Using Wago's for all connections?

Hopefully this is my last basic question before I get everything wired up and ready to go.

Heat sinks arrived yesterday and I have my frame all built and ready to go. Package from kingbrite with the COB kit (cxb's, ideal holders, reflectors, thermal tape, etc) all arrives tomorrow and I think I'm ready to put it all together.

I've watched growmau5's videos and feel pretty confident about this whole thing.

I'm wanting to know if I can just use Wago connectors all around, connecting drivers to COB strings, and connecting wall power to the drivers. I don't have a problem soldering, it's just been a while and my only recent experience is wiring and soldering the speakers in my truck.

I also like the flexibility of being able to rewire my setup very simply (using Wago's) if I decide to upgrade drivers in the future.

Figure I can find some small junction boxes to hide the wago connections and make it all look really clean.

Is it safe to wire both drivers into the same wall plug? That way I don't have to run a power strip off my timer for two plugs. Do I simply take the hot side from both drivers, plug them into the wago, and then plug the hot from the wall cord into the third slot? Same with the negative, then wire the ground from the drivers to the aluminum frame for the whole setup? Going to tape off the dimming leads on the drivers for now until I decide what I want to do there.

Hope I'm on the right track here. I really appreciate everyone's help and advice.

Yes you can wago everything.i picked up a new soldering iron and decided wagos are too easy lol.and for your power you have it right.although i like to tie all the grounds together in a wago and run a separate wirefrom there to the frame for grounding.i have 3 x meanwell 185-1050ma drivers on 1 plug/power cord but im running it on 240v.as long as your under the amp rating for the outlet buy 20% you should be fine.theres alot of talk about inrush currents on start up but most of us are ignoring that stuff lol.

Awesome.

I'll be running two 240h hlg's with 6 cob's on each. Hope that's fine for the same outlet my 600 hps is plugged into.

Thanks for the suggestion on using a wago to tie the grounds together. How long are the power leads on the drivers? Can I use a wago to tie them into a 15' 14ga (or what ever appropriate ga) extension cord for some added length to my timer?

captain crunch said:

Awesome.

I'll be running two 240h hlg's with 6 cob's on each. Hope that's fine for the same outlet my 600 hps is plugged into.

Thanks for the suggestion on using a wago to tie the grounds together. How long are the power leads on the drivers? Can I use a wago to tie them into a 15' 14ga (or what ever appropriate ga) extension cord for some added length to my timer?

Click to expand...

And if I can tie everything into an extension cord do I just ignore the ground on the plug since the drivers are grounded to the frame?

Appreciate all the help from the forum

I used wagos and some other junctions because I did not have anything larger than 2 slot wagos. I wired my ground to the plug but not to the fixture. The only thing I soldered was the pot.

I use spade connectors for cabling and DC circuits, wagos for completing AC circuits and combining drivers to a single plug. choices, choices. peace

3 slot Wago's ordered on Amazon. Hoping I can find a local source for the small junction box. 3 week wait from Amazon.

If using solid wire 12-20 AWG, you can also use these:

http://idealind.com/us/en/products/wire-termination/20-push-in-wire-connectors/push-in-wire-connectors.aspx

they run fair cheap ~0.14-0.50 each. Can get them locally at hardware store in electrical section.

But wago is still nice.

for AC power I like these
http://global.wago.com/en/products/product-catalog/terminal-blocks-connectors/installation-connectors/compact-splicing-connectors-all-conductor-types-221-series/index.jsp



and also these for setting things us when I wanna just quick check the cobs light up or playing around on the dc side with fans ect
https://www.fasttech.com/p/3947800



but for the end of a series between the driver and the string of cobs i put one of these and usually zip tie it to the frame.that way nothing yanks on the light bars because I have my drivers remote, and i ground the driver case back there from the AC plug

ill be mounting my drivers on the frame, may consider remote mounting in the future if heat is an issue. Still using the 6" inline fan from my cool tube for exhaust still, so I don't see heat being a problem. Am I better off wiring the grounds into the AC plug or to the frame? If one is preferred to the other mind explaining why? It's nice to keep learning as I go through this. Thanks

captain crunch said:

ill be mounting my drivers on the frame, may consider remote mounting in the future if heat is an issue. Still using the 6" inline fan from my cool tube for exhaust still, so I don't see heat being a problem. Am I better off wiring the grounds into the AC plug or to the frame? If one is preferred to the other mind explaining why? It's nice to keep learning as I go through this. Thanks

Click to expand...

thanks @Greengenes707

captain crunch said:

ill be mounting my drivers on the frame, may consider remote mounting in the future if heat is an issue. Still using the 6" inline fan from my cool tube for exhaust still, so I don't see heat being a problem. Am I better off wiring the grounds into the AC plug or to the frame? If one is preferred to the other mind explaining why? It's nice to keep learning as I go through this. Thanks

Click to expand...

both.....ground the driver to the frame, ground the frame, ground back to the House earth...

