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

[gristlegrower]

Not enough juice in my house but plenty of power/amps. I'm constructing a closet grow with a 1000W HPS, 2 fans, pumps, etc. in a 4x4' closet.
Should I put in a 20amp or 30 amp circuit?
Thanks!

 

[VictorVIcious]

My question is would it be safe to use wire splicing nuts to tap a main mid line? The main cannot be shut off so beyond rubber gloves are there any additional safety tips? If it matters it is underground service. Overall goal is to add a 60 amp sub panel. Thanks for any help

It is not possible to have a circuit you can't turn off, there is a switch somewhere. It may be in the meter, there is a switch somewhere. Your questions show you are not qualified to work on a live circuit. I am not stupid enough to work on a live circuit and I have been wiring my own outlets etc. for a little over 40 years. Maybe not working on live circuit is the reason I have lived this long.lol ALWAYS TURN THE SWITCH OFF FIRST. VV

 

[LegalizeCannabisHemp]

Most outlet are 15 amp. You can buy heavier duty plugs that can handle 20 amps. But, I believe you are asking how to determin the amount of load on a circuit. You need an amp meter, you can get on at lowes or home depot. They are simple to use just read the instructions.

ok.. so I need a lesson in the ABC's, whats the difference between socket, and outlet? or is it the same? sorry for such a dumb question, just want to be on the same page.

is the outlet what you plut your electric cord into?

How does constant load work & what exactly is it, and how does it effect the lights,

So most houses are wired with 14 gauge wire.. Which will support a 20 amp load on that particular "circuit"to the breaker? ..

so lets take a bedroom for example, say there is 4 outlets, now if i flip one of my switches at my breaker box, one side of the wall still works.. so thats on a separate"circuit" that the other side of the wall?
*i need help with terms too*

 

[VictorVIcious]

LegalizeCannabisHemp

ok.. so I need a lesson in the ABC's, whats the difference between socket, and outlet? or is it the same? sorry for such a dumb question, just want to be on the same page

.

Not much different electrically, sockets are usually for light fixtures, outlet usually refers to a plug.

is the outlet what you plut your electric cord into?

yep

How does constant load work & what exactly is it, and how does it effect the lights,

Just like it sounds, it is the 'constant load' that the lights use after start up and it doesn't effect the lights.

So most houses are wired with 14 gauge wire.. Which will support a 20 amp load on that particular "circuit"to the breaker? ..

so lets take a bedroom for example, say there is 4 outlets, now if i flip one of my switches at my breaker box, one side of the wall still works.. so thats on a separate"circuit" that the other side of the wall?
*i need help with terms too*

Most outlets and sockets are wired with 14 wire because it cost less and is big enough to meet code. I don't use it for 20 amp circuits, I use 12.
If you did that, and that was the result, you are correct, there must be 2 separate 'circuits' in that room. This does not mean they don't go to other rooms too. VV

 

[Captn]

How many amps does it take to melt a typical wall socket?

typical receptacles are rated to 15a 120v, you do find some 20amp in homes, tho. then you get into the larger 2-pole receptacles for dryers and stoves and such. but if you have it on the correct breaker then it won't melt, unless it grounds out, then it will arc some just before the breaker trips

 

[Captn]

My question is would it be safe to use wire splicing nuts to tap a main mid line? The main cannot be shut off so beyond rubber gloves are there any additional safety tips? If it matters it is underground service. Overall goal is to add a 60 amp sub panel. Thanks for any help

If I'm not mistaken, it sounds like you're talking about the lateral service feeder to the home. I've worked on live service entrance cables, and I've watched linemen splice live underground laterals. Both are high risk operations even when you know what you are doing. Seriously, do not attempt this. If you don't die, you will get busted. You know how you have a meter on your house? well the utility has a "master" meter for the grid you're on. If there is a discrepency between what the grid meter shows and what the unit meters show, they will investigate and find the cause.

