Electrical Difficulties!

I am planning on having 2-3 1000w hps lights with individual balasts. will I be able to plug these into a circuit in the house or will it blow the breaker? detailed explanation of other possibilities would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't plug more than 2 on a 15 amp circuit. I would plug 2 into one circuit, then the other one on a different circuit. The easiest way to do this is, plug some items into all the plugs near your grow area, then go to your breaker box and flip 1 breaker at a time and then check to see what goes off. After this test you will know what plugs are tied together or not.

kush714 said:

I wouldn't plug more than 2 on a 15 amp circuit. I would plug 2 into one circuit, then the other one on a different circuit. The easiest way to do this is, plug some items into all the plugs near your grow area, then go to your breaker box and flip 1 breaker at a time and then check to see what goes off. After this test you will know what plugs are tied together or not.

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NO! Each 1000 watt light draws about 10 amps on a 110V circuit. Even plugging 2 into a 20 amp circuit is too much. If you're running 110 volts, a dedicated circuit will be needed for each light. You can then add a fan or 2 to each of those circuits. If your ballasts can run on 220 volts that would be your best choice. One 20 amp 220 volt circuit can easily handle 3 1000 watt lights.

The easiest way to do this is to get a CAP 4 light timer. Install a 2 pole 20 amp circuit into your breaker box (or use an existing dryer or stove 220 volt circuit). Pull 3 - 10 gauge wires to the timer...two hots and one ground. The hots go from the 2 pole breaker (one wire in each breaker output) and tie into the relays in the CAP timer. The ground will go from your ground bus in your breaker box to the lug with the green wire in the timer. It doesn't matter which hot goes to which pole on the breakers or the relays.