Quick electrical question.

[Gnarfbuckle]

Runnin 2 ballasts, A 1000w and a 400w on one circuit. Gonna give the circuit its own breaker in my main panel.

20 amp breaker enough to handle this? Its running 120v

Also 14 gauge or 12 gauge romex?


Thanks guys.

 

[Malachi]

I think your lights are 5 amps each but I would use 2-20 amp breakers for your room to handle the pumps, ac etc and will give some room to add in the future if you want. You might as well use the 12 gauge even though the 14 would probally be ok.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I would go with 12 gu just because it is just a little more cost wise. That's about 13a so that would work ok just for the lights. JK

 

[Gro]

20 and 12 malachi's right on.build ur room with some wiggle room for the future.you'll be happy u did.

 

[Gnarfbuckle]

yeah ive got a few circuits setup, jus making sure 20 would be safe. Dont need any fires around here.

 

[Lost]

FYI the 1000w is 10 amps at 120 and 5 amps at 220..

 

[Lost]

Might as well make it a 220 line.. same amount of work..

 

[sedate]

FYI the 1000w is 10 amps at 120 and 5 amps at 220..

Probably a tad more if they're magnetic ballasts- like maybe ~10.6A and 5.5A - but this is basically correct.

Also 14 gauge or 12 gauge romex

At 120 or 220v the 12 or 14 gauge isn't going to matter (assuming your run is <~150ft). Use what you can do the best install with.

yeah ive got a few circuits setup, jus making sure 20 would be safe. Dont need any fires around here.

For that particular setup, even with all the additional devices - fans, pumps, whatever - you might install - you aren't going to exceed 20A - you'll probably come in right around 16 ~ 17 - so the headroom on the circuit will be perhaps a bit tighter than I'd like - but I think you'll be just fine.

Might as well make it a 220 line.. same amount of work..

Agreed. 220V really opens up the grow to *so many* possibilities.

Don't forget that this circuit will only run your lights and maybe your cannon fan - the rest of your devices will need a 120V circuit as well.

If you did - say - a 220V @ 30A or 40A circuit (use 12 or even 10 guage for that fucker) - you'd have headroom for four 1000W HPS bulbs and all the subsidiary hardware you could ever want - even an A/C or chiller.

Lost:

Do I recall correctly you saying that, experiencially, 220V produces brighter lamps?

 

[Lost]

No, that was someone else. But it makes sence. Lumatek is working on making a ballast for the 400v (uses a capicitor runs on 220) bulbs. These 400 volt bulbs are supposed to last longer, be brighter and have a fuller spectrum.

 

[cheyenne]

Alot of good advice here. Ill drop my pennies worth.
2600 watts/120VAC= 21.667 amp of power, however I would figure it at 2800 watts/120VAC for 23.334 amps, so no, in neither situation is your 20 amp breaker enough.
While you could probably get away with 12AWG wire, i'd recommend stepping it up to a minimum of 10AWG, and i'd NEVER in a million years use 14AWG to power even a single 1k watt ballast. 14AWG (in an SO cord) should be reserved, at best, for your lamp cord.
Its just not worth the risk of fire IMHO to skip on wire size. I personally use either 2 parallel 10's or single number 6's on each leg for my rooms, albeit a bit larger then yours, but not by much right now, and i'm only 30' max from my panel to my recepticles. Wires cheap compared to the expense of fire, not to mention dealing w/ popo after the fact.....Call around to electrical contractors, they probably have piles of short pieces of #10 flex lying around, you can score for cheap to nothing. Just tell them your wiring a big air compressor out in your garage or something.....


Edit: Note divide my W/V #'s by two to determine Amps at 240VAC.

 

[sedate]

2600 watts/120VAC= 21.667 amp of power, however I would figure it at 2800 watts/120VAC for 23.334 amps, so no, in neither situation is your 20 amp breaker enough.

He's running 1400 watts of light, not 2600 or 2800.

While you could probably get away with 12AWG wire, i'd recommend stepping it up to a minimum of 10AWG, and i'd NEVER in a million years use 14AWG to power even a single 1k watt ballast. 14AWG (in an SO cord) should be reserved, at best, for your lamp cord.

