Just started reading yesterday and have not seen it mentioned yet. Is there a limit to how many lights, pumps, etc you should connect to an outlet even with power strips? Should you spread them out to different outlets/areas?
-cloner=light, pump
-veg= light, pump
-flower station= pumps x3
-In my case x2 400w HPS
-x2 inline fan/carbon filter.
Maybe more with oscillating fan but, that is 11 needed outlets already.
Sorry for the newb questions but, I would hate to blow something out.
Yes there is a limit and you need to be careful or you could start a fire. I've seen plugs overheat and melt the wires inside the outlet box. Most outlets are rated for 15 amps. A 1000 watt light draws about 8.3 amps. Replacing your 15amp breaker with a 20amp breaker will not let you run more lights safely. If the wires are rated for 15 amps it doesn't matter what your breaker is rated at, you still have to stay within the 15 amp limit. You should only run about 80% of what your breaker is rated at.
So you can't really use different plugs if they are on the same breaker. You need to figure out which plugs go to which breakers. If you try to run too many lights, A/C, fans, pumps, etc... off of one outlet you are asking for trouble. If you find that you breaker keeps popping every time your lights go on, staggering the lights may keep the breaker from popping but you are still fucking up.
You also have to be careful running extension cords from different parts of the house. If you do, they need to be rated for more power than you need or they could heat up and melt off the insulation. I've seen extension cords get so hot you could barely touch them.
You're best solution is to hire an electrician and add more circuits to your house. Tell them you are setting up a rendering farm for computer animations. Tell them you don't know anything about power but you do know that your computers use between 750-1000 watts of power each and you have 10 of them (or whatever you need). Let him know that you will also be adding A/C to the room so the computers will stay cool and not overheat. It's expensive but not as costly as burning down the house or worse, killing yourself and family in the worse possible way. Is there anything worse that burning to death?
Chances are the electrician will put two and two together and figure out what your doing. They usually don't give a shit though. It's better if you have an electrician friend that will do it all for trade. If you live in a legal state and have your grow card then you really don't have anything to worry about anyway.
Oh yea, there is one more option if you have a dryer outlet. They are usually rated for 240 volts and 30 amps. You can safely run 2-1000w lights off of one dryer outlet. You can buy ballasts that run on 240 volts or get a splitter that will give you two 15 amp outlets.
Be safe bro!
SB
I unplugged my cloner to work on it. Yep I forgot to plug it back in!
Out of 21 baby seeds just starting good, I lost 5! Some were in rockwool only b/c their root was to short for collars. I can't remember what stinkbud uses, but superstoner1 uses I believe 'rooter plugs' (Not real sure). I've learned my lesson on this subject. I think ss1 even takes them out of the plugs when they reach a certain age. Man I hope ss1 or old dog replies or corrects me. There are lots of very good growers here, and I'm hoping somebody responds to your question correctly. Anyway this was my screw up. I hope it helps. I'm going with the insurance so at my age I can blame my memory. I wasn't even stoned either, so it had to be my memory! Isn't that right Old Dog? I'm going to go with ss1 way next bunch of seeds! I try to follow these guys and I still screw up, my FAUGHT!!
