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

membrainophones

membrainophones

Member
im trying to avoid permits and having electricians poking around my grow but after reading these comments i may have no choice gonna reevaluate my power needs and see if i can get by with less outlets i didnt plan on usuing every single outlet i am gonna need 8 240v outlets for my ballasts though and prolly another 240v circuit for the central air or ac unit
 
Warriorbuds

Warriorbuds

Well-Known Member
Have a stupid question about wiring cfl ballasts(125W, 200W).....can I get some advice from the electrician? Sorry, I didn't have the time to read entire thread.....
More specifically, can I wire an old printer cable(has ground) to a cfl ballast?)(If so what ballast do I need, and any advice on wiring??)

I'm trying to make my own cfl ballast and cable for 125W -200W CFL Bulb.
I realize that the ballast in cfl's is attatched to bulb....need to know how to wire one up, with recycled materials.
TY!
Cheers!
 
Warriorbuds

Warriorbuds

Well-Known Member
Total.Hydroponic.Control said:
Yes, it is a hazzard of a certain kind. The common sense kind. Even though you have no intention to overload your megastrip, chaining power strips together creates numerous addition points of inadequate mechanical bonding. This will eventually likely cause a voltage drop further along your megastrip until your losing hundreds of watts to heat loss from poor connections. Even underloaded you'll be creating additional heat where you probably don't want or need it.
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Would this be the same as running a bunch of extension chords inline together? Would that be considered the same thing? And would I risk losing wattage along the line? Also where would the extra heat you mentioned be coming from? Thanks!!
Cheers!
 
R

rbman

Active Member
HI , is it safe to power electronic lighting ballast with a generator? I see some say generator ready and others info says not to.
Want to buy ballasts that will hold up to generator use in power outages.
thanks in advance
 
ScoobyDoobyDoo

ScoobyDoobyDoo

Well-Known Member
rbman said:
HI , is it safe to power electronic lighting ballast with a generator? I see some say generator ready and others info says not to.
Want to buy ballasts that will hold up to generator use in power outages.
thanks in advance
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running a generator is very noisy and you have high fuel costs. plus, most portable generators only have 2 120v outlets on a 15 amps circuit. you'd be better off getting an oversized UPS (battery backup) system like APC or Eaton. they will also condition the power before it gets to your lights which in turn makes your equipment last longer. just make sur eyou oversize it a little. plus you wl never have power interruptions which can blow you lights.
 
Warriorbuds

Warriorbuds

Well-Known Member
Warriorbuds said:
Have a stupid question about wiring cfl ballasts(125W, 200W).....can I get some advice from the electrician? Sorry, I didn't have the time to read entire thread.....
More specifically, can I wire an old printer cable(has ground) to a cfl ballast?)(If so what ballast do I need, and any advice on wiring??)

I'm trying to make my own cfl ballast and cable for 125W -200W CFL Bulb.
I realize that the ballast in cfl's is attatched to bulb....need to know how to wire one up, with recycled materials.
TY!
Cheers!
Click to expand...


Anyone??? TY
 
stondded

stondded

Well-Known Member
I have 1200w in 4x8 with 100amp service and also have a 4x4 tht has t8s in it. I would like to put a 400w in the smaller tent but its blows the breaker everytime. My best option i figure is wiring another water heater timer on 240v but have no idea how to do tht. I was hoping someone could lead me in the right direction.
 
oakley1984

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
stondded said:
I have 1200w in 4x8 with 100amp service and also have a 4x4 tht has t8s in it. I would like to put a 400w in the smaller tent but its blows the breaker everytime. My best option i figure is wiring another water heater timer on 240v but have no idea how to do tht. I was hoping someone could lead me in the right direction.
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100 amp service? simply pull a 120v circut off that 100amp service for a 15a recepticle, use a heavy duty grounded timer... its overkill for 400w
getting a 240v timer for your 400w ballast... isnt exactly an economical way to go (eg cost vs need isnt really logical on this one)
 
stondded

stondded

Well-Known Member
I want to setup the timer to run the 2 600w lights i have in flower and run the 400w on the normal 120 circuit. That way im saving more by having the larger lights on the larger volt circuit if that makes sense
 
