need info badly on electricity

hey whats up everyone, im having mad trouble with these two 600 watts, everything is connected and ready to rock but with this 12,000 btu air conditioning unit it is sucking too much power and wont let me run my lights at the same time it is, reason being i believe is that since we have a pool and jacuzzi there already sucking to much power by themselves. it blows a fuse everytime an the power in my house goes out, so my question is, is how can you make it work lol

i have 11 seeds germing right now but my room isn't ready, FUCK ME ahaha so someone help id appreciate it

You need to redistribute some of your kit ie. connect the lights to a different circuit. 1200w of lights will consume the majority of a 15A circuit on its own, meeting the 80% use rule.

-spek

perfect, thank you brotha

If you can, use a different time setting (two timers, or a timer that can track two devices), and stagger the lights to come on about 1-2 minutes apart. This will offset the initial very high load when lights first fire up.

-spek

gotcha man, thanks again

are you doing 240 or 120

if 120 switch to 240

same thing happened with me once i stepped up my wattage. i ran an extension cord out the bedroom door and down the stairs.

Also try turning on small appliances in each room and then have someone switch off each breaker one at a time. A bunch of old fuse boxes are usually labeled with which room each is but when they had to convert them to breaker panels before they sell the house alot of times they dont get labeled.

Okay so I have a bit of a sore spot on this matter. DO NOT just switch your 120v to 240v without also changing to the properly rated wire, breakers, and outlets. Even extension cords, timers and power strips have voltage and amperage ratings that need to be followed. Running cords all over the house and mucking around with your power is a good way to start a fire. I'm not saying don't do it, just know what you're doing before you start. Always check the power rating on EVERYTHING YOU USE. Even timers have ratings. Here are some links.

everything you need to know about proper sizing of wire and breakers...

http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/08_How to Calculate Breaker Wire Size & Wattage.pdf

how to calculate amps/voltage/watts...

http://www.supercircuits.com/resources/tools/volts-watts-amps-converter

Yeah, this is a common problem. a permanent solution is to simply add more power supply directly from your breaker, add breakers, run your chords, wire up more outlets, and use ones as high powered as you want. Just stay in code, and be safe with it. You can do this even in a rented apartment if you have access to the breaker box, when you move (if you do) just bring all your grow room power with you. your 12/3 chords, double 20 breakers, your boxes and outlets... its not difficult. Then wherever you go (if you move) the most you will have to buy is a few breakers if its a different model than the current one your using.

TheSnake is right. Why fuck around with shitty power. I ran a dedicated 30 amp breaker for my lights and I've never had a problem since. If you don't know how, hire an electrician. It might cost you a couple hundred bucks.

Twitch. said:

are you doing 240 or 120

if 120 switch to 240

Click to expand...

Making both legs hot (switching from 120V to 220V) would not be possible in this particular case because the 12,000 btu ac is not able to operate on 220V. A circuit cannot operate 120V and/or 220V unless there is a third wire involved and that was not mentioned.
Both lights and ac unit are drawing exactly 21.2 Amps @ 120 Volts by the way.

Go blacktop age 1 of this thread. There is a professional electrician offering free advice. Peace & be kind