Enough wattage for the setup ?? Any tips,tricks,advice are all welcome.

[Going4Green]

Hey this is kinda what i was thinking of for the new setup, still trying to figure it all out, dont want to forget something then have no power to run it. Any comments are welcome!!

Right now i have three breakers i can use, 2- 20a 120v, 1- 15a 120v. Also the room that i will be using has a veg room has two ceiling lights, i do not really need since the veg is 24 hours of light, was wondering if i could use one of those light bulb plugs that screw into the lights to give me some extra power maybe just run the Fluorescents off that plug. I believe the ceiling lights would be another 15a 120v. Also my small fans and water pumps i will be running i am not to sure on the wattage for them should they be a problem or is that so little power it shouldnt matter?

Here is break down on what i would be running in the rooms flower, and veg. If you could give me some input on what i should be running electrical wise to be safe, if this looks good how it is or if things need to be changed around. Looking to get this right the first time, so any help is greatly appericated!!!

Flower-

2000 watts - run off one 20 amp with Lumitek ballast 8.9amp
AC 12000btu -1200 watts - run off another 20 amp
Left over power 240watts(on the light breaker), 600watts(on the ac breaker)
Hoping all this stuff can be divided up between both breakers above.
Dehumidifier- 248watts(AC breaker)
co2 -248watts(AC breaker)
6" inline fan -115watts(Light breaker)
Sulpher burner -night time no worries
8"fans moving air-
water pump-

Veg- runs off 15 amp, gives 22watts extra?

1320watts both rooms. I have two ceiling lights i do not need for extra power could i use them as plugs ?

Mother
800watts
6" inline fan - 115 watts
6" booster fan - 25 watts
fans moving air -
water pump -
Clone
Fluorescent - total 378watts
fans moving air -
water pump -

Thats what i have going on in my head right now and trying to make it all work, appreciate the help!!

 

[Going4Green]

anyone?

 

[OZUT]

Your breaker is going to constantly trip bro. You usually want to only use about 80% which is about 16 amps on a 20 amp breaker. Since you're using a Lumitek, you could dim one of the lights to 600 watts and leaving the other at a 1,000. A safer bet would be to run them both at 600.

The other breaker you have, may not be enough to run the other stuff.

 

[Going4Green]

Your right on the 600's it would make the room work electrically, but my only problem is the wattage per sqft 48, as for the 2-1000s would give me 80 per sqft.

This is another reason why i was looking around for power. Only thing i found so far is the ceiling lights in the bath room, i was thinking getting a screw plug to put into the light socket and run my fluorescent off that breaker. what do you think about that?

Also looking into a electrical tool if they make it, that will tell me how much wattage i have on a breaker with every thing plugged in and running. Would make it allot easier to know how much power i am using and how much i have left.

Really dont want to run another break to the room, so if theres anyway to make it work with out doing that then shit GAME ON!! Hope to get some help and ideas from you all appreciate ANY feed back on this subject.

Keep growing strong!!

 

[Going4Green]

:passingjoint:

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

You would be much better off having an electrician come in and telling you what you have . If this is not an option and you are very handy then there are tools that can be bought that measure amps this is what you need to know and if you can wire one of the circuits 240 volt with a double pole 240 v breaker doing so will cut your amps in half ?Electricity is not a joke it can kill you and you can fuck other shit up bad.JACK

 

[Going4Green]

You would be much better off having an electrician come in and telling you what you have . If this is not an option and you are very handy then there are tools that can be bought that measure amps this is what you need to know and if you can wire one of the circuits 240 volt with a double pole 240 v breaker doing so will cut your amps in half ?Electricity is not a joke it can kill you and you can fuck other shit up bad.JACK

Yea i would say handy enough to handle this just need to know the right info before tackling the project, after doing some research on this project i found out two things i was already taught about electricity to be totally wrong, live and learn as long as you can live through it.
Yea i did not want to run another breaker but i guess thats the only way to go now.
BIG QUESTION- does a 240v 20 amp run off the same wire as a 120v 20amp lmao i would guess not but if i could just replace plugs and breakers that would be tits. Also is it possible to convert the rest of the 240v into 120 on that breaker so i can use it for other small appliances???
If not just running a 30 amp 240v breaker with a few plugs on the line would be great, would give me the options of going 4 - 1000k in the future if i wanted to
appreciate the feed back Jack

