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

hi man, hey i have a quest. how many amps can i put in an 8awg caliber cable??? if i have 2 cables (220) how many 1000 lights can i haver working at same time??

Hey i will also apreciate if you can help me with my tread here's the link below..
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/362023-question-difference-btwn-hps-magnetic.html

Hey guys,

I'm just starting my second grow and I'm wondering about running a 1000 watt hps and 400 watt hps along with fans and timers...

Im going to have to use an extension cord plugged into a power bar. (120V outlet). I'm worried having that many watts plugged in at once in the same power bar is a hazard. Can anyone help me out?

DankBudzzz said:

Hey guys,

I'm just starting my second grow and I'm wondering about running a 1000 watt hps and 400 watt hps along with fans and timers...

Im going to have to use an extension cord plugged into a power bar. (120V outlet). I'm worried having that many watts plugged in at once in the same power bar is a hazard. Can anyone help me out?

Click to expand...

IAm5toned has a list of brreaker's and the Watts that is safe a ways back. Add all the Watts together and list them. It'll help these guys tell you. Seems like a lot to me, but I only get some of this. I think you need the heavest cord for one thing. And it's distance matters, so add that for them. Maybe 2 cords are needed. Ballasts are over the W, like a 400W HPS uses 440 or 430 for example too. Hope this helps you a bit further till one of these pro's can get a full explanation.

I have a good one for you.

I have a 600w Hps and digital ballast going in a 4x4x8 sealed by me room. I divided this out of a larger room so on the other side of the room is another room about 3x3x6.

So I was thinking hey I could Use one ballast for 2 lights and just run them 12hours on one room and the other 12hrs in the other room.
To do this I would need to install 2 timers, one between each light and the ballast right.

Question: Is there a timer that I could use to wire between the ballast and light that could withstand the output of the ballast.

If so you could get optimum use from your ballast. I want to do one soil and one hydro setup at the same time.

I've seen the answer to this. I think it was cheaper to buy another Ballast. It wouldn't be a timer before the bulb. It would turn off the Ballast, then it switches to the other Bulb, then re-starts the Ballast. Just thinking it would be cheaper to buy 1 more ballast.

Hey my grow room has been running for a few months now with no problems, but the other day my girlfriend was vacuuming in the room next to it and blew the fuse. Now when I go to the garage to reset the fuse it wont hold. Any ideas? I got it to reset, but I had to run an extension cord from my bedroom into the grow room to share the electrical load just so the fuse doesn't trip again. I want to get rid of the extension cord though and have it running like it used to. HELP PLEASE!

Well it sounds like your breaker is weak. Probably from maxing it out . I would replace the breaker and see if it helps. If not you just have 2 much load on the circuit.
By the way I am a HVAC Tech so I have a fair understanding of electrical and ventilation.

Oh and the ballast topic I had seen that post somewhere to. Its some kind of switching unit for a 120 bucks I think. Just wondered if their was a way around that with some crafty engineering.

oJUICEBOXo said:

Hey my grow room has been running for a few months now with no problems, but the other day my girlfriend was vacuuming in the room next to it and blew the fuse. Now when I go to the garage to reset the fuse it wont hold. Any ideas? I got it to reset, but I had to run an extension cord from my bedroom into the grow room to share the electrical load just so the fuse doesn't trip again. I want to get rid of the extension cord though and have it running like it used to. HELP PLEASE!

Click to expand...

weak breaker.....

some advice?
replace it with an HACR rated breaker..... HACR means Heating, A/C, and Refrigeration. In other words, its rated for the inductive loads that ballasts and motors provide...
just make for sure you replace the breaker with one of an equal OR LESSER amperage of the original breaker... never bigger.

peace

you guys dont want to fuck with running two lamps off of one ballst. daniels is correct in saying that is is cheaper and easier to run 2 ballastsa on opposite schedules of 12/12, then use t5's on 24/7 in a seperate veg chamber.

not saying that it cant be done, but to do it RIGHT, your going to spend closer to 1200, instead of 120...

Danielsgb said:

IAm5toned has a list of brreaker's and the Watts that is safe a ways back. Add all the Watts together and list them. It'll help these guys tell you. Seems like a lot to me, but I only get some of this. I think you need the heavest cord for one thing. And it's distance matters, so add that for them. Maybe 2 cords are needed. Ballasts are over the W, like a 400W HPS uses 440 or 430 for example too. Hope this helps you a bit further till one of these pro's can get a full explanation.

Click to expand...

Adding all the watts is semi-ok. For ballasted lights (HPS/MH) the wattage is for the bulb *only* the ballast itself will use an additional 10-15%

IAm5toned said:

you guys dont want to fuck with running two lamps off of one ballst. daniels is correct in saying that is is cheaper and easier to run 2 ballastsa on opposite schedules of 12/12, then use t5's on 24/7 in a seperate veg chamber.

not saying that it cant be done, but to do it RIGHT, your going to spend closer to 1200, instead of 120...

Click to expand...

Yeppers. The part that scares me a bit about it, is the HV starting spike on the HPS.
MH shouldn't be a prob, but don't see a reason to do it with MH (unless they start making a 36 hour day )

But if I were to do it via relays. I'd have the system, turn off the ballast, flip the relay then restart the ballast. That _should_ help keep the contacts happier longer. I would even add a 15 min cool down between cycles.

