quick question RIU!

[LightTheLaLa]

hello and good morning everyone this question is probably asked already but I couldn't find it in the forums. my question is this I am about a week into flowering and my breaker keeps on flipping causing my lights to turn off. I flip It back on right away prob about 30 seconds. The grow light takes about a min to turn back on though. This happens prob once a day (sometimes when the light is off so its not an issue) but this morning it has happened 4 times in 35 min. Will this cause my plants to stress and hermie?!?!?!

 

[waterdawg]

You have a bigger issue than hermies, but if it keeps up it may cause plant issues. Why is breaker tripping even with light off? What are u powering.

 

[UNICRONLIVES]

yes it can. either your breaker is gettin weak or your ballast is starting to go bad and draws more amps than the breaker can take. a 20 amp breaker can take bout 16 amp continuously..much more than that and it'll start "kickin" can you use a different outlet/breaker close by?!..thatll help determine which is goin bad

 

[Indoor Sun King]

This is serious as you have over loaded your circuit, thus your breaker is tripping.

Don't worry about your plant going hermie, worry about burning your house to the ground.

Also restarting the light 30 seconds latter will drastically reduce the life span of your bulb....you should wait 20 minutes to cool down before turning it on again

 

[LightTheLaLa]

Hey thanx everyone. And i dont think its my light cuz it flips even when im just watching tv and the light is off as well as everything else in the house. My aprt is super small and super old. Anyway the land lord just came and replaced the breaker.

 

[dannyboy602]

^^^absolutely. The circuit that feeds your ballast might have other appliances hooked up to that circuit. Look on the breaker and see how many amps is on the circuit that supplies the ballast and then find the other appliances that are also hooked up to the same circuit. Each will draw a certain amount of amps. After you've located all of the appliances add up the total amps and make sure you don't go over the amount on that one line. Best to have one circuit devoted to the ballast or two depending how many amps it supports.

 

[LightTheLaLa]

My entire aprt is on one breaker. When that breaker flips everything in my place goes out. I wish it was not like this lol.

 

[kinddiesel]

what light are you using a 1000 watt ? I would switch to a 600 problem solved . or if it was me I would take the panel off the fuse box and add another breaker . its very easy if you know what your doing . or ask one of your buddies . I know you can tap an other breaker into that box safely. because any apartment has to be able to run a electric stove that uses a 40 amp 220 breaker . that's a shit ton of power.

 

[waterdawg]

What size is the breaker? Also the wire used in most households is 14g, breakers are 15, if u switched to a 20 you have now overloaded the wire, thats a bad thing lol.

 

[kinddiesel]

we don't even know all the equipment this guy is running . he is prob running a portable ac a 1000 watt ballast 3 fans then entire house . and a dehumidifier .

 

[LightTheLaLa]

Im using a 400watt light. Im not sure how big the breaker is I didint ask when the guy was replacing it. I would think it would be the correct size cuz everything in my aprt runs on electric.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

yes it can. either your breaker is gettin weak or your ballast is starting to go bad and draws more amps than the breaker can take. a 20 amp breaker can take bout 16 amp continuously..much more than that and it'll start "kickin" can you use a different outlet/breaker close by?!..thatll help determine which is goin bad

Sorry man, the quoted statement is incorrect. A 20 amp breaker by definition is a breaker that can take a load of 20 amps for an infinite amount of time (not infinite, but they have a long life span). Circuit breaker manufacturers publish the circuit breaker's trip curve which shows the (*take a breath*) the time until the breaker trips depending on the proportion between the nominal current (the one stated on the breaker) and the actual current going through the breaker. You can look for more info on the circuit breaker curve, but I guess you just wanna grow weed and not become an electric engineer. So let's get practical:

Measure the time interval between drops of the breaker. If there is a consistency - it's probably an overload.
Try to monitor things you turn on in the house and see if there is a connection between devices you turn on and the breaks. If the breaks occur totally randomly - you might have a short circuit somewhere in the apartment. Hope the new breaker does the job, if not refer to my comment. By the way, changing the breaker to a bigger value without changing the wiring is a stupid and dangerous thing to do, so check the value of the new breaker...

Sorry for the bad English, and for shoving my mr. know-electricity agenda upon your post.
Happy growing!

 

[LightTheLaLa]

No need to be sorry! Knowledge is power. Ill keep an eye on the drops and see if I can piece anything together. Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[Indoor Sun King]

Im using a 400watt light. Im not sure how big the breaker is I didint ask when the guy was replacing it. I would think it would be the correct size cuz everything in my aprt runs on electric.

Bottom line: if it continues to trip then you are overloaded, if not then the breaker was just old and was tripping prematurely

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Bottom line: if it continues to trip then you are overloaded, if not then the breaker was just old and was tripping prematurely

It can also be a short-circuit, or even current leaks if you have an RCCB (A circuit breaker with integrated residual current device).

 

[Indoor Sun King]

It can also be a short-circuit, or even current leaks if you have an RCCB (A circuit breaker with integrated residual current device).

agree, so I'll re-phrase....... if it continues to trip then there is an issue that must be resolved, as this would be a serious risk of fire and/or electrocution

 

[charface]

refrigerator compressor. ??
Constant tripping scares me.
I had to replace my main breaker as it wore out. But I was able to shut it off outside.
This is gonna be tricky in an apartment
if they have to come fix it.
Bummer

 

[waterdawg]

Better than the fire dept ��.

 

[waterdawg]

Fyi i run 600w light, extraction @ 1.51.5a, and a 1000w heater on 15a and never trips. I do need to upgrade though and have 10-3 wire to feed sub panel in shed. Just need the time lol.