Pardon the expression, but fuck extension cords and do it right-o, please for your own safety!

Put wago's inside something else too, for ultimate code fantastic-ness

Abiqua said:

both.....ground the driver to the frame, ground the frame, ground back to the House earth...

Pardon the expression, but fuck extension cords and do it right-o, please for your own safety!

Put wago's inside something else too, for ultimate code fantastic-ness

Click to expand...

This^^^^^^
Also on your outlet.if your using a 600hps already and wanting to add 2 x 240mw you need to add up all your amps and stay within the limits of the outlet.some 600w will draw close to 5 amps @ 120v and i dont know what your drivers pull @120v but if all 3 add up to more than 80% of the outlet (15 amp or 20 amp) you should spit them up somehow.you will be fine on a 20 amp circuit, 15amp you might be pushing it idk without seeing your driver stats

sixstring2112 said:

This^^^^^^
Also on your outlet.if your using a 600hps already and wanting to add 2 x 240mw you need to add up all your amps and stay within the limits of the outlet.some 600w will draw close to 5 amps @ 120v and i dont know what your drivers pull @120v but if all 3 add up to more than 80% of the outlet (15 amp or 20 amp) you should spit them up somehow.you will be fine on a 20 amp circuit, 15amp you might be pushing it idk without seeing your driver stats

Click to expand...

Replacing the 600, not adding to. Glad to get that heat machine out of my space. Hoping (need to check) that two 240's in place of the 600 will be ok.

Gonna watch some more videos tonight and tomorrow to make sure I've got it all down.

something tells me I'm going to have more questions, especially about grounding everything.

Abiqua said:

both.....ground the driver to the frame, ground the frame, ground back to the House earth...

Pardon the expression, but fuck extension cords and do it right-o, please for your own safety!

Put wago's inside something else too, for ultimate code fantastic-ness

Click to expand...

My plan was to tie the two drivers together with Wago's into a junction box and then have a power cord coming out of that box To plug into my timer and power everything. For the cord I was going to use a 12 or 14 gauge extension cord with the female end cut off. You're telling me this isn't safe, so what can I use? I appreciate the help. I use a similar setup for a thermostat that controls a 1500w heater in my other hobby room, and that's why I presumed it was safe. Thank you again.

sixstring2112 said:

This^^^^^^
Also on your outlet.if your using a 600hps already and wanting to add 2 x 240mw you need to add up all your amps and stay within the limits of the outlet.some 600w will draw close to 5 amps @ 120v and i dont know what your drivers pull @120v but if all 3 add up to more than 80% of the outlet (15 amp or 20 amp) you should spit them up somehow.you will be fine on a 20 amp circuit, 15amp you might be pushing it idk without seeing your driver stats

Click to expand...

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/HLG-240H-C-spec-806189.pdf

This what you mean when you say driver stats?

captain crunch said:

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/HLG-240H-C-spec-806189.pdf

This what you mean when you say driver stats?

Click to expand...

yeah it says 2.5 amp @ 120v so you would be fine even with the 600w hps so your golden on any 15 amp outlet.just tie all your grounds together in a 5 slot wago and run a wire from that wago to your frame and screw/bolt it to the frame.then all the drivers and cobs plus the frame/fixture will be grounded through the outlet in your house/garage/grow op lol

Use an appliance cord for your ac. Get them at any big box store. They come already with three wire exposed for dryers washers stoves etc. Work great too. Peace

sixstring2112 said:

yeah it says 2.5 amp @ 120v so you would be fine even with the 600w hps so your golden on any 15 amp outlet.just tie all your grounds together in a 5 slot wago and run a wire from that wago to your frame and screw/bolt it to the frame.then all the drivers and cobs plus the frame/fixture will be grounded through the outlet in your house/garage/grow op lol

Click to expand...

Cool. To make sure I understand. Take both grounds from the drivers, the ground from the wall plug, tie them into one wego, run a 4th wire out of the wego and screw that to the frame. Then when I plug it in it'll all be grounded?

Is what I want to do with the 12 or 14 gauge extension cord out of a junction box safe or unsafe? I guess I'm not sure what to use as a power cord to my timer once I tie the drivers together.

Hope that's it for questions tonight.

I've said it a lot already. Thank you very much everyone for the help. I'll post some pictures once I've got everything together.

VegasWinner said:

Use an appliance cord for your ac. Get them at any big box store. They come already with three wire exposed for dryers washers stoves etc. Work great too. Peace

Click to expand...

Duh!

Thanks. Guess I was only imagining appliance cords for 220, like an oven or dryer.

captain crunch said:

Cool. To make sure I understand. Take both grounds from the drivers, the ground from the wall plug, tie them into one wego, run a 4th wire out of the wego and screw that to the frame. Then when I plug it in it'll all be grounded?
I'll post some pictures once I've got everything together.

Click to expand...

yup