Question about eletricty need help today plz respond permalink

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monster kush

Member
Question about eletricty need help today plz respond
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I bought a 1000 w m-h / hps ballast and light got it yesterday took down my 400w light and ballast and put up the 1000 after 5 minutes it blows my my breaker in my room..... 50 amp breaker i believe ... Anyway i dont know about electricity so my question is .... I have a 240 recepticle in my room also if i get the 240 ballast cord will this help? Does the 240 pull less amps? Im running a portable ac and a few pumps ...hydro and fans so is the 1000 watt too much? I have a chiller on the way 1/10thhp anyone have any advice or can anyone walk me through what i need to do to fix this problem my babies need light quick thanks in advance
 
Hairy Bob

Hairy Bob

Well-Known Member
You shouldn't blow a 50 amp breaker with what you have, a 1000w light will pull less than 10a and I can't see the rest of your gear adding up to more than 30a, unless your ac is a big one.
You need to add up the wattages of all your equipment, add 10% to the rating of each bulb to account for the power used by the ballast, then divide by the voltage, 110, to give the current being drawn in amps.
A breaker will trip at around 80% of it's rated load, which is 40a for a 50a breaker. If the breaker is rated for 50a and the current you are pulling is less than 40, you have a problem.
Does the breaker trip if you run the light without the ac? Or if you plug it into a socket on another breaker? If not then the best thing you can do is use the 220v outlet, not only will it draw half as many amps and make the ballast run slightly cooler and so slightly more efficiently (not enough to be a reason to switch on it's own) but it should be on a separate breaker.
If the light trips the breaker when it's the only thing plugged in, there is a wiring problem with the light that you need to investigate.
 
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