Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions

BigBudBalls said:

Well considering you are growing in someone else's place (typically a no-no) the outlet right below it the best option. Don't think the landlord is gonna dig tearing up walls to run wire.

But be careful. have a buddy that knows this stuff? Calling it the positive wire leads me to think you might be a bit in over your head. Are they actual fuses or circuit breakers?

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Their actually breakers. Yeah, I'm new at this. A friend of mine had the same issue as I am having. So he hired an electrician and that guy just did exactly what I said I was planning on doing. My friend did watch the guy so he was going to come over my place and help me do it here. That guy charged him $200 for that. The extension cord he just purchased and ran. Also, I'm planning on moving out to a townhouse in a few months. I don't really care for the landlord. We don't get along at all. So I figure I will practice here so when I move into a townhouse I should be able to do a better job there.

I do have experience in soldering but not in what I'm planning on doing. Of course soldering is a lot different then when I'm about to do soon.

Hi,

Terrific thread, been here several times just to read away, great stuff and these folks should really, really say a big thanks! for everything you do for them.

OK, I have a new grow room I am constructing. Right now there is no electrical running to that area in my barn. I do have electrical running to a room above that is unused. Some of this is older BX style wiring that I really would not trust with any real amperage. However, the room was wired with electrical heat a few years back (more than 7).

It has 2 eight foot long sections of electrical baseboard heating units that I have never used, they are wired to a thermostat. I tried turning the thermostat on to see if they would heat up and they did not, I suspect the circuit is still hot but maybe the thermostat is defective. I will run my tester over the line later to determine if in fact it still is hot. 12/2 wiring but seems wider than that for some reason. I have some newer 12/2, and this stuff is at least 50% wider. I would like to know if it is setup for 240v or 120v? The baseboard heaters have no information on them. There are access hatches on them to wire them, there is also a junction box that the thermostat is attached to. I do understand the concept behind wiring a 240v appliance, two hot leads (black & red) and a ground, no common I believe if it's a 12/2 setup. Wondering if it was a 240v setup how I could test the voltage at the junction box if I remove thermostat? AC or VAC on my meter, black probe to black wire, red probe to red wire? or am I gonna see some sparks.. lol I certainly respect this stuff and have no trust in a cheap meter to protect me, I do have some heavy rubber gloves I could put on.

I tried tracing this line back to my circuit breaker boxes but cannot locate it, there are a few runs made with the same type line, I have not tried to isolate it by turning circuits off yet. Can I tell from the wiring if it's 240v or 120v? And secondly, if it is 240v right to the junction box, is it possible to then run it to a point where it could be used as 120v? Maybe into a small panel with a couple of circuit breakers somehow??

I suspect because of the load the electrical baseboard would use that it is robust enough for my needs, 12/2 on a 20 AMP breaker should carry maybe 1900w? I will be pulling around 1575w. 600w light on 12 hrs, and dehumidifier cycles. Here's my load;

600w HPS (maybe 670w total)
272w CFL veg room (4 68w)
Dehumidifier (medium sized, probably uses 300-400w I'm guessing)
Few fans, pumps, and misc stuff but nothing of significant power consumption beyond whats mentioned.

I could run new electrical to this spot, but the room above that has power would require a much shorter run and if it is a 240v setup I would have to check but I'm guessing that could supply around 3800w and 20 amps to a small panel? The watts would be way more than I need and not much more than 10 amps draw for everything peak.

I'm comfortable working with the electical, I know the rules;

Rule #1, make sure the power is off.
Rule #2, make sure the power is off.
Rule #3, make sure the power is off.

I have a lti-meter, line tester to check for hot, and the equipment I need to do the work. I just needed the advice about 240v vs 120v and if it is 240v can it be dropped down to 120v beyond the panel?

I'm sure at the panel it could be rewired to a single circuit breaker for 120v and 20 amps if needed but I like the idea of having more wattage available in the room.

Thanks!

me8980109 said:

Wondering if it was a 240v setup how I could test the voltage at the junction box if I remove thermostat? AC or VAC on my meter, black probe to black wire, red probe to red wire? or am I gonna see some sparks.. lol I certainly respect this stuff and have no trust in a cheap meter to protect me, I do have some heavy rubber gloves I could put on.

