Growroom Electricity and Wiring

[real ting]

This is extremely good info man.. exactly what i needed to kno to safely setup my 400w ballast kit from HTG supply

i am using a #16 wire that is 15 ft long from the ignitor to the socket, it is a 400w... would u guys recomend the 14 or the 12 gauge?

14 gauge would be fine in this instance, but the important part is getting 600v rated flexible wire. There are many kinds that will work, SO, STOW, SEOW, SOOW, and others. The key is that the wire starts in S, 600v rated, the other letters mean things like oil resistant(O, OO), water resistant (W) and there are a few others. The water resistant might be a good idea, it's your call on the other ones, usually the more different attributes the more expensive the wire. You DO NOT want any wire that starts in SJ, as that is only rated for 300v, for the ballast to lamp wire you want a wire rated at 600v. SJ wire would be fine to feed the ballast from the wall plug to the incoming side of the ballast.

You can find this at an electrical supply store, sold by the foot or in big rolls. Home depot probably won't have it, they usually carry SJOW.

You do not want to use romex or any other solid wire for this purpose.

 

[Cobra427]

Blown Breaker

Blown Breaker

Hey there, not sure if this problem has been dealt with anywhere else on this site but I have run a 6/3 wire with a ground wire from my 50 amp panel hot tub breaker box to feed an 8 circuit sub panel in my shed. I disconnected the hot tub & put a non PVC junction box in the hot tub enclosure.
My sub panel has: 1-single pole amp Breaker 120v circuit,1-20amp 240 volt circuit, 1-15 amp 240 circuit.
I have a ground plate hooked to the equipment ground bar in the sub panel. When I energized the sub panel my 120 circuit worked fine, it has about 8 amps on it.
When I used my 20 amp 240 volt circuit the 50 amp breaker in the hot tub box tripped. Any ideas...... I'll go take some pictures of the set up.
Thanks

 

[gus738]

can someone help me

can someone help me

I live in the US, on 110/120v system in a residential home. i made a flower room and want to run
4 x 1000w hps to run continuously plus misc like fan etc

in the veg room going with 1 x 1000w mh ballasts continously
did some electrical upgrades had a electrician set up a 50 amp breaker going from main panel to a sub panel via a 8 gauge black wire with 6 (20 amp) single breakers via a 12/2 going to outlets (15 or 20 amp receptacle)

I need some information here to know exactly if the upgrades that were done, meet or exceed
what i need to do and what electrical upgrade or equipment do I need if any more.

1.) so for a 1000w ballast x 4 that would be 6250w in light alone plus factor in a air conditioner and fans and misc
and at any given time i might need close to 10kw?

2.) I know nothing or little electricity The breaker in the basement shows that the room
I want to grow on is on a 50amp circuit. so is this enough juice

3.) What upgrades need done to ensure that I can safely run 5kw+ in the room of light plus fans etc?
that i might of missed or should get? This is my most important question

and what envelopment/climate controller are ideal?

 

[Cobra427]

Blown Breaker

Blown Breaker

Here are some pic's of the set up.

New sub panel in shed

Wire coming from shed with a ground plate wire, under ground over to the hot tub feed.

PVC junction box I used for the connection and enclosed within the hot tub enclosure.

The existing GFCI spa pack/panel

Over to the main panel.

Oh man I can hardly wait for a new panel

It is the gfci breaker that keeps tripping....hmmm time for me to go tripping

Thanks

 

[Cobra427]

More info
Anyways there is an existing shed about seventy five feet from the main house with a hot tub set up in between. The hot tub works great it's just that we don't use it. So yes I'm using the Hot tub feed & it's a new 100 amp panel in the shed . The distance from the main panel to the GFCI panel box is about 20' from there to the hot tub is about 35', from the non "grounded" pvc junction box, (which I placed inside the hot tub enclosure) to the shed is about 40'. As the hot tub will be drained & not used again until we get the bigger main panel replaced I figured I could use that power to the shed for now. Any ideas why it keeps blowing & can/should I replace the GFCI at the hot tub panel box/spa pack box with a reg breaker and place the GFCI receptacles outside in the shed? that way there still working down that line???

 

[Sirus]

Looking for a bit of clarification if possible. I have a C.A.P. power module rated 15 amp, which has 2 400W lamps running on it. The power module plugs into the power pack and has a power cord running to my controller. The controller itself is plugged into the same power pack as the power module. Would it be safe to add a 900W air conditioner off the same power pack? The breaker is 15amp. Any input would be greatly appericated.

 

[redbud56]

Looking for a bit of clarification if possible. I have a C.A.P. power module rated 15 amp, which has 2 400W lamps running on it. The power module plugs into the power pack and has a power cord running to my controller. The controller itself is plugged into the same power pack as the power module. Would it be safe to add a 900W air conditioner off the same power pack? The breaker is 15amp. Any input would be greatly appericated.