 

[That 5hit]

can i grow under colored lights (red and blue) would this be the same as led
i see a lot of led setups online and they all are red and blue 7/2 could i just by a massive amount of red and blue party bulbs and have a seed to harvest grow during my research i found out that its not about the brightness of your light but the spectrum led's do a good job at forcing the red/blue light spec. onto plants could this theory work with colored lightbulbs, it would defiantly be cheaper
and why are leds so much $$ couldn't I just buy a bunch of super bright x-mass light, about 50 leds come on each string so about 7 reds 2 blue tape all the lights together or how ever just put the together so the kind of look like the one online.
would the light thats produce be comparable to led made now. i mean we are talking about 400 super bright xmas light focussed to one point in theory this could and should work?????
maybe

 

[Krawhitham]

So I need to cover about 25 feet or so from my 50 amp outlet to my two 1000 watt hps lights and accesories. Is it best to run some type of power strip into the room or get long ballast and lamp cords? What equipment would you recommend?

 

[LegalizeCannabisHemp]

50 amp? whats that

 

[Mr.Freedom]

It is not possible to have a circuit you can't turn off, there is a switch somewhere. It may be in the meter, there is a switch somewhere. Your questions show you are not qualified to work on a live circuit. I am not stupid enough to work on a live circuit and I have been wiring my own outlets etc. for a little over 40 years. Maybe not working on live circuit is the reason I have lived this long.lol ALWAYS TURN THE SWITCH OFF FIRST. VV

Obviously you did not fully understand the underlying question. I am sure there is a switch somewhere in this case but it's not available for me to access without climbing a pole. While I appreciate the effort understand what the question is before spewing useless advice.

If I'm not mistaken, it sounds like you're talking about the lateral service feeder to the home. I've worked on live service entrance cables, and I've watched linemen splice live underground laterals. Both are high risk operations even when you know what you are doing. Seriously, do not attempt this. If you don't die, you will get busted. You know how you have a meter on your house? well the utility has a "master" meter for the grid you're on. If there is a discrepency between what the grid meter shows and what the unit meters show, they will investigate and find the cause.

Thanks captn. That is what I was getting at. I wasn't sure how big the grid was or how it was metered or if it was possible to sneak about 3 to 4 thousand watts without anyone noticing.

 

[Mr.Freedom]

can i grow under colored lights (red and blue) would this be the same as led
i see a lot of led setups online and they all are red and blue 7/2 could i just by a massive amount of red and blue party bulbs and have a seed to harvest grow during my research i found out that its not about the brightness of your light but the spectrum led's do a good job at forcing the red/blue light spec. onto plants could this theory work with colored lightbulbs, it would defiantly be cheaper
and why are leds so much $$ couldn't I just buy a bunch of super bright x-mass light, about 50 leds come on each string so about 7 reds 2 blue tape all the lights together or how ever just put the together so the kind of look like the one online.
would the light thats produce be comparable to led made now. i mean we are talking about 400 super bright xmas light focussed to one point in theory this could and should work?????
maybe

If I am not mistaken this will not work. If we are thinking of the same kind of party light the bulb itself is incandescent which is not that great for growing, if you use the cfl version of party lights you would be better than the first but you would be better off just using regular cfl's because you would get higher wattages/lumens than ones that have been colored. Go with what work's first then try an experiment.

 

[Gastanker]

I'm starting a grow soon and am curious as to how much an electrician would charge for running a 220 line from my kitchen to a bedroom (30 ft) and installing a breaker box. (this is all I need right? Just running 3 lights and a couple fans)

would appreciate an estimate if anyone has one. Or let me know if this is easy enough to do myself?

 

[LakeShowGrow24]

So I got a deal on a 240v ballast I couldnt refuse, even though my garage (and garden) are wired @ 120v. I'm tryin to find out what my options are... found "step up/down" transformers online, could this be a permanent solution? Any other ideas? Thanks Brick... (ballast was cheap enough, got about $150 left to spend making it work, still be less than store bought)

 

[843prince]

i have a pretty dumb question,im not growing yet but im trying to get all the info down before i start,whas so bad about using a extension cord?i have already bought my 600 watt hps and i also have alot of flourescents for my veg and if i dont use a extension cord then idk how im gonna do it.

