Indoor garden lighting voltage

Renfro said:

LED drivers like Meanwell actually run more efficient at 120 volts input than they do at 240 volts. Ballasts generally operate a little more efficient at 240 volts, especially old school magnetic ones.

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NEmedgrower said:

Hey everyone, hoping I can get some second opinions. So i'm in the middle of building a indoor garden in my new house. Its a small space 4ft x 6ft with 8ft ceilings. Its taking much longer than I hoped unfortunately, but I want to make sure I take my time and minimize any "coulda, shoulda, woulda" regrets later down the line. I'm at the point of running the electrical and am trying to decide if I want to run my lighting at 120v or 240v. I'm a professional in the construction field and know how ohms law works so I know there is no difference in the amount of power the lights will use. The lights I'm using are a diy 4 board qb132 LED I built from horticultural lighting group which runs around 300 watts and I also have 315 Watt CMH fixture that I've hung in the center of the LED boards for a little spectrum variance and light boost.

No matter what, I planned on running a dedicated 20 amp circuit strictly for the lighting. Whether I run 120v or 240v the lights I'm using now and the space I have to use I'm not concerned with overloading a 20 amp circuit. I know with the higher voltage the ability to add more lights to a single circuit is possible without overloading the breaker but are there any other benefits? Do ballasts and LED drivers operate better on the higher voltage? Will it result in a longer life for the fixtures?

Any thoughts or opinions welcomed.

Thanks,
Happy Growing

NEMG

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JSB99 said:

I'd question whether you need a dedicated breaker for the grow. I doubt you're going to be using 85% of a 15A with the equipment you'll be using. Is this a soil grow? I'm running a 1k HPS, commercial air pump, a water pump, 2 x 4" inline fans, 1 x 6" inline fan, and a slew of circulation fans. With all of that, the only time I can get my 15a afci breaker to trip is starting up the vacuum cleaner on the same circuit.

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NEmedgrower said:

My last place I did dwc and flood and drain. Keep going back and fourth between the two for what i'm going to do in the new place. You are absolutely right with not needing a dedicated circuit. I just want to keep the AC, pumps, fans and anything else separate from the lighting. I'm also an electrician...... so why not

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