Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions

BusterBawls

BusterBawls

Active Member
Quick question here for the expert. I have a growbright 120v-240v switchable ballast. The ballast has 2 plug ins. One 3 prong for 120v and a separate 3 prong for 220v. My question is, I am going to just cut the male end off the cord and install a 3 prong 220v end. I assume the wiring should be 2hots and a ground. I'm using the uk style plugs that have the horizontal fins. I assume one hot goes on each horizontal fin and the bare copper wire from the box should go to the ground pin on the plug. What do I do with the white common wire coming from the box. I have a 40amp 220v breaker from my box going into a sub box in my flower room. My sub box has a 30a 240v breaker and a 15a 120v breaker the wiring from the main box to the sub box is an 8awg 4 wire wire with the ground hooked up to the neutral bar. Would I be correct if I hooked my ballast up with the two hots on the horizontals and the bare copper to the 3rd pin, while the white wire is taped off?
 
BusterBawls

BusterBawls

Active Member
Also, why not use the white(thicker) wire instead of the bare copper wire? I'm sure it doesn't really matter since they go to the same place, and it's just a ground. Does this mean that the ballast would theoretically work with just the 2 hots?
 
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kane420x

Member
Danielsgb said:
Dude, really? You asked a simple question, then answer one WAY more difficult. So what holds back the power within a timer? Have you tried it? Did you see the answer, then decide you knew better? This is how people cause FIRES.
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ah the same thing that holds back the power of all my lights going on... i thought that was an easier question then what i asked... it seemed pretty simple to me that the same timers i use to control all of the light in my room can handle the power of a single ballast!! really come on now...
 
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stoney917

Well-Known Member
i pop in here from time to time and iam need s to pop up . dont use alum wire for a grow. just not worth it
dude with the ballast get a meter wiring screwdriver if ya need em bp if possible but i would first check all connetions. then the coil.
dude who cfl wont light up i just dont know. i dont see y ya would need a special socket for a 65cfl prob not makin contact try screwin the bulb into a reg light.
kane aint catch the whole ting but how many ballasts u run of 1 timer. unless ur setup for it.
 
Danielsgb

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
kane420x said:
ah the same thing that holds back the power of all my lights going on... i thought that was an easier question then what i asked... it seemed pretty simple to me that the same timers i use to control all of the light in my room can handle the power of a single ballast!! really come on now...
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Really, well you should try it with yours. A timer isn't made for that. A timer completes a connection, it isn't getting the full load continuously. Seriously try it. Seemed pretty simple, huh? A HID Ballast powering a 400W light is different than cfl. All your other lights don't use the 110V with a Ballast to light a bulb either. The wire from ballast to bulb is a continuous load. Don't you think if two $5 timers would do this, then tons of us would be running this way? Try it and see.
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
HammerGrow said:
Can I wire 2-12v MassCool computer fans, 1-120mm 1-80mm, to 1 12v cell phone charger for a pc grow? I'm getting both fans and will be setting it all up with a week or 2 and would like to know before i try it and it blows out. i know how it would have to be done, so its in a continuous flow on energy, buit im wondering, can i? without something getting blown out?
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Where ya finding a 12VDC cell phone charger? 1980?

A wall wart no prob, but this MYTH of a 12volt cell charge has got to go!
 
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kevindowling

Member
BigBudBalls said:
Where ya finding a 12VDC cell phone charger? 1980?

A wall wart no prob, but this MYTH of a 12volt cell charge has got to go!
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Totally agree! I used the GameCube powersupply which runs on 12V and got 1A..

Btw, OP I got a question for you which I've been searching the web for like a machine..

Is it possible to hook up CFL lamps to a CPU Power supply? That would be super awesome to make it work.. Having a power supply run your whole grow :)
 
Danielsgb

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
kevindowling said:
Totally agree! I used the GameCube powersupply which runs on 12V and got 1A..

Btw, OP I got a question for you which I've been searching the web for like a machine..

Is it possible to hook up CFL lamps to a CPU Power supply? That would be super awesome to make it work.. Having a power supply run your whole grow :)
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I know it's possible. I'll have to look for a DIY with one. I think I know of a guy using one. I'll PM him. I'll look for one and see the Amps for it.
 
itylercar

itylercar

Member
why do i need a ballast to use HID lighting? why can't i just put it in a regular light socket? is it the extreme wattage used by the bulbs?
 
lowerarchy

lowerarchy

Active Member
itylercar said:
why do i need a ballast to use HID lighting? why can't i just put it in a regular light socket? is it the extreme wattage used by the bulbs?
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No, it's the voltage. The ballast incorporates a transformer that kicks the 120/240V (or whatever you've got it set up for) into a higher voltage. I don't know what would happen if you wired a HID socket right to the mains but it would almost certainly be bad.

And now for something completely different:

I've got a situation where I've got two 40 amp/240v circuits coming from two different main panels. Is it possible to safely connect them both to the hot bar on a separate 100amp subpanel? I'd like to get two 20A/240V circuits and two 20A/120V circuits and would prefer not to buy another panel because I'm cheap. No room in the two main panels to do that I'm afraid. Cheers and thanks for any replies.

EDIT: Never mind, I'm pretty thick. Found out the answer to my own question at ICmag. If one panel was turned off at the mains it would still be live because of the other panel. Too risky for someone who didn't know the setup, though it's unlikely that anyone will be poking around. So yeah, forget it.
 
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sideshow1

Member
kevindowling said:
Totally agree! I used the GameCube powersupply which runs on 12V and got 1A..

Btw, OP I got a question for you which I've been searching the web for like a machine..

Is it possible to hook up CFL lamps to a CPU Power supply? That would be super awesome to make it work.. Having a power supply run your whole grow :)
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I understand how to hook a power cable to PC power supply. I wonder how to do fans and a power cable. So that I could use the powersupply to run 2-3 fans and abandon the "cell phone" adapters all together. My adapter is HUGE!
 
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adam5150

Member
Hi, how many 120mm 110CFM pc case fans could I safely operate if I wired to a standard household outlet and a 12V power adapter
 
Danielsgb

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
adam5150 said:
Hi, how many 120mm 110CFM pc case fans could I safely operate if I wired to a standard household outlet and a 12V power adapter
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Add all the Amps and multiply by 120%. That is the Amps for the power supply you need. If you need more help list the fans. Somewhere back a bit is a fuller answer I reposted from IAm5toned.
Daniels
 
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Zarezhu

Well-Known Member
If i was wanting to get the shed I have out back set up with enough outlets for a good 12-14kwh, how would I go around doing this?

I'd assume I'd have to buy a few of those 50A controller boxes? Maybe one for every 4 thousand watters? And have an electrician install them for me. But where would they be wired to? I'm pretty sure my breaker box doesnt have enough room to add such a high amount of power usage
 
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dwel

Active Member
anyone have ruff estimate on supplys i would need to get power from the main for say 2- 1000 watt lamps and fans etc say have the sub panel in closet lights on seprate breakers with timer mounted etc on plywood any ideas thoughts space 5x5x7 two rooms plywood wall seprate them
 
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maxmax7777

Member
well your first picture may have answered my question, what do you consider to be the best digital balast and why? Looks like you choose Lumeteck, can you tell me how you like them and what models we are seeing here, what models do you recomend. Thank you very much and bless you for all your hard work and usefull sharing.
 
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