600w led light tripping rcd

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Rookiefarmer1

Member
Hi guys, first time grower here. Do please Forgive me for any stupid questions, I am having trouble with my 600w led light, it keeps randomly tripping my rcd and switching everything off on that circuit, but mostly when I plug in my oscillating fan, I have my light plugged into a timer on a pretty high quality extention lead, exhaust fan also plugged into the same extention lead, this seems to work fine. Then I have a separate extention lead with only the oscillating fan plugged into that, but as soon as I turn it on it trips my electric. I'm seeing that most growers use a contactor, was going to buy one a week ago when it was tripping but plugging the light into a timer seemed to do the trick, I think maybe the timer is able to deal with the inrush current easier than just plugging the light directly into the extention lead, the timer did the trick until today when it started tripping again, just wondering if it is absolutely vital that I use a contactor for this reason. Will this solve my problem, just wondered if anyone could advise me before spending a pretty fortune on a contactor if its not going to solve the problem. Thanks in advance
 
SnoopyDoo

SnoopyDoo

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you're overloading the circuit. Try using 2 different circuits or have an electrician run a dedicated circuit for you. Alot of people have a separate circuit and a subpanel for their grows.
 
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Rookiefarmer1

Member
The light is just a bog standard little full spectrum 600w led light, it's not even branded I dont think, came with the tent kit I bought, didn't wanna splash out is I'm only growing two just to see how it goes. I did call the supplier and they happily sent the courier next day to pick up the old one and dropped off a new one. And it did the same, until I plugged it into a timer and it worked, for a while, just started tripping again yesterday when I tried to turn the fan on. I did think maybe I'm overloading the circuit but then I'm seeing how much other people have plugged into one or two sockets and manage just fine. Wondered if it's because my fuse box and rcd are old as fuck, would it be able to handle it better if I got an electrician to put a new rcd in? We unplug everything else we can possibly unplug that isnt being used, the light will stay on with just the exhaust fan, but not with the oscalating fan, all I want to know really is, if I get a contactor, and just plug the light, exhaust fan and oscalating fan into the contactor, do you think this will stop it tripping? I have moved the sockets round and stuff, I'm using this wall socket just for the grow set up only, everything else on a separate socket but still on same circuit. Will ask electrician about supplying me with a separate circuit, wasnt aware they could do this. Thanks guys
 
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Rookiefarmer1

Member
Autofire said:
you are not overloading the circut. One of your devices has bad wiring. Probably the light or that fan.
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Its deffo not the light or the fan, iv had two different lights now, both brand new, they both work for about a week then start tripping again, also had two different fans, one brand new, one not so brand new, and they both trip too. I'm pretty sure none of the equipment is faulty, I have considered this but come to the conclusion it must be my electrics or the fact I'm not using a contactor because every fan and light iv tried does the same
, just can't work put why they've been working fine all week and all of a sudden they're tripping again
 
Autofire

Autofire

Well-Known Member
Rookiefarmer1 said:
Its deffo not the light or the fan, iv had two different lights now, both brand new, they both work for about a week then start tripping again, also had two different fans, one brand new, one not so brand new, and they both trip too. I'm pretty sure none of the equipment is faulty, I have considered this but come to the conclusion it must be my electrics or the fact I'm not using a contactor because every fan and light iv tried does the same
, just can't work put why they've been working fine all week and all of a sudden they're tripping again
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It could be a faulty circut in your house. Try plugging your kettle in to the same circut and see if it trips.
 
MidnightSun72

MidnightSun72

Well-Known Member
Also you know most outlets are daisy chained together. So just because nothing else is plugged directly into the same plug you are using doesn't mean that circuit isn't already under load.
Try the kettle idea. But I think you shoul turn off the circuit breaker and find an outlet that still has power and draw your power for that

Your 600W light probably only draws 100W and the little fan would be under 20W as well which is fuck all and shouldn't be tripping anything. So either you already have something else plugged in maxing that circuit out or something is wrong electrically.

You should try plugging the light and the fan into another outlet on a different side of the house and see if they run without tripping.
 
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Rookiefarmer1

Member
I was firstly running it off the socket on the other side of the room, it's a double socket, so we had one extention lead plugged into one socket, and another extention plugged in the other socket. Had all my grow stuff on one extention, then had a playstation, TV and lamp plugged into the other extention, obviously we knew this could be overloading but had no choice at the time as the only other socket in the room was covered by the wardrobe which weighs a fricking tone, we couldn't move it. But when the electrics started tripping, we figured we'd have to find a way to move the wardrobe, and plug the grow stuff along with the extention lead Into the socket behind the wardrobe. This worked for a while, and this is how iv been running it ever since, also plugged the lights into a timer when I changed plug sockets as I thought that Might help soften the inrush current, I figured this because the light was mostly tripping when I turned it on, it would fire up and then instantly trip everything, when I plugged it into the timer, and into the socket on the opposite side of the room, it worked, as I said, I had the exhaust fan plugged into same extention as the light, but I had to add another extention to that socket to plug the oscalating fan into because it wouldnt fit in the first extention because of the bulky timer. Also this all worked fine until yesterday, it tripped when I tried to turn the oscalating fan on, and now trips every time I try to turn it on. Iv got the light on right now running with just the exhaust fan which I'm worried about. As for the kettle idea, I dont think this would apply to me, I'm in a single floor flat, so looking at my circuit board thing, it says that all my sockets are on the same circuit, apart from the cooker which is on it's own socket, so even if I plug the lights, fan ect or even the kettle, into another socket, is this not essentially still plugging it I to the same circuit? Theres one blank slot on my circuit board, I have an electrician coming on the 30th, do you think he would put my bedroom sockets on that blank slot, so that they would be on a separate circuit from the rest of the sockets, is this a job that the council electricians would do? Sorry of this is confusing, I'm in a right pickle myself also, do any of you actually use a contactor for your lights and fan or a surge protected extention or anything like that? Thanks
 
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Rookiefarmer1

Member
Also I do already use my kettle on the same circuit coz all my bedroom, kitchen, front room sockets are on the same circuit, only thing not on that circuit is the cooker and obviously lights on a spare one and door bell on a separate one. But as for sockets, every socket in the flat is on rh same circuit, that's why I'm wondering if I got rhe electrician to put just the bedroom sockets or one of the bedroom sockets on it's own circuit would this stop me overloading that circuit and essentially solve my problem?
 
MidnightSun72

MidnightSun72

Well-Known Member
Rookiefarmer1 said:
Also I do already use my kettle on the same circuit coz all my bedroom, kitchen, front room sockets are on the same circuit, only thing not on that circuit is the cooker and obviously lights on a spare one and door bell on a separate one. But as for sockets, every socket in the flat is on rh same circuit, that's why I'm wondering if I got rhe electrician to put just the bedroom sockets or one of the bedroom sockets on it's own circuit would this stop me overloading that circuit and essentially solve my problem?
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How is an electrician supposed to magic in more power if there ain't room on the panel?
 
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Rookiefarmer1

Member
Sorry about the quality, cameras shit, but from what I can see, that blank slot isnt being used for anything, so could the electrician use that empty slot to put the bedroom sockets only onto? And would this enable me to run the light and the two fans off that one socket without overloading?
 
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Rookiefarmer1

Member
All of the sockets in the house are on the same circuit, not just the sockets in that room, so if my kettle was going to trip my bedroom sockets, it would also trip the socket I plug it into in the kitchen because it's all on the same circuit, so I already know that the kettle isnt going to trip my electrics, because if it was going to, then I wouldnt be able to use it in the kitchen, and i can, it works just fine, if that makes sense.
 
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