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

To be completly honest the above question makes me want to say dont touch anything and bring some one in who knows.You can tell them you want to set up a welder and some other equipment..I dont want to be the one who causes you to lose an eye or burn your face off or burn your house down...JACK

 

[Going4Green]

To be completly honest the above question makes me want to say dont touch anything and bring some one in who knows.You can tell them you want to set up a welder and some other equipment..I dont want to be the one who causes you to lose an eye or burn your face off or burn your house down...JACK

thanks for the confidence :tongue0011:

 

[NugNation]

Dude's being serious, you don't seem to have nearly enough know-how to pull off the electrical work needed to set up your op, no offense. Take jack's advice and get a professional in there.

 

[Going4Green]

Dude's being serious, you don't seem to have nearly enough know-how to pull off the electrical work needed to set up your op, no offense. Take jack's advice and get a professional in there.

Been doing it so far with no problems, just time to upgrade. still learning about electrical, thats why i was asking for help.

If one man can do it any man can, just don't be weak, lazy, or afraid to ask a questions.

 

[OZUT]

One thing you don't want to do is mess around with electrical stuff if you don't know. You're not just changing a wall outlet or replacing a breaker. If it initially works, it doesn't mean you're in the clear. A while back, a dude that supposedly knew his electrical was helping me add on a couple of more lights. He takes 2 of my 30 amp breakers, and ups them to 50, then adds the lights to that line. I kept questioning it in that it couldn't be that simple. Turns out I was right. After 2 sleepless nights, waiting for the worse, I wake up and go to the box first thing in the morning. The wire had melted and a fire was less than a couple of hours away. Called someone in and rewired everything the correct way. My point is, just because you touch it and it "seems" to work, doesn't mean you're not going to burn the house down in a couple of days.

The added expense is well worth it and you don't have to stay up at nights wondering if tonight is the night.

In any case, good luck to you on your project.

 

[poohpickle]

As an electrical contractor, never just change a breaker without upgrading the wire to a higher guage. If you can, always run 240v for lights. An mlc8 (8 light master lighting controller for example at 240v uses only about 33 amps fully loaded. So you can put 4 easily on a 2 pole 20 240v, and have the additional circuit for equipment. Also those lights are more than likely on the same circuit as your plugs unless it's in a bathroom wired right. Code requires bath to be on dedicated circuit.

Also FYI when I started growing I ran 1200watts and all the equipment plus a flat screen tv on one bedroom circuit. Had to run cord from bathroom for an ac in the summer. Never tripped.

 

[Going4Green]

As an electrical contractor, never just change a breaker without upgrading the wire to a higher guage. If you can, always run 240v for lights. An mlc8 (8 light master lighting controller for example at 240v uses only about 33 amps fully loaded. So you can put 4 easily on a 2 pole 20 240v, and have the additional circuit for equipment. Also those lights are more than likely on the same circuit as your plugs unless it's in a bathroom wired right. Code requires bath to be on dedicated circuit.
Also FYI when I started growing I ran 1200watts and all the equipment plus a flat screen tv on one bedroom circuit. Had to run cord from bathroom for an ac in the summer. Never tripped.

Right on Poohpickle, sounds like you have a great career!! Always wanted to get back to school learn the trades in the class but yea never did still want to but not sure its worth it any more.

Also being a electrician i hope you can help me with my upgrade.

First off my house is wired really weird, actually was thinking about just rewiring the whole house but yea thats would be a big chunk of change on top of what i am already doing. So saying that my bath room has two breakers i believe there both 15 amps one for the plugs and one for the lights. I will check the wire on the lights to see if its 14 or 12. Both my bath rooms in the house are hooked up together on the same breakers lights and plugs.
If you have checked out the above info and don't think its possible with the power i have or even running a extension cord from another room just for a few appliances then i am shit out of luck and have to run a breaker.

