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

I think you need a contactor relay... thats what some guy on this forum told me to get... they come with in built timers some of them..

Fatty420 said:

Can anyone help me?

I setup a 3000w grow room in a spare bedroom, I have three 1000w ballast, now there is 2 outlets in the room, I plugged the first light in to the first outlet and it worked fine, I plugged the second 1000w into the same first outlet and about 5 seconds later, all the lights went off in the house (breaker flipped) Im guessing because Two 1000w in the same outlet = not smart, I did'nt try plugging the 2nd light in the 2nd outlet, because I think these 2 outlets in the room, are pigtailed

Now i went and looked in my breaker box, I have 4 more slots for other circuit breakers that I could plug in, I dont know much about electrical, should I run a dedicated line JUST for the three 1000w ballasts? and if so, how? its a GE panelboard or whatever,

also

What If I made 3 outlets by pigtailing off the one outlet ? but that wouldnt work because it would still be the same line/amp max right?

I need help!

I can get pics of my breaker box and outlet wiring if needed, thanks!!

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hey bud, chances are the breaker that flipped was a 15-20 amp breaker and it controls both outlets in that room. this is standard when an electrician wires a house. he will wire it in zones and will usually put the outlets in a bedroom or smaller room all on the same breaker. the reason that it flipped was because a 1000w light uses 9.5-10 amps. so when you added the 2nd light it was over capacity. even if you had added the light to the other outlet it would have probably flipped the breaker. the other issue is that most standard outlets in your home have 2 receptacles for plugs but the outlet (both receptacles) can only handle up to 15 amps. with electricity you really only want to use 75-80% of the rated load. so, on a 15 amp breaker you don't want to put more than 12 amps on it and on a 20 amp breaker you don't want more than 16 amps.

the easiest way to fix the problem would be to use the existing outlets in the room for the smaller equippment (pumps, fans, thermostats, etc...) that you will have in the room. then use 1 of the spaces in the breaker panel to run a subpanel to your room. make it a 30-40 amp subpanel and run #10 wire from the new breaker to subpanel in your room. when you run a subpanel you are using a 240v breaker. so, the breaker in your existing panel is going to be 30-40 amps at 240v. this means that your subpanel will give you 60 - 80 amps at 120v. this ishould be more than enough for your lights and any othe rlarge equipment you may need in the room like an a/c or dehumidifier that use a lot of power. essentially you then use the subpanel to create specific outlets for each of these pieces of equipment. you can put in a 20 amp breaker and run it to an outlet and make 3 just like it; 1 for each outlet. or you can get a higher rated outlet and run all 3 lights or 2 of the lights off 1 of the outlets; you would need an industrial 40 amp outlet.

the other option would be to use a light controller. they are more expensive but much easier to set up. you get a 4 outlet light controller and then just wiore it directly from the new breaker on your existing panel. then you don't have to wire anything after the subpanel and don't need additional outlets. they work like a subpanel themselves. you just wire them up an plug your lights into them. then; you can have all of your lights on 1 simple timer. check out the CAP MLC-4. they make them with a built in timer too if you want that model. it's a mechanical timer so if you want a digital timer you just get the base model and add the timer you want to it. they also make them with 2 trigger cords if you want to run the lights on different timers.

hope that helped and wasn't too confusing. good luck.

my breaker/fuse box thingy says 63amps and then for each switch its like the 'main circuit' was b32 'water heater' was b16.. im not sure if thats amps... anyone have any idea what these b## numbers are about? im trying to find out total amp load for circuits in the flat. does it mean i can run up to 63amps if everything like boiler and fridges etc. are off all the time? or does it mean i need to find out what b32 means?!

I could really use an electrician's advice in this thread.. question posted as thread title and topic. I can't seem to find anyone who can answer me with an answer except.. " I think that will work."

Thanks.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/583252-running-apollo-led-light-cap.html#post8260593

I can't seem to pull the trigger on my pre-electrical planning. Anyone have suggestions on the "best" way to wire up (4) 1000 watt ballasts. I'm running a 100A subpanel with 40A @ 240v, 80A @ 120v going to it. I haven't purchased any timers yet. I need the 4 running on a pair of timers (2 and 2).

How would someone with more experience than me wire up the outlets from the subpanel? 240v or 120v? I haven't purchased any electrical material beyond installing the subpanel.

Suggestions for inexpensive timer options are also welcome.

hi there was wondering how I would go about wiring a axial kitchen fan to a plug cord for uk use.....any help advice mist welcome

Whoever this sparky is, they should start charging a consultation fee...lol!! I've only read one page, poor bastard has his work cut out for him...lol!!

In my home there are 3 bedrooms and a bathroom on a single circuit. One of these rooms is my grow room, and I am really limited in the amount of power I can use because I need to be able to use the other rooms in the house that are on the circuit. How hard would it be to put this room on its own circuit, and how do I go about doing it? The room is on the opposite side of the house compared to the breaker box. I really appreciate any help.

georgyboy said:

In my home there are 3 bedrooms and a bathroom on a single circuit. One of these rooms is my grow room, and I am really limited in the amount of power I can use because I need to be able to use the other rooms in the house that are on the circuit. How hard would it be to put this room on its own circuit, and how do I go about doing it? The room is on the opposite side of the house compared to the breaker box. I really appreciate any help.

