here to help with any electrical problems

G

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
ok so i have several years of experience with residential wiring and am quite knowledgeable on this topic. i have help several fellow growers with there electric problems and questions and iv been told to make a thread so i can help even more people. well....here it is!!!! :bigjoint:

so if you have a question or problem with anything electrical send them here!
even if its not electrical ill try and help

a typical house circuit is 120 volts, the amount of power you can draw off one circuit safely is 1440 watts or 12 amps at 120 volts, these circuits are on a 15 amp breaker (or should be), and these circuits should be wired with 14 gauge wire. 100 percent load is 15 amps or 1800 watts but i highly recommend you dont load circuits up to 100%, try to stay below 80% of the load which is the safe limit i mentioned of 1440 watts

you can also access 240 volt circuits in your home from either a stove or dryer outlet (they sell light control boxes that plug right into one of these) i dont recommend you tap into these unless you know what you are doing, use a purchased control box or if you want to build you own control box and are running lots of lights (4Kw+) run a separate line to your control box

if you do your own wiring gauge it correctly

15 amps 14 gauge
20 amps 12 gauge
30 amps 10 gauge
40 amps 8 gauge
60 amps 6/4 gauge
100 amps 2/0 gauge

if its a long run of cable then the cable acts as a resistor and you loose power, so if you are drawing a lot of power (40+ amps) over a long distance i recommend upping the wire size to the next size up

when making your own connections, DONT EVER SPLICE into a random wire behind a wall and leave the connection sitting there, any connections must be made in a junction box that is properly grounded, securely tighten wire nuts (tape them to the wire if you want), tighten all screws well but not too tight as to damage the wire. dont leave anything exposed or loose.

dollar store extension cords are a NO!!! NO!!!
go and buy a heavy duty, GROUNDED (that means it has 3 prongs not 2) extension cord and use that to supply power to your grow room, use a heavy duty power bar connected to your extension to split up the power

let me know if i missed anything, im baked
 
dirtystacks

dirtystacks

Active Member
ganjaboii024 said:
so if you have a question or problem with anything electrical send them here!
Click to expand...
Ganjaboii024 - thanks for starting this thread. I think it become a very good one since I have seen so many questions on various other threads regarding electrical questions.

Folks are too eager to get their grow going and just start stringing up lights, overloading circuits, putting in the incorrect gauge wire for the amount of amps they are pulling...the list goes on.

I should think some basic information on electricity in general should mentioned. Many people don't know the difference between AC and DC, 120v and 240v, let alone the gauge of wire, how to install circuit breakers, whether to use 3 wire or 2 wire, Use of conduit or Romex.

I read one one blog where a person wanted to wire his HID light directly to his wall socket...no ballast.

Electricity is something we all take for granted and in our eagerness to get our grows going we forget that it can KILL you or burn down your house.

I look forward to participating in the thread.
 
C

crazy420

Active Member
quick question is it possible that my lights being to close to the cable line that it would cause noise to go back to there system
 
G

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
dirtystacks said:
Ganjaboii024 - thanks for starting this thread. I think it become a very good one since I have seen so many questions on various other threads regarding electrical questions.

Folks are too eager to get their grow going and just start stringing up lights, overloading circuits, putting in the incorrect gauge wire for the amount of amps they are pulling...the list goes on.

I should think some basic information on electricity in general should mentioned. Many people don't know the difference between AC and DC, 120v and 240v, let alone the gauge of wire, how to install circuit breakers, whether to use 3 wire or 2 wire, Use of conduit or Romex.

I read one one blog where a person wanted to wire his HID light directly to his wall socket...no ballast.

Electricity is something we all take for granted and in our eagerness to get our grows going we forget that it can KILL you or burn down your house.

