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

Danielsgb said:

I got this thermostat hunter model 40170
http://www.hunterfan.com/product_detail.aspx?id=29266

Will that work to turn my fan at 85-90 range? It said for electric air conditioning. My humidity's been in the mid-20's so I'm not worried there. Once again thanks
Daniels

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it will work but you will need a relay & low voltage powersupply that matches the relay. HVAC is usually 24 vac but you can use 5 or 12vdc as well.
you will need a relay that can switch 110 volts & enough amps for your fan and a transformer that outputs a voltage the relay coil can use.
1 leg of the transformer will go to the relay coil & the other will go to the thermostats RC terminal w/ a wire going from the thermostat Y terminal to the unused side of the relays coil.the thermostat is just a switch when the temps get high enough,it closes sends power from the RC terminal to the Y terminal to energize the relay(also a switch).
if you can return it,it may be easier to get a thermostat that can handle switching 110 directly.

mrmadcow said:

it will work but you will need a relay & low voltage powersupply that matches the relay. HVAC is usually 24 vac but you can use 5 or 12vdc as well.
you will need a relay that can switch 110 volts & enough amps for your fan and a transformer that outputs a voltage the relay coil can use.
1 leg of the transformer will go to the relay coil & the other will go to the thermostats RC terminal w/ a wire going from the thermostat Y terminal to the unused side of the relays coil.the thermostat is just a switch when the temps get high enough,it closes sends power from the RC terminal to the Y terminal to energize the relay(also a switch).
if you can return it,it may be easier to get a thermostat that can handle switching 110 directly.

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Damn I got the wrong one. I looked at the one you sent, and when I got ready to write it down it wouldn't come back up. that relay sounds too difficult to me. I didn't open it yet. Wanted to know it was right first I got it at lowes. Can you re-post the one I need? Thanks
Daniels

orignal link -not from Lowes but cheapest I found in a 2 min search
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2E158?Pid=search


didnt find much at lowes but if you tell the clerk you are looking for a thermostat to control an attic fan he might be able to point you in right direction.make sure its rated for at least 4-5 amps at 110 vac and turns on when temp goes above set temp. (a heater thermostat turns off when temp goes above set temp)

mrmadcow said:

orignal link -not from Lowes but cheapest I found in a 2 min search
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2E158?Pid=search


didnt find much at lowes but if you tell the clerk you are looking for a thermostat to control an attic fan he might be able to point you in right direction.make sure its rated for at least 4-5 amps at 110 vac and turns on when temp goes above set temp. (a heater thermostat turns off when temp goes above set temp)

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just lurking and had a question about this... that t-stat says it's for heating and cooling... does it have a switch i can't see on it somewhere or is it just in how you wire it and it does either or depending?

thermostats can get tricky pretty quick....
a heating and cooling stat usually has a switch, and it does matter how you wire it.
your heating and a/c equipment determine what type of tstat and how its wired. buying a random tstat and trying to make it work to run your random equipment is a venture doomed to fail unless you get lucky and accidentally buy the correct matching parts.
some controls are low voltage and digital, some are line voltage, some are low voltage analog...
like i said it can get tricky.

to answer your question, that is an analog SPDT tstat, open/close on rise.

this means at the set temp, one contact on the tstat is on, and one is off. when the temp changes, the switch changes state. if its heat, you would wire it so that when the temp got cool, the normally open contact closes, turning the heat on.
for a/c, its exactly the opposite, you wire the tstat so that when the temp rises, the normally open contact closes, turning on the a/c
pretty much means that this thermostat is designed to run a single peice of equipment.
whether that equipment is heat or a/c is up to you, but trying to run them both wont have the desired result with that particular tstat.
to run them both, you need a stat that is DPDT switchable. this means you can shut off either heat or ac depending on the season. most tstats in houses operate on this principle.

oh- ps- that tstat would work perfectly for daniels single fan setup

how much power would a 70 watt hps setup really use? check this out!
permalink
was thinking of getting this http://www.francelampes.com/pro/cata...oducts_id=5487

and they recommend a ballast like this
http://www.francelampes.com/pro/cata...ducts_id=14457

How many watts in total?do I need an ignitor too???++rep

im trying to figure out how many amps i can pull i dont know it is 100 amp or 200 amp, the main switch has 2 100s connected any idea?

HI, This is my first post, got a ? for the ELECTrician. I got a indoor high bay comm. H.I.D. shop light it is only marked marked multi- vapor 400. it looks like a M-H & shines blue-white. can i grow with it ? and if so can the bulb be mntd. horizonal ? thanks T.