kgb424

kgb424

Active Member
I'm willing to hire a electrician, but here's my problem I got plants just one week into flowering, I have a T5 setup running on cords and power strips in the room that the sub panel and seperate outlets is going in, So I need some one, that will keep his mouth shut and I can trust not to come back and rip me off. So calling a electrician out of the my local phone book is out,and the nearest Hydroponics store is 40 miles away I asked them if they knew anybody to do my electrical work, so I can use my switchable hps/mh ballast, exhaust fan, intake fan, ac unit, timers, air pumps, they politely told me they couldn't help me, so I need a sub panel installed and seperate outlets, but not sure how to approach a electrical contractor or anybody for that matter, live in rural area, not too grow friendly, so asking around is kinda taking a chance, I'm legal and its all good, but still some people get the undies in a fucking bunch because they thinks its bad, and I'm a crimal, I say screw them, I'm growing and fuck them but seriously need electrical work
 
george xxx

george xxx

Active Member
stondded said:
I want to setup the timer to run the 2 600w lights i have in flower and run the 400w on the normal 120 circuit. That way im saving more by having the larger lights on the larger volt circuit if that makes sense
Click to expand...
Watts are watts no matter voltage you use. The electric company charges for watts used. No such thing as a larger volt circuit. 220 uses 2 110 circuits.

Example; 110 circuit using 10 guage wire can be used with a 30 amp breaker.
220 circuit using 10 guage wire can be used with a 60 amp breaker.
A 60 amp 220 breaker is just 2 110v 30 amp breakers pinned together.
 
H R Puff N Stuff

H R Puff N Stuff

Well-Known Member
kgb424 said:
I'm willing to hire a electrician, but here's my problem I got plants just one week into flowering, I have a T5 setup running on cords and power strips in the room that the sub panel and seperate outlets is going in, So I need some one, that will keep his mouth shut and I can trust not to come back and rip me off. So calling a electrician out of the my local phone book is out,and the nearest Hydroponics store is 40 miles away I asked them if they knew anybody to do my electrical work, so I can use my switchable hps/mh ballast, exhaust fan, intake fan, ac unit, timers, air pumps, they politely told me they couldn't help me, so I need a sub panel installed and seperate outlets, but not sure how to approach a electrical contractor or anybody for that matter, live in rural area, not too grow friendly, so asking around is kinda taking a chance, I'm legal and its all good, but still some people get the undies in a fucking bunch because they thinks its bad, and I'm a crimal, I say screw them, I'm growing and fuck them but seriously need electrical work
Click to expand...
you could have them run sub panel just outside of grow room and add the new plug circuits yourself just a thought just make sure you turn off breaker tha powers sub panel and you should be ok
 
Brokeoldbloke

Brokeoldbloke

Active Member
stondded said:
I want to setup the timer to run the 2 600w lights i have in flower and run the 400w on the normal 120 circuit. That way im saving more by having the larger lights on the larger volt circuit if that makes sense
Click to expand...
A normal household receptacle circuit is 15amps. The lights will pull a little more watts then their base rating (600 or 400). So those 3 would be close to 15amps total and would most likely cause the breaker to trip eventually. You could try it and maybe monitor it with "kill a watt" or other meter. Best bet would be to use 2 circuits and then you would have capacity for other equipment.
 
Brokeoldbloke

Brokeoldbloke

Active Member
george xxx said:
Example; 110 circuit using 10 guage wire can be used with a 30 amp breaker.
220 circuit using 10 guage wire can be used with a 60 amp breaker.
A 60 amp 220 breaker is just 2 110v 30 amp breakers pinned together.
Click to expand...
Just FYI, A 220v 10awg 30amp circuit uses a 30amp two pole breaker (two 30amp breakers). The amps don't double but the wattage does.
 
Z

Ztelthy

Active Member


Hi mate, I'am doing a DIY Cool-Tube and using some CPU's my only trouble is figuring out what colors the black and red are ?? Given that there is only black,blue,green and yellow.. I really need some help figuring which 2 wires I need to use..Hope you can help, Regards - ZTELTHY :leaf:
 
Z

Ztelthy

Active Member
oakley1984 said:
black and yellow, you are better off using a pc fan that isnt a pwm one....
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In most normal cases .. I would use a normal PC fan/s .. but for this project I need the round structure of the fan so it can attach straight to the cool-tube. Anyhow.. so its black and yellow I need? Ps/ what does PWM stand for? - ZTELTHY :leaf:
 
supchaka

supchaka

Well-Known Member
Im assuming since a fan only needs 2 wires really the other wires are for speed control and relaying RPM back to the motherboard possibly?
Yes
[h=3]Pulse-width modulation[/h]Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is a common method of controlling computer fans.
 
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