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

IAm5toned

Well-Known Member
the best thing you can do for it, is to keep it cool, anyway you can.... heat is the enemy when dealing with a ballast, they have no moving parts...
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
i read the first 12 pages and didnt really find the answer i was looking for so ill just ask, i have an extra bedroom i want to turn into a growroom, id like to run 4 1000 watt lights, exhaust fan, and a regular fan, whats the safest way to wire all this up? im completely lost when it comes to electrical problems
4000Watts plus fans and such. Get a dedicated line or two run. Basic outlets probably won't cut it.
 

dubsaq

Member
NEED HELP. I have two bedrooms, each with a dedicated 15 amp breaker. Could I run 2 x 1000 wt HPS with a 8" max can fan (115v/170 watts) in one bedroom. A 600 watt MH with a 6 " can fan (115v/283 watts) and portable A/C unit (115v/1050 watt). I have limited knolege of electricity, don't want to put stress on breakers or be kicking breakers all the time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 

IAm5toned

Well-Known Member
dubs... your gonna burn your house down or be sitting in the dark everytime your lights kick on if you try to run that setup on 15 amp breakers.
sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
 

dubsaq

Member
I am using 2 x 1000 watt lumatek digital ballast. what if i turn them down to 750 watts and spread the power to other circuits in the house. Or is it to much in general for a house with 15 amp breakers.
 

IAm5toned

Well-Known Member
here man... im really lazy this am. someone was asking me something similair the other day

your computer will use more juice than the lcd...
if your panel has a 15 amp breaker feeding your bedrooms, its 15 amps per circuit, not outlet or room. to find out if your room has its own dedicated circuit (which is actually pretty common in newer buildings) shut off the breaker that is feeding the room in question, then test the outlets with a simple device such as a lamp or a cell phone/charger. make sure you test outlets outside the room.......
you need to know the total wattage of all the connected equipment to the circuit you want to use. this means wattage of the lamps in the ceiling light in the room, any tv's, pc's, alarm clocks, fans etc etc. heres why-

for growing, your electrical service must be rated for what is called a continuous duty factor. this means for each circuit you want to plug lights into, you can only use 80% of the available amperage the breaker allows. heres 3 common breaker sizes, and there max power ratings for continuous duty factors @ 120v:
15 amp breaker = 1440w max
20 amp breaker = 1920w max
30 amp breaker = 2880 w max

as you can see, if you only have a 15 amp breaker feeding the room, you dont have much wattage to play around with.
 

typ3ss

Well-Known Member
Question 1
Hi i have a very important wiring question that im not sure how to ask correctly, but here it goes.
Is it ok to have a Bigger electric Wire connected to a smaller one? They are both 240 wires of course. But one is just a lot bigger than the other.
As long as i dont pull too much ampage from the wires im fine right?

Question 2
is it true that 240v 1000watt draws about 5amp?

Thank you for your time to answer my questions
 

ganjaluvr

Well-Known Member
hey man.. quick question.


I recently purchased an extra HPS light system from 'Sun Systems'.

The thing works like a charm.. absolutely perfect and works great for what it is you know?

Well, my question is.. do they not make a conversion bulb for my lamp?

What I am needing to do is.. simply be able to run a MH bulb in my HPS lamp.

and I know for a fact that they make conversion bulbs.. its just I'm not sure as to what I need to get.

Do i need an MH conversion bulb?
Or do I need an HPS conversion bulb?

I'm having troubles finding what I need.. but then again.. I'm not sure what I need.. so I don't really know what to look for in the first place you know?

any help is greatly appreciated..

peace.
 

IAm5toned

Well-Known Member
Question 1
Hi i have a very important wiring question that im not sure how to ask correctly, but here it goes.
Is it ok to have a Bigger electric Wire connected to a smaller one? They are both 240 wires of course. But one is just a lot bigger than the other.
As long as i dont pull too much ampage from the wires im fine right?

Question 2
is it true that 240v 1000watt draws about 5amp?

