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

Shrimpn

Member
Thanks in advance for any help or input. I am open ears to any suggestions.

sorry if my explanation isn't clear. I have provided some pictures if that helps as well.

light set up:
9x20 sealed room. Coco grow. LSD and G13 haze. Sub panel, 40amp brkr to intermatic timer to ballast, then all ballast output wired to main cable with 4 raptors, 1000 watt each. All 4 lights are cycling. When I turn on the power to the lights #1 lights up, then goes out after a min, then #2 lights up for a min, then goes out, #3 same, #4 same. This cycle repeats it's self until i cut the power. In the past I have used a light controller to get them going however in my new set up I was hoping to have 1 main cable with (4) individual 240v receptacles' in the room that I can plug the hoods into vs plugging directly into the ballasts. Not to mention cut down on cord cost.. So for the time being, I have unplugged 3 hoods and 3 ballast and my first light will stay on no prob...but my girls are begging for their own space.

For the last two weeks I have been scratching my head trying to figure out this last step in my flower room. Do I need a 30amp relay between the ballasts output and the main cable feeding my room? Also would a flop be best if I want to add a second flower room to run off these ballast?

Thanks again for any input. Virtual tokes to all. This forum has helped me and my room in so many ways.. :O)
 

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wheels619

Well-Known Member
Thanks in advance for any help or input. I am open ears to any suggestions.

sorry if my explanation isn't clear. I have provided some pictures if that helps as well.

light set up:
9x20 sealed room. Coco grow. LSD and G13 haze. Sub panel, 40amp brkr to intermatic timer to ballast, then all ballast output wired to main cable with 4 raptors, 1000 watt each. All 4 lights are cycling. When I turn on the power to the lights #1 lights up, then goes out after a min, then #2 lights up for a min, then goes out, #3 same, #4 same. This cycle repeats it's self until i cut the power. In the past I have used a light controller to get them going however in my new set up I was hoping to have 1 main cable with (4) individual 240v receptacles' in the room that I can plug the hoods into vs plugging directly into the ballasts. Not to mention cut down on cord cost.. So for the time being, I have unplugged 3 hoods and 3 ballast and my first light will stay on no prob...but my girls are begging for their own space.

For the last two weeks I have been scratching my head trying to figure out this last step in my flower room. Do I need a 30amp relay between the ballasts output and the main cable feeding my room? Also would a flop be best if I want to add a second flower room to run off these ballast?

Thanks again for any input. Virtual tokes to all. This forum has helped me and my room in so many ways.. :O)
well now theres your problem. lol.

dude that looks like a hot mess. are all the ballasts feeding to one cable then back off to separate hoods? im not sure the ignitors in the ballasts will work properly to fire the bulbs wired like that. but im not exactly an expert. i did my homework for my application and decided that a lighting controller was the way to go. on a side note id love to see it running full steam.
 

Shrimpn

Member
well now theres your problem. lol.

dude that looks like a hot mess. are all the ballasts feeding to one cable then back off to separate hoods? im not sure the ignitors in the ballasts will work properly to fire the bulbs wired like that. but im not exactly an expert. i did my homework for my application and decided that a lighting controller was the way to go. on a side note id love to see it running full steam.
lol. yup exactly. The light cords from the ballasts to the 1 main coord for the room that has 4 240v recepticles. I figured it would send the 4k down the line for the hoods....maybe not lol...It seems this should work with a relay or contactor??
 

wheels619

Well-Known Member
lol. yup exactly. The light cords from the ballasts to the 1 main coord for the room that has 4 240v recepticles. I figured it would send the 4k down the line for the hoods....maybe not lol...It seems this should work with a relay or contactor??
not sure. in all honesty im not sure you can run the ballasts setup like that. theoretically it should work but i have a feeling that one good pulse to fire the bulbs isnt strong enough to fire all 4 bulbs at once hooked together. so when it fires the first it lights but not the rest then it fires the next stealing the thunder from the last one. i know you can run multiple smaller bulbs an a larger ballast like 4 250 watters on a 1000 ballast but this is kinda out of my electrical experience. i still think the problem lies in the hoods all being wired together.
 

supchaka

Well-Known Member
I want to see the pics after you burn your place down. Spend a few hundred bucks and get a light controller for the love of god. it doesn't look like you're running the right gauge wire for the circuit either... Hopefully you're only endangering yourself and not innocent people.
 

