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

it will depend on how hard it is to get a wire from your breaker box to the garage. subfeed cable will run $1-2 a foot and the rest of the materials under $100 plus timer. you could have a 30 or 50 amp 220 outlet for a welder installed and buy/make a controller to take with you.
something like this
http://www.horticulturesource.com/ph-ec-tds-meters-test-kits-for-water-soil-timers-instruments-calibration-solutions-c35/timers-lighting-controllers-s118/ecoplus-30-amp-timer-box-comes-with-ecoplus-digital-timer-734105-p1969/?osCsid=5ac484c85887251cee2955f8b65e73b4

Don't know who is answering questions as i see bricktown hasn't logged in for a while.

Question is i am going to using 3 400W HPS'S w/ ballast's and cpu 80MM fans mounted to cool the blubs, Also going to be using a 600W HPS also fanned, Most likely a 8" inline to draw air in and a 6" to draw air out and a 4" as a scrubber. My question is what fuse would be good to use and if i could split it up i would much rather have 3 15Amp going instead of having to install an entire new box since that will raise questions...

FrankieJ23 said:

Don't know who is answering questions as i see bricktown hasn't logged in for a while.

Question is i am going to using 3 400W HPS'S w/ ballast's and cpu 80MM fans mounted to cool the blubs, Also going to be using a 600W HPS also fanned, Most likely a 8" inline to draw air in and a 6" to draw air out and a 4" as a scrubber. My question is what fuse would be good to use and if i could split it up i would much rather have 3 15Amp going instead of having to install an entire new box since that will raise questions...

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Here's IAm5toned's chart. Assuming non-digital ballasts. So three 400w=1320w + 660w=1980w but you need to see how much the fans & extra stuff. Like pumps if hydro. So you can see a 15 amp breaker is 1440w, & 3 400w use 1320w so one 15 amp circuit is OK for 3 but NO more.
Hope this helps and gets you started.

common continuous duty grow operation wattages based on voltage, with breaker and wire sizes. all wire sizes are based on thwn-2/thhn Cu conductors with a max run of 300'
breaker size----volts------ max wattage allowed ----smallest wire size allowed

• 15 amp breaker @ 120v = 1440w(12 amps actual) max = #14 awg Cu wire, min
• 20 amp breaker @ 120v = 1920w(16 amps actual) max = #12 awg Cu wire, min
• 30 amp breaker @ 120v = 2880w(24 amps actual) max = #10 awg Cu wire, min
• 40 amp breaker @ 120v = 3840w(32 amps actual) max = #8 awg Cu wire, min
• 60 amp breaker @ 120v = 5760w(48 amps actual) max = #6 awg Cu wire, min
• 100 amp breaker @ 120v = 9600w(80 amps actual) max = #3 awg Cu wire, min

• 15 amp breaker @ 240v = 2880w(12 amps actual) max = #14 awg Cu wire, min
• 20 amp breaker @ 240v = 3840w(16 amps actual) max = #12 awg Cu wire, min
• 30 amp breaker @ 240v = 5760w(24 amps actual) max = #10 awg Cu wire, min
• 40 amp breaker @ 240v = 7680w(32 amps actual) max = #8 awg Cu wire, min
• 60 amp breaker @ 240v = 11520w(48 amps actual) max = #6 awg Cu wire, min
• 100 amp breaker @ 240v= 19200w(80 amps actual) max = #3 awg Cu wire, min

is it true that a 600w hid puts out just about as much light as a 1000w hid and is more economical to run?

Jelly Pepper said:

is it true that a 600w hid puts out just about as much light as a 1000w hid and is more economical to run?

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kind of.

what IS true, is a 600w hps has a higher lumen per watt rating than any other HID bulb... this means a more efficient use of electricity, at the end of the day 1000w hid is always brighter and makes more buds.
but 2x600w can be used in place of a 1000w hid for only a ~20% increase in power, and get a 50% increase in light.

thanks oak, so running 2 600w would be like 1500w?

Jelly Pepper said:

thanks oak, so running 2 600w would be like 1500w?

