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

Rusty Shakelford said:

Thanks again for the Info.. Is there a reason I need to have a Light Controller? I was basically just looking for some type of adapter that would turn this outlet into a regular outlet that I could plug an Oscillating Fan and Maybe a Space Heater into. Is there anything like that?

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mmm yeah. depending on how many watts your going to be running and how much you want to spend. again you should research on google about the stuff you actually need. not sure your taking all things into consideration when planning this. watts/amperage. 120 or 240. total number of watts running and the highest peak of power usage is coming from the room also not to mention the cost. if you were worries about a couple hundy for a lighting controller you might not want to consider using that outlet at all. its going to cost a pretty penny to run a 50 amp 240volt outlet properly and convert shit to 120. are you planning your lights on a 120 or 240 volts? also do not plug a 30 amp controller r anything smaller into a 50 amp outlet. bad juju. unless wired up to do so properly.

Rusty Shakelford said:

Thanks again for the Info.. Is there a reason I need to have a Light Controller? I was basically just looking for some type of adapter that would turn this outlet into a regular outlet that I could plug an Oscillating Fan and Maybe a Space Heater into. Is there anything like that?

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Pop the outlet and put a little sub panel there. You can do that fairly cheap.

supchaka said:

Pop the outlet and put a little sub panel there. You can do that fairly cheap.

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ahh. that also. im high and its hard to remember all this stuff when im stressing. sorry also im high. lol.

@rusty remember dont wire it yourself please. unless you have a decent knowledge of electricity and how that shit works.

wheels619 said:

mmm yeah. depending on how many watts your going to be running and how much you want to spend. again you should research on google about the stuff you actually need. not sure your taking all things into consideration when planning this. watts/amperage. 120 or 240. total number of watts running and the highest peak of power usage is coming from the room also not to mention the cost. if you were worries about a couple hundy for a lighting controller you might not want to consider using that outlet at all. its going to cost a pretty penny to run a 50 amp 240volt outlet properly and convert shit to 120. are you planning your lights on a 120 or 240 volts? also do not plug a 30 amp controller r anything smaller into a 50 amp outlet. bad juju. unless wired up to do so properly.

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My lights are already up and operational.. This is just a Power Box that the previous owners put in (I think they used it to power a Kiln), and it happens to be in my grow room. Since it has its own Breaker and everything, I wanted to see if there was a simple adapter that would step down the Power and allow me to plug in a Simply Room Fan and Maybe a small space heater. Anything to take some of the load off the other outlets..

supchaka said:

Pop the outlet and put a little sub panel there. You can do that fairly cheap.

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Hey Chaka,, What type of Sub panel are you Referring to?

I know better than to wire anything myself, especially considering the questions I am currently asking.. That and I like my house too much

They sell various sized panels at lowes, its just a small version of your main breaker box on the house. You can get that put in and run some 120 circuits off it.

I got in on this late...
If it is a 40 or 50 amp breaker two pole 220vac in panel, change it to 20 amp two pole with two legs of 110 vac...
Then just buy a 4S box and mount it over the [kiln] existing outlet, mount a double duplex outlet cover, splice 12 awg into the large wires then hook to outlet, the whole thing, $25 total, and you'd have two dedicated 20 amp outlets...red white to one outlet, black white to other...
Get it ? if not pm me...

wheels619 said:

buy a 30 amp dryer male plug end. looks like this. ten bucks at home depot. can very by outlet.
View attachment 2520495
buy 50 ft of 10/3 romex or something similar 10/2 will work if its indoors and your on a budget.

buy lighting controller. looks like this. run you anywhere from 100-200 bucks on ebay depending on what brand and model you want.
View attachment 2520500
wire everything up. should look like this. the left being hot. the middle being common. the right also being hot.
View attachment 2520501
then wire the plug.
View attachment 2520497View attachment 2520502
plug the ballasts into the controller.

plug the timer into the wall and the lighting controller. set it.

plug the 30 amp into the wall. flip the switch and watch your lights turn on in excitement. if everything worked out it should pop to life instantly. also make sure your timer is on. nothing like expecting success and then have to figure out why shit aint right. lmao.

its enough to power 4 1000 watt lights on 240 volts of juice safely.

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Thank you for taking the time to help others less enlightened in these matters I do have a question tho! I live in europe and we use different type of plug ends for the wall outlet i think. Do any of you know whether there are adapters i could use for any light controller i buy from abroad?

SexMachine said:

Thank you for taking the time to help others less enlightened in these matters I do have a question tho! I live in europe and we use different type of plug ends for the wall outlet i think. Do any of you know whether there are adapters i could use for any light controller i buy from abroad?