Shrimpn

Member
I want to see the pics after you burn your place down. Spend a few hundred bucks and get a light controller for the love of god. it doesn't look like you're running the right gauge wire for the circuit either... Hopefully you're only endangering yourself and not innocent people.
ehhhhh no..nice try champ.

Everything was done by an electrician up to the ballast and up to code. I tried to finish the last part and the one light has been running fine with the connections the way they are. I have seen this done with one main with 4 ballast feeding the main. Just trying to find someone who might know how rather than chump it....
 

Shrimpn

Member
so instead of surfing today what I did is ran 16/3 soow cord from each ballast to it's light hood. The intermatic timer kicks on and all the lights are going at once. All good but I would still like to know how I can run the 4 lights with the 4 ballast on 1 main into my room that the lights plug into. Any advice would be sweeeeet!
 

wheels619

Well-Known Member
ehhhhh no..nice try champ.

Everything was done by an electrician up to the ballast and up to code. I tried to finish the last part and the one light has been running fine with the connections the way they are. I have seen this done with one main with 4 ballast feeding the main. Just trying to find someone who might know how rather than chump it....
what ballasts brand and model are you running? some older magnetic ballasts wont ignite the bulbs on a run longer than 30 ft. i been doing a little research trying to figure it out what could be up but im still stumped dude. if everything was hooked up correctly then theoretically they should all fire. hmm...
 

wheels619

Well-Known Member
so instead of surfing today what I did is ran 16/3 soow cord from each ballast to it's light hood. The intermatic timer kicks on and all the lights are going at once. All good but I would still like to know how I can run the 4 lights with the 4 ballast on 1 main into my room that the lights plug into. Any advice would be sweeeeet!
well the ballasts work individually with the hoods so maybe its just wired wrong up to the ballasts. one of the plugs maybe wired in wrong maybe backwards or something.
 

steve28

Member
i have my 600w ballast plugged into one outlet and a surge protector with a 6 in inline and 4 in inline fan with 2 other small fans plugged into a dif outlet on the other wall, is that okay?
 

wheels619

Well-Known Member
i have my 600w ballast plugged into one outlet and a surge protector with a 6 in inline and 4 in inline fan with 2 other small fans plugged into a dif outlet on the other wall, is that okay?
wattage is 600+ 115 or so for each fan + 30 watts or so for the smaller fans to be generous. so 600+115+115+30+30=890 total wattage. 890watts/110volts= 8.09 amps. your well under the load your outlet can handle my friend. your wall outlet should at least be rated for at least 10 amps of power. its normally 15 amps on newer houses and apartments. also make sure your surge protector is rated for 15 amps. most are unless you have the cheap Walmart 3 dollar one.
 

supchaka

Well-Known Member
i have my 600w ballast plugged into one outlet and a surge protector with a 6 in inline and 4 in inline fan with 2 other small fans plugged into a dif outlet on the other wall, is that okay?
I'd look at what exactly I'm using as far as circuits and if other stuff in your house is on them. It's important stuff to know IMO. If its a single circuit and all that stuff is on it alone though yeah it's fine.
 

hiitsbob

Well-Known Member
making sure this is correct. for parallel wiring cfl lights. 12 23w cfl at most 23w x 12 bulbs = 276w i will say 300w for safety. 300w/120v= 2.5 amps which i will call 3 amps for safety.
will be running 12g wire approx 10 feet. there is no ground? will be wiring to a surge protector just want to be safe. so i need a 12/2 wire?
i do not need pig tails i can go black to black to black and red to ted to red?
 

Lucius Vorenus

Well-Known Member
Anyone know what it costs to turn a 2 phase electric panel outside a commercial location into a 3 phase? we currently have only 200amps coming into our space and we really need 400 for summer when we add a couple more AC units.
 
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