Amps = Wattage / Voltage
So, 2 400 watt lamps = 7.25 amps
A/C unit 900 watts = 8.18 amps
15.45 total amps on a 15 amp circuit.
That would be cutting it a bit close for comfort in my opinion.

 

[Tropik]

Thanks this helped me a little bit, but im looking for UK wiring Guides

 

[rives]

More info
Anyways there is an existing shed about seventy five feet from the main house with a hot tub set up in between. The hot tub works great it's just that we don't use it. So yes I'm using the Hot tub feed & it's a new 100 amp panel in the shed . The distance from the main panel to the GFCI panel box is about 20' from there to the hot tub is about 35', from the non "grounded" pvc junction box, (which I placed inside the hot tub enclosure) to the shed is about 40'. As the hot tub will be drained & not used again until we get the bigger main panel replaced I figured I could use that power to the shed for now. Any ideas why it keeps blowing & can/should I replace the GFCI at the hot tub panel box/spa pack box with a reg breaker and place the GFCI receptacles outside in the shed? that way there still working down that line???

I can't tell anything from the pictures, but the most common reason for a GFCI to start tripping after changing the wiring is if you have tied the neutral somewhere downstream to a neutral that doesn't come back to the GFCI. Anything fed by the GFCI has to have it's neutral come directly back to the GFCI. In other words, if you took the hot from the GFCI out to an existing receptacle and left the neutral side intact as it previously existed (taking another route back to the neutral bus), you now have parallel routes for the current to return to the neutral bus. The GFCI will sense that it is sourcing current that is not returning to itself, and will trip. Hope this helps!

 

[Tilt]

I live in the US, on 110/120v system in a residential home. i made a flower room and want to run
4 x 1000w hps to run continuously plus misc like fan etc

in the veg room going with 1 x 1000w mh ballasts continously
did some electrical upgrades had a electrician set up a 50 amp breaker going from main panel to a sub panel via a 8 gauge black wire with 6 (20 amp) single breakers via a 12/2 going to outlets (15 or 20 amp receptacle)

I need some information here to know exactly if the upgrades that were done, meet or exceed
what i need to do and what electrical upgrade or equipment do I need if any more.

1.) so for a 1000w ballast x 4 that would be 6250w in light alone plus factor in a air conditioner and fans and misc
and at any given time i might need close to 10kw?

2.) I know nothing or little electricity The breaker in the basement shows that the room
I want to grow on is on a 50amp circuit. so is this enough juice

3.) What upgrades need done to ensure that I can safely run 5kw+ in the room of light plus fans etc?
that i might of missed or should get? This is my most important question

and what envelopment/climate controller are ideal?

It looks to me you are fine for your set up for lighting and some equipment as long as the 50 amp breaker is 240 volts feeding the sub panel.

What are you looking at to cool your set up fans, ac, dehumidifier etc.

 

[Tilt]

Hey there, not sure if this problem has been dealt with anywhere else on this site but I have run a 6/3 wire with a ground wire from my 50 amp panel hot tub breaker box to feed an 8 circuit sub panel in my shed. I disconnected the hot tub & put a non PVC junction box in the hot tub enclosure.
My sub panel has: 1-single pole amp Breaker 120v circuit,1-20amp 240 volt circuit, 1-15 amp 240 circuit.
I have a ground plate hooked to the equipment ground bar in the sub panel. When I energized the sub panel my 120 circuit worked fine, it has about 8 amps on it.
When I used my 20 amp 240 volt circuit the 50 amp breaker in the hot tub box tripped. Any ideas...... I'll go take some pictures of the set up.
Thanks

a few questions

1. do you own a voltage meter
2. If you do own one follow this procedure
a. turn on the 50 amp gfi with all breakers off at the new sub panel
b. check the voltage with the leads between the black and red lugs at the new panel. You should have 240 volts. Check each individually to the nuetral. You should 120 volts each.
c. If the voltages are correct your wiring to the sub-panel should be fine
d. turn on the single pole and check the voltage.
e. disconnect any loads on the new sub panel.
d. turn on the breakers one at a time. If the gfi trips then you most likely have a wiring problem between the outlet and the breaker at the new subpanel. If it does not trip then the equipment you had plugged in might be faulty

gfis do go bad. the 2 pole ones are more expensive than regular breakers. Sounds like an equipment or a neutral fault to me though

you should also wrap that blue wire you have as neutral with white tape to identify it as a neutral. You know it is a neutral but the guy behind you might not.

 

[sarek]

Question on making a switch box.


My friend is trying to to wire two large circuits that alternate between two different circuits. This is like a flip flop but he is not trying to be cheap and use the same ballasts. The main circuit is limited he wants to run one room for 12 hours then have it switch to another room for 12 hours. Each has its own ballasting systems. Its a 200A single phase I think. Its not three phase. It seems that it is hard to find a product to switch such large loads. It simply needs to switch about 160A at a time at 240V with one timer. He has been looking for a product and cannot find one. Please help suggest a way to do this.....