If that's the case then i will run a 10g wire off a 30 amp 240v for my lights to two plugs for each light. I then still have power on that 30 amp but can not really use it as 240v is there a way of splitting that down to two 120v lines for additional outlets in the room with out using a sub panel/breaker??

I am looking into a electrical tool for just the house hold, hope i can plug it into a socket or hook it up to wires and depending on how many appliances i have on at the time i will tell me how much power i have left on the line, if that makes since or if they even make something like that.

Hope you can help or anyone that has way more experience then me with electrical!!

 

[poohpickle]

The lights are #1 if you can hook up a 2pole 30amp breaker to a 30 amp dryer outlet. Then get a heavy duty 40 amp timer made for water heaters install a 30 amp dryer cord to that timer (line side) and install a 4 square box with a quad industrial raised cover and wire 2 240 amp 20 amp recepticles (load side) and now you could run 4 240volt 1000w lights of a simple timer. Plug in equipment to all your remaing outlets. Make sure not to daisy chain cords and make sure the cords are heavy duty and hopefully at least a 20 amp cord. Most cords are only 12 amps. Also use connectors for any concentric knockouts.

As for checking how much amperage you have left on a circuit you need a amp probe. $100 and home depot has those. the ammeter clamps around the wire also checks voltages.:animbong:

 

[Going4Green]

Right on, i will be heading to H&D today checking out how much its all going to run.

Defiantly will pick up the amp probe!! thank you again!

Oh yea how about converting the 240v to 120v in the room with out a breaker can that be done ? After using about 20 amps for the lights i will have 10 amps at 240v i was hoping to be able to use for small fans and pumps but i would have to convert it to 120v so that's why i am asking.

 

[cheech]

if you have 2 20 amp single pole 120 volt breakers, replace them with a 240 volt 40 amp breaker. that will allow you to run 4 1000 watt lights and extra equipment on the 120 volt outlets of the controller i'm going to recommend.

put in the breaker and install new wire and feed it to a power box controller.. get the one with 120 volt extra outlets if you don't intend on using more than 4 lights. dpc 7500 combo.. 4 240 volt outlets and 2 120 volt outlets. 20 amps of light and 12 amps of 120 volt equipment... 32 amps total, 80% of a 40 amp breaker.

look up how to install a breaker and make sure you use the correct gauge wire for the amperage of the breaker. for 40 amp 240 volt breaker run 8 ga wire.. screw in the two hots of the wire to the breaker then neutral and ground to the bus bar.

i did this same project not knowing anything about electricity a year ago.. it was very easy you just have to apply common sense. shut off all the individual breakers then the main before you open your panel. pop out old pop in new.. wire it.

will take less than 15 minutes. don't be stoned. have a flash light ready for the job. fuck the haters :)

 

[poohpickle]

Damn those boxes are expensive. Timer costs around $50 the cord and plug about $30 need a junction box easy type is a remodel cut in install it below the panel and run a #10-2 to the outlet. Built and done for around $100.

Same directions for installing the 30 amp breaker as dude above said. You can run #8 to the timer and run 40 amps also. Whatever 40 amps is required for 8k watts at 240v. If you do not want to eliminate breaker you can buy a quad breaker 3030-20-20 or 3030-20-15that is 4 spaces in the size of two breakers.

Also you will have no problem using a seperate outlet the 10 amps will be dispersed properly. You won't be using any power. As for converting the 10 amps to 120v thats a bit complicated don't worry, just use the remainder breakers you have, or install a quad breaker.

 

[Going4Green]

Man you guys ROCK !!!

Been pricing everything out and figuring out how i want to do it, you guys gave me tons of great info appreciate it all

Will be updating when i get every thing wired and finished. might be a little while finishing up a grow right now.

Keep growing strong

 

[EduardoSanchez]

depending on the gauge of your pre existing cable allows you to pull currant to support the breaker. So no matter if you put in a bigger breaker in your panel, your wire gauge has to be big enough to support it so it doesn't fry and burn. If you can go to your outside meter open the little box it has under it you'll see how much is actually going into your place. Then depening on the size of that breaker, that is where you start. Dont out grow your place at first and cause yourself power problems.