How to use HEAVY power

[WPA]

Hey guys so I am looking at commercial spaces and hope to find one soon. I figured either 120/240 single phase or 277/480 3 phase would be best to be able to power a lot of lights, so I am ruling out facilities with 120/208v 3 phase.

That being said, single phase I would have no questions about, but this 277/480 3 phase is what i'm curious about.

I guess first and foremost, do you need transformers to step down the voltage to 120v for regular appliances, sounds like I might need a very experienced electrician to do this?

Secondly I only have 8 ballasts right now, and none are compatible with 480v, however I found these

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/55396/PLT-1000HA48TK.html

Do any growers use these? It also looks like I could special order some strait from a ballast manufacture that are already wired for 480v. Either way with the 480v option it looks like all the lights would have to be hard wired, meaning again, big bucks for the electrician.

I always wondered when I heard big Colorado warehouses saying that their highest paid employee is the electrician..... now I kinda understand why.

 

[Jhhnn]

Hey guys so I am looking at commercial spaces and hope to find one soon. I figured either 120/240 single phase or 277/480 3 phase would be best to be able to power a lot of lights, so I am ruling out facilities with 120/208v 3 phase.

That being said, single phase I would have no questions about, but this 277/480 3 phase is what i'm curious about.

I guess first and foremost, do you need transformers to step down the voltage to 120v for regular appliances, sounds like I might need a very experienced electrician to do this?

Secondly I only have 8 ballasts right now, and none are compatible with 480v, however I found these

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/55396/PLT-1000HA48TK.html

Do any growers use these? It also looks like I could special order some strait from a ballast manufacture that are already wired for 480v. Either way with the 480v option it looks like all the lights would have to be hard wired, meaning again, big bucks for the electrician.

I always wondered when I heard big Colorado warehouses saying that their highest paid employee is the electrician..... now I kinda understand why.

277 is primarily used for lighting in large facilities, hard wired fluorescents or HID pendants. 277 receptacles & plugs can be used. 480 is rarely used for lighting but rather for large 3 phase motors. If that's all there is in the building, highly unlikely, then a transformer will be needed for 120v stuff.

208 is an excellent voltage for HID lighting, provided that the service has the capacity to do what you want. It's also widely used in 3 phase for HVAC. Standard 240 plugs are often used with it, as well. Do the math to see if it'll meet your needs.

Nearly all remote magnetic ballasts use multi-tap 120/208/240/277 transformers, borrowed directly from industrial lighting applications. Some multi-taps also can use 480.

 

[rives]

In my experience, 480v ballasts are pretty common in industrial plants. If you go that route, hard wiring them is probably going to be cheaper than plugs - 480v-rated plugs and receptacles are expensive as hell. You will find many more ballast options available, and more economically priced, at 277v or less.

 

[Jhhnn]

In my experience, 480v ballasts are pretty common in industrial plants. If you go that route, hard wiring them is probably going to be cheaper than plugs - 480v-rated plugs and receptacles are expensive as hell. You will find many more ballast options available, and more economically priced, at 277v or less.

You're right, I'm sure. In the years with my former employer, I worked in 4 different facilities & all of them were 277v MH & fluorescent lighting. I didn't actually work on the shop, but rather the equipment. One of the things I learned early on was to get friendly with the facilities maintenance guys, both to learn stuff & to expedite unofficial channels of how to get things done...

Only 1 was actually wired for 480v because of some poor choices in equipment purchasing & a big 3 phase power supply to create high voltage DC for an old school railroad wheel truing lathe.

 

[rives]

I think that it is largely dependent on the age of the facilities. Most of the heavy industrial facilities that I worked in were built from the late '50's through the late 70's, and they were all 3-wire delta systems, so 277v wasn't even an option. Light industrial and commercial installations seem to update much more frequently (much lower capital outlay), and 277v is very common in them.

 

[Jhhnn]

I think that it is largely dependent on the age of the facilities. Most of the heavy industrial facilities that I worked in were built from the late '50's through the late 70's, and they were all 3-wire delta systems, so 277v wasn't even an option. Light industrial and commercial installations seem to update much more frequently (much lower capital outlay), and 277v is very common in them.

These were public transit storage & maintenance facilities, the oldest dating from 1981 or so, the newest from 2003. They're pretty big places when you can park 250 busses indoors along with extensive maintenance & administrative areas. Def not anything like a steel mill or a shipyard, however.

 

[nukklehead]

Damn.. fascinating.... why didnt I become an electrician?... dont answer that and no reply necessary.......