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

@wheels - I do intend to place the ballasts out of the room. Does that mean I should go find me some of those 220 power cords?

legaleyes13 said:

@wheels - I do intend to place the ballasts out of the room. Does that mean I should go find me some of those 220 power cords?

Click to expand...

yes if the amperage and voltage exceed the recommended or for long runs of cable.. should be an imprinted on the cables.

I have a question about a device i can use to measure the actual wattage draw of my LED light? would one use a multimeter? or is there a specific device? I have heard from people saying their measured wattage is lower than their rated wattage. And I built my LEDs myself so i kinda want to know the actual draw rather than adding all the watts together and guessing. (Including fans ect.) I know i am not a master electrician and my setup is probably going to cause i fire some time in the future but ill get to the safety of my elecrical connections in my next apartment. ( or second indoor grow).

You can use a device called a kill-a-watt. Google it

Thanks man, found it and its being delivered. Eager to find out my usage.

Hello, I have a problem with my ballast if someone could help me.

I plug it in and my bulb comes on but it only lasts about 45 seconds before it goes out and my ballast starts buzzing. It's a brand new ballast 600w never been used before and my bulb is a 600w hps.
Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

Wonder if anyone can help me, I have 4 600w HID lights and 2 150w fans all plugged into this heavy duty 8 way contactor ( http://www.3ch.co.uk/grow-lights/con.../prod_935.html ). My problem is it doesn't reach the plug sockets on the wall, they're about 4 metres away. I cant seem to find a really heavy duty extension lead that I think is sufficient enough.


My question is, can I make one and if so, what would you suggest I need?


Also, I have 4 mini clip fans and want wire them all into one socket. Can I wire these in series?

bobby brown pants said:

Hello, I have a problem with my ballast if someone could help me.

I plug it in and my bulb comes on but it only lasts about 45 seconds before it goes out and my ballast starts buzzing. It's a brand new ballast 600w never been used before and my bulb is a 600w hps.
Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

Click to expand...

All of a sudden it's started working today, not done anything with it. could it be a loose wire or something?

bobby brown pants said:

All of a sudden it's started working today, not done anything with it. could it be a loose wire or something?

Click to expand...

Either loose wire / faulty solder to the switch... or you don't have your bulb seated properly. If it's the bulb.. wait for it to be off.. grab it with a glove if it just went off... give the threads on the bulb a -very- light coating of graphite, and then as you tighten the bulb again.. -gently- rock it back and forth in the socket until such time as it's a tight fit and is in completely. If you don't, it can arc to the bulb, causing other issues.. as well as not having the bulb come on at all. If it's a switchable MH / HPS, check both sides and see if it's just one side of it acting up (with appropriate bulb) .. if you get hum but no light on the HPS side, or if it's HPS - would definitely point for the most part to the ignitor section of the circuitry. Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for the reply. I did try and tighten the bulb this morning so it may have been that, it's been switched on about an hour now and not gone off so hopefullly it's sorted. Thanks again.

bobby brown pants said:

Thanks for the reply. I did try and tighten the bulb this morning so it may have been that, it's been switched on about an hour now and not gone off so hopefullly it's sorted. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

As a general rule, I'll graphite the threads every time during change, just so I don't get a nasty surprise.. like metal expanding and potentially causing the light to go out mid-cycle at night when I'm sleeping while it should be on. Disruption of photoperiod repeatedly may cause some headaches to your grow.

I'll be running a 6000 watt indoor grow in a newer house built in 2007.

In addition to 6000 watts from the lights, ill have a 24000 btu mini split, plus some standard household appliances, TVs etc

would I need to have anything changed or modified before I begin? I know some growers in industrial areas use 220v as opposed to 110, what's the advantage of that ?

Is there anything u recommend prior to me starting the grow to avoid fire hazard?

sehnsee said:

I'll be running a 6000 watt indoor grow in a newer house built in 2007.

In addition to 6000 watts from the lights, ill have a 24000 btu mini split, plus some standard household appliances, TVs etc

would I need to have anything changed or modified before I begin? I know some growers in industrial areas use 220v as opposed to 110, what's the advantage of that ?

Is there anything u recommend prior to me starting the grow to avoid fire hazard?

Click to expand...

220 drops the Amperage.. that said, make sure you don't max out each breaker, leave a 20% cushion for other short term appliances, and to also guarantee that the wiring and all things related will not get stressed and fail, get hot, or potentially start a fire.

A = W / V .. so in the 110 vs 220 with 6kW as your mention...

6000W / 110v = 54.54A
6000W / 220v = 27.27A

Above all else, do the math twice.. verify all circuits in the box and where they go, then check it again.. tag all outlets, and toggle them off 1 by 1, verify all wall switches too. If you do need a higher breaker, make sure that if you're doing it yourself that you -do not- just swap out the breaker. The wire has to be capable of what you're going to be shooting down it or you're going to have a hell of a barn-burner on your hands. If any other questions, by all means ask.

