Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions

Bookush34

Well-Known Member
It’s was a junction for my old hottub.

I split it about 4 yrs ago. I have amp clamped it and checked for voltage drop under load. All was good.

Just swapped out the 40amp Gfic do 2 separate 15amp gfic. Breakers.

Just thought I would see what I got for answers.
 

Stevie51

Active Member
This is my understanding of the basic difference between European systems and North American systems. Europeans use 230 volts 50Hz electrical circuits that comprise of one ungrounded current-carrying conductor and one grounded current-carrying conductor, thus would use single-pole circuit breakers for their circuit breakers. The vast majority of residents living in North America are supplied with a 120/240 volts split-phase 60Hz electrical service. Although we use a grounded conductor (neutral) as one of the current-carrying conductor in our 120 volts circuits, we do not use a grounded conductor as a current-carrying conductor in our 240 volts circuits. Therefore we are required to use double-pole circuit breakers for the circuit breakers in our 240 volts circuits, while single-pole circuit breakers are used in our 120 volts circuits. Both European and North American uses a grounded (the normally noncurrent-carrying) conductor for the safety ground.
 

Bookush34

Well-Known Member
Unless you could garauntee that you would have a balanced load the neutral/return
it could have more current going through it than it would be rated to carry.
Except it’s 6 gauge wire. I could run 4x 1000watt hps and be totally fine.

With 2 15 amp breakers. You can’t overload it.
 

OzCocoLoco

Well-Known Member
Over here (Australia) every circuit with a socket has to be protected by a 30 mA R.C.D not sure what you guys use for earth leakage but you couldn’t share a neutral on the load side between 2 different circuits the breaker would Trip as soon as either circuit went under load.
 

bb247

New Member
How's it going everybody. Safety question here.

I am planning out the power for my two-tent setup. Both will run COBs, one drawing up to ~600W and the other drawing up to ~300W. In addition to lights, I will be powering up to 5 8" clip-on fans (Active Air brand with transformer block) and a 6" inline fan. I would also like to power my computer on the same circuit but I can be talked out of that.

My question is how to do this in the safest way possible without adding new circuits to the circuitbreaker. I was intending to purchase one of these to connect to the wall:


^^^ with the GCFI on the end there. To this I was going to plug in the grow lights (all Mean Wells connected with WAGO blocks), a second one of these Tripp Lite but without the GFCI plug to send to the larger grow tent where most of the ventilation will be powered, and a cord similar to the one below to send to the smaller tent for a couple of clip-on fans there. My question is: is this safe? If not, what should I buy instead? I already own the cable below and the Tripp Lite above (without GFCI).


Many thanks in advance.
 

Canigrow?

Member
How's it going everybody. Safety question here.

I am planning out the power for my two-tent setup. Both will run COBs, one drawing up to ~600W and the other drawing up to ~300W. In addition to lights, I will be powering up to 5 8" clip-on fans (Active Air brand with transformer block) and a 6" inline fan. I would also like to power my computer on the same circuit but I can be talked out of that.

My question is how to do this in the safest way possible without adding new circuits to the circuitbreaker. I was intending to purchase one of these to connect to the wall:


^^^ with the GCFI on the end there. To this I was going to plug in the grow lights (all Mean Wells connected with WAGO blocks), a second one of these Tripp Lite but without the GFCI plug to send to the larger grow tent where most of the ventilation will be powered, and a cord similar to the one below to send to the smaller tent for a couple of clip-on fans there. My question is: is this safe? If not, what should I buy instead? I already own the cable below and the Tripp Lite above (without GFCI).


Many thanks in advance.
Safety is not really an issue. Your house plugs are rated to accept 15amps of load. If you plug more than that into your outlets it will trip the breaker. Usually 12 outlets max on a circuit. Includes plugs and lights calculated at an average of 1 amp per outlet. If you know what else is on that circuit the only thing that should happen is lights dimming when your setup kicks on. Not the best for your pc but hey we all have to make sacrifices. As long as the extensions are rated for enough amps and possibly wet conditions that's all you can do.
 

Craigson

Well-Known Member
Hey fam, hoping someone can chime in here.
Had a receptacle fry last night.
Had this set up running for a few months with no issues prior.
Plan on replacing receptacle, powerbar/timer, and 2x hps bulbs but want opinions on what more I should do to be safe??
15A breaker, 110V

There are burn marks on the receptacle and on the combo surge protector/timer that was plugged in.

Didnt have a lot of time this morning but 1 of the 2 600watt hps that were plugged into the timer looks to be fried. (Black around the base)
Only the 2x 600watt hps were plugged into this timer and receptacle. These run 7pm -7am. (Note* this outlet is thing not working. Everythingn else on same circuit was still running)
On other receptacles on the same circuit I have the following running 5am-10pm;
1x 250watt MH light
1x 315watt cmh light
Small cool mist humidifier

The below items run 24/7

2x 4inch duct fans
1x 14inch pedestal fan
1x small aquarium bubbler
2x 6inch oscillating fans

I didnt realize I quite had this many watts on this circuit. Looks like Ive got around 1900watts on there??

Best option to relace w a 30Amp breaker? (Excuse my ignorance as I know just enough about electrical to be dangerous)

started flower 2 days ago so dont have much time to dink around. Need fixed asap.
thanks in a
 

Craigson

Well-Known Member
Hey fam, hoping someone can chime in here.
Had a receptacle fry last night.
Had this set up running for a few months with no issues prior.
Plan on replacing receptacle, powerbar/timer, and 2x hps bulbs but want opinions on what more I should do to be safe??
15A breaker, 110V

There are burn marks on the receptacle and on the combo surge protector/timer that was plugged in.

Didnt have a lot of time this morning but 1 of the 2 600watt hps that were plugged into the timer looks to be fried. (Black around the base)
Only the 2x 600watt hps were plugged into this timer and receptacle. These run 7pm -7am. (Note* this outlet is thing not working. Everythingn else on same circuit was still running)
On other receptacles on the same circuit I have the following running 5am-10pm;
1x 250watt MH light
1x 315watt cmh light
Small cool mist humidifier

The below items run 24/7

2x 4inch duct fans
1x 14inch pedestal fan
1x small aquarium bubbler
2x 6inch oscillating fans

I didnt realize I quite had this many watts on this circuit. Looks like Ive got around 1900watts on there??

Best option to relace w a 30Amp breaker? (Excuse my ignorance as I know just enough about electrical to be dangerous)

started flower 2 days ago so dont have much time to dink around. Need fixed asap.
thanks in a
hmmm I shoukdnt be able to get more than about 17-1800watts on a 15amp breaker should I???

might have to do some more sleuthing here after work ffs
 

spek9

Well-Known Member
Best option to relace w a 30Amp breaker?
NO!

If you have a 15A circuit, it's almost certainly using 14ga wire. If you replace the 15A breaker with 30A, the wire becomes the fuse, and will start a fire. A 30A circuit requires 10ga wire, so you'd need to replace the cabling (quite costly with 10ga), and the outlets themselves along with the breaker.

1800W on a 120V circuit is exactly 15A. One should never continuously run a circuit at more than 80% capacity. This is called the "80 percent rule". So, on a 15A circuit, it shouldn't be loaded beyond 12A continuously.

You need to run two separate 15A circuits, and split the load across them.
 
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