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Growroom Electricity and Wiring

HeresTheDank

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Greatly appreciate the info/help. Ill check those things out tomorrow, hopefully have it all taken care of soon as my buddy comes down.
 

MedResearcher

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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^^
 

rives

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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^^

Unless there is a local exemption, it sounds like you are out of compliance. You don't mention if it is a 3 or 4-wire service between the main and the sub. Although 4-wire services to outbuilding sub-panels are now required (image below), 3-wire services were acceptable in the past. With a 3-wire service, there is no point to isolating the grounds and the neutrals because there isn't a dedicated path for each to take back to the main panel. In this case, the neutral and the ground busses would be bonded together. A 4-wire would be done per the drawing below, with the neutral and the grounds on isolated busses and no bonding.

The ability to add a sub to your existing 3-wire circuit would depend on the overall circuit loading, but since it is only 2-wire it will be 240v only (no neutral available to split the circuit to 120v).

picture.php
 
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MedResearcher

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Thanks a bunch Rives, appreciate the response. I was reading about electrical late into the night, then I woke up thinking about it first thing!


The service was installed in 2008, I assumed it was a 3 wire service since the 3 really large wires Hot, Hot, Neutral come into the box through 1 hole together. While the single thick but not nearly as thick bare ground wire attached to the ground bus goes down out of the box in its own hole. Also the ground bus only has the 1 larger ground wire, the other grounds leading out are all the same thin ground wire going up out of the box.


The last line in your post about only being able to use 240v from the 3 wire, really helped me out.


It dawned on me that 240v ballast cords only have 3 wires, Hot Hot Neutral. So correct me if I am wrong, but having a ground coming into 240v plug would only ground the box itself and allow the use of 110v circuits, it wouldn't effect the grow lamps being grounded?


Unless I am off track, I think instead of ripping out the 6-2 50 amp wires and replacing them with 6-3, I can just use them solely for the 240v lights, then add a new 110v circuit for some more accessories.


In that scenario the plug and play box on the wall, plugged into the 240v 6-2 50 amp would not be grounded. It would have breakers in it, then another breaker at the sub panel, and another breaker at the main panel. Would it be safe to assume it would be fire safe, but possibly dangerous to the touch if something happens to short?


It looks like some of the Powerbox brand timer boards offer a 3 prong option, I can't imagine it could be really dangerous and they could sell them to the public and still be in business.

Enough rambling, appreciate it.

Mr^^
 

rives

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A 240v ballast cord should have (2) hots and a ground, not a neutral. A neutral is used for a 120v, and is not needed for 240v. Some appliances use a 4-wire 120/240v connection, but that is usually because they are using 120v for the control circuitry.

EVERYTHING needs to be grounded. There are two reasons for grounding - protect the personnel that are involved AND to make the circuit protection work quickly. You can have a low-level fault that is within the breaker rating and will start a fire quite handily. The idea with grounding is to make the current rise very quickly and cause the breaker to trip or the fuse to blow.

Contrary to what common sense would tell you, most of the timers boards available will not meet code outside of a very restricted application that most of us will never be able to comply with. They may say that they meet UL "specifications", but you have to check what that spec is for. There is no law that says that they must comply with code, and most of their instructions have legal boilerplate in them that absolves the manufacturer of any and all liability.
 

MedResearcher

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Thanks again Rives, really helpful.


I dug around a bit. Popped the main panel open, and opened up a different sub panel (house sub), so I could make some comparisons.


The house sub is fed with 4 wires, 2 hots (off a 100 amp breaker on the panel), 1 neutral marked, 1 green ground. The green and neutral are from the same bus, which is normal since they are always bonded at the main panel.


The garage sub is only fed with 3 wires. So I would assume its only 3 wire service, but I did notice a difference that may or may not change the situation. Hopefully I can explain it properly. The main service is 400 Amps, it comes in the service side of the panel which I cant access, then 2 large bars bring it into the "owner" side of the panel. The bars are attached right away to two large 200 amp breakers(service disconnect). One 200 amp breaker feeds the panel, which then feeds the house. The second 200 amp breaker goes directly into the ground headed for the Garage sub. So the Garage sub wires, 2 hots directly off one side of the service disconnect, and a third wire connected to the bonded neutral/ground.


Inside the garage sub, the neutral and ground bars are not bonded. The 3 wires coming, 2 hots, 1 neutral. While the ground bar has its own earth ground.


Overall at this point I think the guy who did the Garage (general contractor) did a shit job, while the main panel and house panel were done by an electrical contractor are done right. The sub in the house is clean, all bare wires on the ground, all the neutrals on the neutral.


To further promote the idea that the garage was done poorly, I noticed this. There are 6 dedicated 110v circuits with GFCI receptacles. 2 West, 2 East, 2 South. The 2 East and 2 South, each have a Black to hot, White to neutral, bare wire to ground (seems right so far). While the West circuits, have a Black to hot, White to neutral, bare wire to the same neutral as the white. It looks like a plain and simple mistake. I triple checked and the Ground and Neutral bus are not bonded. The 220v's are, hot hot neutral. Obviously I know very little, but maybe since the panel came directly off 1 side of the service disconnect it was wired like it was a second main panel, but the ground/neutral's were simply never bonded?


Whats amazing to me, is that the inspector signed off on the garage. I precisely remember him walking around checking all the GFCI's. Then signing off on the work. The inspectors around here... its nice when you want to pass something illegal, but really all they do is collect money and hand out fines when they feel like it, I don't think they do much to protect the owner from poor work.