I have a Little Grey Box timer and want to use it with (4) 220V outlets for (4) 600W lights. Do I need relays? I will be using a Sentinel CPPM-1 also. Does anyone know of a wiring diagram for this setup...I was trying to find one on this thread....any help would be appreciated!

I have already wired 220V to four outlets for veg room lights.

Thank you

Terry Mac1 said:

HI, This is my first post, got a ? for the ELECTrician. I got a indoor high bay comm. H.I.D. shop light it is only marked marked multi- vapor 400. it looks like a M-H & shines blue-white. can i grow with it ? and if so can the bulb be mntd. horizonal ? thanks T.

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Your light is most likely a mercury vapor lamp. While they can be used for growing, they will not be near as efficient as a MH light.

bongrippinbob said:

Your light is most likely a mercury vapor lamp. While they can be used for growing, they will not be near as efficient as a MH light.

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just run a line from your breaker box wit a couple 20 amp breakers you can run 2 1,000s and a exhaust fan off every 20 amp

So this year im new to indoor growing and have some seedlings growing inside which i will move outside in a month or so. My question is about fans. I have heard that a 120 mm computer fan will work fine for my set up but i am unsure as to how i am going to hook it up; splice it and put it on a cord or run off of batteries? Any help here would be appreciated. Thanks again.

Shabang said:

So this year im new to indoor growing and have some seedlings growing inside which i will move outside in a month or so. My question is about fans. I have heard that a 120 mm computer fan will work fine for my set up but i am unsure as to how i am going to hook it up; splice it and put it on a cord or run off of batteries? Any help here would be appreciated. Thanks again.

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You can use a power supply to power it. I got some from the local Goodwill for $1.29 each. These guys helped explain which one I needed a while back. They are from stuff like cordless phone bases. Batteries would get spendy. You need the know the voltage and amps to know which one. Good Luck
Daniels

Does anyone have any experience using DC Converters? It looks like a box that has inputs for the negative and positive of a car battery then has a regular cord to plug in 120V, to recharge the battery after it drains. People usually use it as backup power, but I am wondering how much output can a fully charged 12V car battery put out as far as wattage, and for how long can it run? Hopefully you have the answers bricktown, so far you have been great help to many, thanks in advance bud =)

im not sure bricktown is still active on this thread, but ill answer your question.

to tell how long a device can run on any battery, youneed to know 2 things-

1) the batteries AH rating (amp-hour) not the CCA (cold cranking amps) rating, that's about useless for this application
the Amp-Hour rating tells you the max amount of power the battery can supply for one hour without being recharged.
the Cold Cranking Amps tells you how much power the battery can give you all at once, without being recharged.

2) the amperage of the device you want to use on the battery.

example:
you have a battery that has a 10 AH rating.
you have a device that uses 1 amp.

the device will run on the battery for 10 hours (approximate) without needing a recharge.

you have a battery that has a 7.5 AH rating
you have a device that uses 15 amps.

the device will run for 1/2 hour without needing a recharge.

hope it helps, tho i will caution you against using a battery charger to run anything that uses more than say, 1000 milliamps
a battery charger doesnt output alot of wattage, thats why it usually takes longer to charge the battery than it does to run the battery flat,

Also keep in mind, a large draw on a battery will heat it up. Electric cars have this prob.
If the idea is to keep the lights on during power outages. First don't sweat it too much since disrupting the dark is bad. disrupting the light cycle not so much (unless its long enough to be a dark cycle)

But other option is to use a UPS for a 'puter to run a couple CFLs. That will be enough to keep the cycles right.

Thanks a lot guys, I really do appreciate it! I just wanted to apply this to use 2 600's or maybe even to use 1 600 as side lighting to my already existing lights, so its not like im planning on running everything on the battery I just need a boost =)

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

bricks you are a gem - parting with all your knowledge so that we can all learn from you
many thanx
cagey

Hello there,

Here is a safety question for you. I recently purchased the HTG 400W system :
http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47981
Now, the guys were very helpful. For my budget I was between this one and the low cost digital. The fella at the store pretty much told me it was 6 1/2 dozen the other between the two, so I got the magnetic for my first light setup.

Having chosen the less expensive of the two, I immediately have crazy worries about the thing bursting into flames.

I planed on placing the ballast outside the cabinet on a cement block (just a solo block sitting on the floor)

So the cement block is to keep the thing from sitting on anything that shouldn't get hot. But this is all indoors (of course) so is there any way to further fire-proof the thing? Am I having irrational fears?

Thanks for any input. Cheers!