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

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Any ideas on if you can attach a 600w digital ballast to wood in your house or how are you supposed to mount them?
I doubt they get hot enough to set fire to the wood, but I'd hang it or give it a bit of space. How you mounting? wall? ceiling?
 

MagicA

Well-Known Member
Unfinished basement on the ceiling. I was going to screw them to the rafters not sure how else to hang them?
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Unfinished basement on the ceiling. I was going to screw them to the rafters not sure how else to hang them?
My ballast has a carry handle with keyholes in the handle.

But barring that, go to lowes or HD and grab some plumbing strapping. It looks like steel or copper tape with holes in it. About 1 inch/25mm wide and hole spacing of about 1inch/25mm. 2 loops from a joist should suffice nicely.
 

jberry

Well-Known Member
do you know anything about the duel 600 watt ballast? it runs two 600's off one ballast (240)

do you know of any disadvantage when using the duel vs. the single?

i think they duel uses less power? (5.5 amps), but do they work as well as two singles?

i thought a electrician would have a valued opinion here...
thanks for any advise you may have for me.
 

Chicano04

Active Member

bricktown73

Would this work 1 ext. cord The long two prong white ones from the dollar store with 3 light sockets tied in all together (kind of like house xmas lights are), with Three 26 watt cfl soft white and one 42 watt cfl soft white.And one of the
26 watt cfl would be tied in with the 42 watt with a Y. Would this work?
:?:
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
do you know anything about the duel 600 watt ballast? it runs two 600's off one ballast (240)

do you know of any disadvantage when using the duel vs. the single?

i think they duel uses less power? (5.5 amps), but do they work as well as two singles?

i thought a electrician would have a valued opinion here...
thanks for any advise you may have for me.
I haven't opened one p, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that its just 2 ballasts stuffed into a single box. If thats so, no power savings.
 
Dumb question.

I bought a 30 watt soldering iron and some rosin core. If I solder my 150w ballast and bulb together with it, it won't get so hot to melt the solder while running? I don't want to find out with a fire.
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Dumb question.

I bought a 30 watt soldering iron and some rosin core. If I solder my 150w ballast and bulb together with it, it won't get so hot to melt the solder while running? I don't want to find out with a fire.
Why are you soldering it? Just use wire nuts.
(I think solder, typically ,has a melting point of about 400-450F)
You weren't going to solder directly to the bulb?
 

dragun

Active Member
how many amps can an average house handle.newer houses seem to have 200 amp breaker boxes.can the main line handle 400amps?can i add a secound 200 amp box?
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
how many amps can an average house handle.newer houses seem to have 200 amp breaker boxes.can the main line handle 400amps?can i add a secound 200 amp box?
Thats for your electrician to answer. Probably going to require a permit and/or inspection depending on where you are at.
(Supposedly in my town, you need a permit to install a ceiling fan, but I haven't verified that)
 

Karloff

Member
I'm an electrician and this thread scares the crap out of me and I've been a working electrician for over twenty years and in those twenty years I've done alot of fire jobs where homeowners watched two episodes of This Old House and half a season of Hometime and tried to do their own wiring it's never a pretty thing.
To all of you I just want to say hire someone who knows what they're doing it never ceases to amaze me how people can take their single highest investment "their home" and just rig up some half assed gadjet they bought from a rummage sale.
One post I saw this the guy who started this thread tell a guy to use 12 guage wire to extend a dryer circuit, dryer circuits are usuually 10 guage wire which carries 30 amps. of current at 240 volts 12 guage wire is only rated for 20 amps not too mention the breaker is also a 30 amp breaker too high for the 12 guage wire.
And I agree with riznob 10000 this thread should be closed before one of you gets hurt or worse twenty years has taught me to respect electricity, you can't see it but you sure can feel it when it bites you.
And just for the record wire nuts alone don't make a good splice splices have to be tight a loose splice has the potential to cause a fire the arc created by a loose splice can reach temperatures close to that of the sun.
I've seen wire nuts melted to the core.
And if your a renter you have no business making electrical changes to a home that's not your own.
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
I cringe every time I use a wire nut. But most of my work in in industral machinery where they aren't use (at least the one I work on).

But they are common place, easy to use, and considered safe by government agencies.