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You will have to pull a "home run" cable/s from the grow room to your breaker panel. I would run more than 1, possibly 2-3 and use 2( if that suffices for your grow gear) and have a spare for future use if needed.

Make sure you size the wire and breaker accordingly. If you are not 100% comfortable with doing this, please get an electrician to do it for you. No grow is worth even the slightest chance for someone to get hurt.

Peace and Safe Grows

Asmallvoice

I agree with the post above for the most part. You need to get an electrician in there to do the work. Instead of pulling 2-3 wires into the grow room youcan just pull 1 set for a sub panel. Run your entire grow room off the sub panel and then leave the oher 2 bedrooms and the bathroom on the existing circuit. Chances are that the grow room outlets are a link in the chain so you can't just disconnect them or you will probably lose power in other rooms. That's why bringing in a seperate sub panel would be the best idea in my opinion.

Bricktown,

I am going to be running a pc box in my attic. The box is completely built but.... I dont have an outlet in my attic. There is power running to an outlet that powers the garage door but the outlet is in the garage and not in attic. The wires run through the attic and down to garage. So how do i properly get power from that line to a new outlet of my own in the attic? I have spare outletsand wire to fabricate myself. I just dont know exactly what to do. Can you help me please?

Hi Guys, respect to Brick this is one of the best threads I have stumbled on.

Im just about to start work on my grow room. It will be running 600w magnetic HPS Exhaust probably runs at 40w and intake at 30w and I want a flip on/of bulb.

Just wondering what sort of strain this would create on the system and if there is any safety measures I should take with it?

Hey thanks for offering advice man. I have been at my current place now for a year with no problems, (4 x 1000w 240v sunsystem magnetic on their own 50 amp circuit) a few days ago I realized the circuit tripped halfway through the light cycle. Unsure if it was caused by storms we had that night I reset the circuit at the box and turned the lights on the following night. 2 hours later I went to check, and the circuit had tripped again. I reset circuit again and unplugged 1 ballast. Turned lights back on and they were fine for 4 hrs till I went to bed. The following morning I went to check as it was almost lights off, and the circuit tripped again in the night. Electrician coming on monday, was wondering if a ballast that is shorting could cause this as one of them was causing the light to flicker the last few weeks. Not sure what it could be, for sure not overloading the circuit. Thanks for any advice

I'm seeing alot of people asking the same questions over and over again people if you just take a second to read through this thread chances are your question is already answered i found out everything i needed by reading other peoples questions. oh and it saves the time of waiting for a reply if you have questions about how to do what they say in this thread its all over the internet on how to do everything it takes to run separate power from your breaker to your grow room.

I need to connect around 10 AC->DC LED drivers to the mains. At the moment my plan is to solder them to power blocks, but surely there is an easier and safer way to connect them in parallel?

^^^^^^^^
http://www.wago.us/products/2631.htm

Hey guys I had a quick question, I'm about to be moving into a new house. When I was walking around the garage where I wanted to set up shop I noticed the dryer plug was a 30 amp 125/250 volt nema 14 30, my question is, can I buy a master controller that will plug into this or do I have to change something up, I'm planning on using 3 1ks or 4 6s, any help is greatly appreciated. Happy growing!!

seaofgreen420 said:

Hey guys I had a quick question, I'm about to be moving into a new house. When I was walking around the garage where I wanted to set up shop I noticed the dryer plug was a 30 amp 125/250 volt nema 14 30, my question is, can I buy a master controller that will plug into this or do I have to change something up, I'm planning on using 3 1ks or 4 6s, any help is greatly appreciated. Happy growing!!

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I would not want my controller on the same circuit as my hardware, 1 trip and a crop is lost. Break the load up to several other smaller breakers in a sub panel and have the controller by itself on a circuit and you will more than likely avoid a heartbreak....jmo

Having the entire grow room on 1 circuit is asking for trouble for sure.

Peace and Safe Grows

Asmallvoice

ASMALLVOICE said:

You will have to pull a "home run" cable/s from the grow room to your breaker panel. I would run more than 1, possibly 2-3 and use 2( if that suffices for your grow gear) and have a spare for future use if needed.

Make sure you size the wire and breaker accordingly. If you are not 100% comfortable with doing this, please get an electrician to do it for you. No grow is worth even the slightest chance for someone to get hurt.

Peace and Safe Grows

Asmallvoice

Click to expand...

Thank you! I feel comfortable enough doing most electrical work as far as safety goes. But how does one run a cable from one room to a breaker box on the other side of the house? Do I have to take down the drywall or pull up the floor or something? I don't have a basement, but I do have an attic. The attic is only on part of the house, as much of the place has been added on. Also, what do I do with the cable currently running into the room? I know I'm stacking a lot of questions in this post but how do I find the spot where the line splits from the main line (the one carrying power to the other 2 rooms and the bathroom) without tearing the house completely apart. What's the trick to doing electrical work neatly? If you've already covered this before I'm sorry, feel free to point me towards an older post rather than repeating yourself. I really appreciate your help. I want to expand my grow but I need to consider the needs of everyone in my home.

Not to be a dick but if your asking a question like this,then you have no business messing with anything electric,call an electrian ASAP