4,000 watts with no master lighting controller?

herballuvmonkey

Well-Known Member
Also do it cheaper dude. You're going to need a 50 amp circuit or pull two 15ampa and and a 20 if ur going to break it down to 120v circuits.. You can use a disconnect or a sub panel for the extra breakers. Wire a commercial timer like they use to turn on outdoor lights for restaurants. DIY it and save a crap load of cash and it will be safe.
 

Air

Well-Known Member
Wierd I have 3 1k Watts 1 300 watt fan and 2 100 watt fans which is about 3500 watts of power in one room and never blow a breaker.
 

TheGreenHornet

Well-Known Member
That sounds like me, my last two grows. I was running one 600w bulb, one 8 bulb T5 panel (54w HO, so like 432w) two inline booster fans, and a centrifugal fan, and two water pumps, and like 6 air pumps, all off of one outlet, which I ran through an extension cord from my room, into my closet.

At one point the temps were really high so I bought an 8,000 BTU portable AC unit and ran that for like two weeks (which made the lights dim, but did not trip any breakers) until I got the electric bill.. then I unplugged that thing. Still.. thats gotta be like 2,000+ watts on one outlet.. in a shitty apartment.

Now I live in a house, and have got 4 600's vented, hanging, and bulbed up ready to go... but have the same question concerning extension cords. I cant burn down this house, thatd be no bueno, but I dont want to spend the little cash I have on getting an electrician to come wire a subpanel in that room.. especially if I can just run some extensions from other outlets on other breakers.. plus I would have to take EVERYTHING down, and then reassemble it, and Ive already got my seedlings sprouted and ready to go in their systems.
 

herballuvmonkey

Well-Known Member
most extension cords are rated for 15 amps, although you really dont want to push more than 12 amps thru them (80%) which would be the equivalent to 1440 watts. Really folks those running high wattage thru one circuit are heading for danger it may not trip on you because of a faulty breaker, old wiring, etc. but at some time it will happen. I had one friend running a 10000 btu ac thru a commercial extension cord (the big orange one) it took about 3 weeks and that bitch caught fire. I stoppped by his house to help him out as we both do our thing but I am the one with elec. experience, I told him that cord is hot as hell your pumping to much thru her its rated 15 amps and your putting twice the amount of wattage rating thru it. He said he would change it got lazy and bam one night it caught fire and melted the end of the ac cord and the extension (luckily he caught it quickly). I had to rewire the ac plug for him but imagine if he hadnt been home. Fire starts, fire dept comes, grow room discovered jail time imminent. Be smart guys. Here is another easy thing for you to do and if any of you need a schematic I can provide a very easy one to help you. If you are a single person and dont use your range much, that's 50 usable amps running right there ready to be tapped. Just make sure if you use the stove and you tap off of it for your grow u do your cooking around the times your lights are off. Most ranges run up to about 30 amps max power so you have room to play with. PM me if any of you need help.
 

herballuvmonkey

Well-Known Member
oh and by the way even though the range and dryer are on 240 volts, if i can show you how to break those down to 50 and 30 amps of usable 120 volt power. Cost you about 75 to 100 dollars max depending on what else your looking for. And screw the lighting relays, you can use a commercial timer ( a heck of a lot cheaper) to run up to 4000 w worth of lights.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
You are charged by how many kilowatt hours you use. No way to plug anything in in your house and not pay for it.
 
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