str8dropkid
Active Member
120v what ?
i need to know gives the fan power like a battery or sumthin
i need to know gives the fan power like a battery or sumthin
A Bored Electrician to Answer Your Questions
- Thread starter IAm5toned
- Start date
I have a buddy who owns a hydro shop, i got it for cost which is 450 NIB. I do have a bunch of top of the line stuff, but make no mistake, i got GREAT deals on it all. All my 1kw eye hotrilux's 8 NIB for 290. Anywho, thanks for all your help man! you have been vital to what i needed to know!
Oh also, should i worry aobut all 8 1kw hps flipping on at once? is there a chance to overload the ciruit even if in using the proper breakers and proper guage line?
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
no the breakers have whats called a dual element to stop that from happening. just make sure you use a 50amp breaker to feed the controller
ps-
if it does turn into an issue though and trip on startup you can get whats called a motor starter to fix the problem.
its pretty much a fused contactor that has a bypass circuit for inrush current built into it
no the breakers have whats called a dual element to stop that from happening. just make sure you use a 50amp breaker to feed the controller
ps-
if it does turn into an issue though and trip on startup you can get whats called a motor starter to fix the problem.
its pretty much a fused contactor that has a bypass circuit for inrush current built into it
Great info, thanks man. Also, do you think ill need an ac unit if outside temps are in the 50's? and im running 7-8 unsheilded 1kw HPS bulbs? ballasts will be located outside the room. ANd it will have as much co2 as it needs.
gr3ysmok3
Member
This is my virgin grow and I know next to nothing about circuitry. I'm growing in an apartment and have just got a 1000w lumatek ballast with a 1000w MH bulb and a seperate HPS bulb for flowering.
I'm going to leave the MH bulb on for 24-hours for the Veg period (about 3 weeks) and have one oscillating fan and a carbon scrubber running and possibly add a CO2 for Veg when it's time.
However there are no outlets in the closet and drilling through the wall is not an option. Therefore if I run extension chords for the fan/ballast/hydro pumps (I have an elevated space in my closet for the ballast) will it be too much for one or two outlets? Do I need to ground it and what does that mean?
There's also a lot of electronics but most of them are off during the day, but if I turned them on I wouldn't want to overpower the circuit. So will putting the ballast on a seperate outlet (via the extension chord) than my plasma/xbox/etc. be okay? Or will it still override the circuitry for my whole room?
Plus do you know how many watts each outlet can hold and how to determine how much a device puts out, because I already think I'm straining each outlet with how much stuff I have setup. Thanks, I know this is a lot but seeing as you say you've setup mansions with private saferooms I'm sure this is child's play to you
One last thing, I really don't know anything about home-circuitry or how breakers work, so any general advice/safety tips would be great seeing as I've seen enough closet Grow-room graveyards to warrant me to set this up the safe and right way...
I'm going to leave the MH bulb on for 24-hours for the Veg period (about 3 weeks) and have one oscillating fan and a carbon scrubber running and possibly add a CO2 for Veg when it's time.
However there are no outlets in the closet and drilling through the wall is not an option. Therefore if I run extension chords for the fan/ballast/hydro pumps (I have an elevated space in my closet for the ballast) will it be too much for one or two outlets? Do I need to ground it and what does that mean?
There's also a lot of electronics but most of them are off during the day, but if I turned them on I wouldn't want to overpower the circuit. So will putting the ballast on a seperate outlet (via the extension chord) than my plasma/xbox/etc. be okay? Or will it still override the circuitry for my whole room?
Plus do you know how many watts each outlet can hold and how to determine how much a device puts out, because I already think I'm straining each outlet with how much stuff I have setup. Thanks, I know this is a lot but seeing as you say you've setup mansions with private saferooms I'm sure this is child's play to you
One last thing, I really don't know anything about home-circuitry or how breakers work, so any general advice/safety tips would be great seeing as I've seen enough closet Grow-room graveyards to warrant me to set this up the safe and right way...
