Adding amps to commercial unit? Electricians please help!

[Shaun1says]

Hello all of the communities electricians, I've got a little bit of a problem I could use a creative solution...

I have a commercial unit I am running 20 1,000 watt lights in as well as a commercial hvac. When I looked at the unit I saw the 200 amp breaker box but upon turning on all my light I lost power and found out that my breaker coming is only 100 amps! So right now I have all my lights dimmed and need to find a creative solution on how to add power in my unit before flowering.

What is the best solution for this? Talking to a handyman friend he said either install a transformer or a second breaker?

Any help or input would be much appreciated, thanks in advanced!

 

[rives]

"A commercial unit" - you mean like a storage unit, or what?

You have a 200a load center with a downsized main breaker, or a 200a load center with a 100a circuit feeding your "unit", or what?

I'd need a much more detailed description of what you have before giving you any advice on how to change it. However, regarding what the handyman said, a new transformer is most likely going to require a total rebuild of the electrical system. Depending on what you have and how everything is arranged, a second breaker feeding a sub-panel may be an option.

Any pictures?

 

[magiccannabus]

Man I really have to wonder how much someone needs 20 1K lights, but I digress... I would be very careful swapping out a 100amp breaker even if it's in a 200amp panel. There may be a very good reason they put a smaller breaker in there. The power supplied from the grid may not support it. Unless you're growing legal, getting the power company to beef up their line transformers could be very risky. I sure as hell wouldn't touch the main breaker without knowing exactly what you're doing because that's the sort of juice that can kill quickly and leave your corpse a smoldering mess. We had a guy at the factory who was incorrectly wiring a 50 amp sub-panel and got fried so bad that smoke was coming out of his ears. Amazingly he lived, but only because his boss pulled him off the wires. On a funny note, they took off running down the street afterward, knowing the guy who got shocked wasn't certified to be working on that panel, and we never got a bill or anything. I don't know about where you are, but unqualified people messing with the electrical system on anything but their own home can lead to some pretty serious fines.

 

[Shaun1says]

Haha that is pretty funny! As far as the why, I run a MJ trialling facility for a soil amendment company.

The unit is a commercial warehouse and office condo. There are 4 units in the building. Mine has a 100a breaker on the outside of the building feeding into a 200a breaker box inside the unit. This is why I was able to have 140 amps worth of lighting controllers installed before realizing that it could not support it. I hope that's what you mean.

 

[rives]

That's making more sense. The overall main for the structure may be a 400a, and they could have just divided the power evenly between the units.

The first thing that needs to be done is to find out what the building is fed with and how large the main is. Then the wire from the outside panel to the 200a load center needs to be checked to see what size it is and if it can support more power to your unit with just a main breaker change. The usage for the building would need to be checked to see if adding your additional load will overtax the existing infrastructure. Also, keep in mind that for continuous loads (anything that runs for 3+ hours), you are limited to 80% of the breaker rating. This means that your 100a service should only be driven at 80 amps continuously.

Depending on how your ballasts/controls are set up, another possibility might be to run your lighting on a rotating schedule so that portions of it are running dimmed all the time, but change at frequent intervals.

 

[Shaun1says]

i dont think the dimming will be an option. What about having a transformer installed? wont that convert the power I have already coming in to a greater amount?

 

[robbiedublu]

i dont think the dimming will be an option. What about having a transformer installed? wont that convert the power I have already coming in to a greater amount?

Let me know if that works, won't you? If it does i'm gonna add 10 of them and really scale up!

 

[rives]

i dont think the dimming will be an option. What about having a transformer installed? wont that convert the power I have already coming in to a greater amount?

No, a transformer does not convert power into more power! A transformer will vary the voltage and the amperage, but the wattage (power) remains the same. If you double the voltage, then the amperage is cut in half and if you divide the voltage by two, then the amperage is doubled. Volts x amps = watts - this consistency is why the power company bills you for wattage and not amperage.

The only way that a new transformer is going to help you is if it is installed between the utility and you, and takes the place of a smaller capacity transformer or is run in tandem with a smaller one (unlikely to be approved by either the power company or the inspecting authority). Transformers are used to reduce the utility distribution voltage, usually 12,500vac, down to 240/120 for residential services or 480/277 for industrial/commercial installations. This is why I said above that it would likely require a complete rebuild of your electrical system because it is very unlikely that your existing infrastructure is capable of handling more power than it is currently sized for.

 

[Shaun1says]

Ha one can dream that it would be so simple Robbie but it sounds like I'm in for a let down.

Rives- thanks for som good info. I had a feeling it would not be so easy but I had to check. So then without being able to okay this upgrade with my landlord and/or electrical company there is really no way to make this happen?

 

[stoney917]

Id personally consider a flip flop 10k... but if ur set n stuck runnin 20 u gonna have to listen to rives n consider making major upgrades... its not that hard to do if the mainline will support it if not i hope u didnt sign a long term lease. ... u better off movin then getting the power co involved unless u will to go all out inspections the whole 9...

 

[rives]

There is no way that you can change the service without both of them involved, plus whoever is the permitting authority (city or county).

 

[Shaun1says]

Damn, ok. Luckily there are 2 offices free that I think I can run 10 lights in the main area and 10 in offices on alternating schedules. I guess that's just a flip flop but without buying it cause I already have 20 ballasts lol. Thanks for all your help guys, sometimes the right answers suck to hear but at least I know where to get em!