legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
So wheels, once I got an electrician to install 2 240v 30amp breakers, would wiring the the 6 gauge cable to the light controllers be something easy that I could do on my own?
Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions
- Thread starter bricktown73
- Start date
wheels619
Well-Known Member
once you hook the lighting controller up you pretty much get rid of all the step down stuff on that circuit. also im not sure on the costs since ive never actually looked into it. but could be worth a try if its cheap enough. altho you can run say 50 amp wiring and bridge it off at 30 amps of 240 for the flower side and then run another 20 amps of 240 for your veg side. in all honesty you wont need all the amperage provided with the amount of power your pulling. if you were running 1000s id say yes. you can pull the lighting you need off of that one cable just spliced into 2 with a few lighting controllers. also if you really need power for the ac run it and all the other essentials off the wall outlet. if the ac is only pulling 500 at 4.1 amps you still have plenty of room on the outlet for all the wall and inline fans no problem. inline fans pull a little over an amp by themselves but not by much.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
if you r running two separate 30 amps 220-240 volt breakers its a total of 6 screws for 2 separate controllers. its super easy to wire it up once you have it sitting in front of you. its 3 wires total for each. the 2 hots and the common. remember. 2 Hots and 1 common. so dont mistake that shit for a ground. lol. it doesnt matter which hot goes to which hot spot becuz each is 110-120 volts. so 120+120=240. to be honest as long as the common is in the right place you are ok. its as simple as choosing a few colors for the hots and screwing a few Phillips screws down. make sure you dont confuse the hots with the common. bad juju. lol. any questions let me know.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
also if you r wiring 2 30 amp outlets all you need is 8-10 gauge wiring for each. 8 max is needed. i personally ran 10 gauge for 30 amps of lighting controller. anything else is overkill unless you intend on making it a true 50 amp 240 breaker someday.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
if you have no electrical experience at all id recommend having an electrician install the breakers and run the wiring. once the wiring is in place connecting everything is simple. just make sure you flip the breaker to off before fucking with stuff. lol.
legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
You're the man wheels... I have no idea what a hot or a ground is, so I'll go do some research... and one last thing... do I really need 2 30amp breakers? Wouldn't 1 be enough if I just run the rest of my stuff off the regular outlets? afterall, my veg/clone is only using 525watts worth of light and a few misc items... Oh yeah, would I be able to run the my AC, dehum, and CO2 gen off of one of those 30amp breakers if it was wired to a light controller?
wheels619
Well-Known Member
Mmmm. dehum and ac and veg lights is another story. maybe the ac and lights but not the dehum on top of it all. 2 out of the 3 things will keep you under load but once you run the 3rd it will pop the breaker. have you ever considered running another 120 volt 15 amp outlet to the space with a 2 light lighting controller or even a power strip with a timer on it for your veg ,lights and ac. then run the rest off the existing outlet? way cheaper than running a second 240. also ask your electrician whats up. he should have an idea of what you will need to run that kind of power better than i since he can see whats in front of him and can do all the calculations down to the dotted i.
legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
To be honest, I haven't even moved in the place yet so I'm not sure, but I think there will be several 15amp outlets in the basement... I really don't see why there wouldn't be. I didn't know it was unusual to have many outlets in a basement.... The last place I was in had several, and I was able to run about 5000watts of power by just plugging everything in to several different outlets... this is why all of this talk of installation came as a bit of a surprise to me...
wheels619
Well-Known Member
look on google for 30 amp 240 volt wiring diagrams and stuff. the image section is pretty decent with a few pics to give you an idea of how to wire them up safely. gives you a better picture than just choosing wire colors. lol. also make sure to ask you electrician to label the cables for you. hots and commons since most people hooking up wiring for grow ops dont use building code to wire everything.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
holy crap you hooked 5000 watts up in the same room on the wall outlets? lol. they miust have all been wired with their own 15 amp breakers. i cant even plug two lights in in the same room without blowing the breakers. lmao. you got lucky my friend.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
oh now that i think about it you could [probably run a 20 amp 120 outlet to the room and be able to run everything off of it. the ac, dehum and veg lights. sorry was high and it just crossed my mind. plenty of options dude you just gotta look at options and do your homework before deciding to go ahead with this project becuz its gonna cost a pretty penny and no one likes wasting such beautiful pennies. lol
legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
lol... yeah, I figured I got lucky and wouldn't be so lucky at this next place, so I came here so I'd know what to do when things didn't go so smoothly... And you're helping me out plenty. But I gotta admit, I'm confused about how I'd be able to use breakers that are dedicated to a light controller... I thought that as soon as I hook up the 6 gauge cable to the controller it would mean that all I could use the breaker for, is the controller itself, and whatever I plug into it... I'm sure I'm off base, but I don't understand where I'd be able to plug in any other appliances, as far as the breaker is concerned... but thanks all the same man, I'm pretty sure I'm about a post away from annoying you with what are probably obvious questions, so I'll bow out after you respond... thanks
Figong
Well-Known Member
20amp 120v = 2400w *.8 = 1920 watts, with 20% allowance so the metal used isn't stressed to the point of failure or fire..
