need a electrition please dont answer if u dnt know

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lthopkins

Active Member
ok here is my plan and dont answer if u dnt know this is a saftey issue if not done correct......
before i go hire a electrition i need some knoweldge for i dnt get screwed
my plan run power to a shed 50 feet from power box
what i will be powering
1 lumatek 120volt only 1000 watt system
1 120 volt global greenhouse digital ballast 600 watt
1 6 inch fan
1 8 inch fan
WHAT I WAS TOLD I NEED
8 guage wire 3 seprate lines 2 120 volt lines and a 240 volt line for the 2 fans
18 inch trench to burry conduit 50 amp breaker
WHAT I WANT 4 120 volt plugs regular house plugs 2 for the ballast 1 for the fans does and one for small misc ,,,this sound ok what would i need to carry out the plan
any input is great thank u
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
well i ran power to my shed and can say i ran 2400w and a osculating fan and 440cfm inline fan off of 2 120 circuits. now finding out what you need power wise is pretty easy everything usually has a power rating in watts all you have to do is add all the watts up and divide them by 120 to get the amperage they will pull so 1600w/120v = about 14amps so a single 12ga 20a circuit will cover that no problem. if it where me i would just have x2 20a circuits ran out there (one for fans and one for lights) now if you are thinking you are going to want to add say a AC or heater for it you might want to pull x3 20a circuits to it to give you a spare circuit for any additions. my 2 circuits where ran 14ga 15a and they worked fine. hope this helps. also your fans wont run 240v unless they are rated for it im sure your ballasts are rated for 120/240 so you could run your lights off of 240v which is a bit overkill IMO for the fact that you could run x4 1000w lights off of a two pole 30a 240v circuit but if i was going to run anything 240 it would be the ballasts hands down the rest is easy 120v.
 
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lthopkins

Active Member
so i could run both ballast of 1 120 volt plug? and 2 fans on one so thats 2 plugs then put 2 more out for misc maybe a t5 osc fans etc
 
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s0high

Well-Known Member
What you need is a sub-panel in your shed and then a standard 3 wire run of 6-8awg wire. Preferably run the wires in conduit roughly 18in under ground. Then in the shed have a smaller breaker box that runs out to your assorted 120 or 240v plugs.

Edit : 50amp breaker is a bit big for what you are running but it will work.
 
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lthopkins

Active Member
can u dumb it down for me lol
so run power from house to a pannel in shed then from pannel to a breaker box then to a standard house plug
 
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lthopkins

Active Member
i know nothing about elecricity hint the reason for the question i know how to set my room up and grow ha ha
 
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lthopkins

Active Member
ok so would i run like 8 guage romex wire or 3 seprate wires inside conduit burried (18 inch down) out to a breaker box then from there a smaller romex to standard house plugs seems safer
 
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s0high

Well-Known Member
Yes yes. Panel/ Sub-Panel = breaker box

So here is how the connection chain should go.

House Breaker Box --> 50amp 240v breaker --> 6-8awg wire ran to shed ---> Smaller breaker box in shed -----> dist. out to electric boxes.

Now, the wire comes in different flavors. PREFERABLY get individual wires that are 6-8gauge wire. Something like this http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Building-THHN-Wire-3ZK50 , this wire you will have to bury in conduit "Grey pvc pipe that has belled ends so they fit together."
or
You can get this kind of wire which you can direct bury with no conduit. You will have a hard time finding 8awg or thicker wire in a single wrapped cable.
 
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s0high

Well-Known Member
lthopkins said:
so having a breaker box out there if anything goes wrong the box will flip off and not the house box
Click to expand...
Yes this is important for your safety and your house's well being.

P.S - you should also go with like a 40amp breaker for the 8awg wire or a 50amp for the 6awg
 
L

lthopkins

Active Member
now were getting there
so would run 240 volt out there and theun put a 120 switch in and run the plugs of that for its 120??
 
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lthopkins

Active Member
so shopping list would be 3 6to 8 guage wire 60 or so feet
1 50 amp 240 volt breaker to run the 6to8 from house to shed
breaker box to recieve the 6to8
120 volt breakers to go in breaker box
wire to go from breaker box to house plug things
 
L

lthopkins

Active Member
found a guy who can hook itup cheap as long as i get materials if he gets them he has to go thru his work and all this crap so he said get the stuff and he will do it if he has to get the stuff it cost me i got like 400 bucks to do this hope i can
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
a sub panel is way WAY overkill in this situation and allot more work and money than needed for the simple setup being explained.

OP to answer your question, yes the two hid ballasts will run off of a single 20a 12gauge dedicated line from your house panel (quite easily). i dont know much about your panel or house or even how long the run will be but i can say if it is a fairly short run i would pull 2 12-3 romex's to the shed each wire will be a 20a home run/circuit (you do not have to use all of them at once) if you use 2 right away you will still have 2 more dedicated 20a lines in case you want to add anything. i run around 4000w of lighting alone in a spare bedroom and its all ran off of 3 15a circuits, there is no way i would go through the trouble and funds to run a sub panel to that shed for a grow of that size! especially if you are going to have a electrician come out and do it for you.
 
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lthopkins

Active Member
well i like the idea of bieng safe with the breaker box then i could add as i please my ideal setup i want to get to is 6k watts
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
lthopkins said:
well i like the idea of bieng safe with the breaker box then i could add as i please my ideal setup i want to get to is 6k watts
Click to expand...
what do you mean by safe lol. for one if a breaker trips its not going to trip your house breaker (thats the point of breakers) not exceeding 75% of the breakers rating is also safe (hints 15a from a 20a breaker) so running x4 20a breakers off of 2 12-3 wires is exceeding your 50a sub panel easily (60a at 75% capacity x4 20a is 80a at 100% and 50% cheaper than a sub panel lol). i would love to see a 6kw shed grow must be a HUGE shed lol, also you would only have to buy x2 tandem 20a breakers (much cheaper then 2 pole 50a breakers not to mention the panel and how ever many other breakers to go into it).
 
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s0high

Well-Known Member
Shrug. To each his own. Personally I would want nothing to do with running 1600watts of a single 12-2 wire buried underground. Nothing at all :)

Edit : I re-read your original post.... Which ever way will work. One will cost probably 30-40% more but will be MUCH safer.
Edit Edit : I still stand by saying tho : I wouldnt want anything to do with 3!!! wires run underground to a shed. hehe.
 
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