Grow Room Electrical

indogro · Apr 23, 2013

My rental home has 200 amps of power coming in. with a 100amp sub panel going to an outside workshop.

I'm interested in having a 200 amp panel connected directly to the workshop, and 200 amps for the home.

Does anyone have any experience doing this? Do I need an electrician, or must I have PG&E do this themselves?

KUSHPILES · Apr 23, 2013

You need your local power provider to aprove a service upgrade to the residence. Then they come in and cut the power, you have your electrician do the work on your end and they reconnect you when all is done. Sometimes thats much easier said than done, the last servie upgrade I did, the tube the old 150 amp main was run through going to the house pannel was cracked and roots from a tree blocked the way, so they had to re-dig a trench and lay a new 300 amp wire to the new pannel. This included 3 BC hydro trucks, a gas company had to OK everything before they could dig, and another BC hydro contractor there to dig-NOT stealthy.

On this same job, 6 other houses on the blocks power got cut for like 4 hours as the main at the road was older and couldn't handle the 300 amps as well, so a couple neighbours complained as the power company is supposed to give notice on outages.

Normally its straight forward to do a service upgrade but theres an example of what can go wrong..

indogro · Apr 23, 2013

my incoming power line is not buried, but off a pole. 200 amps comin in. I'm looking to get an additional 200 amp panel directly to the shop, straight from the pole. I assume only the power company can connect that to the shop from the pole, not my electrician. OR do I need to get 300 amps to the house, (100 amp upgrade) and then split off from my sub panel?

Can I do this as a renter, or do I need the landlord to do it since I will need PG&E to connect an additional 200 amps to the property?

Thank you!

KUSHPILES · Apr 23, 2013

indogro said:
my incoming power line is not buried, but off a pole. 200 amps comin in. I'm looking to get an additional 200 amp panel directly to the shop, straight from the pole. I assume only the power company can connect that to the shop from the pole, not my electrician. OR do I need to get 300 amps to the house, (100 amp upgrade) and then split off from my sub panel?

Can I do this as a renter, or do I need the landlord to do it since I will need PG&E to connect an additional 200 amps to the property?

Thank you!

Im not sure if you have to go to the house first or not in your situation, I can tell you for sure that you can absolutely not do this as a renter. Where im from, the home owner has to get a building permit of some kind before anything can happen. Thats about all I can say on this subject, but you would without a doubt have to consult the home owner.

ttystikk · Apr 24, 2013

I run a 16 light op, plus another 2k over veg and moms. The chiller, hot tub and electric stove all see use, and I'm on only 100amp service.

I could run a 40 light op with 200 amps. I'm just curious about how much bigger you really want to get without being 'legal'? ... at least legal as defined as being a licensed commercial mmj producer...

SodaLicious · Apr 27, 2013

I've looked and can't seem to find the info I need. I want to run a lumatek 600 and a lumatek 1000 ballast on the same 20 amp circuit. the circuit is 12/2. Will the lumatek 600, and 1000 draw more than 16 amps?

ttystikk · Apr 28, 2013

SodaLicious said:
I've looked and can't seem to find the info I need. I want to run a lumatek 600 and a lumatek 1000 ballast on the same 20 amp circuit. the circuit is 12/2. Will the lumatek 600, and 1000 draw more than 16 amps?

Volts x Amps = Watts. Since this is an algebra equation, you can solve for amps. Add up all the wattage you want on the circuit, divide by your line voltage, and voilà! Total amps! Be sure that you don't load the circuit over 80% with stuff that will be left running continuously, like lights.

fishwhistle · May 15, 2013

ttystikk said:
I run a 16 light op, plus another 2k over veg and moms. The chiller, hot tub and electric stove all see use, and I'm on only 100amp service.

I could run a 40 light op with 200 amps. I'm just curious about how much bigger you really want to get without being 'legal'? ... at least legal as defined as being a licensed commercial mmj producer...

Are those 16 lights 1ks and on a flip?

Underground · May 15, 2013

ttystikk said:
Volts x Amps = Watts. Since this is an algebra equation, you can solve for amps. Add up all the wattage you want on the circuit, divide by your line voltage, and voilà! Total amps! Be sure that you don't load the circuit over 80% with stuff that will be left running continuously, like lights.