Figong
Well-Known Member
I don't know where to start with this.. so I will say, as nicely as I can - use the above advice at your own risk, but I would highly recommend against it unless you want a potentially massive fire.. especially when you 'choose a few colors'. Color selection is specific to what you are doing with it.. namely red.. being hot, a possible switch leg, or second hot in a 220. Blue and yellow are also hots, usually used in 3 and 4 way switches.. lso used as legs to things like permanent mounted fans and lights. Green and bare copper are used only for ground... -NO EXCEPTIONS-. White is always neutral.. -unless- it's marked with red or black tape. If it is marked as such.. it's part of a 2-conductor cable and is being used as the 2nd hot in a 240 outlet or appliance setup.if you r running two separate 30 amps 220-240 volt breakers its a total of 6 screws for 2 separate controllers. its super easy to wire it up once you have it sitting in front of you. its 3 wires total for each. the 2 hots and the common. remember. 2 Hots and 1 common. so dont mistake that shit for a ground. lol. it doesnt matter which hot goes to which hot spot becuz each is 110-120 volts. so 120+120=240. to be honest as long as the common is in the right place you are ok. its as simple as choosing a few colors for the hots and screwing a few Phillips screws down. make sure you dont confuse the hots with the common. bad juju. lol. any questions let me know.
silverhazefiend
Well-Known Member
Thank you !! So much
The transformer is $125rated at 3000 watts ..the lighting controller is are about 200-400$ plus having it wired so id rather use the transformer ..what do I do about a timer tho ? Can u just use a heavy duty timer
The transformer is $125rated at 3000 watts ..the lighting controller is are about 200-400$ plus having it wired so id rather use the transformer ..what do I do about a timer tho ? Can u just use a heavy duty timer
wheels619
Well-Known Member
you can have the controller plugged in 24/7 instead of hooked up to a timer you can have constant 240 at 30 amps without it powering down. instead of being set to power on 12 hours a day you can plug it straight into the wall to run the heavy stuff like ac/ dehum/ fans blah blah blah if it was 240 and not 120.
as for dedicated lines. its not theoretically dedicated becuz all you technically have to do is unscrew and unhook the controller and you can use the wiring for other things that run on 240 like a dryer for instance. all you can use the 30 amp breaker for once hooked up to the controller is the controller becuz its rated for 30 amps. anything over would pop the breaker. 4 1000s and the inline fans is pusing the safety threshold. if you get a step down version like i have. it allows one 2 amp 120 outlet on the face of it for the inline fans needed. but like i said many options are out there.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
thats exactly what i said. he can run the three 500 watt or so items on the 20 amp 120 safely without starting a fire.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
it depends on how you have the controller setup to be honest. the trigger cord for the timer is 120 volt.
wait i misread this. it depends on the transformer and what capabilities it has. do you have a link to the one you have chosen?
wheels619
Well-Known Member
so your saying if a guy has 10/2 romex and those colors you listed arent in the cable he shouldnt wire it up becuz it only gives you a black a white and a bare? or should he label the 2 insulated cables hots and use the bare as the common like any electrician i know would do? becuz as long as you have the right gauge wiring it doesnt matter what the colors are as long as you label them and have them in place properly. i.e. hots to hots and the commons to commons. or black to black, white to white bare to bare. blah blah blah. granted its not the cleanest thing that way. but your speaking of building and electrical code that isnt exactly usable in all situations. or will hooking up a black wire as a hot instead of a blue one as hot burn my house down even if its the proper gauge and thickness? again its dependent on wiring he buys becuz not all 6 gauge cable is color coded like you say. and yes i will give you the 3-4 phase becuz that is one thing i did forgot about. becuz it does actually make a difference.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
also i wouldnt be giving him advice without him actually having an electrician around to help like he said he had to help him. once everything is pulled into the room and connected to the breaker hooking up the controller and shit is the easy part. its wiring the breaker and pulling the wiring i would prefer he not do himself. in all honest if you are not sure about something then dont proceed. ask for professional help and dont electrocute yourself for gods sake. lol. but its simple once actually in the room to wire up. you can find wiring diagrams on google pics on how to wire just about everything up correctly. plus when you open the controller panel up and see three screws one labeled hot one labeled common and the other labeled hot its kinda hard to fuck up wiring it up correctly.