Please help - electrical question

Durio_OG · Jun 28, 2023

I am preparing for a 20x20' space and plan on using 16 LED units that are about 1100 watts each. I am new to indoor growing and I am pretty inept with in electrical so what I am going to ask will probably sound stupid.

What is the proper way to power these lights?

Is it OK to have a dedicated 20 amp breaker for each individual light and timer with the remaining load to power ancillary equipment (fans, filters, etc)?

GNick55 · Jun 28, 2023

Durio_OG said:
I am preparing for a 20x20' space and plan on using 16 LED units that are about 1100 watts each. I am new to indoor growing and I am pretty inept with in electrical so what I am going to ask will probably sound stupid.

What is the proper way to power these lights?

Is it OK to have a dedicated 20 amp breaker for each individual light and timer with the remaining load to power ancillary equipment (fans, filters, etc)?

someone will chime in to help you out..

Deadstill · Jun 28, 2023

Durio_OG said:
I am preparing for a 20x20' space and plan on using 16 LED units that are about 1100 watts each. I am new to indoor growing and I am pretty inept with in electrical so what I am going to ask will probably sound stupid.

What is the proper way to power these lights?

Is it OK to have a dedicated 20 amp breaker for each individual light and timer with the remaining load to power ancillary equipment (fans, filters, etc)?

Howdy, and welcome to the Farm!

First of all, are these lights actually drawing 1100 watts? Usually they say something like "1200 watt LED light" but what they actually mean is "equivalent to standard 1200 watt light" - and generally these lights only draw somewhere between 80-100 watts, actual power usage..

I could be wrong, and it has been a long time since I've purchased any LED lights, but this is generally the case. An LED light that actually draws 1100 watts sounds like it would be incredibly powerful.

As far as circuit breakers go, most people don't know this, but they only exist for 1 reason and 1 reason alone. To protect the wiring in your walls from getting too hot and starting a fire, and nothing more.

I've run about 13 or 14 of Mars Hydro's older blurple "1000 watt equivalent LEDs" off of one single 20 amp breaker without any trips.

Perhaps someone with a little more electrical savvy will chime in, but I think you'll be alright.

Dub_City405 · Jun 28, 2023

No he does not run 14 lights off 1 breaker with his high ass. Unless the 1 break is connect with a 120 Amp breaker.

Get a control box. That is in the room you can plug all the lights into. Then just run the control box to your breaker. Make sure you have open slots in your breaker box first. It's gonna be based on your Amp usage not your watts.

Sunasun · Jun 28, 2023

20 amps x 120 volts = 2400 watts. 16 lights @ 100 watts a piece would be 1600 watts. Should be doable.

HighVoltageSparky · Jun 28, 2023

Check actual consumption on lights. 16 lights X 1,1KW = 17 KW.
This is a ridiculous amount of energy. You running first grow in a automated building? :: = )

Also, note that LED has high start energy, surgy energy or whatever. Meaning, lets say your fuse is 10 Amps.
Also, LED lights will pull nominal watts times TEN. in surge energy

1100 watts one light - Amps = Watts/voltage - 1100/230 = 4,78 Amps
Wow, so with one light, we're pulling half of what one 10A MCB should be able to handle, and also 4,78 X 10surge factor = 47 Amps the first milliseconds. Which is fine, but when you plug more lights, this surge energy will buiild and build, and the fuse will trip, not because you have too many amps on the fuse, but the surge energy is making the fuse trip.
I could go in to how o calculate if the surge energy will trip the fuse or not, but i've written too much already

Aaallll of this to say, check the marking on your equipment, this will tell you how much watts your stuff pulls, then it's easy to calculate how many lights per mcb, and also misc equipment.

Me personally, i have one fuse for two lights 5 Amps on a 16A fuse, plus extra stuff, but i also have a redundancy. Meaning dobbel of everything. One tripped fused will not screw you over.

I used to have trouble with the monkey fans shortcircuit, and trip my whole damn apartment!!

HighVoltageSparky · Jun 28, 2023

Sunasun said:
20 amps x 120 volts = 2400 watts. 16 lights @ 100 watts a piece would be 1600 watts. Should be doable.

Ah yes, also the equation looks different if you're an American/Canadian, using your weak split winding 110 V

imgrowing · Jun 28, 2023

how many amps do those lights draw?

HighVoltageSparky · Jun 28, 2023

Deadstill said:
Howdy, and welcome to the Farm!

