Grow Room Electrical

[Natural]

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?

Code says that we need an additional earth rod for sub panels, only if the subpanel is for a detached structure. If the sub is in the same structure as the main..NO you do not need an additional earth rod.

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.

Have you totaled the load for your main service? Same 80% rule. Digital ballasts would be better than magnetics, magnetic ballasts have been known to run higher or hotter than the rated bulb. Save yourself a headache and install one 50 amp breaker. Just never max out the main with the total household load.

 

[Ne Obliviscaris]

Have you totaled the load for your main service? Same 80% rule. Digital ballasts would be better than magnetics, magnetic ballasts have been known to run higher or hotter than the rated bulb. Save yourself a headache and install one 50 amp breaker. Just never max out the main with the total household load.

Appreciate the advice, man. Couple more Qs:



All digital ballasts.

100amps from the street. Not much else being run in the house (except fans on other breakers) at least not while the lights are on. Will the 50amp reduce the draw to the main at all?--I dont think it should, but this isnt my area of expertise.

One of the reasons I want to run the 2 20amps is because I already have them each with 60ft of 10 gauge wiring and whatever the insulation required for floating oulets. What would I do with the 50, run one 6 gauge wire off of it to a 6 outlet panel?

 

[Natural]

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?

Also..every sub panel does ground @ the main..even when it is required to have it's own earth rod. Neutral and ground (4-wire required by code on all new work) should ALWAYS be separated at the sub panel. Sometimes it's a simple tab to break off between ground and neutral bus bars.

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.

If you are positive that you won't need additional electric other than your 6 lights..you could save a little money on the wire if you installed one 40 amp double pole. I'm a fan of forward thinking though..and you won't be able to upgrade the breaker without upgrading your size of wire.

 

[Natural]

Appreciate the advice, man. Couple more Qs:



All digital ballasts.

100amps from the street. Not much else being run in the house (except fans on other breakers) at least not while the lights are on. Will the 50amp reduce the draw to the main at all?--I dont think it should, but this isnt my area of expertise.

One of the reasons I want to run the 2 20amps is because I already have them each with 60ft of 10 gauge wiring and whatever the insulation required for floating oulets. What would I do with the 50, run one 6 gauge wire off of it to a 6 outlet panel?

Not sure how to answer the question about the 50 amp draw on the main..reduce the draw? What ever load you put on your panel is determined by the appliances..not the breaker size.

Yes..to a panel or controller..timing it would require a trigger relay. If you already have the wire run..simply put it would be easier. You might spend more on controllers that way..but you could build your own. http://www.hydroponics.net/learn/grow-light-controller.asp

 

[Ne Obliviscaris]

Not sure how to answer the question about the 50 amp draw on the main..reduce the draw? What ever load you put on your panel is determined by the appliances..not the breaker size.

Yeah, ignore that comment, I misread your previous post and thought you were saying that using the 50amp breaker would be of benefit becuas it would reduce the draw to the main relative to the 2 20's, but now I see you were just talking about having those extra 10amps as a buffer, or if I want to increase the number of lights.

I'm definatly not going to increase the number of lights at this spot, as I'm already worried about using up too much of the power from the main. One thing I omitted earlier is that there is an oven that will occasionally be used as well, different breaker, obviously.

Is there any way to actually test how much draw there is on the main? If im going to be using ~30amps for the lights that still leaves ~50 for the rest of the appliances before I hit 80%. Can I go turn everything in the house on and check the draw before I put in the lights?

Also, worst case scenario, I can always run 4x1000 and 2x600 which should reduce my draw by ~5 or 6 amps.

 

[Natural]

Yeah, ignore that comment, I misread your previous post and thought you were saying that using the 50amp breaker would be of benefit becuas it would reduce the draw to the main relative to the 2 20's, but now I see you were just talking about having those extra 10amps as a buffer, or if I want to increase the number of lights.

I'm definatly not going to increase the number of lights at this spot, as I'm already worried about using up too much of the power from the main. One thing I omitted earlier is that there is an oven that will occasionally be used as well, different breaker, obviously.

Is there any way to actually test how much draw there is on the main? If im going to be using ~30amps for the lights that still leaves ~50 for the rest of the appliances before I hit 80%. Can I go turn everything in the house on and check the draw before I put in the lights?

Also, worst case scenario, I can always run 4x1000 and 2x600 which should reduce my draw by ~5 or 6 amps.

Yes you can test the main..turn everything on. Just remember..the biggest items are going to be on 220v. The furnace..the AC..sometimes water heaters..etc. those are the important ones to calculate...the others are simple math exploring the max load on your breakers. Test one leg at a time while grounding the other probe.
Oven use would be good to eliminate. Do you have money and access to a gas appliance and hook up?..same goes for water heaters and dryers..switching to gas would free up lots of space. Or use wisely..oven when lights are off...but you must be diligent if you are running close to max.

 

[Natural]

Another thing..I'm curious about your existing 10AWG wire..if it is 10-3 the ground should be insulated not bare..code for 220v.

 

[Ne Obliviscaris]

Another thing..I'm curious about your existing 10AWG wire..if it is 10-3 the ground should be insulated not bare..code for 220v.

The existing wire was put in by a friend, its 10-something (I forget) the line has a ton of insulation on it, its about 1.5 inches in diameter.

EDIT: Just to be clear, its 1.5" with the insilation. Its connected to single outlets now, but I'm going to switch them out for 3 outlet fixtures.