(how many people read the temp rating on the wire insulation to see if its ok for the application?)
 

riznob10000

Well-Known Member
I'm an electrician and this thread scares the crap out of me and I've been a working electrician for over twenty years and in those twenty years I've done alot of fire jobs where homeowners watched two episodes of This Old House and half a season of Hometime and tried to do their own wiring it's never a pretty thing.
To all of you I just want to say hire someone who knows what they're doing it never ceases to amaze me how people can take their single highest investment "their home" and just rig up some half assed gadjet they bought from a rummage sale.
One post I saw this the guy who started this thread tell a guy to use 12 guage wire to extend a dryer circuit, dryer circuits are usuually 10 guage wire which carries 30 amps. of current at 240 volts 12 guage wire is only rated for 20 amps not too mention the breaker is also a 30 amp breaker too high for the 12 guage wire.
And I agree with riznob 10000 this thread should be closed before one of you gets hurt or worse twenty years has taught me to respect electricity, you can't see it but you sure can feel it when it bites you.
And just for the record wire nuts alone don't make a good splice splices have to be tight a loose splice has the potential to cause a fire the arc created by a loose splice can reach temperatures close to that of the sun.
I've seen wire nuts melted to the core.
And if your a renter you have no business making electrical changes to a home that's not your own.
:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:.....................:peace:
 

mjr99

Well-Known Member
Man, i fucked up bad,can someone please help me? I was cutting a hole in the ceiling for my exhaust and i hit a main breaker wire that casued the circuit to trip. I inspected the wire and eveything but i just dont know. I reset the circuit and checked all the outlets and they still worked. The wire didnt seem too damaged but i cant talk myself into running 1000 watts through it. Anyways, for now my plants are in the dark until i figure out what to do. Since the wire is still functional can i just wrap it with a bunch of electrical tape? DO i risk fire doing this? My problem is that im not in the least bit a diy guy and i dont know any electricians that are cool that i could trust. What should i do? I have access to where the wire was cut, how difficult is a repair job? thanks.
 

Jagerwiser

Active Member
ok before i even attempt this i should ask if i can even do it. on the back of the computer where the actual comp cord goes,inside of my pc grow box i unscrewed and took out that entire compartment and clipped the wires.now can i take those wires and connect them to my light fixture,so that when i plug in they will turn on?:wall:
 

Karloff

Member
The repair is simple but you should make sure that the circuit is off before making the repair you'll need two nailon 1 gang plastic boxes, 6 wirenuts a short piece of the same size romex assuming it is that type of wire and not the armored BX or MC type of wire and two single gang blank plates.
But lets assume its a non metallic sheathed cable or romex type that you damaged, next you need to cut the wire at the break again assuming that you nicked the wire and carefully remove any staples if you have the headspace in the attic nail on one of the plastic boxes to the rafter closest to the damaged or cut wire then strip the outer jacket back exposing about 6-8" of wire and put it into the box there will be an opening or place to make an opening on the box, next strip some new wire enough to work with inside the box at this point splice the grounds twisting the wires in a clockwise rotation cap with a wire nut and fold away then splice the the two whites again twisting in a clockwise rotation and again use a wire nut to cover any exposed wire and again fold the splice into the nailon box and repeat with the black wires and install a blank plate to cover the opening in the box then run the end of the new wire to the other end of the damaged wire strip back the outer covering like you did on the first junction box and insert the stripped wire into the second junction box and just splice the wires color for color making sure you make all your connections or splices as tight as possible.
If you don't have the parts you can get them for under ten dollars at Home Depot or Lowes the only thing that might cost you more is the romex as wire prices fluxuate with the market also don't be confused by the new color coding on the outer jacket of the cable they made it easier to tell wire size now white is 14 guage or AWG. thats good for 15 amp circuits and Yellow is for 12 guage or AWG wire and this only pertains to the outer jacket I'm told it was done for lazy inspecters so they wouldn't have to bend over to read the writing on the cable lol.
Here's a site I found that has some detailed instructions on how to make the repair.
http://www.do-it-yourself-help.com/wiresplicing.html
I hope this helps the repair is alot simpler than it sounds and if I were doing it it would take me about 5 minutes, but since your new to it I would say no more than 10-20 mins.
One last bit of advise if yo make the splices downstairs away from the heat you can stuff the repaired wires and the boxes up through the hole it will help to get you out of the attic quicker, hot attics suck in the summer but don't forget to go up there and nail off the boxes.
 

Karloff

Member
Why are you soldering it? Just use wire nuts.
(I think solder, typically ,has a melting point of about 400-450F)
You weren't going to solder directly to the bulb?

