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feed line for 150 amp sub panel Q
- Thread starter the gnome
- Start date
TURBD
Member
You probably could. I am not an electrician so don't listen to me.
I personally wouldn't because if one of the wires became disconnected some how you would have a fire hazard. Insted of just a complete loss of power.
Like I said. I wouldn't.
We just had our 40amp sub box hooked up and bought 50ft of wire just to figure out we needed more power. Pulled the wire and dropped another $500 on the new larger wire. We can find a use for the other wire later.
Hope this helps.
Remember to play safe around electricity kids.
I personally wouldn't because if one of the wires became disconnected some how you would have a fire hazard. Insted of just a complete loss of power.
Like I said. I wouldn't.
We just had our 40amp sub box hooked up and bought 50ft of wire just to figure out we needed more power. Pulled the wire and dropped another $500 on the new larger wire. We can find a use for the other wire later.
Hope this helps.
Remember to play safe around electricity kids.
It's not up to code and it may be simpler to just buy the recommended wire and have the peace of mind. That's what I would do. I usually go further and buy a better wire than recommended for the power I need (bigger cross-section) to be sure I'll be fine in any case and also have space for upgrades in the future.
my 2 cents.
my 2 cents.
I believe your wire needs to be 1/0 or greater before you can run it in parallel. The lug on the breaker needs to be listed to accept two wires also.
And remember that those 6 lights are going to be considered a "continuous load", on for more than 3 hours, so you have to count the load as 125% of actual draw from the ballasts.
And remember that those 6 lights are going to be considered a "continuous load", on for more than 3 hours, so you have to count the load as 125% of actual draw from the ballasts.
I would have to look up the restrictions on when you are allowed to start paralleling wire, but I can tell you that this won't work without doing that. #3 wire is only rated 85-110 amps depending on the type of insulation that is on it. #6 is rated for 55-75 amps, again based on the type of insulation. When you parallel conductor, you have to derate them 20% and they have to be exactly the same length.
You need some 1/0 THWN, minimum.
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thanks guys,
looks like another $300 on the project for the 1/0 and $$'s running tight
but i won't jury rig the electrical
kills me because i have 3 120ft lengths of #6
OR
find the load on my #6 and run 3-4 smaller sub panels on a breaker rated for that size wire from the 200amp main I'll be pulling from. the entire thing is dedicated for this room if I want,
i have an extra sub panel laying around and know an electrician buddy that has piles of them.
looks like another $300 on the project for the 1/0 and $$'s running tight
but i won't jury rig the electrical
kills me because i have 3 120ft lengths of #6
OR
find the load on my #6 and run 3-4 smaller sub panels on a breaker rated for that size wire from the 200amp main I'll be pulling from. the entire thing is dedicated for this room if I want,
i have an extra sub panel laying around and know an electrician buddy that has piles of them.
I agree with rives. you may use #1 Cu or #2/0 Al for a 150A service between the meter and the main breaker per Table 310-15(b)(6)..
FYI ,
THWN stands for "Thermoplastic High Water-resistant Nylon-coated." THWN is a designation for a specific insulation material,...
FYI ,
THWN stands for "Thermoplastic High Water-resistant Nylon-coated." THWN is a designation for a specific insulation material,...
i went and double checked the wire, its in an outside situation that was feeding a full sized work site trailer.
looks like #2 wire, its been uv bleached by the sun, I;ll have to pull more out from the conduit and it is THWN rated, it has the plastic wrap on it. I can't get to the pole the panel located on to get the amps.
it has to be at least 100-125 amp
Sorry, I worded that poorly. What I meant was that 150 amps is a hell of a lot of extra power for a 6kw grow. At 25 amps for the lighting, I would think that you could probably fit that plus all of your auxiliary equipment on a 60 amp panel if necessary. If you size your breaker to your existing wire, it sounds like you could easily run a 100 or 125 supply, have lots of room for future expansion and avoid the cost of larger conductors.
Dr. Buddington
Member
For 150A you need at least 1/0; I got that for 125A. Better over than under man.
Gomez_Addams
New member
Wires are doubled all the time, and it DOES meet code, in fact, CODE REQUIRES multiple conductors per phase above a certain size due to weirdnesses about how AC current behaves, that I won't get into, because nobody here should run into that, and if you really do need to wire panels for 500 or 1000 amps, you'd bloody well better know what you are doing.
To use multiple conductors, you have two concerns:
1) are the terminations approved for multiple conductors. Example: neutral bonding bars are nearly always designed to take more than one (but seldom more than two!) conductors in a single hole. If the termination is not designed to retain two wires, don't use two wires. If you aren't sure whether your equipment / parts are designed to accept two wires, then find out! Ask the manufacturer, go get the specs from their web site, ask the distributor, ask the retailer, ask a licensed electrician about your particular terminations. For big conductors feeding the panel, you will probably have to replace the lugs that came with it for dual-conductor lugs sized for the wires you intend to use.