So if my rooms existing power outlets are not capable of handling the 6000 watt lighting etc, would it be ok for me to run half of the lights to a power strip and heavy duty extension cord plugging them in another room that's on a different breaker ? So 3000 watt per breaker or 2000 watts to 3 different breakers? Would that be a safer Bet ?

sehnsee said:

So if my rooms existing power outlets are not capable of handling the 6000 watt lighting etc, would it be ok for me to run half of the lights to a power strip and heavy duty extension cord plugging them in another room that's on a different breaker ? So 3000 watt per breaker or 2000 watts to 3 different breakers? Would that be a safer Bet ?

Click to expand...

Yes, as long as the extension cord rating as it's listed can handle it, and make sure that it is UL-rated as well - you could easily do it that way, would recommend that if you do.. that you put in hooks and run the cord at ceiling level just so you don't have tripping hazards that may rip things down in the grow room (ballasts and lights are the first things that come to mind)

sehnsee said:

So if my rooms existing power outlets are not capable of handling the 6000 watt lighting etc, would it be ok for me to run half of the lights to a power strip and heavy duty extension cord plugging them in another room that's on a different breaker ? So 3000 watt per breaker or 2000 watts to 3 different breakers? Would that be a safer Bet ?

Click to expand...

you will never be able to power 6000 watts worth of lights and a 24000 btu mini split without 220. possibly if you have someone pull in a big enough run of 110 but it would be much easier and cheaper in my opinion to just get the wiring done correctly. you will have extention cords running thruout your house. hint. you can only run one thousand watt per wall outlet. and many rooms run on the same curcuit. in other word the outlets in that one room probably all share the same wiring. which means you are still stuck running one thousand per room ruffly. minisplit im guessing is already supposed to run on 220 just becuz of its size. you would need 6 15 amp 110 outlets to run 6 1000 watt lights. or a good 100 amp pull of it. but then you might as well swith to 220 with a nice lighting controller to master the power and to have a few 110 sources for power for inline fans etc....

I am also trying to run about 6-8k watts in my basement at the moment. There is already 220v wired down there for the washer/dryer. I assume this is hooked up to a 30 amp breaker (I have not had time to check yet I just moved in) My question is what exactly do I need to do to ensure all lights and fans and possibly a/c unit will run cool and safe? The lights alone will be just under/over 30 amps, plus everything else it seems I need at least 40-50 amps to work with to be safe. Do I need to wire up a separate sub-panel in the grow room with 1 or 2 devoted 30 or 60 amp breakers? Or can I just run some 10 gauge romex from the service panel itself? I have an electrician friend that will be helping but I am just curious where to start and how much this will cost! Thanks in advance!

thebugslaaaa said:

I am also trying to run about 6-8k watts in my basement at the moment. There is already 220v wired down there for the washer/dryer. I assume this is hooked up to a 30 amp breaker (I have not had time to check yet I just moved in) My question is what exactly do I need to do to ensure all lights and fans and possibly a/c unit will run cool and safe? The lights alone will be just under/over 30 amps, plus everything else it seems I need at least 40-50 amps to work with to be safe. Do I need to wire up a separate sub-panel in the grow room with 1 or 2 devoted 30 or 60 amp breakers? Or can I just run some 10 gauge romex from the service panel itself? I have an electrician friend that will be helping but I am just curious where to start and how much this will cost! Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

id run in another 50 amp to be safe. run all the lights off the 50 and have the other equipment such as dehumid ac blah blah blah water chillers blah blah blah all hooked up to the 30 amp if possible. but either way you are correct. you are short a few amps that you need to get started regardless. pull in some cable before you set up. get an electrician to do it as he needs to add another breaker regardless of size to your existing panel. also its easier to get an electrician to do work if you dont have a grow op in the way. lol.

wheels619 said:

id run in another 50 amp to be safe. run all the lights off the 50 and have the other equipment such as dehumid ac blah blah blah water chillers blah blah blah all hooked up to the 30 amp if possible. but either way you are correct. you are short a few amps that you need to get started regardless. pull in some cable before you set up. get an electrician to do it as he needs to add another breaker regardless of size to your existing panel. also its easier to get an electrician to do work if you dont have a grow op in the way. lol.

Click to expand...

Ok sounds good wheels, so to be clear, as long as I have at least one empty slot in my service panel I should be good because I can just run sub-panel from there correct? Also should I run the 220 for the lights and then a separate 110 for all of my fans/De-humidifyers etc.? I would love to have multiple 220 and 110 recepticles down there. Also was I correct on the 10 gauge romex wiring?? Thanks again wheels your a lifesaver!

thebugslaaaa said:

Ok sounds good wheels, so to be clear, as long as I have at least one empty slot in my service panel I should be good because I can just run sub-panel from there correct? Also should I run the 220 for the lights and then a separate 110 for all of my fans/De-humidifyers etc.? I would love to have multiple 220 and 110 recepticles down there. Also was I correct on the 10 gauge romex wiring?? Thanks again wheels your a lifesaver!

Click to expand...

it depends on how you want to set up the pulls. if you are pulling in 30 amps of 220 its 10 gauge min. if you are pulling in 50 amp of 220 its 6 gauge. but in all honesty i would actually calculate how much max wattage you need in both 220 and 110 before deciding how to proceed.