(oh thanks for the HCAR breaker tip. That probably explains why I used to trip breakers on start up with my compressor in the last house)

Ok guys, I have one for you. How about two Honda EU3000isA generators, with the connection cable, output about 56.6 amps max power (60 amps peak). This is the generator:

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/modeldetail.aspx?page=modeldetail&section=P2GG&modelname=EU3000IS&modelid=EU3000ISAN

So I'm planning to get two of these, hook them together, and when they are hooked together, the main power outlet looks like this:



Now, my question is, how is the most cost effective and safe way of getting power from that outlet to the flowering room and plug into something that will provide 6 or 7 outlets so I can plug in 4 lights and then some accessories?

Generator----> Power box that has a 50amp circuit on it with some weird box --> ???????? --> 4 ballasts --> 4 lights --> weed --> higggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Generator--^

So what goes where the ????'s are? The generators are only about 25 feet away from the ballast locations.

seems gud to me....added to my future list...

The black wire means ground right? I mean my car battery is like that and I hooked up my self made ballast like that and it caught on fire when I plugged it in.













LOL





I'm kidding! But thanks for helping out those who need it. bump to the top

researchkitty said:

Ok guys, I have one for you. How about two Honda EU3000isA generators, with the connection cable, output about 56.6 amps max power (60 amps peak). This is the generator:

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/modeldetail.aspx?page=modeldetail&section=P2GG&modelname=EU3000IS&modelid=EU3000ISAN

So I'm planning to get two of these, hook them together, and when they are hooked together, the main power outlet looks like this:

Now, my question is, how is the most cost effective and safe way of getting power from that outlet to the flowering room and plug into something that will provide 6 or 7 outlets so I can plug in 4 lights and then some accessories?

Generator----> Power box that has a 50amp circuit on it with some weird box --> ???????? --> 4 ballasts --> 4 lights --> weed --> higggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Generator--^

So what goes where the ????'s are? The generators are only about 25 feet away from the ballast locations.

Click to expand...

your going to need a qualified professional. bonding two generators together is tricky at best....

before you can determine the cheapest and easiset way to run this power into the growroom, we need to know your power requirements, that is, your full load amperage
or, your power demand factor. in laymans terms, we need to know exactly how many amps, and/or watts of everything you plan on having connected to the generator setups.
only knowing this, can i compute the proper conductor size and service equipment. that 50 amp power box may or may not be big enough for what you want...... theres no way to tell w/out more info, im afraid.

IAm5toned said:

your going to need a qualified professional. bonding two generators together is tricky at best....

before you can determine the cheapest and easiset way to run this power into the growroom, we need to know your power requirements, that is, your full load amperage
or, your power demand factor. in laymans terms, we need to know exactly how many amps, and/or watts of everything you plan on having connected to the generator setups.
only knowing this, can i compute the proper conductor size and service equipment. that 50 amp power box may or may not be big enough for what you want...... theres no way to tell w/out more info, im afraid.

Click to expand...

You misunderstood the post or read it too fast. "Boding the generators" as you call it isnt hard nor requires a professional. there's two plugs on each gen, you plug the kit into there and then it has a RV outlet with a built in 50 amp circuit. Its so easy it takes 1 paragraph of the owners manual to explain it. These generators were designed to be run in parallel by Honda. I guess that's why I posted the link to their specs? :< :<

My question isnt how to connect two generators, Honda makes that simple. I also know how to count amps, so it isnt a question of it if will work. Its ONLy this question: How to get the 50 amps of power thats sitting at the outlet in the pic above TO the flower room, and then to 120v AC outlet plugs that a standard ballast can plug into. The outlet in that picture is said to be RV 120v/ac.

Thanks

Hey all quick simple fan question

I have a power adapter (old cell phone i think?) where i stripped the wires and wired it to my fans.

It says "OUTPUT: 12V AC 600mA"
Now to my understanding this is 12 volts AC power at 600 milliamps ?
Which i thought it would be dc?

Fans are "DC12V .23A"
Which i understand is 12V DC power at 230 milliamps?

Anyway the fans are working but are not spinning very fast/strong.
I guess any suggestions at making them faster/better (if possible) and possible explanation of the whole DC/AC thing (i thought it wouldnt work if its AC and needs to be DC)

Thanks!

Quick question. I was planning on running 4 600W Lights in a 8x8 room. I read in this thread that most house breakers max at 1800 Watts. So I need to get power into that room from a different breaker.

The room NEXT to the grow room is on a different breaker. Would it be a matter of drilling a small hole through the wall and putting and extension cord through the wall? How many Watts can an extension cord handle? How many feet can an extension cord run to get power into a room from a different breaker?

Thanks!

curseddice said:

Quick question. I was planning on running 4 600W Lights in a 8x8 room. I read in this thread that most house breakers max at 1800 Watts. So I need to get power into that room from a different breaker.

The room NEXT to the grow room is on a different breaker. Would it be a matter of drilling a small hole through the wall and putting and extension cord through the wall? How many Watts can an extension cord handle? How many feet can an extension cord run to get power into a room from a different breaker?

Click to expand...

Right now that's what I do for 6,000w of lights. I have to run power from 6 rooms in the house via long extension cords. As long as the extension cord is rated to carry the amp load, it will be fine.