How many total watts can I run through a 200 amp panel? 24,000 or 48,000?

[sixstring]

My AC alone pulls 45 amps on start up and it is a portable 5 ton unit that barely keeps up with 9k in the summer. Each 1k light is 4.5 amps running on 240. A dehuey is 8 amps. I haev 2 of those to keep up. Most residential dehueys are 110. You should leave 10-20% free on your breakers at all times, includign your main breaker so forget about 200 amps start thinking 180 amps.

With 40 lights you are gonna need 15-20 tons of cooling. There is no fuckin way you can put all that on a 200 amp service. Sorry.

i get what your saying but I think they said lights would be dedicated separate service ?everyones enviro is different cap,i run the same 9kw with no a/c all winter and it only takes a 2.5 ton to cool it in summer with 90f temps outside.plus one dehuy pulling half the amps yours does and I run at 35% rh I think @Myco answered all the op's questions pretty well as far as the differences between 120volt and 240volt

 

[crocodile og]

Shit son!!! 200 amps?

I thought I was a baller with 2 20amp circuits at 240v and my mini splits direct to the panel.

Respect :)

 

[Olyver]

36 x 1000w ballasts, that's it. if you stagger your ballasts to power on 2 or 4 at a time will also help. If you have another 200A panel for all your other equipment that would be a bonus.

 

[AllDay]

Olyver,

Are you saying you put 36 lights plus the air conditoners, dehueys, etc. on a 200 amp panel?

 

[boston]

Olyver,

Are you saying you put 36 lights plus the air conditoners, dehueys, etc. on a 200 amp panel?

No

 

[Olyver]

The Titan helios 14 is okay, just don't understand why the timer is mounted on the bottom and it's a cheap mechanical, couldn't they mount a digital wallswitch timer like Honeywell or Aube on the front.

 

[Olyver]

No, the 36 lights would be the only equipment on the 200A panel. If you want to run all your equipment from one loadcenter, install two digital ammeters for single-phase or three ammeters for three-phase to monitor the amperage draw in real time.

 

[Olyver]

If you purchase a titan helios 14, you may have issue with electrical inspection, CEC requires all enclosures that are NEMA rated be 14AWG thickness, the helios is 20AWG, pretty thin considering, don't know why the couldn't have built a better enclosure.

 

[Papa]

If you purchase a titan helios 14, you may have issue with electrical inspection, CEC requires all enclosures that are NEMA rated be 14AWG thickness, the helios is 20AWG, pretty thin considering, don't know why the couldn't have built a better enclosure.

olyver, you old sparky! sheetmetal gauge is not referred to as AWG (although i think the thickness is the same between AWG and Brown & Sharp). sheetmetal gauges change dependent on material. 'sorry, this is tmi for most.

http://www.engineersedge.com/gauge.htm

 

[CannabisJohn]

I think there is some confusion going on in this thread.

By running 240v as opposed to 120v you ARE allowed to run more lights off of a given circuit/panel.

Amps = Watts/volts

Watts do not change, voltage and amperage does. The amount of amperage is what dictates how much power can run through said panel.

Running a single 1k at 120v, pulls 8.6 amps. 1000/120 = 8.6 amps.

Running a single 1k at 240v, pulls 4.3 amps. 1000/240 = 4.3

So with a 200 amp panel, assuming nothing but lights are going to be on said panel, it is recommended to not exceed 80% of circuit capacity. So we're working with 160 amps. If we divide 160 (total amps available) by 4.3 (a single 1k at 240v) we get 37.21. So basically, 36 or 37 lights. If we were to run the same lights on 120v, we'd divide 160 by 8.6, as running at half the voltage, we will double the amperage... this works out to 19.28 lights... so 18 or 19 lights.

It is an obvious choice when it comes to running lights on 120v vs. 240v when running more that 1k or 2k... and even then, it allows you to have more wattage on a specific circuit. Smaller circuit size, which means smaller wire. It allows you to more efficiently wire your setup, it doesn't affect the actual efficiency of the lights or power consumption.

Hope that all makes sense, good luck, and be safe!


Source: I am an HVAC professional/licensed electrician.