2) As for sizing your conductors, you care not about wire gauge, but ampacity. So you don't necessarily double the wire gauge. Instead, if the charts call for #2 wire, and all you've got is #4, look at the carrying capacity of #4 for your application (ambient air temp, insulation type, whether it's in conduit, etc). Let's say the charts say that in your application, #4 can carry 100 amps, and you need to pass 200. _IF_ there is no other restriction on adding conductors (ie; you won't be over-filling a conduit or using more than the allowable number of current-carrying conductors) and _IF_ all of the terminations are the correct type to handle two #4 wires, then you're golden.
Note also that so far, I've been talking about open conductors in free air, not inside a conduit. The code charts declare an ampacity for a conductor based on insulation type, how many conductors are in a pipe, expected ambient air temperature, etc. If you're running these conductors in a conduit or cable bundle, the allowable ampacity will be lower. Buy the books, use the charts, learn what is required to do it right.
The National Electrical Code is published by an association of fire marshalls (the NFPA). They aren't doing it to make more money for electrical manufacturers or contractors or to inconvenience you, they do it to save lives - yours, your neighbor's, your relatives', your dog's.
The little details DO matter.
If you find doing the details confusing, get someone who knows what they are doing to do the work for you. If it all seems like too much information for you to slog through, get someone who knows what they are doing to do the work for you. Don't make excuses, and don't "wing it". Fires suck.
To use multiple conductors, you have two concerns:
1) are the terminations approved for multiple conductors. Example: neutral bonding bars are nearly always designed to take more than one (but seldom more than two!) conductors in a single hole. If the termination is not designed to retain two wires, don't use two wires. If you aren't sure whether your equipment / parts are designed to accept two wires, then find out! Ask the manufacturer, go get the specs from their web site, ask the distributor, ask the retailer, ask a licensed electrician about your particular terminations. For big conductors feeding the panel, you will probably have to replace the lugs that came with it for dual-conductor lugs sized for the wires you intend to use.
2) As for sizing your conductors, you care not about wire gauge, but ampacity. So you don't necessarily double the wire gauge. Instead, if the charts call for #2 wire, and all you've got is #4, look at the carrying capacity of #4 for your application (ambient air temp, insulation type, whether it's in conduit, etc). Let's say the charts say that in your application, #4 can carry 100 amps, and you need to pass 200. _IF_ there is no other restriction on adding conductors (ie; you won't be over-filling a conduit or using more than the allowable number of current-carrying conductors) and _IF_ all of the terminations are the correct type to handle two #4 wires, then you're golden.
Note also that so far, I've been talking about open conductors in free air, not inside a conduit. The code charts declare an ampacity for a conductor based on insulation type, how many conductors are in a pipe, expected ambient air temperature, etc. If you're running these conductors in a conduit or cable bundle, the allowable ampacity will be lower. Buy the books, use the charts, learn what is required to do it right.
The National Electrical Code is published by an association of fire marshalls (the NFPA). They aren't doing it to make more money for electrical manufacturers or contractors or to inconvenience you, they do it to save lives - yours, your neighbor's, your relatives', your dog's.
The little details DO matter.
If you find doing the details confusing, get someone who knows what they are doing to do the work for you. If it all seems like too much information for you to slog through, get someone who knows what they are doing to do the work for you. Don't make excuses, and don't "wing it". Fires suck.
This is what I did. I ran a 125a sub panel with 50a available for my room. I have plenty to expand if needed. I have 2 600, 1 1k(lov this unit), 2 wall fans,3 in lines and finally a 12k BTU Portable AC unit. this is the flower room. Still have 1 400w t5 and 1 100w t5 for veg seedlings. This is on a diferant circuit since its not much.. I still have enough to add another 1k if I want to..all ballast's are 220v
a 60 amp panel will run everything ?
I figure 6- 1000kw lamps and a 15-20 amp breaker for each light
there's 90-120amps there?... what sized breaker is needed to run a single 1kw lite on 120v, or 220v
also need extra elec. for
a nice sized dehuey, multiple fans, C02 stuff,
and 12" inline fan on the carbon scrubber
can't forget the 32,000 BTU mini split
i can run the outside compressor unit on another meter
but the inside blower will need power from the room.
i can run all this on a 60amp sub panel?
not to mention down the road the room is sized for another 2 1000w watt lamps if i go air cooled so add more inline fans to
handle that load.
Okay, I see where your misunderstanding is coming from. You don't total up the amperage of the individual breakers, you have to look at what the actual load is. A 1k light on 240v is going to pull around 4.5 amps, so you can easily put 3 of them on a 20 amp breaker and still be under the 80% rule. Even if you put them behind individual breakers, you will still only be pulling 4.5 amps per light. You need to total up the actual amperage for each load and see what you get.
aah sooo as charlie chan would say
ok, big thanks rives, I thought for sure a 1000w lamp would pull much more than 4.5A..
so next Q,
is there a handy thread here that lists out the ampere draw of grow room devices, lites/ballasts, fans etc etc
I don't know of any site aggregating that information - you would need to go to each manufacturer's site and get the equipment specifications.
If is easy to make the calculations if you know some of the information - voltage x amperage = wattage, so wattage/voltage = amperage
If is easy to make the calculations if you know some of the information - voltage x amperage = wattage, so wattage/voltage = amperage
Most if not all of your equimpment should have the amp it draws on a sticker...
