Electrician, new to forum

[5280Grower]

Hi,
Just joined the thc farmer and parked my diary here, love forums, Im a long time forum user but new here.

Thought I would give back to everyone's helpfull growing threads by lending my expertise.

Im a Colorado journeyman electrician, 80% commercial work, did a couple years in the mountains doing resi work but commercial is what I love the most. Contracted a job building out a dispensary, became friends with the owner, started doing odd jobs during slow times and learning grow room design along the way. A couple months ago decided to take the plunge, took a huge pay cut to run a disp full time but I come home smiling and excited to work the next day.

Electrical questions? Fire away!

 

[mal]

Welcome to the Farm

Glad to have you, hope all is well with you and yours



mal

 

[5280Grower]

Got a few pm's, sorry cant answer you yet because of my post count. Will reply as soon as I can!

 

[Dr.Pepper]

hey 5280Grower

as a hydro system grower mainly i am looking to expand on my electrical engineering...

cya around

 

[evu80]

hey bro

i got a unit with 60 amp service I want to start soon.

whats the max number of 1k lights I can have going without tripping the breakers.

Based on what I know about electricity ( which isnt alot ) I'm guessing 8 1k lights, 6 for bloom and 2 for veg which should leave me with just enough amps left to run misc stuff like my fans and pumps and timers.

4.5 amps per ballast/light x 8 = 36 amps and that will leave me with 12 amps left for everything else

This is based off the 80% percent rule but someone told me I can go as high as 95% before I have to worry about failures and fires.

I'm running a flip system to overcome this issue with limited power source but ideally would prefer to squeeze in an extra 11 amps for AC if possible since one of the room will be on during the day.

Any input and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SweetTooth]

It is always nice to have another sparky come on board. Welcome man

 

[pRiMo303]

Welcome to the farm, 5280. Always nice to see new locals on here..and an electrician is a plus. Looking to expand, so be looking for PMs from me. What D here in Denver are you running?

 

[secret420]

welcome ... quick question . my balast power cord gets really hot and i think its melting my outlets. 2 of them stoped working and none of my breakers fliped. im now running with a thick gauge 50 foot cord .will i get less wattage with that cord and are those 2 outlets fire hazards now?

 

[5280Grower]

hey bro

i got a unit with 60 amp service I want to start soon.

whats the max number of 1k lights I can have going without tripping the breakers.

Based on what I know about electricity ( which isnt alot ) I'm guessing 8 1k lights, 6 for bloom and 2 for veg which should leave me with just enough amps left to run misc stuff like my fans and pumps and timers.

4.5 amps per ballast/light x 8 = 36 amps and that will leave me with 12 amps left for everything else

This is based off the 80% percent rule but someone told me I can go as high as 95% before I have to worry about failures and fires.

I'm running a flip system to overcome this issue with limited power source but ideally would prefer to squeeze in an extra 11 amps for AC if possible since one of the room will be on during the day.

Any input and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lots more info needed to give a helpful answer. 60 Amps total on a single phase service? Do you (or anyone) live there?

What kind of ballasts do you use, the lumateks and phantoms that we use are specced to strike at 5.5 amps, not 4.5 (on 240v).

Continuous load is often confused with the 80% Rule and often misapplied. Most applications you should rate your devices at 125% higher then the nameplate. More approriate would be a 75% rule.

There are a lot of variables when asking a question like this, its easier to answer a question of what you want when you know what you are working with. "I have this, what can I do".

What you can do and what is safe are 2 different things. I am more then willing to help with one, and not so much the other :)

 

[5280Grower]

welcome ... quick question . my balast power cord gets really hot and i think its melting my outlets. 2 of them stoped working and none of my breakers fliped. im now running with a thick gauge 50 foot cord .will i get less wattage with that cord and are those 2 outlets fire hazards now?

By ballast power cord, are you talking about the supply side (cord from the outlet to the ballast) or load side (ballast from light).

"Wattage" isnt affected by distance, do you mean lumen or light output?

