joshbigbuds
Well-Known Member
you will come in handy you are soo kind
Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions
- Thread starter bricktown73
- Start date
hi brick you are the answer to my prayers i hope, anyway im gonna be running 5x 85 watt cfl 1 x 105 watt cff on a 8 plug powerstrip , im also gonna be running a 95cfm Active Air squirrelcage fan w/CAN 2600 filter on that powerstrip . My question is I have that powerstrip plugged into a digital timer rated for 15 amps, i wanna know if these 6 lights and that fan are gonna work without exploding that timer or the wall outlet?
bricktown73
Well-Known Member
I dont exactly understand the question. Most ballast just plug right into a wall outlet, and for cooling the light, I attach an inline fan at around 300cfm to suck air from the lights to cool them and evacuate the air in the room. Look at pic. Hope this helps.
Most outlet are 15 amp. You can buy heavier duty plugs that can handle 20 amps. But, I believe you are asking how to determin the amount of load on a circuit. You need an amp meter, you can get on at lowes or home depot. They are simple to use just read the instructions.
You should be fine. A good rule of thumb is for every 100w you are running, consider that about 1 amp. the equation is... watts/voltage = amperage
Ex. 1200w / 120v = 10amps
bricktown73
Well-Known Member
Here are some pics of venting for the lights
Attachments
bugrit2000
Active Member
Hi!
ive got a question , can i wire a light dimmer switch to an exhaust fan ,to controll the fans speed? the fan is 12w/60hz,and the dimmer switch is 220w/3A -200 watts
thanks
ive got a question , can i wire a light dimmer switch to an exhaust fan ,to controll the fans speed? the fan is 12w/60hz,and the dimmer switch is 220w/3A -200 watts
thanks
Higher Education
Well-Known Member
Thank you brick.
I'd like to mention some quick things about electricity so we don't have 100s of redundant questions. First off, I'm an EE, so not as knowledgeable as bricktown73 in house wiring, standards and code, but I should be able to help out a bit in the theory.
The wiring coming from 1 breaker in your breaker box I will refer to as a circuit.
Most circuits are connected to a 15A Breaker/Fuse in your breaker box, this means that you can have 1800W of power on that circuit. You calculate that by using Ohms Law P (Power in Watts) = V (Voltage in Volts) * I (Current in Amps), or P = 120V * 15A. Now, I usually like to take a more conservative approach and use a Voltage rating of 110V, which would give us 1650W. So a 600W HPS bulb, at 110V would be using 5.454... Amps
So, our circuit can supply a maximum of 1650W. This means you can add anything you want to the circuit, as long as you don't go over 1650W, I would include a tolerance level, like 1% or 2% of that level, because breakers/fuses aren't perfect. So on this 1650W circuit, you could have 1-600W MH for Vegging, 1-600W HPS for Flowering, and 450W worth of Fans, Pumps, Electronics etc...
When wiring things using house wire, it is usually 14 gauge, although I am sure you could probably get it thicker (lower number), 14 gauge is usually rated to handle 17A maximum.
Also, I doubt you will ever find a house that has 3-Phase power going into it, unless it was ordered as a specialty thing, so don't worry about it, and I would just away from products that require it.
The wiring coming from 1 breaker in your breaker box I will refer to as a circuit.
Most circuits are connected to a 15A Breaker/Fuse in your breaker box, this means that you can have 1800W of power on that circuit. You calculate that by using Ohms Law P (Power in Watts) = V (Voltage in Volts) * I (Current in Amps), or P = 120V * 15A. Now, I usually like to take a more conservative approach and use a Voltage rating of 110V, which would give us 1650W. So a 600W HPS bulb, at 110V would be using 5.454... Amps
So, our circuit can supply a maximum of 1650W. This means you can add anything you want to the circuit, as long as you don't go over 1650W, I would include a tolerance level, like 1% or 2% of that level, because breakers/fuses aren't perfect. So on this 1650W circuit, you could have 1-600W MH for Vegging, 1-600W HPS for Flowering, and 450W worth of Fans, Pumps, Electronics etc...
When wiring things using house wire, it is usually 14 gauge, although I am sure you could probably get it thicker (lower number), 14 gauge is usually rated to handle 17A maximum.
Also, I doubt you will ever find a house that has 3-Phase power going into it, unless it was ordered as a specialty thing, so don't worry about it, and I would just away from products that require it.
Right now I am running 2 - 400 watts hps lights, 304 watts in fluorescent lights, 188 in pumps and fans. I planned to add a Sentinel MDT-! Master Digital Timer set up and 2 - 600 watts lights to my system and a Can Fan 6' 138 watts. would i need to run a line to the breaker box or will it work by plugging into the socket? my home was built in 2006.