That's *really* conservative dude - really 14awg for ~15A is *fine* and 12AWG will run 20A all day w/o a problem up at 120V.

10awg is just really overkill for a 15 ~ 20A room.

Here's a good sizing chart for amperage on a 120vac circuit:



I'm the first guy to beat people over the head for electrical safety, but these recommendations *really* are overkill.

 

[Loudblunts]

why not pull an #8 SER AL and just run you a subby? (subpanel) and you have an extra 20amps (40a total) and the ability to keep it 220 or run your 110 like you need

however, if you gonna run some line...might as well make as much as you can and as a big of a hit your pocket can afford.

i'd maybe run a #6 and run with a 60amp breaker, leaving you plenty of run

remember...always work smarter, not harder. Do it once with headroom, so you dont have to run again, shall there be a need for more power?

 

[Fred]

I ran a 1000w and 430w on one 20amp 120V breaker for 6 years and it was fine. If you are never going to get bigger then it's fine like it is.

I like your style Loudblunts. Thats whats up. I ran huge Wire.....embarrassed to say how big ...:giggle...for a 30amp timer box. I could shoot a couple hundred amps through it no problem.......lol.... It was like unwinding cable.

 

[cheyenne]

He's running 1400 watts of light, not 2600 or 2800.



That's *really* conservative dude - really 14awg for ~15A is *fine* and 12AWG will run 20A all day w/o a problem up at 120V.

10awg is just really overkill for a 15 ~ 20A room.

Here's a good sizing chart for amperage on a 120vac circuit:



I'm the first guy to beat people over the head for electrical safety, but these recommendations *really* are overkill.

Oops my bad, now hows my reading comprehension lol.....little self depreciating humor.

Anyway I thought he was running twin 1ks and a 6, so yeah a twenty is plenty.
As far as being conservative, you bet your ass im conservative when it come to the security of my grows and the electrical systems i build for them. In residential I'll never run less than a 10AWG even for a single 1k on 120VAC.....Seen toooo many grows on the news that have gone up in flames from shoddy wiring jobs.

 

[sedate]

As far as being conservative, you bet your ass im conservative when it come to the security of my grows and the electrical systems i build for them. In residential I'll never run less than a 10AWG even for a single 1k on 120VAC.....

I mean I feel ya on safety man - but 10AWG for a 1k on house voltage AC?

Just running wire that thick is a pain in the ass man - I'd rather do it with 14, especially if I was only planning a 1 or 2k grow.

Seen toooo many grows on the news that have gone up in flames from shoddy wiring jobs.

I've heard that 1 in 5 housefires in California is a grow-op. Haha.

I mean - most folks don't understand amperage - they are so used to daisy chaining as many devices as they can find a plug for - like I know a guy that strung up like half-a-dozen or so 1000's - on a single 15A bedroom circuit - so his breaker failed right (melted right into the box, crazy looking failure I'll tell ya) - so he ended up blowing out the box that runs the neighborhood.

I told him he was lucky he didn't burn down his whole condominium, but that didn't really make the guy feel much better. I mean the whole incident cost him half of a years' pay.

Long story short, every single neighbor now knew he was pot farming, he got evicted, lost his deposit, got sued by the landlord, and ended up owing Xcel energy $7800 for the repair work on the box.

Anyway - big difference between that idiocy-on-parade and using 14awg for a properly designed, installed, and amped circuit.

 

[entrails]

Lots of great posts and sound information here.

There is one thing, I dont know if it was mentioned, that is simple to overlook.

Make sure you run 20 amp outlets and not ones rated for 15amps if you putting in a 20 amp circuit!

14 awg is code in cali for a 15 amp circuit.

Keep in mind that the wire is built to handle a higher load than what it is rated for.

I would always use 12 awg for a 15 amp cicuit, as it is not too hard to work with and allows room to grow to a 20 amp circuit in the future if needed without running new wire. Number 14 is plenty though for 15 amps if wired correctly. Thats why #14 is code!