Thank you for your time to answer my questions
what matters is the size of the smaller wire, not the bigger one. the smallest wire in a circuit is what dictates the allowable amperage.

1000w @ 240v = 4.16amps
 

IAm5toned

Well-Known Member
hey man.. quick question.


I recently purchased an extra HPS light system from 'Sun Systems'.

The thing works like a charm.. absolutely perfect and works great for what it is you know?

Well, my question is.. do they not make a conversion bulb for my lamp?

What I am needing to do is.. simply be able to run a MH bulb in my HPS lamp.

and I know for a fact that they make conversion bulbs.. its just I'm not sure as to what I need to get.

Do i need an MH conversion bulb?
Or do I need an HPS conversion bulb?

I'm having troubles finding what I need.. but then again.. I'm not sure what I need.. so I don't really know what to look for in the first place you know?

any help is greatly appreciated..

peace.
you need an HPS/MH conversion lamp.
good luck finding one in the 150w range.
its common to find MH/HPS lamps (from metal halide to high pressure sodium) but damn near impossible to find one that converts HPS to MH.

however, dont loose hope!
there is a better way...... albeit expensive, butmuch better than a plain mh conversion lamp.

what you need, is a 150 CMH (ceramic metal halide) they will only run on hps ballasts or specially designed digital ballasts.... its just what you need. the CMH also has a greatly enhanced spectrum of light than compared to plain MH...
 

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
I thought CMH bulbs are 250w & 400w. Did they add more w's to choose from. I want to go two 400w CMH instead of a 1000w HPS for my next room design. I'd like a 600w bulb, but I thought it's still in development. They are suppose to be the shit. Less heat thrown would be a bonus too.
Daniels
 

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
GE 150w CMH-TT Metal Halide Lamp with E40 Cap......
also-
Philips ED 17 150W Ceramic Metal Halide Lamp
Wow nice. I'll have to see if my dual 150w HPS has ballasts that are compatible. I'm working on designing a fridge into a chamber w/ 150w Cool Tube. I already have the ballast/timer built like my dual one (THX again for showing me how do wire it) But when my HPS bulbs go out I know what I'll try to replace them with. I was cursing the lack of a 150w since I found the CMH.
Daniels
 

aidosmoke

Active Member
Hi
I’m based in England and have a quick question for you. I don’t have any outside power in my grow shed, yet. However I do have a sewage treatment plant (septic tank) next to my grow shed which is powered from my house, it has its own breaker on my fuse board. I want to take a connection from my sewage treatment plant power junction box. I have attached a photo of the junction box. Which side should I make my connection the pump or blower side? I was thinking the pump side as it has an earth. Is there a way of connecting my new wires to the existing wires without have to cut the cables?
I’m planning on connecting 125cfl, 400watt hps and my extraction fan.


Thanks in advance
Aido

https://www.rollitup.org/members/aidosmoke-albums-power-picture120739-junction-box-1.jpg
 

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chops408

Member
newbie here with a dumb question:P.....how can i power 4 PC fans from one power source without the computers Power supply..i gutted my tower
 

whiteflour

Well-Known Member
You can buy a 12volt power supply or trickle charge from radio shack. Then just wire up the corresponding leads. If you have a spare pc power supply you can use the molex connectors. On the ATX cord (that goes to the motherboard) you'll need to find the on/off jumpers and put a toggle switch on those wires. Or You could just stuff a paper clip in the connector but be careful.
 
This is the last piece of the puzzle here. I'd be thankful of any advise good/bad/indifferent. I have all my grow tent (2x4x7) compotents installed but have not even began to tie all the plugs,cords,timers,extension cords,etc. together. I do have a very basic understanding of how this might go together, but was hoping that you might be able to lead me in the right direction to aquire plans,drawings, wiring diagrahams,journals,etc. Don't know what electrical accessories I need,but I do know that I could do it if I had some plan to go buy. Thanks for the help, it's appreciated...
 
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