HeresTheDank
Active member
Greatly appreciate the info/help. Ill check those things out tomorrow, hopefully have it all taken care of soon as my buddy comes down.
Had a couple issues I was hoping someone could chime in, if it should be changed or if its fine. I am going to have a different electrician come in to double check everything. Also for disclosure it was wired by a contractor and passed inspection.
400 amp service > main panel box > 200 amps to garage(outbuilding) sub panel
Garage sub panel has an earth ground, not bonded to the neutral coming in from the main panel.
I noticed a 30 amp 220v 3 wire circuit, which has both the neutral and the ground connected to the neutral bar. Seemed odd that the ground wasn't connected to the ground bar?
Also I noticed the 50 amp 220v circuits which were installed for the purpose of a plug and play style timer board/panel are only 2 wire circuits/3 prong plugs. Will it be safe to plug another small sub panel into that 2 wire circuit?
The final goal is to break the 50 amp receptacle into 6x 220v, and 2x 110v plugs, for 6 lights and a small accessory or two.
Overall the garage sub panel looked sort of sloppy, it has bare wire grounds going into both the neutral bar, and the ground bar. Maybe that is perfectly normal, but it just didn't make much sense to me. Going to have an electrician come in and double check everything, just sort of trying to estimate how much might need to be fixed or changed. Luckily the main panel for the property was done by a different contractor, looks really clean and simple.
Thanks,
Mr^^
Well.. 4th time is the charm. After inspecting the Garage panel again, I noticed a Green Bolt in the Neutral bar. I disconnected the service and popped the bolt out. Sure enough, like being green wasn't a good enough indication, the bolt was bonding the neutral and ground buses.
Also the earth ground for the garage panel is 6 awg cu. So I am now under the impression that the garage panel is not a sub panel, but 1 of 2 main panels in the 400 amp service. Hence the large earth ground and bonded neutral.
Hopefully I am right, so the contractor may have done a visually poor job, but he actually wired it correctly, passing inspection. A little more evidence of this, the 220v breakers for both AC units, were also wired, Hot Hot Neutral (neutral bonded to ground!), but have never given any problems at all.
If this is the case, which I am hoping I don't think anything severe will need to be redone or changed. I can either use the 220v 6-2 50 amp plugs for 220v only, or run a couple new 220v 6-3 50 amp circuits, then break them down to 220v and 110v with a nice grounded case.
Mr^^
Thanks Rives, once again great info and tips.
I am planning to use the Gavita EL1's to actually control the timing/dimming of the lamps. So instead of using a timer board at the 50 amp receptacle, I think I will just use a small sub panel with a few circuits.
Going to run new 6-3 for the 2x 50 amp plugs and just abandon the old circuits. Most likely 1x 20a 220v per 3x 1k. As well as an extra 110v for Co2, Dehum, couple circulation fans. 6 1ks + 110v, per 50 amp breaker. Might have to run some of the 110 off something else. When it gets closer I will crunch the math like you suggested to make sure the breakers are both not to big or to small.
Thanks,
Mr^^
Ballast question; If I only have one of the lights plugged into a flip box and it flips to the other light bank, what should happen to the ballast?
Is the ballast drawing power? The only reason I ask is the fan comes on but I have no light plugged into that side.
I know it could be dangerous at the plug side of the flip box.