First of all, are these lights actually drawing 1100 watts? Usually they say something like "1200 watt LED light" but what they actually mean is "equivalent to standard 1200 watt light" - and generally these lights only draw somewhere between 80-100 watts, actual power usage..

I could be wrong, and it has been a long time since I've purchased any LED lights, but this is generally the case. An LED light that actually draws 1100 watts sounds like it would be incredibly powerful.

As far as circuit breakers go, most people don't know this, but they only exist for 1 reason and 1 reason alone. To protect the wiring in your walls from getting too hot and starting a fire, and nothing more.

I've run about 13 or 14 of Mars Hydro's older blurple "1000 watt equivalent LEDs" off of one single 20 amp breaker without any trips.

Perhaps someone with a little more electrical savvy will chime in, but I think you'll be alright.

"As far as circuit breakers go, most people don't know this, but they only exist for 1 reason and 1 reason alone. To protect the wiring in your walls from getting too hot and starting a fire, and nothing more."

This is as accurate as you can get buddy boy. Good job mate, i've worked with sparkies who never cared to learn this very fundamental fact. You must have some voltage inside you somewhere : = )

All there is to do is segregate the lights evenly on some MCB's, connecting everything to one fuse is... Risky. If everything ends well, great.
However, it is "bad" form to adhere to this philosophy. Try to think about, if one thing fails, do i still have a barrier to protect plants / humans?

This is assuming this gentleman has a solid fusebox. Just waiting for the man to send over pictures, or at least respond? : = )

And whoever came up with 1000Watt HPS equivalent LED 100 Watts needs a damn good thrashing.

Deadstill · Jun 28, 2023

HighVoltageSparky said:
"As far as circuit breakers go, most people don't know this, but they only exist for 1 reason and 1 reason alone. To protect the wiring in your walls from getting too hot and starting a fire, and nothing more."

This is as accurate as you can get buddy boy. Good job mate, i've worked with sparkies who never cared to learn this very fundamental fact. You must have some voltage inside you somewhere : = )

All there is to do is segregate the lights evenly on some MCB's, connecting everything to one fuse is... Risky. If everything ends well, great.
However, it is "bad" form to adhere to this philosophy. Try to think about, if one thing fails, do i still have a barrier to protect plants / humans?

This is assuming this gentleman has a solid fusebox. Just waiting for the man to send over pictures, or at least respond? : = )

And whoever came up with 1000Watt HPS equivalent LED 100 Watts needs a damn good thrashing.

Yeah I used to deal a lot with electrical when I was an automotive tech, but I haven't messed with it much in a long time, and as they say, use it or lose it.

I could be wrong on the actual number of lights I ran off of 1 20 amp breaker, it's been a few years, but the lights I had did not use very much power at all. Yeah, they advertise as 1000w equivalent but they're nowhere near that in actual power usage.

It's like when you go to Walmart and all the lightbulbs, on the box, say for example, "75 watt" in big letters, and then below that it says something like "11 watts used"

To the OP - If you can't find the actual energy used on the lights themselves or the box they came in, I highly recommend you get a meter, similar to this one - https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Cons...60&sprefix=energy+usage+meter,aps,169&sr=8-13
plug one of your lights into it, and find out. But I highly doubt for your setup a 20 amp breaker per light, will be necessary. If you were running MH/HPS, yes, but not with LEDs.

Mikedin · Jun 28, 2023

I’m assuming he’s taking about true 1,000w bar style lights not the 100w “1,000w equivelent” lights

Need light specs

Deadstill · Jun 28, 2023

Mikedin said:
I’m assuming he’s taking about true 1,000w bar style lights not the 100w “1,000w equivelent” lights

Need light specs

Yeah, see I haven't had the opportunity to use one of those bar style lights yet. I'm glad the LED grow light industry is making good progress, though! The 1000w equiv. lights don't put out nearly the same PAR as a 1,000w MH/HPS, especially the double enders.

I think a lot of people buy lights from Amazon thinking they got some "great deal" on an LED light only to find out they're 2 steps above a candle

HighVoltageSparky · Jun 28, 2023

Deadstill said:
Yeah, see I haven't had the opportunity to use one of those bar style lights yet. I'm glad the LED grow light industry is making good progress, though! The 1000w equiv. lights don't put out nearly the same PAR as a 1,000w MH/HPS, especially the double enders.

I think a lot of people buy lights from Amazon thinking they got some "great deal" on an LED light only to find out they're 2 steps above a candle

Bro, it should be illegal. Thankfully they're dirt cheap, and doesn't need more dillydally to hook up.