Pictures speak a thousand words :)

 

[secret420]

from the balast to the outlet . i just got a few more lights so not much worried about wattage or light output to much now . my brother tells me i should get some heavy duty outlets but i havent had any problems since i started running it off this cord. thanks for replying so fast i been kinda worried my house is gonna short out and burn down .

 

[evu80]

Lots more info needed to give a helpful answer. 60 Amps total on a single phase service? Do you (or anyone) live there?

What kind of ballasts do you use, the lumateks and phantoms that we use are specced to strike at 5.5 amps, not 4.5 (on 240v).

Continuous load is often confused with the 80% Rule and often misapplied. Most applications you should rate your devices at 125% higher then the nameplate. More approriate would be a 75% rule.

There are a lot of variables when asking a question like this, its easier to answer a question of what you want when you know what you are working with. "I have this, what can I do".

What you can do and what is safe are 2 different things. I am more then willing to help with one, and not so much the other :)

this unit has a single phased power and it was built back in the early 1980's. I have 240v Phantoms ballasts I'm planning to use here with a power box and a flip system. All of my bulbs will be 1000 watts and I'm planning to run fresh air until I can figure out if its possible to run two ac units on different timers to coincide with the light schedule for each room.

how would you max out this place if all you had was 60 amps to work with.

 

[5280Grower]

from the balast to the outlet . i just got a few more lights so not much worried about wattage or light output to much now . my brother tells me i should get some heavy duty outlets but i haven't had any problems since i started running it off this cord. thanks for replying so fast i been kinda worried my house is gonna short out and burn down .

If your outlet is damaged then yes, it could pose a fire hazard. If the contacts within the outlet are corroded or are damaged they don't make a snug connection with the male end of the cord. Without a good connection resistance rises between the outlet and cord which will create heat -> melting.

I'm not sure what your brother is referring to as a "heavy duty outlet". It sounds like you have an outlet located 50 feet away from your ballast (this is against code btw), connected to an extension cord, connected to the cord from your ballast.

Melted outlets and breakers not tripping are also a sign of trouble. Many old panels are a fire hazard unto themselves.

Post or PM me a pic of your panel, the outlet that should be heavy duty, and one of how it connects to your ballast and I can give a more helpful reply.

 

[5280Grower]

this unit has a single phased power and it was built back in the early 1980's. I have 240v Phantoms ballasts I'm planning to use here with a power box and a flip system. All of my bulbs will be 1000 watts and I'm planning to run fresh air until I can figure out if its possible to run two ac units on different timers to coincide with the light schedule for each room.

how would you max out this place if all you had was 60 amps to work with.

First off - I wouldn't "max out" an apartment building! Or any other space where another person safety is at risk. /preaching

Lets say you have a space where no one is living and used just for growing with a 60 amp, single phase service. There are provision in the code to allow for a higher current draw then would otherwise be allowed, an example is a circuit to supply both heating and cooling equipment from the same breaker. The rational is that the AC and Heat system will never be on at the same time. You could say your "flip box" would meet the same requirement.

If you assume your panel is empty, nobody lives there (ie no dishwasher, toaster, hair dryer, tv etc) and you are running phantom ballasts that strike at 5.5 amps, you could (code wise) put in 4 20amp breakers, each powering 2 lights on a flip box for a total of 16k effective with some juice left over for fans etc.

PM or post some pics of your room and your panel, you can only stuff so many lights in a room!

 

[Bud Spleefman]

Hi,
Just joined the thc farmer and parked my diary here, love forums, Im a long time forum user but new here.

Thought I would give back to everyone's helpfull growing threads by lending my expertise.

Im a Colorado journeyman electrician, 80% commercial work, did a couple years in the mountains doing resi work but commercial is what I love the most. Contracted a job building out a dispensary, became friends with the owner, started doing odd jobs during slow times and learning grow room design along the way. A couple months ago decided to take the plunge, took a huge pay cut to run a disp full time but I come home smiling and excited to work the next day.

Electrical questions? Fire away!

Welcome to the Farm!