I know this is a lot to digest, and really hard to do through text. I think its inevitable that I will have to have an Electrician look over it and I think it needs to be fixed. I imagine it would be a real pain in the ass to try to pull a 4th wire through the conduit that feeds the Garage. Do you think that is the 1st step to do this correctly, or is it possible to proceed with the 3 current wires? Would the garage actually be a second main panel, that just never had the neutral/ground bonded(would explain why the 220v ground is attached to neutral and the 110v grounds on the neutral), or is it a sub panel that simply got outdated 3 wire service and a very bad wiring job?

Appreciate it,
Mr^^
 

MedResearcher

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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 :p 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^^
 

rives

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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 :p 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^^

Sounds like you've got it figured out. I'm not familiar with the type of service distribution panel that you are describing, but my background is almost exclusively industrial. With the neutral and the ground bonded, it is really irrelevant which buss they attach to other than for appearance sake. Most main panels only have one buss, and the neutrals and the grounds both land there.

Be careful with the timer circuitry. Many of them are built to accept a 50a feed, but there is no further protection to protect the 15a receptacles and internal wiring. If your lamp sizes will work with it, you can downsize the breaker feeding the timer panels to 20a so that the downstream components are properly protected. This will give you 16 amps of 240v for lights (the 80% rule limits you for loads that exceed 3 hours of continuous usage), which would allow 3800 watts connected. You also have to account for the ballast overhead, which is usually somewhere around 10% of the lamp wattage.
 

MedResearcher

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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^^
 

rives

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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^^

Are you planning on feeding a small sub to break the protection down from 50 amps?
 

MedResearcher

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That is the basic plan. Although I am widely open to suggestions, since I am still only in the planning phase and I would like to do it as safely and clean as possible.


Not sure if you are familiar with the older style timer boards, but I am hoping to basically copy one without the relay or triggers. So it would be like a plug and play sub panel/distro box.


Trying to find a picture, but not having much luck. Basically a 4 prong range cord entering a small mountable sub panel/distro box, with 2x 220v 20 amp, and 1x 110v 20 amp breakers. 3 metal double gang handy boxs connected to the panel with short runs of the rigid conduit (not the right name). So would have 8x 240v plugs, and 4x 110v plugs. Although I wont plug in more than 6 lights ever.


What do you think?


Thanks,
Mr^^
 

rives

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It sounds fine as far as it goes. How do you turn them on and off if you aren't using relays?
 

MedResearcher

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Gavita makes a master controller, that is hooked up to the ballast's by a low voltage wire. Looks like phone cord. It daisy chains from ballast to ballast finally landing in the controller which doesn't look like much more than a fancy calculator.

The ballasts which are digital, have a EXT setting, for exterior control. So from the master controller, you can set all the lights to turn on and off from its built in low voltage timer. You can also adjust their wattage, dimming or boosting the lights.


They have a few other cool features. Sunrise, sunset, so when the lights turn on and off, they do it gradually. Also there is a temperature probe hooked up to the controller. So you set your max temp you want. If the controller reads a temp higher than that, it will begin to dial the lights down step by step until the temp stabilizes. As well it has an auto shutoff temp. So in case your AC breaks and your room hits 120 degrees, instead of cooking everything well done, the lights will dim, and eventually shut off completely.


Has some more features to. Sort of a neat advancement in theory. Ask me this time next year and hopefully I can share some actual experience with it though. Typically I don't really like computers where they don't belong, but the extra temperature control sounds really nice.


For instance, heat wave in the middle of the summer. The AC just cant keep the room under 80, with the lights at full power. So the controller dims them down to 85% and the temp remains stable.


While I have your attention :)

3/4" EMT Offset compression connector

Is this what I would use to connect the gang box's to the panel? As far as being rigid/sturdy and being fire proof since its outside the wall?

Thanks,

Mr^^
 

MedResearcher

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Ahh, nice. Thanks for the link and info. I had a feeling I was close but wasn't exactly right.


Thinking it over a bit, would rather just run the circuits right from the main garage panel. Could put the 220v receptacles in the ceiling so the ballast plugs would be neat and tidy.

Just not sure if I have the space for all the breakers. Maybe I could combine some of the 110v breakers into those dual single pole breakers to free up a few more slots.


Thanks,
Mr^^
 

MedResearcher

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Ran up to count the extra spaces :p


Have 13 poles available. 2 flower rooms, 6 lamps each. 1 20amp 2 pole breaker per 3 1k lamps. Uses up 8 poles. Leaving me 5, for accessories and to run a single 1k lamp in the seed room.


Seems doable, even without using those dual single pole breakers. Worst case I can use 1 or 2 of them. I wont have to buy nearly as much stuff. Just having to buy the 20' power cords for the ballasts would have been a small fortune. If I run the dual gang box for the lights to a central location in the ceiling, the stock cords should be more than enough.


First time in a while I am starting to actually feel happy about the electrical plan. Really appreciate the help and feedback Rives. Everyone around my area are growers, but 99% of them only grow outdoor. So its hard to bounce ideas around about indoor growing.

Thanks,

Mr^^
 

Mr Blah

Member
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.
 

rives

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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.

Yes, the ballast is still drawing power. Depending on the ballast design, it can be destructive to run unloaded. It won't bother a magnetic ballast, but electronic ballasts do not like to run unloaded - many have protective circuitry built-in in order to shut them down when it senses a loss of the load.
 

DemonTrich

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Need some electrical wiring help from the power guys.

Have a APCL4DX light controller https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/APCL4DX

I want to only run it at 120v, and will pull power from a dedicated 20amp socket on its own seperate 20amp breaker in my panel. Looking to where and how to wire it.

How would i run power from the socket to this light controller? My buddies ok with running lines and doing electrical work, but want to know how it's done in case he's unsure. And I'd rather not have to go to home Depot or lowes to ask them.

See link to controller
 

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