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no, it would be 1200w lol


with a 1000w hps bulb. on avg its about 140,000 lumens = 140 lumens per watt
with a 600w hps bulb, on avg its about 95,000 lumens = 158 lumens per watt


there is ALOT to learn about light, asking questions like that really isnt going to set you on the right path, i suggest reading about PAR, color spectroms and light formulas.

thanks for the help oak, i will read par and color spectroms and light formulas.

hooking up lighting in "Series", creates a voltage DROP. Each light will only have 25% of power going to it. Thus running @ a 75% loss per light. Parrellel keeps the power the same to EVERY light. Good luck.

oakley1984 said:

no, it would be 1200w lol


with a 1000w hps bulb. on avg its about 140,000 lumens = 140 lumens per watt
with a 600w hps bulb, on avg its about 95,000 lumens = 158 lumens per watt


there is ALOT to learn about light, asking questions like that really isnt going to set you on the right path, i suggest reading about PAR, color spectroms and light formulas.

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So many make the same mistake with their lumen output calcs. 95,000 total lumens doesn't somehow provide double the amount of actual lumens because there are two bulbs. The bottom line is those bulbs are still only producing 95,000 total lumens each. Two bulbs only seems to make it brighter because there's more light distribution.

Jar Man said:

So many make the same mistake with their lumen output calcs. 95,000 total lumens doesn't somehow provide double the amount of actual lumens because there are two bulbs. The bottom line is those bulbs are still only producing 95,000 total lumens each. Two bulbs only seems to make it brighter because there's more light distribution.

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hey you seem to know what your talkin about can you check out my growbox thread its like 2 treads down in the growroom setup and design thread.

Hello, I'm just wondering if anyone can give me a rough idea of how many watts this dehumidifier uses?
It's made by woods, and its obviously a slightly older model, no idea how old exactly. It doesnt say anything anywhere on it but has a the number 18 in one corner. I'm not sure if that means it removes 18 pints of water in 24 hours or if that means it has an 18 pint container. If it's only able to remove 18 pints in 24 hours than I would guess it doesnt use that many watts

I included a picture of the sticker on the fan moter, just to give an idea of what size dehumidifier it is, but I have no idea how much power the compressor uses.

I'm just trying to get a rough idea how much power it uses, if I need to dedicate an entire line to this one dehumidifier or if I could run a 600watt HID on the same line(15amp) or not

92 watts. Just a guess though

grobofotwanky said:

92 watts. Just a guess though

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lol the fan burns 92 watts alone! The compressor no doubt uses alot more than the fan.
If I can't get an answer/educated guess, I will just have to assume that it burns 1500watts and play it safe running on its own breaker. I wouldn't even know where to begin to guess

lol. I would think it would draw somewhere between 5-7 amps.

Thedillestpickle said:

lol the fan burns 92 watts alone! The compressor no doubt uses alot more than the fan.
If I can't get an answer/educated guess, I will just have to assume that it burns 1500watts and play it safe running on its own breaker. I wouldn't even know where to begin to guess

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it says .8 amps right on the sticker. 92 watts was not just a guess, that is correct.



soil

I always trip the fuse box.. my question is how to increase my room by 1000w without tripping the fuse?

Jar Man said:

So many make the same mistake with their lumen output calcs. 95,000 total lumens doesn't somehow provide double the amount of actual lumens because there are two bulbs. The bottom line is those bulbs are still only producing 95,000 total lumens each. Two bulbs only seems to make it brighter because there's more light distribution.

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what are you sayin ?

95 + 95 = 190, 000 lumens. of course two bulbs have double the output of one.




soil

08GSXR600 said:

I always trip the fuse box.. my question is how to increase my room by 1000w without tripping the fuse?

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run a separate circuit from your room to the box on a 15 amp breaker. (14g wire) that will give you an uniterupted 1200 watts extra.

if thats not an option then you are gonna have to plug things in to a different circuit to keep it from tripping.

check each circuit by turning the breaker off , then run around the house an see what does not work. all that stuff is on one circuit. now turn that breaker back on an turn another one off an see what dont work. do that until you find some free space.




soil

Damn ok. Thanks. Not really a problem to run an extension cord to another circuit but I was trying to increase the load capacity of that circuit. I don't know anything about electricity other than it hurts . I see people running 6-8k rooms and curious how they power it. I just want 2k