 

[Natural]

It's imperative to fire safety to absolutely make sure you have the correct wiring corresponding to the attached breaker to complete a circuit. The size will be listed on the wire..just be sure that the ground wire is covered in green plastic sheathing and not a bare wire wrapped in paper. Particularly in long runs it poses much danger.

 

[Ne Obliviscaris]

I was going to pull the breakers its currently attached to and use them in the new place. The guy who did the work was licensed and bonded and working above the table.

 

[moneyorlove]

hi i have a new setup
60 amp 3phase feed will be buying a new transformer 60 amps for it
hoping to do 28 x 1000w lights on a flip 56 total with 4 x 600w alternating on/off per 4 hours so total would be 8x600w

2x 12 inch fans
2x 8 inch fans
2x 6 inch fans i think this is 2.2 amps (continuous)

16 water pumps rated at 1.2 amps when used , will feed 4 times per day (not continuous)

28x 1000w digital ballists 4.3 amps (continuous)
4x 600 digital ballists 2.2 (semi continuous)

1x twister machine 14 amps (not continuous)
1xtwister vacuum 9 amps (not continuous)

do i have enough power to do this? i was told with the 3 phase 60 amp feed i would have 160 amps @ 208/240
thanks !

 

[FL21grower]

hb, i want to run 2 600w hps and 2 ebb and flow systems with a c02 tank/regulator. also a 8 lamp t5 for clones/seedling /mothers in 2 tents. i have a 10x10 room. 4 circulating fans and a couple inline fans. and maybe a 1/4hp chiller. I dont know much about electric circuits and amps etc. what would be the best route to take and a basic one. i was thinking about rrunning one 15 or 20 amp circuit to a new outlet. what do you think? thanks for the advice, this thread really comes in handy

 

[bmvortex81]

if im going to purchase t5 ho lamps and i have lamps here in my house that run t12's do i have to buy a diff fixture? or can i run the t5's in the same fixture? thx basically do t5's use a diff fixture then t12's?

 

[Bangarang]

My current situation is... intermatic timer connected to a four gang box with 240 outlets. I have two of these set up to do a flip flop. I am scared of this setup because my electrician friend did not know how to put a relay between them. What i would like to do is have two MLC-4 each with 4-1000w and a 110 digi timer tied to each MLC. I would like to have a relay of some sort to prevent any possible mishaps. Can someone please explain this to me.
Is it easier/safer to build my own MLC? It seems as if all of C.A.P's products are not wired well.

 

[splakdawg]

Have an issue.
The circuit to my room popped about 2 hours after my lights went out this morning. What could possibly cause this to happen. At the time it shut off only a 10k btu window unit and carbon fan was running. Should I be worried? What could possibly be the issue?

 

[LoneWeedMan]

Hey hiboy, I'm brand new to all of this and I would like to know what size ballast I need for a 5' x 9' x 12' Gorilla Grow tent. And would two 1000W lights be too much?? Also, what do I need to control temp & humidity???

Thanks.

 

[Welshwizzard]

I have had one of my two lights on so far, pulled the new bulb out of box and it was covered on the core inside bit with yellow! Looked like it was used and had blown.. proper gutted.

Cant figure out if Ive fucked my ballast up too as it wouldnt power on a good bulb in that side and kept tripping the circuit.
I am thinking maybe it is earthed in the bit where you screw the bulb in..

Arrrghh haha

If I cant get working tonight Ill go and get a new one tomorrow.

 

[GrowChild]

I'm building a light controller/flipbox for my new rooms but have a few questions. The input power is coming from a 30amp 240v 10-30R outlet. The 10-30R outlet has two hots and a neutral, no ground. Seems this outlet was designed to power the older style 3 prong dryers which used 240v for the heating element and 120v for everything else.

Now on to what I want the controller to do. I want it to power four 240v 1000w digital ballasts and shut them off at 12:00pm, at 12:05pm I want the flipbox to flip, and at 12:10pm power back up.

I have pretty much figured everything out except the timers. I plan on using two in-wall digital timers, one to control the ballasts, and one for the flipbox. Here's where I get lost. The timers are 120v and the coils on the contactors/relays are also 120v. How do I wire them using the 10-30R outlet I have? Also would I be able to use just one timer and on/off delay relays versus two timers?

Thanks in advanced for any answers.

 

[Natural]

I'm building a light controller/flipbox for my new rooms but have a few questions. The input power is coming from a 30amp 240v 10-30R outlet. The 10-30R outlet has two hots and a neutral, no ground. Seems this outlet was designed to power the older style 3 prong dryers which used 240v for the heating element and 120v for everything else.

Now on to what I want the controller to do. I want it to power four 240v 1000w digital ballasts and shut them off at 12:00pm, at 12:05pm I want the flipbox to flip, and at 12:10pm power back up.

I have pretty much figured everything out except the timers. I plan on using two in-wall digital timers, one to control the ballasts, and one for the flipbox. Here's where I get lost. The timers are 120v and the coils on the contactors/relays are also 120v. How do I wire them using the 10-30R outlet I have? Also would I be able to use just one timer and on/off delay relays versus two timers?

Thanks in advanced for any answers.

Personally, I would prefer to run an extra 120v outlet from a different circuit..to make things work simpler. You can however, use one hot leg of the 220v and the neutral..since each leg of the 220v is essentially 120v. Pigtail the additional outlet before your controllers...do not daisy chain.

 

[Gunja]

how do i make this work 1x power box 1x lamp 1xfan? dont i need 2 power boxes?