If the thread guy could only give us info on the lights and perhaps his fusebox : - (

GNick55 · Jun 28, 2023

Deadstill said:
Yeah, see I haven't had the opportunity to use one of those bar style lights yet. I'm glad the LED grow light industry is making good progress, though! The 1000w equiv. lights don't put out nearly the same PAR as a 1,000w MH/HPS, especially the double enders.

I think a lot of people buy lights from Amazon thinking they got some "great deal" on an LED light only to find out they're 2 steps above a candle

first of all nothing of any quality is available on amazon..
not a single item i have for growing is from amazon..

Mikedin · Jun 28, 2023

Deadstill said:
Yeah, see I haven't had the opportunity to use one of those bar style lights yet. I'm glad the LED grow light industry is making good progress, though! The 1000w equiv. lights don't put out nearly the same PAR as a 1,000w MH/HPS, especially the double enders.

I think a lot of people buy lights from Amazon thinking they got some "great deal" on an LED light only to find out they're 2 steps above a candle

Haha yeah I have 2 of those they can put out a decent harvest but nothing comparable to the bar styles like the
Spiderfarmer G1000

Link isint working but this light for example

Deadstill · Jun 28, 2023

Mikedin said:
Haha yeah I have 2 of those they can put out a decent harvest but nothing comparable to the bar styles like the
SPIDER FARMER G1000W LED Grow Lights for 4x4ft/5x5ft Coverage Full Spectrum Dimmable Daisy Chain 1000W Commercial LED Growing Lamp Bar Style 2.9 umol/J Vertical Farming Co2 https://a.co/d/8Dk8nHZ

Right on, I may have to invest in a few of these eventually. I've mostly switched to outdoor growing, now, since I switched my focus to industrial hemp, the only indoor growing I do now is to start seedlings. Also being mostly OTG (off-the-grid) running a grow room 24/7/365 isn't ideal.

Oldchucky · Jun 28, 2023

Hire a licensed electrician!

HighVoltageSparky · Jun 28, 2023

Well, i wrote down some numbers for OP, for he when gets back.

If we assume one light is really 1100Watts, that's 10A per light @110V.

However, putting two lights, 20A, on a 20A MCB is bad form. You don't want to pull more than 80-85% of the rated amperage on the fuse. Hypothetically, you would be pulling max amps out of that poor MCB. That assumes you're pulling max (Watts) on both fixtures. This, the grower could adjust himself, lower the lights, dim the power to get a more sensible power pull via the MCB. Around 16A.

And I haven't even gotten to the startcurrent from two lights, assumes 80-100 times nominal amperages, we're looking at 180-200A startcurrent (Max power from lights)
A standard 20A breaker (Characteristic C) has a limit of what amperages it will let through(in a set amount of time) before tripping. For startcurrent this is called I4 value.

Characteristic C breakers should hold rated I nominel X 5 = 100A
Actually, it could be 5-10 times rated Amps, this is MCB specific.

Plain as day, two lights 20A equal ish to 200 A startcurrent <100A I4 equation not satisfied.
You could dim the lights, yeah, but this is a napkin calculation what you need, or not need to think about. Only one, MAYBE two lights, which you make sure of that you don't pull more what is "safe"

OP has to come back to us, what fuses, amperage, info on lights, need specs and everything.

GuySmiley · Jun 28, 2023

What person that is "..new to indoor growing" starts off with a 20' x 20' grow room and 16 lights?

HighVoltageSparky · Jun 28, 2023

GuySmiley said:
What person that is "..new to indoor growing" starts off with a 20' x 20' grow room and 16 lights?

Go big or go home? The guy seems to have some green fingers, maybe he trives on the challenge?

If so, I can respect that

Please help - electrical question

Please help - electrical question

Durio_OG

GNick55

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

Dub_City405

Sunasun

HighVoltageSparky

HighVoltageSparky

imgrowing

HighVoltageSparky

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

Mikedin

Living Soil Student

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

HighVoltageSparky

GNick55

Mikedin

Living Soil Student

Attachments

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

Oldchucky

HighVoltageSparky

GuySmiley

HighVoltageSparky

Please help - electrical question

Please help - electrical question

Durio_OG

GNick55

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

Dub_City405

Sunasun

HighVoltageSparky

HighVoltageSparky

imgrowing

HighVoltageSparky

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

Mikedin

Living Soil Student

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

HighVoltageSparky

GNick55

Mikedin

Living Soil Student

Attachments

Deadstill

Have Dick, Will Travel

Oldchucky

HighVoltageSparky

GuySmiley

HighVoltageSparky

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