Edit: voltage varies up to 250v depending on specific area, always calculate by 240v, because the lower the voltage, the higher the amperage. When considering larger loads, this does make a difference, and you want to stay within 80% of maxing a circuit with a full, constant load.

Agree with everything except the voltage should be measured not just use 240v. I have seen it here in SoCal at 208 or a little less.

 

[DO IT]

Thanks to everyone for the answers! I've heard conflicting answers to this question. Has anyone actually seen a flower room with 16,000 watts worth of lighting running at the same time (not 2-8,000 watt rooms running on a flip) on a 200 amp panel?

Yes that's what I run. 2ok on at 1 time in flower and 10k in veg with 5 5T AC units


There is a lot of confusion in this thread.
1st a 1k ballast needs the same amount of amps to light a 1k bulb, no matter if the circuit it is on is 120v or 220v. The reason a 1k ballast runs half the amperage on 220v as opposed to 120v is because you are splitting up the draw on 220v. If you add each leg you are still pulling the same amperage. This is basic math. The first thing you have to do is find out what size lines and what they are made of( copper/ aluminum). Then you have to add up everything you will be using in amps. I run 4/0 aluminum cables they are rated for 225a each. That means they can hold a maximum 450a combined. It is not recommended that you draw that much constant power through them. That is where the 80% rule comes in, just in case there is a surge you won't get a fire works display.

This is a setup I run...
30k in ballast
2 power box's
2 flip box's for a total of 50 hoods
25T in AC - 5 5T units
40 wall fans
1/10 chiller for cloning machine
3 propane burners
A bunch of pumps
1 large refrigerator and 1 mini
And I run a twister once a month for 4 days
And a bunch of small misc stuff

I have a # 50 transformer that I am the only 1 on from there I have 4/0 aluminum cables running about 300ft to my panel. I have picks on here some where of these setups.

 

[DO IT]

This is a pic of the old setup it was 28k with 4 5T units + everything else you need. This was in a very big home with people living in it and it had a pool.

 

[Olyver]

Hi DO IT, how the heck are you doing.

 

[Capulator]

@DO IT

Go big or go home eh?

Or in your case... Go big AT home!

 

[DO IT]

Hi DO IT, how the heck are you doing.

Good bro, how you been up their ? Winter beat up up?

 

[DO IT]

@DO IT

Go big or go home eh?

Or in your case... Go big AT home!

Cap that's why I was telling you I needed your bennies in larger amounts ;).... When we guna see them 5 or 10kg bags or buckets???

 

[Olyver]

Doing good DO IT, if you still need some help, let me know.

 

[Capulator]

Cap that's why I was telling you I needed your bennies in larger amounts ;).... When we guna see them 5 or 10kg bags or buckets???

I got 10k buckets hit me up homie.

 

[cyprian]

I just want to clarify a misunderstanding on this thread. The power coming into your panel through your mains is single phase 220/240V, however it is converted to something called split phase, with 120V on each leg with a neutral return for unbalanced loads. The 2 legs are 180 degrees out of phase. This means that if 20amps is pulled on one leg without being pulled on the other leg 20 amps will flow back down the neutral, but if 20 amps is pulled on the other leg it will balance the load and there will be no current flowing down the neutral. As I'm sure you can already see, 20 amps on each leg can be expressed as 40 amps of 120 v or 20 amps of 240 v. So the available wattage does not change; 240 V x 200 amps=48000 watts, or 120 V x 200 amps x 2 legs = 48000 watts . It must be noted however, that each leg can only handle a maximum of 200 amps so the loads must be perfectly balanced as the breaker will trip if EITHER leg maxes out. I do want to meantion though that typically there are small gains to be made when using 240 v as higher voltages tend to increase efficiency slightly (less amperage = less resistance (for a given conductor size) = less heat = greater efficiency)
I hope that clarifies things.
Cheers!

 

[Hookah79]

I know its an old thread,but it's very informative.Here's my question ,we have a 4/0 underground aluminum going to a 200 amp panel. The house is built in the early 70s,the transformer is about 150' from the house.I am being told by an electrician that i can run up to 20k with a 5 ton ac,and a 2.5 ton for the house itself??.With 13 k and both ac's running i am getting a 100 amp and some change with my clamp meter on each leg.So can each leg actually pull 200 amps?