electrical with 3 lights

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kennymox510

Active Member
Two 600w and one 400w. Dedicated 20 amp outlet for lights. What is the best way to hook all three ballast up to timers? With two 600w lights, the plug at thr end of the power strip is VERY warm. (2 ballast plugged into single power strip---》plugged into single timer. plugged into outlet. ) Where the strip plugs into the timer its very warm. So I know adding a 3rd light to the strip is a no go. So how do you suggest I hook up all three lights?
 
Best thing I can think of would be...instead of running all 20amps from the breaker to the single outlet. I could run it to the first one. Then jump it to the second one and from the second one jump it to the a third outlet. All right next to each other. That way I have 3 outlets splitting the 20 amps. Kinda like how your kitchen is all on one 15amp breaker but split between probably 3-4 outlets. And then run a single timer on each outlet to control its own light. What you guys think?
 
The light controllers are a little out of my current price range. Maybe later down the road though. So does the 3 Seperate outlets jumped together on the 20amp breaker with 3 Seperate times sound like a decent idea?
 
kennymox510 said:
The light controllers are a little out of my current price range. Maybe later down the road though. So does the 3 Seperate outlets jumped together on the 20amp breaker with 3 Seperate times sound like a decent idea?
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go for it. If your breakers not tripping now it should be fine.
 
my input is to get yourself the heaviest gage extension chords and runm to different plugins throughout the house to split up the usage onto different breakers.You can drill holes in the floor and run your cables under house.If you live in an apartment...you might have to run them along the walls ;).best to run one light and fan per 20 amp breaker and use heavy gage chords.
 
What is wrong with running the 1600watts on a single 20amp breaker? That's only 13.3amps. Add in the .5-1amps per ballast and you are still at 14.8-16.3amps. Maybe I am wrong but isn't that ok to do?
 
kennymox510 said:
Its a dedicated 20amp circuit for the grow only. Nothing else other than the lights will ever be plugged into it
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dont forget fans. do you run dehumidifier or ac?? ditch the power cord if it feels hot. Do you not have room for another breaker in your box?? if you do just run another 20 amp circuit. you wanna make sure you always have room to grow and expand and not have to redo electrical every year. makes sure your using 12 gauge wire for 20 amp breakers
 
green_machine_two9er said:
dont forget fans. do you run dehumidifier or ac?? ditch the power cord if it feels hot. Do you not have room for another breaker in your box?? if you do just run another 20 amp circuit. you wanna make sure you always have room to grow and expand and not have to redo electrical every year. makes sure your using 12 gauge wire for 20 amp breakers
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Are breakers easy to install??im going to youtube that right now.
 
daybreaker said:
Are breakers easy to install??im going to youtube that right now.
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yes very simple. you got posi, negi and ground. just make sure you strip your wires correctly when working in box. usuallly pretty obvious what you gota do wounce you get in there and see how everything else is connected. I find it more difficult, wriing the actualy outlet boxes.
 
H R Puff N Stuff said:
if its hot there is too much power running through it it needs to be larger .i would use more than one timer im sure its one hell of a draw if all go on at the same time .space out the lights by a minute or two.
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very good point. that inital pull is where problems happen. everytimer has a mperage rating as well. most are 10 but youll find some at 15. its much smart to use one time for one lamp.
 
I agree.i split up everything and like you said.Staggar everything by a minute upto 3 minutes.I like to let lights go on for a minute before fans go on.The room wont get too warm in a minute.I youtubed it and basically you cant put on a bigger breaker without changing the wire gauge. :(
 
If the dedicated feed is truly dedicated and only for lighting, and the ballasts support 240v operation, convert the feed to 240v.
 
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