I look forward to participating in the thread.
Click to expand...
i will get around to editing my first post and posting a lot of info that is very important, but when im less high
i have had people ask me the same thing "can i buy a 400 watt hps and get a mougal socket for it and wire that to an extension cord and plug it into a wall plug"
 
G

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
crazy420 said:
quick question is it possible that my lights being to close to the cable line that it would cause noise to go back to there system
Click to expand...
and device that uses ac will produce and electric field around the device, and yes your tv will pick it up just like if you use a vaccum and look at the tv you can see static

what do you mean back to there system?
 
dirtystacks

dirtystacks

Active Member
The Basic Power formula is P = I x E
Where P is Watts (or power)
Where I is Current (or AMPS)
Where E is Voltage

In order to determine the amps, you must transpose the formula P=IE to I=P/E or
I= wattage of your light divided by the voltage of your electricity.

Example: 1000 watt light will draw 8.33amps at 120 volts or 8.33amps = 1000watt/120volts

This is why it is convenient to use 240volts for HID lighting because you draw half of the current than if you use 120 volts.

Example: 1000 watt light will draw 4.167amps at 240 volts. 4.167a=1000w/240vac

Hope this helps someone.
 
G

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
dirtystacks said:
The Basic Power formula is P = I x E
Where P is Watts (or power)
Where I is Current (or AMPS)
Where E is Voltage

In order to determine the amps, you must transpose the formula P=IE to I=P/E or
I= wattage of your light divided by the voltage of your electricity.

Example: 1000 watt light will draw 8.33amps at 120 volts or 8.33amps = 1000watt/120volts

This is why it is convenient to use 240volts for HID lighting because you draw half of the current than if you use 120 volts.

Example: 1000 watt light will draw 4.167amps at 240 volts. 4.167a=1000w/240vac

Hope this helps someone.
Click to expand...
thanks for sharing your input and reminding me to put up the basics and some tips
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
ganja boii 024 said:
ok so i have several years of experience with residential wiring and am quite knowledgeable on this topic. i have help several fellow growers with there electric problems and questions and iv been told to make a thread so i can help even more people. well....here it is!!!! :bigjoint:

so if you have a question or problem with anything electrical send them here!
even if its not electrical ill try and help

a typical house circuit is 120 volts, the amount of power you can draw off one circuit safely is 1440 watts or 12 amps at 120 volts, these circuits are on a 15 amp breaker (or should be), and these circuits should be wired with 14 gauge wire. 100 percent load is 15 amps or 1800 watts but i highly recommend you don't load circuits up to 100%, try to stay below 80% of the load which is the safe limit i mentioned of 1440 watts

you can also access 240 volt circuits in your home from either a stove or dryer outlet (they sell light control boxes that plug right into one of these) i don't recommend you tap into these unless you know what you are doing, use a purchased control box or if you want to build you own control box and are running lots of lights (4Kw+) run a separate line to your control box

if you do your own wiring gauge it correctly

15 amps 14 gauge
20 amps 12 gauge
30 amps 10 gauge
40 amps 8 gauge
60 amps 6/4 gauge
100 amps 2/0 gauge

if its a long run of cable then the cable acts as a resistor and you loose power, so if you are drawing a lot of power (40+ amps) over a long distance i recommend upping the wire size to the next size up

when making your own connections, DONT EVER SPLICE into a random wire behind a wall and leave the connection sitting there, any connections must be made in a junction box that is properly grounded, securely tighten wire nuts (tape them to the wire if you want), tighten all screws well but not too tight as to damage the wire. don't leave anything exposed or loose.

dollar store extension cords are a NO!!! NO!!!
go and buy a heavy duty, GROUNDED (that means it has 3 prongs not 2) extension cord and use that to supply power to your grow room, use a heavy duty power bar connected to your extension to split up the power

let me know if i missed anything, im baked
Click to expand...
yes you forgot to mention that you can run a mh bulb in a hps ballast other then that sounds good.:bigjoint:
 
SCORPIO13

SCORPIO13

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tips. I have ran into many people asking about electricity. Now I have a place to send them gangaboii024 and dirtystacks + rep. I have some experience with electricity but not enough to be giving people advise about it.
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
its not that hard to add up your amps then look at breaker and see if it will handle the load or not.
 
