Breaker flipping from 400w ballast

CouchlockOR

CouchlockOR

Active Member
If you don't go over 15 amps no harm no foul. But if you do the 15 amp wire will get hot. Best way is to calculate what is on the circuit in terms of amps.
Example:
400 watt light 4 amps
Fan 1 amp
Maybe a tv on the circuit 4 amps
House lights 1 amp
If you do this you and are below the rated amps on the circuit and it still pops it, it could be the breaker or a short. I would have put another 15 amp breaker in and see if that fixes it. If only putting in a 20 fixes it then you need to upgrade the wire or remove appliances off that circuit.
 
CouchlockOR

CouchlockOR

Active Member
It's worth mentioning that you can use 20 amp wire with a 15 amp breaker. Just not 15 amp wire with a 20 amp breaker. Well you can but it could be dangerous.
 
Zandri

Zandri

Member
CouchlockOR said:
If you don't go over 15 amps no harm no foul. But if you do the 15 amp wire will get hot. Best way is to calculate what is on the circuit in terms of amps.
Example:
400 watt light 4 amps
Fan 1 amp
Maybe a tv on the circuit 4 amps
House lights 1 amp
If you do this you and are below the rated amps on the circuit and it still pops it, it could be the breaker or a short. I would have put another 15 amp breaker in and see if that fixes it. If only putting in a 20 fixes it then you need to upgrade the wire or remove appliances off that circuit.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. When I get home tonight I'll try to figure out my amps and check to see what kind of wiring is already in place. I won't be using any of my growing equipment until I can make sure it's safe. Definitely isn't worth a fire.
 
B

bluerock

Active Member
Zandri said:
I checked my wiring and it is yellow. That should mean I'm good to go right?
Click to expand...
A common problem with trailers is poor connection at the outlet. They typically use the outlets with "wire insertion" installation vs. wrapping the wire around the screw, the latter being more labor intensive. And that is just the beginning of the bad connection issues. Trailer manufacturers are not known for their quality control standards.

A weak outlet connection can cause enough resistance (and thereby heat) at the breaker to trip it.
 
stnr420

stnr420

Well-Known Member
Zandri said:
Hello everyone! I'm getting ready to start my first grow and I'm running into an issue with my breaker flipping from my ballast turning on.

Last night I received my ballast (apollo 400w kit from amazon) and plugged it in to test it. The mh bulb it came with flashed on and then off and stayed off. I turned the surge protector off and back on and everything fired up fine. I left it on for about 10 minutes and everything seemed fine so I shut it off. I then tried turning it back on about an hour later and I heard the ballast come on for a second and then it flipped my breaker. I tried a couple different times and it flipped the breaker every time. I tried a Sylvania mh bulb to see if it might have something to do with the bulb but there was no change.

I'm using a 15A breaker and during the initial test where the light was working I had my closet (grow room) light on and my bedroom light on. Every attempt where the breaker flipped I had only my bedroom light on. The ballast is plugged into just a basic $5 surge protector from Walmart.

Any ideas? I really appreciate any help.
Click to expand...
If you are running a digital ballast on a gfi protected outlet it won't work I had the same problem. Digi ballasts send small amounts of ground trickle making the gfi trip. I had to switch back to magnetic and haven't had a prob since.
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Yep if the is a GFCI anywhere in that circuit it can trip if there is a loose connection anywhere in that circuit, but it would be the GFCI outlet that trips rather than the breaker, unless the GFCI was faulty.

I agree it is a potentially dangerous solution to increase a problematic 15A circuit to a 20A breaker. You want to use as small a breaker as you can get away with because a large breaker can mask a problem. If the problem is an intermittent connection somewhere or an overloaded circuit you want to find it and address it because that could mean heat/fire hazard.

In order to truly upgrade a circuit to 20A you have to make sure the wire itself can handle the load without overheating. If the wire is small (14 gauge) I would never use a 20A breaker.

20A outlets are generally of a better build quality than 15A outlets so while you are inspecting the problematic outlet it may be worthwhile to upgrade it to 20A.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top