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Rubber gloves should be checked before using. But I woudn't worry. Its not the meter that is in danger of hurting you, it the leads (probes) thats what you are holding. Read the side of them it will state what they are rated for. I'm gonna guess at *least* 600 volts.

VAC Volts, AC (~ means AC; --- over a ___ means DC)

T-stats are typically 24volts AC control. But not so sure about electrical baseboards.

I tried tracing this line back to my circuit breaker boxes but cannot locate it, there are a few runs made with the same type line, I have not tried to isolate it by turning circuits off yet. Can I tell from the wiring if it's 240v or 120v? And secondly, if it is 240v right to the junction box, is it possible to then run it to a point where it could be used as 120v? Maybe into a small panel with a couple of circuit breakers somehow??

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Measure across the lines, you will see 240, 120 or a few mv.
as for making it 120 if 240, one hot and a neutral = 120. But, NO 240 items should be used if you do this (well at least I wouldn't)
You will need a neutral and should have a ground in the junction box
(I *hate* conduit used as a ground. Connection loosen and corrode)

Dehumidifier (medium sized, probably uses 300-400w I'm guessing)

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NEVER guess.

Watts / volts = amps. no more then 75-80% of the breaker rating should be used.

Great thread, and I'm sure this question has probably been answered, but I am not going to read through 1700 posts.

I have a ballast kit that I am trying to wire to 240v. It is currently hooked up to 120v. I plan on cutting my "universal" 240v ballast cord and wiring that to my ballast kit. Do I just hook up the power the same way I did with the 120v? I have one wire to the wire marked 120 and the other attached to the one that says COM. Then there is a ground attached.

Do I just rewire it the same way with the 240v cord? One wire to the wire marked 240 and one to the one marked COM then just attach the ground? Or since 240v has two hot wires, do I connect one wire to the 240v, one to the 120v, and the "old ground" to the COM wire?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob

You will have to open up the ballast and rewire it internally. There should be a legend on it for the different wirings it supports.

bongrippinbob said:

Great thread, and I'm sure this question has probably been answered, but I am not going to read through 1700 posts.

I have a ballast kit that I am trying to wire to 240v. It is currently hooked up to 120v. I plan on cutting my "universal" 240v ballast cord and wiring that to my ballast kit. Do I just hook up the power the same way I did with the 120v? I have one wire to the wire marked 120 and the other attached to the one that says COM. Then there is a ground attached.

Do I just rewire it the same way with the 240v cord? One wire to the wire marked 240 and one to the one marked COM then just attach the ground? Or since 240v has two hot wires, do I connect one wire to the 240v, one to the 120v, and the "old ground" to the COM wire?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob

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Thanks for the reply. Its actually a ballast kit so there is nothing to open up. All the wires and components are mounted on a piece of plywood.

I called HTG supply, which is where I purchased the ballast, and they told me to just hook the black wire to the 240v wire, the white to the COM wire, and the ground to a piece of metal. So its hooked up the exact same way as with 120v, only I use the 240v lead instead.

if i was going to pe rsay go off grid with all solar power-- running around 16 1000 hps lights how much solar energy would i need to create to actually run the whole system and all the extras ?

lol.... youd need a solar farm about an acre across

IAm5toned said:

lol.... youd need a solar farm about an acre across

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just think of all the shade though

I was given a new-in-box GE Time Switch model #15087. I would like to use it to control 2 qty. 1000w HPS lights running 220v each. I would like to ask the electrical gurus out there if they could help me wire this thing up.

I'm not electrical savy though I'm comfortable enough to work with basic 120v wiring in my house. These lights are 220v (1000w) and I have already ran a single home run (10-3) to the room from a 30amp breaker. The time switch has 8 contacts in this order:

(2) TIMER
(1) NC
(1) NO
(1) COM
(1) NC2
(1) NO2
(1) COM2

I tried following the diagrams in the manual but I am not familiar with the above acronyms and the terms SPST, SPDT, DPST, ....etc. I tried reading up on them but they are a bit confusing to me. If anybody out there has had experience wiring these mechanical timers please asssit me on how I should wire them. Thank you!

bongrippinbob said:

Thanks for the reply. Its actually a ballast kit so there is nothing to open up. All the wires and components are mounted on a piece of plywood.