G

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
mygirls said:
its not that hard to add up your amps then look at breaker and see if it will handle the load or not.
Click to expand...
youd be surprised, the things that used to be common knowledge but now if you know about it your an expert and if you dont its just normal

also lots of older houses dont have the breakers labled, have em labled wrong and many times not knowing where that cable splits and ends up

i couldnt figure out why my breaker kept randomly tripping at my place, i had my 250 watt ballast, a 50 watt fan, my room light 100 watt, my t5 fixture 100 watt and small fans, laptop, ipod....etc so all the big loads are about 500 watts...why is it tripping, well, turns out the retard who did the reno on the place im renting tied 3 new kitchen plugs onto my room circuit so in the morning the kettle (1200 watts) gets turned on, poof goes the breaker. i just put my room on another circuit that i ran directly to the panel
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
ganjaboii024 said:
youd be surprised, the things that used to be common knowledge but now if you know about it your an expert and if you dont its just normal

also lots of older houses dont have the breakers labled, have em labled wrong and many times not knowing where that cable splits and ends up

i couldnt figure out why my breaker kept randomly tripping at my place, i had my 250 watt ballast, a 50 watt fan, my room light 100 watt, my t5 fixture 100 watt and small fans, laptop, ipod....etc so all the big loads are about 500 watts...why is it tripping, well, turns out the retard who did the reno on the place im renting tied 3 new kitchen plugs onto my room circuit so in the morning the kettle (1200 watts) gets turned on, poof goes the breaker. i just put my room on another circuit that i ran directly to the panel
Click to expand...
ya i know what youean.i just went out to a friends house and rewired everything over to 220. three 1000wtt ballast and a 400wtter plus i had to split off the main panel to a seprate 220 breaker and run allthat wire. ya that was fun LOLya for now a 40 amp breaker is handeling it just fine. the funny thingis he thought he needed a 65 amp .ha ha LOL i told him thats a bit over kill :mrgreen:
 
S

shoottokill

Well-Known Member
Hey! I am having an electrical problem, I drew 3 cables from one of my sockets to power my grow. My grow has power but since I did that when i plug any electric appliance to the socket power goes off in the house(sorry i dont know the exact words for these in english). When I turn it on everythings fine again... Is it possible that the earth cable is misplaced or does not touch correctly to the socket? Or is it smt else? Thank you very much in advance
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
your pulling to many amp for that breaker. pull power from another outlet.good luck
 
dirtystacks

dirtystacks

Active Member
Many grow rooms would benefit from installing a NEW CIRCUIT in your grow room. Grow rooms tend to use alot of power from lamps, fans/blowers, pumps. In most houses, a typical room only has one circuit.

How can you tell how many circuits are in a room? Well, go look at your circuit breaker panel. Most newer homes have a single breaker panel which has a bunch of typically 15 amp breakers in it. The breaker takes the place of old fuse technology. When you draw too much current on that circuit, you "trip" the circuit breaker and have to reset it by flipping it to the off position and then back to the on position. If you continue to trip the breaker, you are drawing too much current. Be thankful the breaker is tripping otherwise you could overheat the wiring and cause a fire.

When you locate the breaker for your area that you are growing in, turn it off. Now, go plug a light into every socket in your room or use a meter to see if electricity is present. If the light doesn't come on, you have isolated the power. If you find a socket that still has power, you are lucky because you have an additional circuit in your room. IF you discover that you have only one circuit, you will likely need to run a new circuit and add a new breaker.

Basically this means you need to run new wire to the room, install new receptacles, and add a new circuit breaker to your breaker box. I found this great article that shows you how to install a 120v (Single Pole) circuit breaker here: http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/elect/panel/breaker/install.htm
Before you attempt such a thing, you need to invest in a voltage or multimeter to verify your wires are NOT HOT. Electricity CAN KILL you if you are not careful. However, if you have any mechanical aptitude, you should be able to follow these steps to install a new circuit. Doing so will make your grow room safer and help prevent burning down your house.

To install a 240v double pole circuit breaker, check out this article. http://homerepair.about.com/od/electricalrepair/ss/240v_breaker.htm
Using 240v will draw half the current and also reduce the heat your ballast will disipate. Less heat is a good thing!

Be careful and make sure your circuit is dead before you start touching any wires! ALWAYS use a METER, you can't see electricity, you need a meter to see it.

Hope this helps!
 
