which is better 240v or 120v

I run all my lights on 240V outlets. each one is on its own 20A circuit. It is a little overkill IMO, but I can always double up on breakers. My flower room has 4 600s as well. If I were to do it again instead of having 4 outlets on separate breakers I would just get a light controller, and wire it to the panel. That is what I would suggest, if its an option, but you would need an electrician to tie it in to the panel if you dont know how to do that.

First step is isolate the breaker to see amperage available.

I could be wrong, but I believe the power usage will be about the same. 600w is 600w, the advantage of 240v is less amperage draw. For example (these numbers are for reference only, I'm making them up) If a 600w light draws 15A@120V it might only draw 10A@240v so you could run 3 lights on a 30A 240v circuit vs. only 2 lights on a 30A 120V circuit. Hopefully an electrician can come and clear this up but I'm pretty sure that's the main difference.

its still pretty much the same. watts are watts. amps at 120 and amps at 240 are still near same when you consider two hotlines comingin on 240. biggest issue is cords and ballasts will run cooler. use the dryer outlet and free up your normal outlets.

Originally Posted by bluntmassa1

I have a unused drier connection in my basement I'm running 4 600's from 120v'ers I think could run them all to the 240v. cause I've heard it uses less power and you can hook up more lights. I'm not sure on amps its either a 40 or 50 amp I would just need to flip the breaker with the old drier going. does it make a difference on the volt or what ? and how would I wire 4 lights to it I think I can wire to a timer and run the timer through 4 outlets but I'm pretty sure I'd need to cut the drier outlet off and to rewire it there is about 3 feet of play plus I think I would pull the wire further down the wall to a more idele spot with the 240v wire I know a little bit about wireing I know I can do it just don't know the best way to do it and if I would really save power

What he said.

220VAC will produce less waste heat than 115VAC, which means, less power used.

High power appliances work best on 220VAC, so do high power lights.

Sentinel HPH-4 High Power Hid Controller
Product Number: ENV-HPH-4

Sentinel_HPH-4_Gallery.jpg



When trying to control more than one HID lighting system, you can either use a bunch of timers OR the HPH-4. The HPH-4 makes it simple to control up to 4000 watts of lighting from a single timer or controller. The HPH-4 has FOUR UNIVERSAL receptacles that accept either a 120-volt or 240-volt male plugs from your HID ballasts. 30-amps @ 120 / 240-volt

I just saw this thing at htg supply it looks like all I would need to do is plug it in to the 240 volt outlet its out of stock but how do yall think this would work and does it only use 30 amps I only need 4 600's it says its good for 1,000

It will work but I would look at some American iron from a builder like dxsoundco.com before I put all my eggs in that chinese made basket.

Originally Posted by Hugo Phurst

What he said.

220VAC will produce less waste heat than 115VAC, which means, less power used.

High power appliances work best on 220VAC, so do high power lights.

Short Electrical Theory lesson.

You can calculate the difference you will see in amperage draw from a 120V circuit vs 240 volt circuit with Ohms Law.

Without getting too much into Ohm's Law one of the various useful calculation of Ohms law is Power = Volts X Amp's, otherwise written as P = E X I

Originally Posted by WeedFreak78

I could be wrong, but I believe the power usage will be about the same. 600w is 600w, the advantage of 240v is less amperage draw. For example (these numbers are for reference only, I'm making them up) If a 600w light draws 15A@120V it might only draw 10A@240v so you could run 3 lights on a 30A 240v circuit vs. only 2 lights on a 30A 120V circuit. Hopefully an electrician can come and clear this up but I'm pretty sure that's the main difference.

We'll use the above numbers for an example.

If you have a 600 watt light, that in a perfect world used exactly 600 watts, using the equation above, and at 120v, you'd get as follows:

600 Watts = 120 volts x (I) ----> or rewritten as I = (600 watts / 120 volts) for a total of 5A.

There is no perfect world, and the electronics required in digital ballasts to modulate frequency, and regulate voltage all require power, in a conventional ballast you have transformer losses. So you have a loss of the ballast itself plus a 600 Watt lamp load.

Now apply the same equation to a 240 volt circuit. As superstoner1 wrote "its still pretty much the same. watts are watts". Even though we are moving to 240 volts, the load is still a 600 watt load regardless... watch what does change though.

600 watts = 240 volts x (I) ----> or rewritten as I = (600 watts / 240 volts) for a new value of 2.5A.

Notice that the amperage and voltage have an inverse relationship. As you increase the voltage the circuit draws less and less current.

On a side note, they actually manufacture 480 volt ballasts, in this circuit if you again double the voltage from 240 volts to 480 volts.... you probably guessed it by now, the current will draw just a mere 1.25 amps...

What does this all mean? The electric bill stays the same... your still using 600 watts either way, but don't dismiss the benefits: Smaller wires... less copper expense in the lighting circuits, more efficient movement of energy. The dangers? High voltage, the need for increased safety measures, especially in wet/damp areas. Most residential properties don't have access to 480 volts, its an industrial standard. But if someone were to be growing at a commercial property, and the cost of circuit installation was a concern, and a 480 voltage service was available, running high voltage ballasts could be an attractive option.

if you have a good understanding of electric you can build what you need for not that much. i build all of my switch panels, subpanels and relay setups, big difference in price and i know the quality is good, some of this cheap stuff they sale scares me.