Electrical Safety Question with CF's

[thekingofNY]

How many bulbs or watts total can you run safely out of one heavy duty power strip? Or Rather the plug that goes into the grounded standard US wall outlet. The house is probably near 150 years old, but the eletrical was redone sometime within the past 15 years as we have GFIs in the bathroom/kitchen and the plugs in the rooms are newer, as in they are grounded and have the two different sized holes.

For example, I am going to be using CFL's on my next grow, not by choice, but due to space... so I would like to use 8, 26w lights. I use those little adapters that go into an eletrical socket and u can screw the bulb right in, on a side note; does anyone know what those are called? I mean I have no problem asking / trying to describe them to the guy at the hardware store, but it would be nice to know what the hell those things are officially called.

Anyways, so can i get 1 heavy duty power trip, and plug 2 more regular power strips into that one and run my 8 bulbs at once? or is this too much current or whatever for one socket into a standard wall plug. or could I even get 3 regular power strips and run 9 bulbs at once? 3 out of each with the option of 4 during flower??

What is the limit I guess is what I am asking?

 

[dontstepongrass]

i have that going in my veg/mother box. so far so good. what you need to realize is that those 26 watters have a current draw of .22 amps a piece (there abouts) and i'm sure you are running it on a 15 amp breaker. so if u had nothing else on breaker you could run like 75 of those suckers on it. but for long extended light you would only fill a breaker up 80% tops. cfl's are pretty safe. you'd hafta do something super retarded to burn your house down

 

[green_grow]

what he said ... just add up the amps (it will be printed on each bulb). keep in mind that on that circuit, there are likely other rooms as well . you can check to see what other rooms are on that circuit by switching everything in the house on, then shutting off the breaker that controls your grow space. anything else that shuts off is on your grow circuit. add up the amps on all those lights/appliances. just keep your total amps below 12 (80% of 15 amps) and you will minimize the chances of tripping a breaker.

 

[thekingofNY]

what he said ... just add up the amps (it will be printed on each bulb). keep in mind that on that circuit, there are likely other rooms as well . you can check to see what other rooms are on that circuit by switching everything in the house on, then shutting off the breaker that controls your grow space. anything else that shuts off is on your grow circuit. add up the amps on all those lights/appliances. just keep your total amps below 12 (80% of 15 amps) and you will minimize the chances of tripping a breaker.

So you are telling me I could run like 60 light bulbs through 20 power strips plugged into more power strips, eventually through just one plug into the wall?

I guess I have run two, 250 watt HPSs off of one before without any problems, but i am just concerned because I am going to be plugging in soo many light bulbs...and multiple power strips into one wall outlet?

but i guess they use such small amounts of electricity it doesnt matter.

EDIT: just got back from the store with my light for veg, two veg/flower CFL's...

the 5500K 27w bulb I picked up is sweet, it draws .43 amps, but only puts out 1300 lumens, I found some 6500K bulbs for 1/2 the price that were 26w's and put out 1600 lumens, I am going to have to get some more of those...

I also have some 23w bulbs that put out 1600 lumens and draw .33A.
It doesnt say what light spectrum they are exactly except for "soft white" .
I know these will be better for flowering...

 

[green_grow]

yes, if the 60 bulbs was ALL you were running on that circuit; but, chances are that there are 2 or 3 other rooms using that circuit as well . if any of them contain a heater/toaster or other such (relatively) big user of current, you could wind up with an excessive load which will trip a breaker.

actually 60 bulbs x .22 amps = 13.2 amps total, which would exceed the safe load for a 15 amp circuit.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

So you are telling me I could run like 60 light bulbs through 20 power strips plugged into more power strips, eventually through just one plug into the wall?

I guess I have run two, 250 watt HPSs off of one before without any problems, but i am just concerned because I am going to be plugging in soo many light bulbs...and multiple power strips into one wall outlet?

but i guess they use such small amounts of electricity it doesnt matter.

if you want a fire then yes hook it up that way







each light fixture has a Y screw in adaptor that holds 2 bulbs currently i have 420w in mixed color cfl's. each fixture has
45w=150 warm sprial cfl@2700k 2900 lumens
25w=100w daylight tubular cfl@ 5000k 1470 lumens
at walmart or even local hardware store mines from walmart, heavy duty extension cord w/6plug outlet and fuse. they make a 8 plug outlet also the cord is approx 8-10 gauge, i plug my 6 plug outlet cord directly into my timer then the wall. i have another that runs my 2 x 400w lights and few fans each never had a problem the fuse in the cord will blow before your house fuse or circut breaker will. heres some hints and tips on what i found through reading trail and error found to be optimum ussage of the cfl's http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=29899&page=2&highlight=100+WATT+lowryder

 

[green_grow]

also, majpothead is right ... i was focussed on the amps question and completely missed the bit about multiple power strips. i wouldnt use that method either.

 

[dontstepongrass]

i would say that if you're trying a TON of cfl's you would need a smaller guage wire (larger diameter) the wire being the power strips and any extension cord they run off. in this aspect i agree with the major.

also, another thing to contemplate... cfl's do produce heat when you have a bunch of them. ventilation will have to be top notch.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

i would say that if you're trying a TON of cfl's you would need a smaller guage wire (larger diameter) the wire being the power strips and any extension cord they run off. in this aspect i agree with the major.

{also, another thing to contemplate... cfl's do produce heat when you have a bunch of them. ventilation will have to be top notch.

cfl's do produce heat when you have a bunch of them. ventilation will have to be top notch.}

true in the link above to 100w cfl grow i have loads of info on cfl ussage the heat buildup is 1 problem addressed. i veg in the main part of my master bedroom bathroom off to 1 side i still have small fans blowing across tops of plants and bottom of bulbs. also how to obtain the highest intensity of light available from cfl's