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it depends what plug you are looking for to be honest. what it looks like and how much power ur truing to put thru it. but in all honesty if you draw out what the plug looks like and you go to a local hardware store they should be able to point you in the right direction. they make replacement plug ends for cable. just ask for a replacement end for whatever your plug looks like. shouldnt cost much. maybe 10-11 us or about 8 euro. but specify the amps and voltage needed for the plug and outlet. also dont mix and match amps on your controllers and outlets. dont put a 30 amp controller on a 50 amp outlet and vise versa.

this is a great idea for a thread. I may be a novice grower but I've been boat building for 6 years. I specialise in working on wooden boats and have also done quite a considerable amount of welding over the years.

Do you think it would be worth while starting a similar thread but concentrating on the carpentry side of things?

Le Spliff Doctor said:

this is a great idea for a thread. I may be a novice grower but I've been boat building for 6 years. I specialise in working on wooden boats and have also done quite a considerable amount of welding over the years.

Do you think it would be worth while starting a similar thread but concentrating on the carpentry side of things?

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I say go for it if you're up to fielding massive amounts of posts and accepting constructive (see: helpful/insightful information, and civilized debates) from other members - would help our community as a whole and that's progress. Now that we've established that, mind building me a 42ft yacht that can handle 300 plants, lights, etc? hahaha (just kidding, mostly)

I love my Cap MLC8X Controller. Wouldn't do anything other than run a controller. It's so convenient.

I dont think the idea is to quote yourself in your sig Thats just weird man! And when did we start building boats up in here?!

Sand4x105 said:

I got in on this late...
If it is a 40 or 50 amp breaker two pole 220vac in panel, change it to 20 amp two pole with two legs of 110 vac...
Then just buy a 4S box and mount it over the [kiln] existing outlet, mount a double duplex outlet cover, splice 12 awg into the large wires then hook to outlet, the whole thing, $25 total, and you'd have two dedicated 20 amp outlets...red white to one outlet, black white to other...
Get it ? if not pm me...

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Doing this with old range circuit I'm tying into under home. Running one 10awg(?) four wire from existing 6awg at jbox to disconnect then seperating legs. Trying to keep cheap and easy have disc,recepts etc. I'd need only wire from downstairs kitchen to upstairs room,fuses and breaker.

Hey Chaka with a sub how high can you go with 6 awg? If I tied at gaspack/ac max fuse 50 amp could I pull a 20 off that with sub? No crawling involved worth $.

Hey fellas, I found one of these light controller http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/products/light-boxes-controllers/solatel-pwx-240-u-power-expander-240v-20a-4-2-outlets.html. Would it work on a 240 30 amp breaker? Or would I have to use more power to compensate for the additional 10amp power expander outlets? And it mentions something about 240 23A service that he's me a little bit lost. Thanks in advance fellas.

legaleyes13 said:

Hey fellas, I found one of these light controller http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/products/light-boxes-controllers/solatel-pwx-240-u-power-expander-240v-20a-4-2-outlets.html. Would it work on a 240 30 amp breaker? Or would I have to use more power to compensate for the additional 10amp power expander outlets? And it mentions something about 240 23A service that he's me a little bit lost. Thanks in advance fellas.

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Yes, that'd work on a 240/30A per what they said, nothing else could go on the circuit though. 30* .8 = 24A.. and that leaves a 20% cushion Amp-wise for spikes, and to leave a bit of room so you're a ton less likely to see wiring heat up/fail/start a fire (this assumes the circuit is truly 240/30A and the wiring was done properly & verified)

Oh yeah, one more thing fellas. If I plug this into my dryer hookup, will I be good to go, or do I have to do some sort of wiring with my breaker box?Here's what I'm talking about. It's a different controller than I had in my last post http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/products/light-boxes-controllers/powerbox-dpc-7500-combo.html

legaleyes13 said:

Oh yeah, one more thing fellas. If I plug this into my dryer hookup, will I be good to go, or do I have to do some sort of wiring with my breaker box?Here's what I'm talking about. It's a different controller than I had in my last post http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/products/light-boxes-controllers/powerbox-dpc-7500-combo.html

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as long as its a 30 amp outlet and a 30 amp controller your fine. dont mix and match. also check the manufacturers website to make sure you dont have to rewire it to match the outlet.

so I live in the USA in a duplex in the top unit, the house is pretty old and I have no idea how many amp my unit is able to work with, also I do not know which rooms are on the same circuit and how many amps each circuit (room) can hold. Is there any way I can figure this out? I am running about 1000W from what I believe is one circuit(room) and I have an extension cord coming from another separate room which has about 800W running through it. My sockets are all 120V. Also I had to wire two in-line booster fans myself. I used an old computer power cord and cut the end off and wired it, the only problem is that the wires from the in-line booster had aluminum (im assuming) wire but the power cords had copper. I know the wires were the same gauge. I went to my local hardware store and bought some of this anti-oxidizing cream and smeared it all over the wires while I connected and put a wire nut on them. Could this pose as any threat? Let me know via PM, it would be very helpful!