Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions
- Thread starter bricktown73
- Start date
smokiedog
Well-Known Member
i believe brick is suggesting you add a coulple of breakers to your box and run dedicated outlets to that closet. this way you dont trip a braker when you use a hairdryer or your alarm clock goes off.
it isnt hard but can seem overwheling if you have never done it before.
it basically involves adding 2 new circut breakers and running cable from them to the closet and then installing a few wall outlets. honestly, snaking the wire through the wall and fixing any sheetrock is a bigger pain in the ass than the electrical part of this job. if your closet is close to the breaker box it wont be so bad, if your breaker box is in the basement and your on the third floor its a little more challenging but still doable.
you can pick up an "idiots guide to wiring" or somthing similar DIY book at the Depot or there are probably basic breaker box/outlet wiring tutorials on youtube.
look at your existing fuse box and see if there are empty spots to add more breakers before you do anything else.
chunkymunkey33
Well-Known Member
Hey Brick and others with electrical knowledge. I first want to commend you for sharing your experience with us. Second, I have an outlet that is one that will fit a plug like the one pictured below. I am wondering if I can switch this to a regular outlet so that I can run an extention cord to my disgnated area since that outlet has it's own 20 amp circuit. Is there one outlet that would be better than another or one that I should stay away from? Can they handle that amperage? Also, is it as easy as unscrewing a couple of screws and putting the wires on the new one and tighten the screws? ( I know to shut down the circuit)
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Hey chunkeymunkey the configuration of that plug tells me your outlet is likely 230V (perhaps once used for a window A/C). If so replacing it with a standard 110V receptacle could result in serious damage to your equipment, or worse! See if the breaker that controls it is single-pole (110V) or double pole (230V). Better yet use a voltmeter testing straight blade to straight blade to verify it's voltage 100% before changing it out.
chunkymunkey33
Well-Known Member
It is for a window a/c. How can I tell if it's single or double pole? I haven't taken the front panel off yet but I will. What do I look for? Or if I get a voltmeter, I just put one point in flat recepticle and the other in the other flat recepticle?
chunkymunkey33
Well-Known Member
Ok so I just took the face off of the air conditioner and it has a 230 volt to 208 volt range. So do I just a single pole breaker of the same amperage and switch it and move the white wire to the neutral bar?
bricktown73
Well-Known Member
The benifit of running a 240 or 220 volt ballast is you use half the wattage.
chunkymunkey33
Well-Known Member
The only problem is I already have my equipment and it's all 120. Is that the way to do it though, the breaker?
ElephantSteppedOnMyFoot
Active Member
-I see a response by bricktown I believe to these two questions-
If I understand what your saying, using Lumatek ballast as an example, a 600W 240V Lumatek ballast uses half the wattage of a 600W 120V Lumatek ballast?
So then it must cost half as much to run a A 600W 240V Lumatek ballast vs 600W 120V Lumatek ballast even if their both 600W ballast right?
chunkymunkey33
Well-Known Member
That isn't what I was asking though.
chunkymunkey33
Well-Known Member
This is the question I had.
ElephantSteppedOnMyFoot
Active Member
I know chunkymunkey, skoolzone and I asked those questions before you ever posted in this thread and the response seems to be in regard to our questions not yours.
That's why I was trying to see if bricktown's response was in regard to our questions, which are both basically the same, or your questions.
This electrical stuff takes a bit to wrap your head around thanks so much everyone.
NegligentMother
Well-Known Member
i live in the new england states, and i have a problem. my circuit keeps blowing in my one room. i run 2 k watts and i have to run my exhaust and light cooling from an extension cord to another room. this isnt a problem until im gonna need an a/c unit this summer. everything in the house besides the drier hookup is 120v. what are my best options for not blowing my circuit when i wanna install an a/c
NegligentMother
Well-Known Member
yes. if you want good air flow. if its not then you'll get a lot of dead air in the room.
No either voltage ,same wattage is used,Only diff is amps,which means more lights can be run off circuit,smaller gage wire can be used.Some magnetic ballists will run a little cooler off 240 volts but will still use same amount of power.A 110 volt 1000 watt hps will use 1000 watts,a 240 volt 1000 watt hps will use 1000 watts too,You pay for watts not amps.
ElephantSteppedOnMyFoot
Active Member
Thank you Ratboy. That is what I thought. Running 240V would not serve much benefit.
So I would see no reason to buy a 240V ballast vs a 120V, especially if you don't have 240V outlets.
Rather then replace my 120V ballast and run a 240V line I should just run another 120V line once I come to my circuits limit.
So I would see no reason to buy a 240V ballast vs a 120V, especially if you don't have 240V outlets.
Rather then replace my 120V ballast and run a 240V line I should just run another 120V line once I come to my circuits limit.