My first grow will be 600W MH/HPS for most of the time + another 600W during the last weeks of flowering. (compact ballast, not digital)
I always thought that a simple timer could handle it and already bought a digital one in a grocery store (TÜV)certified for 3120W (OWIM 9159 TIMER SWITCH not online 230-240V 13A). But now I read here that it won't handle it:http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Grow-Lights-182/Accessories-287/Maxiswitch-2-Way-Light-Controller-10A-Day-Night-1248.asp
My question:
Should I trust the grocery timer, get this Maxiswitch apparatus, or this timer from a hydroponics website:http://www.growland-hydroponics.com/Legrand-Omnirex-Timer
The expense would be USD0, USD60 or USD20 respectively.
I always thought that a simple timer could handle it and already bought a digital one in a grocery store (TÜV)certified for 3120W (OWIM 9159 TIMER SWITCH not online 230-240V 13A). But now I read here that it won't handle it:http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk/Grow-Lights-182/Accessories-287/Maxiswitch-2-Way-Light-Controller-10A-Day-Night-1248.asp
My question:
Should I trust the grocery timer, get this Maxiswitch apparatus, or this timer from a hydroponics website:http://www.growland-hydroponics.com/Legrand-Omnirex-Timer
The expense would be USD0, USD60 or USD20 respectively.
@her.moore
Ok, so right now you are running 1292W worth of stuff on one circuit. I am assuming its all on one 15A breaker, which is fine, and gives you about 398W left over.
If you want to add the 2 lights and the Can Fan, which is an additional 1338W, you will need to use a 2nd circuit (or "line"), either way, you can just use a plug in the wall if you can find one that isn't on the same circuit as the other stuff. All standard sockets are rated for at least 15A @ 120V, which is 1800W. As for running a new line out to the box, I would recommend that you ask brick about that, as he would know more about the standards and housing code involved. I know most houses are wired for a 200A service, so you might not even have space for a new breaker.
@petrushka
I don't think you'll have any problem with the timer you bought, as long as you don't try and use more power than its rated for. I don't know exactly what kind of timer it is, but if it is the kind with the dial and the movable arrow thingies, then it will be fine. Lots of people use those because they are cheap and work well.
@kkee00
I wouldn't advise using a 150W bulb with a 400W Ballast. The point of a ballast is to limit current because gas discharge bulbs, like HPS and MH, cannot limit current themselves, so they eat it up until they over heat and burn out or the breaker/fuse goes. A 150W bulb on a 400W ballast would probably burn up.
Ok, so right now you are running 1292W worth of stuff on one circuit. I am assuming its all on one 15A breaker, which is fine, and gives you about 398W left over.
If you want to add the 2 lights and the Can Fan, which is an additional 1338W, you will need to use a 2nd circuit (or "line"), either way, you can just use a plug in the wall if you can find one that isn't on the same circuit as the other stuff. All standard sockets are rated for at least 15A @ 120V, which is 1800W. As for running a new line out to the box, I would recommend that you ask brick about that, as he would know more about the standards and housing code involved. I know most houses are wired for a 200A service, so you might not even have space for a new breaker.
@petrushka
I don't think you'll have any problem with the timer you bought, as long as you don't try and use more power than its rated for. I don't know exactly what kind of timer it is, but if it is the kind with the dial and the movable arrow thingies, then it will be fine. Lots of people use those because they are cheap and work well.
@kkee00
I wouldn't advise using a 150W bulb with a 400W Ballast. The point of a ballast is to limit current because gas discharge bulbs, like HPS and MH, cannot limit current themselves, so they eat it up until they over heat and burn out or the breaker/fuse goes. A 150W bulb on a 400W ballast would probably burn up.
Thank you for the swift response!
The timer switch has no dial/arrows. (As I said before) it is digital. It has 8 buttons, an LCD display, 140 programs and other functions. It cost me USD10. There is no pic online. All info info I found was the link I provided. Should I better get one of the two others? Can I use this one at least for the fan?
greenpassion
Member
how many lights can you run in a 2400 sq ft house 4 beds without power company suspis ?? 5 x 1000 watts ???
All I can say about this is that I do not know the policies of your local power company to say whether or not they will be suspicious of sudden increases in power, and what their threshold for notifying the police would be.
A couple of ideas I have always thought about, if I ever went big, is to call the power company BEFORE doing anything, and have them install a larger, or extra service breaker box, standard size is 200A, get a secondary 100A box installed, and tell them you are starting a home welding or fabricating business. This would explain the increase in power usage.