A/c on the 20 Amp circuit right now. I really don't know shit about electrical and just trying to make sure I don't create a disaster aka fire
 
P

Pound Puppy

Member
Pound Puppy said:
Thank you for the information that helps alot. I noticed that out of the 3 outlets in my room only one of them was still working after the circuit popped so I'm thinking this one is on a different circuit. Is that common in older houses to have 1 outlet in the same room on a different circuit? Idk how many amps that outlet is but I do know that the other two outlets I'm the room are both on the same 20 amp circuit that also supports outlets in my other bedroom. I have the A/c on the 20 Amp circuit right now. I really don't know shit about electrical and just trying to make sure I don't create a disaster aka fire
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I put my two lights on that 1 outlet that was still on after circuit popped and the ac is on the 20 amp circuit that everything was on before
 
Hiphophippo

Hiphophippo

Well-Known Member
Pound Puppy said:
I put my two lights on that 1 outlet that was still on after circuit popped and the ac is on the 20 amp circuit that everything was on before
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Yeah it’s very common In Old houses as most Were built on small budgets and would get all they could out of the materials on hand. I would definitely keep my lights on that circuit by themselves and keep the rest of the supporting equipment on the other circuit.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Pound Puppy said:
hello I am running a 8x4 tent with two timber redwood vs, 600 watt led lights, I also had a veg tent with a t5 light in the same room. I had alot of stuff hooked up to one outlet so I'm guessing thats why the circuit got shorted. I had my wall unit ac (5000 btu) hooked up to the same outlet as one of the timber lights and I had the 2nd timber light hooked up to a 2nd outlet in the room. also a bunch of fans and couple small dehus. My question is how many lights can the electricity set up handle in one room? it is a 20 amp circuit. I made some changes to the room and I think it is going to be a lot better now but I was plannign on running a 3rd light in that room? is that not a good idea?
Any input or advice would be really appreciated.

Thank you
Click to expand...
My dads great idea was to just change it with a 30 Amp breaker when I was renting and running a few AC's. Well that didn't end well, :fire:
 
CWF

CWF

Well-Known Member
The breaker amperage is chosen based on the gauge of the wire only! It's job is to trip before an overload/short gets the wire too hot and starts a fire. The breaker protects the wire, not the load. Never up-size a breaker unless you up-size the wire. Consult a reliable electrician.
 
mudballs

mudballs

Well-Known Member
CWF said:
The breaker amperage is chosen based on the gauge of the wire only! It's job is to trip before an overload/short gets the wire too hot and starts a fire. The breaker protects the wire, not the load. Never up-size a breaker unless you up-size the wire. Consult a reliable electrician.
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Thnx, i didnt know that.
 
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ComfortCreator

Well-Known Member
Pound Puppy said:
hello I am running a 8x4 tent with two timber redwood vs, 600 watt led lights, I also had a veg tent with a t5 light in the same room. I had alot of stuff hooked up to one outlet so I'm guessing thats why the circuit got shorted. I had my wall unit ac (5000 btu) hooked up to the same outlet as one of the timber lights and I had the 2nd timber light hooked up to a 2nd outlet in the room. also a bunch of fans and couple small dehus. My question is how many lights can the electricity set up handle in one room? it is a 20 amp circuit. I made some changes to the room and I think it is going to be a lot better now but I was plannign on running a 3rd light in that room? is that not a good idea?
Any input or advice would be really appreciated.

Thank you
Click to expand...
Take a few minutes to learn what is on each circuit. Cut one off and see, label it on the box if it isn't already. I.e. bathroom outlets, bathroom lights, kitchen outlets N wall, etc.

Then you can run the math and be 100% sure you are safe. Electrical is SAFE done safely but you can and will burn down the house if you dont know. Electrician friend can be a best friend here.

You should know exactly i.e. I have 1200 watts on this circuit and 800 on the other I'm using. Extension cords are fine temporary ways to use other outlets to reduce the load on any circuit.
 
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