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Safe Electricity

super12

By super12
in The Grow Room

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super12 Member

super12

Posted
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Hi everyone,

 

Well A few days ago I didn't know $#!T about electricity. I wanted to add lights but my 1,000 watt, fans and track kept tripping the 15 amp so I started looking for info about wiring I found this on a blog and did some follow up research all seems to be good info.. heres the link https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/1546-incorporating-safety-into-your-grow-room-design/ and a little copy and paste..

 

 

How to calculate your "Amp Budget"

 

First, gather ALL of the electrical devices that will be operating in your grow room. This would essentially be all of the devices that will be operating while the lights are on.

 

Take each product (fan, ballast, light) and look at the manufacturers specifications. How many AMPS does it draw?

 

I'll use my Veg room as an example:

 

1000 HPS Ballast: 9.6 amps.

Circulation Fan: 1 amp.

Intake air fan (when operating) 1.5 amps. (liberal estimate if you don't have the ppwk)

Exhaust Fan for air-cooled fixture: 2 amps. max.

 

Total: 14.1 amps on a 20 amp circuit.

 

I would still be comfortable at 15 amps total, but beyond that the circuit can "pop" at any time, especially if it is an older breaker.

 

Some breaker boxes have spaces for additional breakers to be ADDED to the breaker box. This is an operation only for qualified individuals! Don't be messing about in that breaker box unless you know exactly what you are doing!!!

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G3LLO Advanced Member

G3LLO

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone,

 

Well A few days ago I didn't know $#!T about electricity. I wanted to add lights but my 1,000 watt, fans and track kept tripping the 15 amp so I started looking for info about wiring I found this on a blog and did some follow up research all seems to be good info.. heres the link https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/1546-incorporating-safety-into-your-grow-room-design/ and a little copy and paste..

 

 

How to calculate your "Amp Budget"

 

First, gather ALL of the electrical devices that will be operating in your grow room. This would essentially be all of the devices that will be operating while the lights are on.

 

Take each product (fan, ballast, light) and look at the manufacturers specifications. How many AMPS does it draw?

 

I'll use my Veg room as an example:

 

1000 HPS Ballast: 9.6 amps.

Circulation Fan: 1 amp.

Intake air fan (when operating) 1.5 amps. (liberal estimate if you don't have the ppwk)

Exhaust Fan for air-cooled fixture: 2 amps. max.

 

Total: 14.1 amps on a 20 amp circuit.

 

I would still be comfortable at 15 amps total, but beyond that the circuit can "pop" at any time, especially if it is an older breaker.

 

Some breaker boxes have spaces for additional breakers to be ADDED to the breaker box. This is an operation only for qualified individuals! Don't be messing about in that breaker box unless you know exactly what you are doing!!!

 

 

Run 220 and drop that amp load on those 1000 watt ballasts to 5 amps :thumbsu:

Run your fans and on the normal breaker......

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dlovas Advanced Member

dlovas

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And running more "Efficient" most not save money on the bill either right.... LOL

dude just get ROMEX wire drill thru the floor rget a new 20 or higher amp fuse and put in a box in the room soloves the tripping issues. Total materail costs 100 bucks....electricianto install 100-200 find a buddy that will do it after hours and smoke him down aftr or hook him up with a sachel.

 

But seriously just add another breaker. YOU be good homey!! Then you will be able to run an additional 1,750 watts safely. I have found though that certain fans draw weird amounts....or things that power up and or down frequently. You can feel the breaker with your hands gentley if its hot that is not good. or if your timer coming from the actual wall is hot then I suggest getting a new 20 amp for your room.

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BubbleBerryKush Advanced Member

BubbleBerryKush

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And running more "Efficient" most not save money on the bill either right.... LOL

 

 

I would not necessarily call 2000 watts from a 220 drop more efficient than 2000 watts from a 110 drop....it would be an "easier" load for the box to handle.....but if what you are suggesting where the case everyone should just run 220 to every outlet in their house to drop their elec bill....and thats not how electricity works....

 

but now we are just splitting hairs....

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G3LLO Advanced Member

G3LLO

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Well things like washer/dryer do run on 220 for this exact reason. Its common sense, if you have 2 1000 watt lights and they are running on 110 they are drawing 19 amps 9.5 each.... If I took those same 2 1000 watt lights and ran them on 220 they will run at 10 amp total 5 amps each... even if you don't think it changes your bill (which I am guessing you run 110) running your ballast at 5 amps instead of 9.5 keeps your ballast running more efficient.

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MiB Member

MiB

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I keep reading about running ballasts at 220V vs 120V and it seems, if I'm not mistaken, there is a way to rewire a 120V ballast to operate on 220V. I've got two 1K lights/ballasts @ 120V. can anyone supply ballast schematics so I can rewire mine. Standard wire colors and/or possibly a procedure for checking the ballast with a meter to determine the right wires and such like. I would like to know if I can do this before I begin to run wire.

 

Wire ain't cheap!

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boroboro Advanced Member

boroboro

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Many ballasts will include multiple taps to enable wiring to a variety of power sources. The ballast kits I've built have been very well labeled and documented, with different colors for each desired input voltage.

 

Here's an example of the wiring of a HPS ballast (from http://www.venturelighting.com/BallastHTMLDocuments/wiring_diagrams-Add.html):

 

Wiring_E_big.gif

Don't take those colors literally, that might only apply to that particular ballast and not yours.

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MiB Member

MiB

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Thanks, I'll take the lid off and check around inside. Hopefully things are labeled. If not, is there an appreciable amount of resistance to measure between common and the different taps? In other words, some way to measure to determine which wire is what?

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FlyingHigh Advanced Member

FlyingHigh

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Here's a link to the best thread I've ever read on this subject

 

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=117867

 

It answers every question brought up here

After reading this thread I was able to install my own sub panel and run multiple circuts saveing me well over a grand

 

Hope you all stay safe with your electrical equipment

 

Ps never use extension cords for more than a few hours ie never for full time use

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boroboro Advanced Member

boroboro

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Good link, FlyingHigh!  A person could spend quite a bit of time there, as the thread is almost 1000 posts long.

 

MiB, I wouldn't re-wire it without a well-labeled set of wires in there and a diagram from the manufacturer.  It's not as simple as measuring resistance, since you're dealing with a transformer.

 

Oh, also, since it hasn't shown up yet in this thread -- be very careful dealing with the inside of a ballast.  The capacitor inside is very large, and stores enough energy to kill you, even with the ballast unplugged.

 

Don't touch the wires attached to the capacitor, discharge it first:

 

93058ffb0281b73ad126992b43c76659.image.200x200.jpg

 

 

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Grow Thread Advanced Member

Grow Thread

Posted
Posted

Many ballasts will include multiple taps to enable wiring to a variety of power sources. The ballast kits I've built have been very well labeled and documented, with different colors for each desired input voltage.

 

Here's an example of the wiring of a HPS ballast (from http://www.ventureli...agrams-Add.html):

 

Wiring_E_big.gif

Don't take those colors literally, that might only apply to that particular ballast and not yours.

 

+rep

 

that should have been on this site ages ago.

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