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
well it really depends on what type of electrical system you have in your apt manThis is my virgin grow and I know next to nothing about circuitry. I'm growing in an apartment and have just got a 1000w lumatek ballast with a 1000w MH bulb and a seperate HPS bulb for flowering.
I'm going to leave the MH bulb on for 24-hours for the Veg period (about 3 weeks) and have one oscillating fan and a carbon scrubber running and possibly add a CO2 for Veg when it's time.
However there are no outlets in the closet and drilling through the wall is not an option. Therefore if I run extension chords for the fan/ballast/hydro pumps (I have an elevated space in my closet for the ballast) will it be too much for one or two outlets? Do I need to ground it and what does that mean?
There's also a lot of electronics but most of them are off during the day, but if I turned them on I wouldn't want to overpower the circuit. So will putting the ballast on a seperate outlet (via the extension chord) than my plasma/xbox/etc. be okay? Or will it still override the circuitry for my whole room?
Plus do you know how many watts each outlet can hold and how to determine how much a device puts out, because I already think I'm straining each outlet with how much stuff I have setup. Thanks, I know this is a lot but seeing as you say you've setup mansions with private saferooms I'm sure this is child's play to you
One last thing, I really don't know anything about home-circuitry or how breakers work, so any general advice/safety tips would be great seeing as I've seen enough closet Grow-room graveyards to warrant me to set this up the safe and right way...
your going to neeed at least 1 15amp circuit to run that stuff, a 20 amp would be better but a 15 should do the job.
the problem here is which receptacle to use. ideally it would be one in the laundrty room or a bathroom, but that will suck for you, because your going to need a heavy duty cord, #12awg to plug that ballast into. no one likes cords running across the house so what you need to find out is if the room the closet is in has its own circuit... often they do.
if thats the case then pick the best looking outlet in the room your in and run the cord from it, however thats all you need to be using that circuit for.... nothing else but the grow.
most plugs can handle up to 1440 watts @ 120 v. however most plugs are not designed to handle such a large load for such a long time (12/12) so your really going to have to keep a close eye on this one, read this guys thread on what happened to him when he was running a 600w ballast on a circuit that had other stuff on it:
Serious Electrical Problem
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
are you using cool tubes?
nope no cool tubes, vertical style! i'll use cool tubes if the temp does get that hot though, if it reachs say 92+, which would be nearly 40 degrees hotter than outside air, or i could always just pump in some air and pump out some air via the controller and turn up the co2 generator to raise up the PPM
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
yes, but be prepared to spend some money on controls. in this design i used off the shelf components that make the wiring and installation simple, but not cheap.
two lamps, two rooms, one ballast!
The Good Doctor
Active Member
He never answered my question, just gave lectures about laws. . .
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
i didnt answer your question because what your asking is the number one reason that gets people busted... do you really want that?
of course its possible to hook to the line side of a meter base but im not telling anyone how to do it, no more than a doctor would tell someone the most efficient way to overdose...
i do have a conscience you know, suppose i tell you how to do it and you go and burn your arm off, or burn the house down or both, or kill some unlucky idiot you managed to talk into doing it for you?
bad karma for me.
i have to draw the line somewhere and i decided to draw it there, no one learns how to run a tap off of a meter base from me... if you dont like it, find another electrician that will tell you how to do it! everyone has limits and thats mine, and never mind the fact that if i did tell you how to do it, i would be liable for any damages incurred!
sorry, im not trying to be a dick about but the risk is very real for several reasons for you to even consider doing something so foolish, a few benjamins a month is not worth felony cultivation w/ intent to distribute, grand larceny (cuz they will expect you to pay for the power you stole, and believe me, a power company can account for 99.9999% of every single milliamp of power it distributes. power companies BUY there power from other utilities, when they get billed for more wattage than they can bill for, they will come looking for you, and they will find the tap in a very short order, there so good at finding illegal taps they have a specific name for guys that do nothing but find illegal taps- sweep and balance technician) tampering with infrastructure (a FEDERAL offense), and possibly manslaughter if someone gets hurt in the process...