I called HTG supply, which is where I purchased the ballast, and they told me to just hook the black wire to the 240v wire, the white to the COM wire, and the ground to a piece of metal. So its hooked up the exact same way as with 120v, only I use the 240v lead instead.

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i been wondering this for years ... just never took the time to try it. i just recently decided to try the 240 lead and the com lead and see what that gets me..... let us know how it went.....
It dont save money but it will allow me to put 2 lights on one piece of 12 wire.

I was wondering if you can run a 250watt hps on a 400watt hps ballast?
I want to purchase a 400 watt hps system, but if the heat is too much I want to drop down to a 250 bulb with out having to replace the ballast. Thanks,

420forme said:

I was wondering if you can run a 250watt hps on a 400watt hps ballast?
I want to purchase a 400 watt hps system, but if the heat is too much I want to drop down to a 250 bulb with out having to replace the ballast. Thanks,

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until one of the more knowledgeable electricians answer this, i would say it might work but i wouldnt trust it.
I will either be unsafe or it will wear out that 250 very fast, in my opinion.

i have ran 400's in 150 ballast's but not the other way around , and that probably wasnt that safe either. (nor was it brighter) so pumping 400 to a 250 just dont sound good.

Don't use the wrong size bulb in a ballast. Especially a smaller bulb in a larger ballast.

As far as my ballast, I wired it up and its working just fine. I just free'd up 1200watts in my grow room which is nice. Now I can put a nice A/C in there!

bongrippinbob said:

Don't use the wrong size bulb in a ballast. Especially a smaller bulb in a larger ballast.

As far as my ballast, I wired it up and its working just fine. I just free'd up 1200watts in my grow room which is nice. Now I can put a nice A/C in there!

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So the 240 and the Com leads worked for 220? Glad to hear that!
How did u possibly free up 1200 watts?
a watt is a watt no matter if its 220 or 110.

I had 2 600watt lights hooked up at 120v taking up 1200watts or just over 10amps in my grow room. Now they are both hooked up to a lighting controller that is plugged into my laundry room with 30ft of 10g wire running to the controller. The breaker there is 30amps, but is hooked up to the controller. I don't think it would work just hooking the dryer cable up to the ballast, but who knows.

how can i make a 220 light timer for 4 lights

Hi there. i just built myself krypto's multi flow system. theres a rez that pumps water to a controller buckets which takes the pumped water and leads it to all the plants. the controller is DIY and looks like this.




it seems like a person that had also built the same system had modified it to incorporate an air pump with lines leading into each bucket. it looked like this.



the schematic for the original controller looks like this.



do you or anyone happen to know how the schematics should look like with an airpump incorporated. id love to have the airpumps with airstones turn on when the buckets are flooding. thanks in advance

R1Farmer said:

........I tried following the diagrams in the manual but I am not familiar with the above acronyms and the terms SPST, SPDT, DPST, ....etc. I tried reading up on them but they are a bit confusing to me. If anybody out there has had experience wiring these mechanical timers please asssit me on how I should wire them. Thank you!

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think of the terminals as a switch or 2,when not energized, com is shorted to NC,(NC=normal closed),when energized,com is shorted to NO (NO=normal open) if you have 2 or more coms each is isolated from the other & act as several switches that work at the same time.
DPDT means double pole,double throw so it has 2 com(poles) and each has a NO & NC terminal(throws)
DPST means double pole single throw and has 2 com but each only has a NO terminal
SPDT is single pole double throw so it will have 1 com and a NO & NC terminal attached.
when wiring 220 lights,you really have 2 110 circuits.you need to switch both hots so 1(red) goes to the com1 and the ballasts go to NO and the other hot(blk) goes to com2 & its wire from the ballasts go to NO2.if you want the lights to go on at the same time.
if you want the lights to go on opposite each other,wire 1 ballasts to the NO & NO2 terminals and the other ballast will go to the NC & NC2 terminals.
hope this helps...mc

connected two pc fans they have 12 v and 60 ma.....connected to a 1000 ma ballast with tension change and i only give them 7,5 volts .is it possible that one day they will break?wouldn't want a surprise of cooking like that ,man.