how to wire 3 drivers together to 1 power cord

hybridcheef

hybridcheef

Active Member
i was trying to find out how to tie 3 ballast into 1 power cord. so i can power m 3 bars by one power outlet. but i cant find anything anywhere on how to do this. can someone please throw me a link or explain to me in detail how i would tie 3 240-2100b's together into 1 power cord. i order my 100k potentiometer and 10k resistor so im good on that. but i gotta figure out how to tie them together into one power cord. and also im looking for a connector to put in between each driver and its fixture that way if i wanted to unplug my driver from the fixture and reconnect it easily i could. does anyone know what type of connector i could use that can disconnect and connect fast? thanks guys. always really helpful
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
IMG_20170503_113254.jpg I would use Wago clamps, they are available with 2, 3 or 5 ports and they are made to connect wires with up to 2,5mm². Really easy and safe!
Take 3 five port Wagos, one to connect all the hot wires, one for ground and one for the neutral wires.

You can get them for cheap from ebay, amazon or from a locale seller, because the are worldwide available! Wago has also some other connectors and special solutions.
I am sure you will find what you are looking for!
 
Last edited:
hybridcheef

hybridcheef

Active Member
Randomblame said:
View attachment 3935519 I would use Wago clamps, they are available with 2, 3 or 5 ports and they are made to connect wires with up to 2,5mm². Really easy and safe!
Take 3 five port Wagos, one to connect all the hot wires, one for ground and one for the neutral wires.

You can get them for cheap from ebay, amazon or from a locale seller, because the are worldwide available! Wago has also some other connectors and special solutions.
I am sure you will find what you are looking for!
Click to expand...


i dont know why im still confused. so each driver has 2 wires. i put 1 wire from each negative wire on each driver into one wago and then do the same for the positives on each driver and then take the power cord ends negative and put them in the wago with the negatives and the same for the postive on the power cord with the positives from the driver??
 
Jimmyclone42

Jimmyclone42

Well-Known Member
Yes, ABOVE.... but if you want to dim all 3 drivers at the same time, you will. Want a 33k pot... Or something close to that.. Mabe 40k will be easier to. Find...
 
hybridcheef

hybridcheef

Active Member
i dont care about dimming all of them together. there b drivers so they all have seperate cords for dimming. i just wanna be able to plug them all in with 1 power cord. and didnt know if i knew what i was doing. i still dont know if im correct. i wish i could find some step by step some where of someone else doing it. but i looked every where on the internet. i cant find shit.
 
Jimmyclone42

Jimmyclone42

Well-Known Member
Your cord of choice that will plug into the wall will have a ground in it.. There will be a ground screw in whatever junction box u choose to use, this is where u ground the box.. I chose to mount my junction box and drivers to the frame of my fixture with bolts and screws, as this way everything is grounded..
 
hybridcheef

hybridcheef

Active Member
GBAUTO said:
Honestly, your questions give me great pause...you're building a device that can produce a dc voltage that's capable of killing you and you are VERY confused on basic electrical wiring.
STOP AND DO SOME RESEARCH ONLINE
Click to expand...
im just learning. and series wire isnt that hard to pick up on. and i guessed, and still got it right. so its sounds alot like commen sense stuff. just need refreshing. i know what ground is. i just wanted him to explain how he did it. and its very easy not to get shocked, you just follow safety protocols.
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
hybridcheef said:
im just learning. and series wire isnt that hard to pick up on. and i guessed, and still got it right. so its sounds alot like commen sense stuff. just need refreshing. i know what ground is. i just wanted him to explain how he did it. and its very easy not to get shocked, you just follow safety protocols.
Click to expand...
I just hope that you realize that this can be extremely hazardous to your life if you play with these power supplies and get bitten...DC won't let go.
 
sixstring2112

sixstring2112

Well-Known Member
Based on all the questions i have seen you post in multiple threads i really think you should hop on YouTube and watch growmau5 videos part 1 thru 7.they give you alot of info and all the answers you seek,plus he physically shows you how he does it all.i have built a bunchof fixtures and i still occasionally go back and watch sections of those videos.
 
hybridcheef

hybridcheef

Active Member
sixstring2112 said:
Based on all the questions i have seen you post in multiple threads i really think you should hop on YouTube and watch growmau5 videos part 1 thru 7.they give you alot of info and all the answers you seek,plus he physically shows you how he does it all.i have built a bunchof fixtures and i still occasionally go back and watch sections of those videos.
Click to expand...
yea iv already watched all those videos. and continue to re watch them all the time. he never talks about wiring multiple drivers into one power cord though.. believe me i looked. all im doing is building 3 bars . with 4 cobs each. in series. its not that difficult
 
haze010

haze010

Well-Known Member
I'm far from any expert but if i wanted to do something like that id go to an electrician i can find locally or any shop with electricians bring your 3 drivers in with you and the power cord. Bring your drivers with you and just straight up ask them is this something that can be done safely.

Im no electrician but in my mind i cant see how that could be safe.

Growmau5 may be an expert on maximizing yeild and quality of your bud, but something like that id want to talk to a certified electrician before i even thought about wiring that. In my mind that just sounds sketchy as all hell and a electrical fire waiting to happen, talk to a certified electrician. I'm sure they could look at it and give you a straight yes or no answer in mere seconds and actually do it properly in under 10 minutes. Might cost you a couple $20 bills but how much is your life worth?

I CANNOT stress this enough, dont go "oh thats common sense" and assume anything with electricity because if you are wrong it can and will kill you. Even if you take all the precautions and complete the job safely it could still be an electrical fire waiting to happen and burn your house down.

From the replies it seems its very easy to do it safely but watching the expert do it in front of you for a few $ should be more than worth the lesson and having something as simple as the proper gauge of wire to handle the electrical load is the difference between a safe thing and an electrical fire.

I'd say it 10 more times if it would convince you to not just play with electrical wiring unless you are very confident you know exactly what you are doing.
 
Last edited:
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
haze010 said:
Bring your drivers with you and just straight up ask them is this something that can be done safely.

having something as simple as the proper gauge of wire to handle the electrical load is the difference between a safe thing and an electrical fire.
Click to expand...
^^^^ THIS. Times 1000.

Every 100W of output power you are putting together is going to pull about 1 amp of current at 115 VAC (allowing for some overhead). Those three 240-2100b's are going to pull around 7 amps from the wall. Your single power cord will need to be able to handle that amount of current. I would go with no less than a 16g power cord.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
hybridcheef said:
i dont know why im still confused. so each driver has 2 wires. i put 1 wire from each negative wire on each driver into one wago and then do the same for the positives on each driver and then take the power cord ends negative and put them in the wago with the negatives and the same for the postive on the power cord with the positives from the driver??
Click to expand...
Take a look at this video, the interesting part starts after about 1 minute...

He's wiring multiple drivers to one power inlet, which is the same pricip as wiring them to one power cord.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top