6 lights electrical questions (experienced advice wanted)

S

SIB.ANNA.C

Member
hello everyone i am coming up on my 3rd harvest and im looking to expand my hobbies. i currently run 1x 600watt and 1x 400 watt hps light in a 5 x7 room. now i am moving my project to a 8 x 10 room and was thinking of having 6 lights 5x 600watt and 1x400watt. i will b having an electrician come and set up a new breaker box with 7 utility breakers @ 30 amps. i was thinking of running 2 ballast on each breaker (that would take up 3 breakers) leaving me 1 breaker for flower room accessories i.e ac/fans/humidifier etc. and 2 breakers for veg room.
does this seem efficient?
or can anyone assist me with a better system. i know 240 volts is better but as a 120 volt system, will this work???
advice is welcome and appreciated.
peace n pot !!!
 
M

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
240 is not better than 120.(well it is,kinda,almost.-if I pee in your pool,I make it bigger right? 240 is about that much better for your app.)
you could run a 240v 30 amp breaker for just your lights and skip the expense of a subpanel but a subpanel is a great way to insure you wont ever run out of power for your room. for 120v breakers, 20 amp are most common & you could put 2 lights on each breaker and still have room for about 5 amps of accessories per breaker and stay below the recommended 80% of load. advantage of this is if 1 breaker or timer fails, only 1/3 of your lights go down.
another option would be a 240 volt 30 amp circuit controlled by a hotwater heater timer like this http://www.intermatic.com/products/ec 4 layer/mechanical time switches/24 hour/t100 series.aspx
that will handle your 6 lights with room to add 2-3 more. add a 20 amp 120 circuit for accessories and 1-2 more for the veg room & you should be good.
BTW, a 220 breaker takes 2 slots in the subpanel box. ask your electrican how much more to get a larger box. a box w/ a few more slots should only add a few bucks.if you ever need more power for something else....
 
S

SIB.ANNA.C

Member
Yea I mean 20 amp lol they Dnt even make 30 amp for 120 volt breakers. The 240 breaker running all my lights was something I pit into consideration jus wanted some feedback on what u guys think. Thank for the advice!!
 
Truu

Truu

Well-Known Member
How would 240v not be more efficient? Voltage goes up, amperage goes down. So if hes running 1200w on a 2 pole(240v) breaker it would be 5A. As opposed to running 1200w on 120v being 10A. You could even run all 6 of you lights on a 220 breaker with 12.5A just in lighting. Its always more efficient to run lighting on higher voltage. You can still run your 120v stuff on a 15a receptacle with a 20a breaker.
 
S

SIB.ANNA.C

Member
The only thing im worried about is if the breaker flips all my lights go off as apposed to 2 ballasts per one breaker, and for sum reason if one flips at least the others will b on, idk jus a thought. And also if i was to run all lights on a 220v breaker what kind of wire would i tell the electrician to install?? I dnt want to burn out the wire by all that voltage?? 8 gauge??
 
S

SIB.ANNA.C

Member
Some other questions ...as of right now my grow is in the basement were smell is not an issue, so i have a fan extracting air with no carbon filter. Here's were it gets confusing, ive seen so many set ups with carbon filters connected to lights and some not... Now, i will b purchasing 4 sun system supreme yield master ii which comes with a glass enclosure. Obviously i need to channel out the heat from these 4 lights via can fan, does smell leak into the hoods??? Will i have to attach the carbon to the exhaust?? Or can i mount the carbon filter to a separate can fan extracting old air? I dnt want smell coming out of the heat exhaust. Any help ???
 
M

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
Truu said:
How would 240v not be more efficient? Voltage goes up, amperage goes down. ......
Click to expand...
Wattage remains the same and you are billed per watt. 240 has an advantage when running large loads for long distances. if he was putting up a couple dozen 1000watt HPS around a football field,it would matter.

SIB.ANNA.C said:
.... And also if i was to run all lights on a 220v breaker what kind of wire would i tell the electrician to install?? I dnt want to burn out the wire by all that voltage?? 8 gauge??
Click to expand...
10/3 would be fine for a 220v 30 amp circiut.
as for the light enclosure,if you draw your air from outside the grow,through the lights and back outside the grow,very little if any smell will get into the air. if you put your fan at the exhaust side to suck the air,any leaks in the light or tubing will suck air(and smalls) into the system but if you are careful, it will be minor. on the other hand, if you put your fan at the beginning and blow air through the tubing and lights, any leaks will blow clean air into the room so you should have no chance of smells coming from the light exhaust. fans are more efficient at sucking than blowing but some say they last longer if not subjected to the higher temps of the air coming off the lights.
 
P

phishtank

Well-Known Member
I keep my fan at the beginning of the whole exhaust set up so i don't have to worry about any air getting sucked in through the hood. Basically my setup goes carbon filter -- 6" fan -- 1000W light -- outside of tent.
 
randomseed

randomseed

Active Member
The real advantage to 240 is that the ballests run cooler (less internal resitance = less heat).
Given the number of lights your talking that could actually become a big plus.

The basics of what your doing sound fine. I would def go with the 240 line and run that into something like this -> http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=mlc108

Its what I do and it works great.
 
S

SIB.ANNA.C

Member
randomseed said:
the real advantage to 240 is that the ballests run cooler (less internal resitance = less heat).
Given the number of lights your talking that could actually become a big plus.

The basics of what your doing sound fine. I would def go with the 240 line and run that into something like this -> http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=mlc108

its what i do and it works great.
Click to expand...

thanx for the link, does it have a built in timer?? How long have u been using it??
 
randomseed

randomseed

Active Member
SIB.ANNA.C said:
thanx for the link, does it have a built in timer?? How long have u been using it??
Click to expand...
No it has a direct line to the 240 for the power and a normal 120 trigger cable that goes into any timer you want for turning the 240 line on.

Using for about 2 years or so.
 
PotPower

PotPower

Active Member
I just got me one of these and called it a day :blsmoke:
They even sell them with the standard 220v plugs that appliances come with.
I hardwired mines to another breaker box with 60 amp breaker.
I only run 4 x 1000w lights a AC 2 fans dehumidifier and 2 vortex 6" for the hoods at about 22.3 amps average over an hour.
240v x 10 plugs
&
5 120v plugs
GFCI 70AMP total with Amperage usage meter.
 
randomseed

randomseed

Active Member
PotPower said:
I just got me one of these and called it a day :blsmoke:
They even sell them with the standard 220v plugs that appliances come with.
I hardwired mines to another breaker box with 60 amp breaker.
I only run 4 x 1000w lights a AC 2 fans dehumidifier and 2 vortex 6" for the hoods at about 22.3 amps average over an hour.
240v x 10 plugs
&
5 120v plugs
GFCI 70AMP total with Amperage usage meter.
Click to expand...
Niiiiice. What did that run ya? Dig it.
 
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