S

shoottokill

Well-Known Member
dirtystacks said:
Many grow rooms would benefit from installing a NEW CIRCUIT in your grow room. Grow rooms tend to use alot of power from lamps, fans/blowers, pumps. In most houses, a typical room only has one circuit.

How can you tell how many circuits are in a room? Well, go look at your circuit breaker panel. Most newer homes have a single breaker panel which has a bunch of typically 15 amp breakers in it. The breaker takes the place of old fuse technology. When you draw too much current on that circuit, you "trip" the circuit breaker and have to reset it by flipping it to the off position and then back to the on position. If you continue to trip the breaker, you are drawing too much current. Be thankful the breaker is tripping otherwise you could overheat the wiring and cause a fire.

When you locate the breaker for your area that you are growing in, turn it off. Now, go plug a light into every socket in your room or use a meter to see if electricity is present. If the light doesn't come on, you have isolated the power. If you find a socket that still has power, you are lucky because you have an additional circuit in your room. IF you discover that you have only one circuit, you will likely need to run a new circuit and add a new breaker.

Basically this means you need to run new wire to the room, install new receptacles, and add a new circuit breaker to your breaker box. I found this great article that shows you how to install a 120v (Single Pole) circuit breaker here: http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/elect/panel/breaker/install.htm
Before you attempt such a thing, you need to invest in a voltage or multimeter to verify your wires are NOT HOT. Electricity CAN KILL you if you are not careful. However, if you have any mechanical aptitude, you should be able to follow these steps to install a new circuit. Doing so will make your grow room safer and help prevent burning down your house.

To install a 240v double pole circuit breaker, check out this article. http://homerepair.about.com/od/electricalrepair/ss/240v_breaker.htm
Using 240v will draw half the current and also reduce the heat your ballast will disipate. Less heat is a good thing!

Be careful and make sure your circuit is dead before you start touching any wires! ALWAYS use a METER, you can't see electricity, you need a meter to see it.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the answer I am sure it will help many but heres the strange part with what happens to mine. Even with all the growbox lights and fans turned off if i plug smt in the socket the breaker trips.. so I must conclude that it is smt else that causes it....
 
G

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
shoottokill said:
Hey! I am having an electrical problem, I drew 3 cables from one of my sockets to power my grow. My grow has power but since I did that when i plug any electric appliance to the socket power goes off in the house(sorry i dont know the exact words for these in english). When I turn it on everythings fine again... Is it possible that the earth cable is misplaced or does not touch correctly to the socket? Or is it smt else? Thank you very much in advance
Click to expand...
do you mean that with your grow running if you use any other appliance that circuit turns off or does the power go out for your whole house, sounds like either your circuit cant handle the load you are pulling and you need to get power from somewhere else, or that you have an older service panel with a 60 amp panel and with your opp running and some appliances running you blow the main.
what are you running in your grow?
GET RID OF THE THREE EXTENSION CORDS!!!!! use 1 heavy duty one and a power bar!
 
dirtystacks

dirtystacks

Active Member
shoottokill said:
Hey! I am having an electrical problem, I drew 3 cables from one of my sockets to power my grow.
Click to expand...
I am not sure I understand what you did to understand what the problem is. Can you elaborate more? What do you mean you drew 3 cables from one of your sockets? Where did you take the cables from exactly, what kind of socket?
 
gohydro

gohydro

Well-Known Member
Two important points to mention:

1. A circuit breaker is meant to protect the WIRE feeding the outlet. It is NOT meant to protect the device plugged in to the outlet. Example? You can have a 20 circuit in your home wired properly (12g wire) and then make the mistake of connecting some cheapo 18g extension cord with multiple plugs on the end. Plug a bunch of stuff in to THAT cord and it may be enough to burn up without tripping the breaker.

2. NEVER, NEVER replace a breaker with one with a higher rating just because it's tripping, and never connect smaller gauge wire to a larger gauge wire without first verifying breaker size. Breakers trip for a reason. I've been an electrician for 30 years and am simply amazed at how often I find 14g wire spliced to 12g simply because the homeowner or fly-by-night electrician didn't "have any 12 on the truck".
 
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