Ballast blown, issues with replacements

Estrange

Estrange

Member
So recently two of my ballasts went out after I bumped the multistrip. I tried replacing their fuses and quickly blew them. My plants suffered about a 2 day dark period until I was able to get another set of electronic ballasts (fingers crossed they don't hermie). I attributed the issue to the multi-strip/ a faulty surge protector, so I purchased the highest joule (4100 or so) rated surge protecter multi-strip I could find and tried again with the new ballasts. They went fine on their test run and then after about ten minutes of running went out unexpectedly. Luckily they didn't blow their fuses or anything, so I assumed perhaps there was too much of a surge for one multistrip and tried plugging a multi strip into the multi strip and one light into each. (There are only the two lights running to the breaker I believe, possibly 3, I'm not entirely sure if circuit running one 1000w in my veg is on the same one) I then used a heavy duty extension cord to try another outlet and had the same thing, the lights went out after about ten minutes. I'm not sure what could be causing this as I'm seriously far from an electrician. The circuits have a 30 amp capacity, if there is any more information I can provide that would be useful please let me know. I just find it strange as the two lights worked fine for the better part of two weeks until the ballasts blew, and now I'm having this issue with the replacements. Hopefully I can resolve this soon, not sure how much more darkness my gals can take.
 
jijiandfarmgang

jijiandfarmgang

Well-Known Member
Ballasts shouldn't be plugged into multi-strips or extension cords.

30 amps......you sure about that?

Flip the breakers off and go around the a tester and see what outlets lost power.

When you figure out the circuits, then add up all the watts that are being used on a circuit.

Estrange said:
and tried plugging a multi strip into the multi strip and one light into each.
Click to expand...
Plugging power strips or adapters into power adapters is called daisy chaining and is a fire hazard.

I try to not use them at all.

Are you having problems from one outlet? There could be a short.

- Jiji

I'm not an electrician either, just giving you some pointers.
 
Estrange

Estrange

Member
Thanks for the quick responses guys!

jijiandfarmgang said:
Ballasts shouldn't be plugged into multi-strips or extension cords.

30 amps......you sure about that?

Flip the breakers off and go around the a tester and see what outlets lost power.

When you figure out the circuits, then add up all the watts that are being used on a circuit.



Plugging power strips or adapters into power adapters is called daisy chaining and is a fire hazard.

I try to not use them at all.

Are you having problems from one outlet? There could be a short.

- Jiji

I'm not an electrician either, just giving you some pointers.
Click to expand...
Perhaps 3000 maximum, is that too much per circuit ? I do know they worked fine for about a month which makes me think probably not an overload (but again no idea what I'm talking about) I'm not positive it's 30 amps, maybe 20 for the breaker, I can switch fuse for a thirty though if that could be the issue? Theres a bit of difficulty fitting two timers into one outlet without a multistrip. What do you all reccomend I try first?
 
Sire Killem All

Sire Killem All

Well-Known Member
well first off, stop using that outlet and upgrading ur breaker is a bad idea. Breakers are rated at the wire Rating, 30 amp breaker on 20 amp wire = FIRE:fire:.If it has been working all that time till now i would be nervous, it may have melted the insulation and that is very dangous.
wat i would do is go to the breaker box find the fuse and look at the wire gauge, to find its amp rating. Check ur outlets for lose connections. Follow wire and look for burn marks
then go buy wire and make a dedicated run, can use 2 x15A breakers, or 1 20A with 12/2 20A wire.


edit 3000 watts is 25 Amps, dude ur playing with Fire, literaly
 
Hot Diggity Sog

Hot Diggity Sog

Well-Known Member
Follow the 80% rule as a safety guideline. Do not use more than 80% of a circuits capacity.

15 Amp Circuit
Max Watts: 1800
80% = 1440 Watts

20 Amp Circuit
Max Watts: 2400
80% = 1920 Watts
 
jijiandfarmgang

jijiandfarmgang

Well-Known Member
30 amp isn't necessarily 220V..........but it is rare in 120v , and its usually called RV receptacle/plug

Don't replace breaker or fuse with larger one.......as said they are designated for the wire

Fuses are different than breakers

Take a photo of your electrical panel with the door open

- Jiji
 
Alienwidow

Alienwidow

Well-Known Member
Get extention cords and run them from other points in the house. Like different breakers. If you can that is. Hopefully theres other breakers availible.
 
WeedFreak78

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Sire Killem All said:
you running 1k watters?
2 x 1k = 20amp wire dedicated, tho that is still pushing it.
30 amp is 220v.
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You should only have 1 - 1000watt per 20a 120V circuit. A 1000W will generally pull 10A, it's recommended to not exceed 80% of a circuits capacity to allow for start up surges etc, 80% of 20A is 16A, so you could run 6A of other equip on that circuit and be safe, but a second 1000w would be considered overloaded. A 30A 240 circuit can handle 5 1000W light because they only pull about 5A@240V. Sounds like the Op is overloading circuits..
 
C

clayawesome

Well-Known Member
I now it's been said, but please don't uses extension cords, power strips and cheap timers. Lights use tons of power and run for hours on end. Very hot. I'd recommend finding someone you trust that can wire you some circuits just for your lights (220 would be great)
 
D

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
You said you plugged a multistrip into another multistrip to separate the load? The first strip is still pulling everything connected to it. You only added another weak link to the chain.
If you are stuck having to use extension cords (NOT RECOMMENDED), you want the heaviest duty and the shortest length. The longer the wires are to get to an item needing power, the more voltage/current loss meaning more heat building up in the wires and less usable power for the end item.
 