Just as a note soldered connections are a violation of the national electric code as all connections have to be reversable.
I forget which section its in but its there.
I'm guessing he has what I would call a ballast repair kit transformer,starter and capaciter usually ment for a wallpack fixture the type you see mounted to a wall outside a building I've seen alot of pictures on here of these types of kits that are being used not what I would want in my home not to mention they're a major pain in the ass to install.
 

ForbiddenFruit

Well-Known Member
Question:

My garage has a 20amp circuit available to it (this is the location of my tomato growing room).

I would like to have THAT entire circuit for my fans, A/C, heater, pumps, etc... since there will be a lot of small things needing to be plugged in.

So...

In order to do this I have to power my 2 (1000w) lamps from another source.

My laundry room is right next to my garage and it has a 20amp circuit with nothing on it besides my washer (I would use the washer only during the 4-6 hours of "darkness" in my room). I would have to run a 12g 25' extension cord to power ONE light from that room/circuit. I am thinking that running both lights from that room would be pushing it, since I would be over the recommended 80% on the available amps on this circuit, but if i could run them both from here, then that would be great. Could I?

If not then I would run another from a nearby room that has a 15amp circuit (dont use much in this room either so it would be pretty much dedicated to ONE 1000w light as well).

Basically... is there a fire hazard if I run a 25' 12g extension cord from the adjacent rooms to power my lamps? Nothing else on these circuits other than the lamp(s).

another alternative might be to use the circuit in my garage that is set up for the (regular) lighting, but maybe the wiring on the standard fluorescents that are already there are not good enough? That is on a 15amp circuit, btw.

Now I know it would be best to simply add a couple of 20amp circuits to the garage itself, but to have an electrician come out and set me up would probably cost 100's and 100's of dollars that I DONT have. However, if my alternative is not safe, then I will wait until I do have enough OR maybe attempt to do it myself (I have SOME basic electrical/appliance work under my belt (albeit it 2 decades ago).

Thanks in advance....
 

tat2ue

Well-Known Member
You would be going over and beyond the limit on a 20 amp circuit imo. If your tomato room is in the area of the garage is it possible that you have a 240v./30 amp circuit avail. If not would it be possible to run one and switch your ballast to 240?? My tomoato room is in the same area and I run 4 x 1000w on a dedicated 240v/30amp circuit with my ballast rewired for 240v. and the entire circuit is drawing 18-19 amps. But as far as your cost vs. the saftey of your home and family I would want to go the safest route possible and hire the electrician and not worry about coming home to a pile of ashes.

Question:

My garage has a 20amp circuit available to it (this is the location of my tomato growing room).

I would like to have THAT entire circuit for my fans, A/C, heater, pumps, etc... since there will be a lot of small things needing to be plugged in.

So...

In order to do this I have to power my 2 (1000w) lamps from another source.

My laundry room is right next to my garage and it has a 20amp circuit with nothing on it besides my washer (I would use the washer only during the 4-6 hours of "darkness" in my room). I would have to run a 12g 25' extension cord to power ONE light from that room/circuit. I am thinking that running both lights from that room would be pushing it, since I would be over the recommended 80% on the available amps on this circuit, but if i could run them both from here, then that would be great. Could I?

If not then I would run another from a nearby room that has a 15amp circuit (dont use much in this room either so it would be pretty much dedicated to ONE 1000w light as well).

Basically... is there a fire hazard if I run a 25' 12g extension cord from the adjacent rooms to power my lamps? Nothing else on these circuits other than the lamp(s).

another alternative might be to use the circuit in my garage that is set up for the (regular) lighting, but maybe the wiring on the standard fluorescents that are already there are not good enough? That is on a 15amp circuit, btw.

Now I know it would be best to simply add a couple of 20amp circuits to the garage itself, but to have an electrician come out and set me up would probably cost 100's and 100's of dollars that I DONT have. However, if my alternative is not safe, then I will wait until I do have enough OR maybe attempt to do it myself (I have SOME basic electrical/appliance work under my belt (albeit it 2 decades ago).

Thanks in advance....
 

Wohjew

Well-Known Member
hi i have a question my 1000w MH is on a 15amp cir. where it plugs into the timer gets hot during use . whats the problem thats making it hot , heres pic, thanks if you can help me. everything else plugged in in not being used other than the watersoftener and the odd load of laundry
 

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