 

[Stalemate]

Would it be possible to run a setup with 250w and 150w HPS on a 400w digital ballast?

 

[Captn]

Obviously you did not fully understand the underlying question. I am sure there is a switch somewhere in this case but it's not available for me to access without climbing a pole. While I appreciate the effort understand what the question is before spewing useless advice.



Thanks captn. That is what I was getting at. I wasn't sure how big the grid was or how it was metered or if it was possible to sneak about 3 to 4 thousand watts without anyone noticing.

I hope you don't become rude with me if I misintepret your questions. The guy is doing people a favor, lurking on these forums, answering people's questions...if you really appreciate his efforts, you sure don't express it very well.

In any case, yes, the utility will investigate a discrepancy of a few thousand watts. That extra amperage could be caused by overheating of a degraded conductor in the line. If so, they want to find it and fix it.

 

[Captn]

So I got a deal on a 240v ballast I couldnt refuse, even though my garage (and garden) are wired @ 120v. I'm tryin to find out what my options are... found "step up/down" transformers online, could this be a permanent solution? Any other ideas? Thanks Brick... (ballast was cheap enough, got about $150 left to spend making it work, still be less than store bought)

Single phase 240v service operates with two legs, L1 and L2. 120v circuits operate off one leg, and 240v circuits operate off two legs. If you have two 120v circuits and they operate off different legs, then you could wire them to get 240v. A transformer won't help you. There is a way to turn one leg into two. I've seen the utility do this as a temporary repair when a customer had one leg blow out. I don't know how, though. In AC power, the polarity reverses 60 times a second (in the US). In 240v systems the 2 legs are 180 degrees out of phase, so when one is at negative the other is at positive. So you can, in theory and in fact, split one L1 and reverse its phase to make it L2. But again, I don't know how to do it in practice.

 

[Captn]

Don't hold me to this, but I believe the device you need to do the above is called a phase rectifier. It can change the timing of phase alteration (from 60hz to something else), reverse the phases, or "flatten" alternating current to DC positive.

 

[Mr.Freedom]

I hope you don't become rude with me if I misintepret your questions. The guy is doing people a favor, lurking on these forums, answering people's questions...if you really appreciate his efforts, you sure don't express it very well.

In any case, yes, the utility will investigate a discrepancy of a few thousand watts. That extra amperage could be caused by overheating of a degraded conductor in the line. If so, they want to find it and fix it.

I was being a bit of a dick. Sorry to all. I got a bit annoyed with jumping straight to the you have no idea what you are doing thing (in a pretty rude way) when it was him that didn't understand but I should have taken the high road.

You also seem like a guy that would use a little more tact when suggesting that someone was over their head (as you did). All of my experience has been on the other side of the panel and electronics.

 

[VictorVIcious]

So I need to cover about 25 feet or so from my 50 amp outlet to my two 1000 watt hps lights and accesories. Is it best to run some type of power strip into the room or get long ballast and lamp cords? What equipment would you recommend?

A 50 amp outlet would have been to a electric stove and is 220. You would have about three options.
1) Use it as a 220 line, in the states this would be a little expensive, 220 outlets, plugs and cords are more expensive.
2) make the outlet a work box and split 2 110 lines from it. I did this for one of our members. Took out the dipole breaker and installed 2 20 amp single pull breakers, about $4.00 each. With duplexes, boxes and covers I think it was less than $20.00 for the material, I already had the wire.
3) Make the 220 outlet a sub-panel, you could even make it a plug and play type thing you could take with you. Still give you room for pumps and timers, you would learn a shitload about what you can do for things like Hot Tubs etc. by doing this project.
Brick gave a good layout for a control panel for a four light set-up, I'm sure he could design one for you. VV