Grow Room Electrical

[ttystikk]

As u know def. not overloading. I dont like to put excessive quantities of ballasts on large breakers, if theres a short all will shut off, so usually i have multiple feeds.
hb

All these are for the same room so if it trips, it doesn't affect anything else. Since I was on a budget, I went with the least expensive option I could get while maintaining A+ safety. Everything runs nice n cool.

What's an excessive quantity of ballasts? Or, to put it another way, how many ballasts maximum do you prefer to see on a given circuit?

 

[hiboy]

All these are for the same room so if it trips, it doesn't affect anything else. Since I was on a budget, I went with the least expensive option I could get while maintaining A+ safety. Everything runs nice n cool.

What's an excessive quantity of ballasts? Or, to put it another way, how many ballasts maximum do you prefer to see on a given circuit?

I'ld say every situation or grow room is different. Did you pigtail your #6 wire to a smaller guage and then install your receptacles so you could plug in your ballasts? Its legal to derate wire size 3' from termination point.
Or is it 18". Cant remember. Anyways its nice to have 2 feeds then if one trips u still have the other burning. In an ideal world.
hb

 

[ttystikk]

I'ld say every situation or grow room is different. Did you pigtail your #6 wire to a smaller guage and then install your receptacles so you could plug in your ballasts? Its legal to derate wire size 3' from termination point.
Or is it 18". Cant remember. Anyways its nice to have 2 feeds then if one trips u still have the other burning. In an ideal world.
hb

Oh heck no I didn't do any of that; I just installed the 3 pole 50 amp breaker, ran the 6 ga. to a surface mount box with a 4 way outlet, and plugged the Sentinel 8 outlet control box into it.

 

[hiboy]

Oh heck no I didn't do any of that; I just installed the 3 pole 50 amp breaker, ran the 6 ga. to a surface mount box with a 4 way outlet, and plugged the Sentinel 8 outlet control box into it.

I understand.
with lighting controllers, grow room controllers, etc. its not ideal to run lights from different feeds. I wire intermatic h.d. timers to outlets. Most probably do what u did since its easier than doing it my route.
hb

 

[Majestic12]

All these are for the same room so if it trips, it doesn't affect anything else. Since I was on a budget, I went with the least expensive option I could get while maintaining A+ safety. Everything runs nice n cool.

What's an excessive quantity of ballasts? Or, to put it another way, how many ballasts maximum do you prefer to see on a given circuit?

I feel a nice buffer is running 4 220 vac 1k ballasts to each 30 amp breaker
I use #10 awg stranded
This is a 4.75 x 4 load on a 30 amp rated breaker.
basicly 20 amps and running with a nice lil ceiling as a cushion.

These are 4 220 vac outlets run through it's respected 30 0amp industrial
Relay fired by a 120 coil....run to a slave timer for all relays.

 

[hiboy]

I feel a nice buffer is running 4 220 vac 1k ballasts to each 30 amp breaker
I use #10 awg stranded
This is a 4.75 x 4 load on a 30 amp rated breaker.
basicly 20 amps and running with a nice lil ceiling as a cushion.

These are 4 220 vac outlets run through it's respected 30 0amp industrial
Relay fired by a 120 coil....run to a slave timer for all relays.

Good ways u have, always better to have some space and not push it
Ur breakers appreciate u
hb

 

[ttystikk]

I'll admit my setup isn't fancy- but is it safe?

 

[hiboy]

I'll admit my setup isn't fancy- but is it safe?

Sounds like u did it right,
4 prong outlet, metal boxes, plug it in and bam oooo
ur good to go.
hb

 

[Dephect]

I have been thinking about installing another circuit in my main panel for my house with a 30amp breaker, its about a 15 foot conduit run and penetration through brick. I currently run a 1000w on a 20amp breaker and don't have room for much more. Im fairly competent with electric work seeing as I work in Solar. However I am only living here temporarily, my other option is to run a extension cord from a existing 30 amp outlet and manage it nicely for temporary sake. Which one do you think is more safe, I don't really care about discrete because I am not really bothered by anyone where I rent and no one cares if I do home maintenance. Is there any issue in running a extension cord from outside the room into the room?

Thanks
:D

 

[hiboy]

I have been thinking about installing another circuit in my main panel for my house with a 30amp breaker, its about a 15 foot conduit run and penetration through brick. I currently run a 1000w on a 20amp breaker and don't have room for much more. Im fairly competent with electric work seeing as I work in Solar. However I am only living here temporarily, my other option is to run a extension cord from a existing 30 amp outlet and manage it nicely for temporary sake. Which one do you think is more safe, I don't really care about discrete because I am not really bothered by anyone where I rent and no one cares if I do home maintenance. Is there any issue in running a extension cord from outside the room into the room?