 

[rives]

40kw is a pretty hefty load to be switching! I would suggest magnetic contactors. You may be able to find one that has a combination NO/NC contact for use with a gen set for back-up power. Look for a 200 amp transfer switch. Otherwise, two with NO contacts would be required. I would think that this would be out of the comfort zone for installation by a home handyman, however.

 

[gus738]

hey thanks for the reply and thats the problem, coming from main panel the 50 is a dp but once going to the sub panel this is where the 220/240 ends and the 120 begins. installer put 12/2 arrg from the sub panel to receptacle outlets. also from main panel it is 50 amp black breaker but on sub panel its 6 x 20a. so 120 amp ... this is more then the main panel

as far as cooling it looks like i need to do ac and dehimdy and fans to re circulate? as the room is as sealed as i could do it. and want run co2.

4x5x8 veg 7x5x8 flower. looking to get fastest growth best return value sooner, less plants.

It looks to me you are fine for your set up for lighting and some equipment as long as the 50 amp breaker is 240 volts feeding the sub panel.

What are you looking at to cool your set up fans, ac, dehumidifier etc.

 

[Tilt]

some pics of your sub panel would help.

 

[Tilt]

Question on making a switch box.


My friend is trying to to wire two large circuits that alternate between two different circuits. This is like a flip flop but he is not trying to be cheap and use the same ballasts. The main circuit is limited he wants to run one room for 12 hours then have it switch to another room for 12 hours. Each has its own ballasting systems. Its a 200A single phase I think. Its not three phase. It seems that it is hard to find a product to switch such large loads. It simply needs to switch about 160A at a time at 240V with one timer. He has been looking for a product and cannot find one. Please help suggest a way to do this.....

It can be done with one time clock and contactors. He needs an electrician though. Not for amateurs thats for sure.

 

[gus738]

i dont know how to put it here so it on this page look here

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=3636290&postcount=38

some pics of your sub panel would help.

 

[dtfsux]

Question on making a switch box.


My friend is trying to to wire two large circuits that alternate between two different circuits. This is like a flip flop but he is not trying to be cheap and use the same ballasts. The main circuit is limited he wants to run one room for 12 hours then have it switch to another room for 12 hours. Each has its own ballasting systems. Its a 200A single phase I think. Its not three phase. It seems that it is hard to find a product to switch such large loads. It simply needs to switch about 160A at a time at 240V with one timer. He has been looking for a product and cannot find one. Please help suggest a way to do this.....

obviously if you are running 160A of lighting, your friend must have some electrical knowledge.

There are a couple ways to do this. One is to use an industrial lighting contactor or controller. The second is what I have done, not quite on the scale but easily can be enlarged.

I ran two rooms on a flip with each room having their own ballasts. I ran one 100A sub panel just for lights. The left side was for room 1, the right side was for room 2. This kept it orderly. I used a 20 amp DP breaker to feed a 30A contactor. I used 20 amp so I could use 12/2 wire and it just worked better in my configuration as I had two tables of lights per breaker. If I were you I would use 30A breakers with 10/2 wire. At 80% load, you would need 7 contactors per room. then use a digital timer to trigger each set of contactors. you only need one timer per room, you just daisy chain from contactor to contactor for the trigger (referred to as coil)

you could also use DP contactors and one timer. this would eliminate the need for extra breakers and contactors.

the down side with the DP contactors is if you dont need all the lights in one room on, you cant shut any down. well i guess if you unplug them but all my ballasts were on top of the room and I controlled them through the breakers



A 200 amp panel
14 contactors
14 breakers
#10 wire
120 outlet
120 volt timer

 

[Tilt]

i dont know how to put it here so it on this page look here

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=3636290&postcount=38

I would turn off the panel until corrections are made.
Not good. In a sub panel the neutrals should be landed on the neutral bus bar as shown. The bare or ground wires should be landed on a ground bus bar that is bonded to the panels enclosure with a minimum 10/32 machine screws. Yours show them double stabbed in the neutral bus bar.

If your lighting is 220v you can turn off the sub panel in put in slim line combo breakers that will give you two 20 amp 120v circuit and 1 240v 20 amp circuit for 2 breaker spaces.they just snap in and out.

Ask your electrician some very frank and serious questions.

 

[gus738]

unfortunately the electrician bail on me yeah sounds like what some other guys said that ground and nuetural? messed up.

however both the sub panel and the main panel are in the same room well garage about easily 4ft across but cable length is more (its a number 8)

and what you mean if my lighting is 220v? and to make the 1 240v happen i need new wire or 12/2 does it?

also im concern about the total amps pulling that much . i also got 900gph + well its aerojet 4 tray.

If your lighting is 220v you can turn off the sub panel in put in slim line combo breakers that will give you two 20 amp 120v circuit and 1 240v 20 amp circuit for 2 breaker spaces.they just snap in and out.

Ask your electrician some very frank and serious questions.