I would add to that that most mag ballasts have a 90% power factor. So take the total amps and multiply by the reciprocal of the power factor (1/.9= 1.111) And most of these ballast have a power factor of 50% before PF is corrected with capacitor. (1/.5=2) 1600/120= 13.333 but will actually draw 14.81 at 120volts. Or 26.666 if the capacitors were to pop. In some cases the lights will still run but at lower output. But will draw more current. A ballast is an inductive load. A capacitor is a capacitive load. In an inductive load, the current lags the voltage. In a capacitive load, the current leads the voltage. Which draws more power. Capacitors are added to inductive loads to correct the power factor, bringing the current closer to the voltage in the waveform. It also prevents over saturation of the iron core. That's why with some ballasts if the capacitor blows, the core of the ballast will overheat and blow the transformer.

ttystikk · May 16, 2013

Thanks to underground for dropping far more knowledge than I possess. I'm going to Re read that...

ttystikk · May 16, 2013

fishwhistle said:
Are those 16 lights 1ks and on a flip?

Yes on thouies, and scheduled like a flip so no more than 8kW plus veg are ever on at any time. I just don't use a flip box to achieve this.

And yes, because I'll get asked, it's all cooled by just two tons of chilling.

Herb Forester · May 22, 2013

I'm setting up a room with 3-phase 120/208v. This is new for me, although I've wired plenty of 120/240v single-phase circuits. Can anyone help me better understand how to balance the legs properly, and how to calculate total available amperage?

My ballasts and AC unit are 208v ready, and I'll also have some 120v breakers in the same subpanel.

Here's some other discussion I found on the subject: https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/new-to-3-phase-208v.30680/

Herb Forester · May 22, 2013

Here's the panel I'm using. It has 12 breaker spaces with tabs for balancing the load (A-B, B-C, A-C).

Underground · May 25, 2013

Tabs for balancing the load? Which loads are 3 phase? Which are single phase 120 and which are single phase 208? If you are trying to balance just be sure not to switch any of the conductors of the 3 phase loads that have motors. And if they are phase rotation dependent, make sure you test and have CW phase rotation. You shouldn't really need to worry about balancing such a small panel though. Especially with only 12 ckts.

Herb Forester · May 26, 2013

Underground said:
Tabs for balancing the load? Which loads are 3 phase? Which are single phase 120 and which are single phase 208? If you are trying to balance just be sure not to switch any of the conductors of the 3 phase loads that have motors. And if they are phase rotation dependent, make sure you test and have CW phase rotation. You shouldn't really need to worry about balancing such a small panel though. Especially with only 12 ckts.

By tabs I just meant there are 3 breaker contact-points for each phase, allowing for 6 2-pole breakers or up to 12 120v breakers. My 208v circuits are light controller and AC, and a few 120v for pumps, dehuey, environment/co2, etc. Good to know about the motors, not an issue in this situation though.

I did some research and think I understand 208y better now. The additional amperage capacity (compared to 240v single phase) is nice, but to take advantage of it I might need to run a ballast or two on 120v (two legs will be at 80% already). Here's a reference that made sense to me:

So do I understand you correctly that if even with two legs maxxed at 80% with 208v, it's not so crucial to balance the third leg with equivalent 120v amps? And which would be better if I only have two 2-pole breakers carrying that 80% load, 1) both breakers on the same two legs, or 2) only one common leg with each breaker using one of the remaining two legs?

Thanks for your help!

mk michael · Jun 11, 2013

Anyone know anything about gree terra line mini splits. They are cheap and have a low Seer Rating. curious if they last.

Underground · Jun 11, 2013

Just keep it close enough for gov't work. Loads vary all the time. No you don't need to max the third just because A and B are maxed.

advanced396 · Jun 18, 2013

Question
I'am setting up a new place. It has a 10 KVA transformer & 150 amp main breaker was wondering if I can run 16 1000 watt lights on a flip box so totaling 32 lights on off. With 5 tons ac for each room for a total of 10 tons of air. I will be running digital ballast on 240V

Animal Chin · Jun 19, 2013

I'm hooking up a sub panel directly behind my main. I'm even connecting them with a nipple lol that's how close. My question is can I use my mains ground?

Ne Obliviscaris · Jun 26, 2013

Have any of you guys ever run 3 1000w lights off a 240v 20amp breaker?

I'm moving to a new spot and there's only room in the fusebox for two 240v breakers. I want to run 6 1000's which means three per breaker.

According to my math each light is running at 5amps (actually a little less) at 240v and so I should be able to run 3 at 15amps which is below the 80% capacity you're supposed to cap your draw at.

I realize that ballasts draw more at start up, but as long as I stagger them all by 15 minutes, I should be all good, correct?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Grow Room Electrical

Grow Room Electrical

indogro

KUSHPILES

indogro

KUSHPILES

ttystikk

SodaLicious

ttystikk

fishwhistle

Underground

ttystikk

ttystikk

Herb Forester

Herb Forester

Underground

Herb Forester

mk michael

Underground

advanced396

Animal Chin

Ne Obliviscaris

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