Thanks
:D

If you were to run a cord u would build one with S.O. cord 12-3 if your only at 240v and it should be #10 guage. If your running 120v/240v you would run 12-4 #10 guage to bring over the neutral.
Its always better to run hard conduit for safety. Really depends how long ur going to be there. Costs probably similiar either way. A cord u can trip on, pinch, etc.
hb

 

[Dephect]

I was thinking more a long the lines of running the extension through my place with 1 hole wire straps above everything, nothing to trip on. I have ran enough supplemental grounding to GECs to know a good wire job and make it inconspicuous, I plan on living here until December and then moving to a house pretty close to the one I am at. So less then a year. I plan on living at the next place until I have enough to put a down payment on a house. I think running the extension is a better bet for a temporary solution, the main panel only has 2 slots left, so I would be filling it up essentially.

I was just wondering though is there any danger in running a extension cord from a out of room outlet to another room besides tripping hazards?

 

[crom]

I think that as long as the extension cord can handle the load you should be fine. I believe hiboy recommended a 12 gauge extension cord for running from a different room. Not sure if you need a larger gauge for more electricity being run. I would think that doing all the hard wiring would be a waste if you aren't staying that long. This is my dilemma now. I now know, thanks to hiboy, that I just need to score me a 12g cord and run it from an outlet on a different breaker.

 

[fishwhistle]

As u know def. not overloading. I dont like to put excessive quantities of ballasts on large breakers, if theres a short all will shut off, so usually i have multiple feeds.
hb

hiboy,what do you consider ''excessive quantities''?

 

[evu80]

Hiboy,

I'm currently setting up a flip system and wanted to know if there is any adaptors or face plates I can use on my lamp extension cords to make my work look more professional. I could easily drill a hole and run my cords through them and use a foam sealant but that would look shoddy and not clean. In other words I want to install ceiling outlets or a wall outlets for my reflectors. Is this possible?

 

[hiboy]

hiboy,what do you consider ''excessive quantities''?

more than half of the lights in room. If not using a plug in controller u can stagger half the lights to operate from one timer, then the other half with another. If one timer fails or that line shorts out then the other will keep it running.
This is only with larger scale operations.
hb

 

[hiboy]

Hiboy,

I'm currently setting up a flip system and wanted to know if there is any adaptors or face plates I can use on my lamp extension cords to make my work look more professional. I could easily drill a hole and run my cords through them and use a foam sealant but that would look shoddy and not clean. In other words I want to install ceiling outlets or a wall outlets for my reflectors. Is this possible?

I think i follow u,,
your ballasts cord that supplies the light, you want that to go to an outlet and plug in your whip from your light to it. Is that right?
You would have to install new male ends on the light cord so they will match the outlet. You could use standard outlets , then just plug in the regular ext. cord end that attaches to your light cord. The most important issue is to make sure that the cord connections line up, and not to reverse the wires when cut and reattached
hb

 

[hiboy]

I was thinking more a long the lines of running the extension through my place with 1 hole wire straps above everything, nothing to trip on. I have ran enough supplemental grounding to GECs to know a good wire job and make it inconspicuous, I plan on living here until December and then moving to a house pretty close to the one I am at. So less then a year. I plan on living at the next place until I have enough to put a down payment on a house. I think running the extension is a better bet for a temporary solution, the main panel only has 2 slots left, so I would be filling it up essentially.

I was just wondering though is there any danger in running a extension cord from a out of room outlet to another room besides tripping hazards?

Not really as long as the cords out of the way as u suggest. I used S.O. cord to tmp on homes while we move the panel or such
hb

 

[fishwhistle]

damn here i go questioning myself again!I have a 30A breaker going into 10/2 romex to a 3 prong receptacle in a plastic box that will run 4-1ks,Am i fucking up?Is there a better way?Ill have the same setup for veg but just running 1-1k MH on a 15 amp breaker there,all 240 of course.

 

[hiboy]

damn here i go questioning myself again!I have a 30A breaker going into 10/2 romex to a 3 prong receptacle in a plastic box that will run 4-1ks,Am i fucking up?Is there a better way?Ill have the same setup for veg but just running 1-1k MH on a 15 amp breaker there,all 240 of course.

Ur good on wire size for that 4000 watts, your 10 guage is rated for 30 amps, and ur unde 20. Are u going to plug a controller into your 3 prong 30 amp outlet? Plastics will work , dont sweat that one, but metal is def. better

hb

 

[evu80]

I think i follow u,,
your ballasts cord that supplies the light, you want that to go to an outlet and plug in your whip from your light to it. Is that right?
You would have to install new male ends on the light cord so they will match the outlet. You could use standard outlets , then just plug in the regular ext. cord end that attaches to your light cord. The most important issue is to make sure that the cord connections line up, and not to reverse the wires when cut and reattached
hb

Thanks for the response Hiboy

My ballasts are in a different location, outside the room itself. Too far for the lamp cords to reach. So what I'm trying to do is from my ballasts, run an lamp extension cord by sold by Sunlight for their reflectors to a centralized location in the ceiling and plug in my reflector cords from there. It just looks a lot cleaner and more professional. Also its easier to swap out ballasts and reflectors should anything happen.

I'm just wondering if there is a box out there that I can use to mount flush to the ceiling that can house the extension cords and use a face plate to cover it and from the outside look likes its a wall plug.

My second question that came up while I was brainstorming is will the length of the cords affect the performance of the ballast. If I recall correctly, Lumateks recommends that you do not have more than 30 of wiring from the ballast to the hoods for proper performance. This worries me