ask yourself, are those risks worth it?
wouldnt be a hell of alot easier if you just ran a few smaller crops and used the loot to upgrade yourself to a better position where u dont have to worry about the light bill?
of course its possible to hook to the line side of a meter base but im not telling anyone how to do it, no more than a doctor would tell someone the most efficient way to overdose...
i do have a conscience you know, suppose i tell you how to do it and you go and burn your arm off, or burn the house down or both, or kill some unlucky idiot you managed to talk into doing it for you?
bad karma for me.
i have to draw the line somewhere and i decided to draw it there, no one learns how to run a tap off of a meter base from me... if you dont like it, find another electrician that will tell you how to do it! everyone has limits and thats mine, and never mind the fact that if i did tell you how to do it, i would be liable for any damages incurred!
sorry, im not trying to be a dick about but the risk is very real for several reasons for you to even consider doing something so foolish, a few benjamins a month is not worth felony cultivation w/ intent to distribute, grand larceny (cuz they will expect you to pay for the power you stole, and believe me, a power company can account for 99.9999% of every single milliamp of power it distributes. power companies BUY there power from other utilities, when they get billed for more wattage than they can bill for, they will come looking for you, and they will find the tap in a very short order, there so good at finding illegal taps they have a specific name for guys that do nothing but find illegal taps- sweep and balance technician) tampering with infrastructure (a FEDERAL offense), and possibly manslaughter if someone gets hurt in the process...
ask yourself, are those risks worth it?
wouldnt be a hell of alot easier if you just ran a few smaller crops and used the loot to upgrade yourself to a better position where u dont have to worry about the light bill?
The Good Doctor
Active Member
It was a technical question about a friends grow op in the near past, if you are worried about people getting you in trouble from this site, it is a little late, there are 15 year olds on here talking about dropping acid and worse.
I simply wanted to know how(if you read the original question) it was possible that the meter kept spinning with that configuration, it seemed impossible.
I simply wanted to know how(if you read the original question) it was possible that the meter kept spinning with that configuration, it seemed impossible.
The Good Doctor
Active Member
I actually didn't even ask how to do something, I asked how it was possible that something happened.
Jeesh, some people. On a side note, you are an electrician on a weed site. . . if you don't like questions about jumping power(which wasn't even my question in the first place) then this is difenately the wrong place for you.
Jeesh, some people. On a side note, you are an electrician on a weed site. . . if you don't like questions about jumping power(which wasn't even my question in the first place) then this is difenately the wrong place for you.
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
yeah..... ok
to answer your question- its possible because there is more than one phase of power coming in from the transformer... if he has one phase tapped out than the power still going through the other phase will be read by the meter.. and since there is also additional demand on the load side of the phase (from the appliances and fixtures normally installed on that leg) the meter still spins.
edit ps:
i have answered hundreds of questions from serious growers and from amatuers. i have been asked 3 times questions regarding meterbases and illegal taps. 2 of three were from people that were absolutly clueless.
look if you ask a mechanic to mod your engine and he tells you no, im not gonna do that because your engine will prolly blow, do you go and do it anyway?
if you ask another mechanic and he tells you the same thing, will you still persist?
so when you do it and the engine blows, i guess you will blame the mechanic too..........
to answer your question- its possible because there is more than one phase of power coming in from the transformer... if he has one phase tapped out than the power still going through the other phase will be read by the meter.. and since there is also additional demand on the load side of the phase (from the appliances and fixtures normally installed on that leg) the meter still spins.
edit ps:
i have answered hundreds of questions from serious growers and from amatuers. i have been asked 3 times questions regarding meterbases and illegal taps. 2 of three were from people that were absolutly clueless.
look if you ask a mechanic to mod your engine and he tells you no, im not gonna do that because your engine will prolly blow, do you go and do it anyway?
if you ask another mechanic and he tells you the same thing, will you still persist?
so when you do it and the engine blows, i guess you will blame the mechanic too..........