T
The_Core
Thanks for the input Rives. Do you think running a sub panel for 3k watts is appropriate?
-
ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Sure. It is appropriate for anything beyond what you can run off of a single circuit/receptacle.
T
TribalSeeds
You want the sub panel so that you can be sure that all your connections in the grow room are good and not being shared. You will want to make sure to tighten and replace any worn down looking electrical shit in the grow room as long as its being used with constant loads 12 hours a day. Having the panel seperated fro the grow makes maintenance a little easier I think.
The plug on the unit is a 4 wire 30 amp dryer recepticle . you get a dryer recepticle (female ) & wire it to your 10 gauge wire & plug the unit into the female recepticle .
put this outlet in a 4" square metal box ... had at homedepot or lowes ... with the proper cover .
http://www.thecollegetoolbox.com/eacowi30amp3.html
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100538643/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=4%22square+box&storeId=10051#.UJrEtIbqfIU
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...p+dryer+recepticle&storeId=10051#.UJrE9obqfIU
these links will get you the recepticle box & cover ... you'll need a romex conector for the wire going into the box .
JM, I was unable to find a picture of the inside of that, or a schematic. Does it have any protection installed for the components that are rated lower than the 30a power connection?
OldSSSCGuy
Active member
Only problem with the 'Power Box' is that it seems to have no fuse or breaker at all, and if you are running separate grow and flower rooms/areas you would need 2 of them. Paying $660+ just to deliver unfused 220v to the rooms does not make any sense to me. If one of your lights shorted out this box could melt before the breaker even blows.
Gotta look into thatGive me a few minutes
This is what Ive found out so far
The PB acts as its own beaker shutting itself down and will only work again once the problem is figured out .From what I understand if a Fan shorts out or a 1k ballast the unit shuts down until the issue is resolved.
Rives I would love to open it up but I think I'll void the warranty
SS Guy $660 seems pricey to me when in theory I can run a 2k veg room and a 4 k flower room of this one unit for 200$ if I wanted to push it to its limits. For another 200 or so I could set up a 6k Flip flop for a total of 12000 watts
I originnally bought the PB to fire up a 5x5 tent and make it plug and play for my needs ,But my plans have changed dramaticlly
My room I have this setup in is Not wired per say The previos grower grew in soil and had this room wired with a CAP4 lite control.I grow hydro and need the extra 120 outlets.
I have an8-4 hard wired to my panel in the pic and I'm happy with the quality of this control.The only downfall I see so far is no high temp shutdown
The PB acts as its own beaker shutting itself down and will only work again once the problem is figured out .From what I understand if a Fan shorts out or a 1k ballast the unit shuts down until the issue is resolved.
Rives I would love to open it up but I think I'll void the warranty
SS Guy $660 seems pricey to me when in theory I can run a 2k veg room and a 4 k flower room of this one unit for 200$ if I wanted to push it to its limits. For another 200 or so I could set up a 6k Flip flop for a total of 12000 watts
I originnally bought the PB to fire up a 5x5 tent and make it plug and play for my needs ,But my plans have changed dramaticlly
My room I have this setup in is Not wired per say The previos grower grew in soil and had this room wired with a CAP4 lite control.I grow hydro and need the extra 120 outlets.
I have an8-4 hard wired to my panel in the pic and I'm happy with the quality of this control.The only downfall I see so far is no high temp shutdown
OldSSSCGuy
Active member
Sounds like a thermo-overload fuse. I still see a melted Power Box in someone's future... heh... Heck, for $10 more they could have used a fused/resettable breaker on the head of the appliance cord.
I didn't build my sub panel thingie only because I am hopelessly cheap. I like messing with electrons is all... Kinda like herding cows. Electrons are really dumb but hurt like hell when they step on you.
I don't know how they could possibly accomplish this. The difference in the load between your two examples would be substantial, and you really want protection from sustained overloads as well as direct shorts. A fuse would require replacement. I suppose that they might have an automatic-resetting breaker, but that would be a dangerous option for obvious reasons. The problem with most of the manufacturers is that they take a very, very liberal interpretation of the code, and use that to justify some wiring practices that were never intended by the code for that application.
For instance, several of the builders justify a lack of circuit protection because there is a section of the code that says that HID's can be run off of a 50a circuit. However the code very tightly stipulates the only circumstances that this can be done under, and with what equipment. Needless to say, none of our applications fit the description. It is also legal to use much smaller wire inside of a panel than it is fed with - but again, the circumstances are circumscribed to the point that the exception won't apply to our gear.
It would probably be worth your while to find out exactly how (if) they have protected your box.
Nice looking unit, but that still looks as though the breaker is sized for the full power being fed to the unit, not to protect all of those 15 amp receptacles.
NedFlanders
Member
I bet they have those outlets go to a relay because of the timer. You could burn a plug prolly
NedFlanders
Member
or the wire going to it