Estrange

Estrange

Member
clayawesome said:
I now it's been said, but please don't uses extension cords, power strips and cheap timers. Lights use tons of power and run for hours on end. Very hot. I'd recommend finding someone you trust that can wire you some circuits just for your lights (220 would be great)
Click to expand...
I'll be wiring some circuits in the near future, unfortunately my only option at the moment was to run an extension to the light from another circuit in the other part of the house. My shortest extension cord that could reach up the stairs is quite long, and not an extremely high quality one. Is this a fire hazard for temporary use?
 
Sire Killem All

Sire Killem All

Well-Known Member
i say if ur gonna use a ext cord cut the end, and put in a elec. box wired to a outlet. One of the biggest problems with ext cords is the connection at plug
 
Estrange

Estrange

Member
Ended up wiring two 110v outlets from my 50 amp electrical stove outlet that has since been replaced with gas. However; there was only one ground wire, not two, so it's currently an open hot connection. The wiring does not seem to be producing a large amount of heat, but it's not ideal as far as safety to have an ungrounded 220v connection.
 
D

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
Estrange said:
Ended up wiring two 110v outlets from my 50 amp electrical stove outlet that has since been replaced with gas. However; there was only one ground wire, not two, so it's currently an open hot connection. The wiring does not seem to be producing a large amount of heat, but it's not ideal as far as safety to have an ungrounded 220v connection.
Click to expand...
In the USA, 240V is made by using two separate phase 120Vs and one ground. Ground to any 120V is 120V. Both 120Vs together with one ground gives 240V. (Sometimes called 110V and 220V)
You will want to put a fuse/breaker on each of those lines. With a 50AMP feed, one 120V feed could pull enough to burn a cord BUT not enough to blow the 240V 50AMP breaker/fuse in your electrical panel. If you have a double 240V breaker with one switch or two tied together, you can replace that with two 30Amp single breakers. You will no longer have one 240V line but two 120V lines with 30AMP protection on each.
 
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WeedFreak78

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Estrange said:
Ended up wiring two 110v outlets from my 50 amp electrical stove outlet that has since been replaced with gas. However; there was only one ground wire, not two, so it's currently an open hot connection. The wiring does not seem to be producing a large amount of heat, but it's not ideal as far as safety to have an ungrounded 220v connection.
Click to expand...
Splitting a 240 for 2 110's isn't the correct way to do it and is potentially unsafe. Were there 3 or 4 wires at the dryer plug? 3 wires would be hot, hot, neutral. 4 wires would be hot, hot, neutral, ground. You can't safely split the 3 wire plug because there is no ground. The 4 wire plug is the only one you could potentially get 2 110V power sources, but you are going to end up sharing the neutral between them which isn't optimal, because now one neutral wire is handling the load from 2 hot wires. The shared ground isn't as much as a concern because there should be no load. No matter which, 3 or 4 wire, neither is safe.

Dirty Harry said:
In the USA, 240V is made by using two separate phase 120Vs and one ground. Ground to any 120V is 120V. Both 120Vs together with one ground gives 240V. (Sometimes called 110V and 220V)
You will want to put a fuse/breaker on each of those lines. With a 50AMP feed, one 120V feed could pull enough to burn a cord BUT not enough to blow the 240V 50AMP breaker/fuse in your electrical panel. If you have a double 240V breaker with one switch or two tied together, you can replace that with two 30Amp single breakers. You will no longer have one 240V line but two 120V lines with 30AMP protection on each.
Click to expand...
Wrong, in the US 120V is hot, neutral, ground. 240V is hot, hot, neutral, with the option of a ground for some appliances. While ground and neutral are similar, they are not the same. In some instances the ground has to be isolated from the neutral bar in the breaker box and using them interchangeably could end up energizing a circuit when you think it should have been grounded. Your solution to have 2 30A 110 breakers and run separate circuits is the best advice. It will require running a couple extra wires to make complete circuits.
 
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D

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
WeedFreak78 said:
Splitting a 240 for 2 110's isn't the correct way to do it and is potentially unsafe. Were there 3 or 4 wires at the dryer plug? 3 wires would be hot, hot, neutral. 4 wires would be hot, hot, neutral, ground. You can't safely split the 3 wire plug because there is no ground. The 4 wire plug is the only one you could potentially get 2 110V power sources, but you are going to end up sharing the neutral between them which isn't optimal, because now one neutral wire is handling the load from 2 hot wires. The shared ground isn't as much as a concern because there should be no load. No matter which, 3 or 4 wire, neither is safe.



Wrong, in the US 120V is hot, neutral, ground. 240V is hot, hot, neutral, with the option of a ground for some appliances. While ground and neutral are similar, they are not the same. In some instances the ground has to be isolated from the neutral bar in the breaker box and using them interchangeably could end up energizing a circuit when you think it should have been grounded. Your solution to have 2 30A 110 breakers and run separate circuits is the best advice. It will require running a couple extra wires to make complete circuits.
Click to expand...
 
D

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
You said it better than I meant to say. You are correct that neutral and ground are not the same but share commonality. Neutral is a load carrying wire. Ground is NOT meant to carry current, only as a safety if current somehow gets out of circuit. In my main panel, ground and neutral share the bus, but the neutral wire is meant to carry current. In my sub panel, the neutrals share the bus, but a separate earth ground is connected ONLY to the sub panel case with a bus for GROUND only wires. Neutral and ground are separate, that is code for my area. Explaining why is another long story, but there are dangerous reasons.
Excellent point on sharing the neutral between two circuits. But if one neutral could handle 50AMPS, as long as the two 120's don't combine to over 50Amps...not to code, but a earth ground can be pulled from the closest COPPER water pipe and ONLY if the pipe DOES NOT have a plastic pipe between ground.
 
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