Pre made 30 amp timer boards.

[pugnacious]

Im looking for a pre made 30 amp timer board that can handle 6 1000watts of lights. All I've seen is this.

http://www.progressive-growth.com/proddetail.php?prod=43060

How is that even possible? Majority of the 30 amp boards Ive seen only handle 4 lights.

Im not interested in using a dryer cord. Are there any timer boxes similar to this that just require a 30 amp line?

 

[Apollo11]

Im looking for a pre made 30 amp timer board that can handle 6 1000watts of lights. All I've seen is this.

http://www.progressive-growth.com/proddetail.php?prod=43060

How is that even possible? Majority of the 30 amp boards Ive seen only handle 4 lights.

Im not interested in using a dryer cord. Are there any timer boxes similar to this that just require a 30 amp line?

Forgive me I am wrong but isnt that a premade flip-flip with timerbox? I was looking this as well for my future setup of 3 x 600w.

Please chime in if you have experience with this or can shed some light!

 

[sns_stealth]

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-mlc8at-120v240v-8light-controller-wtimer-p-2446.html

this the one we got for our 6x1000W set-up. the pic dosent show the timer but its there. the great thing about this one is You use half the amps running at 240v but still using the 120v cords. they have others with and without timers and regular 120v boxes also. if you dont find what you need on that page, just search google for CAP Controllers.

were really happy with ours. i think whiskeytango has a pic around here somewhere....

db

 

[cocktail frank]

1k ballast draws about 5.5 amps at 240v
5.5 x 6 = 33amps.
hardly safe
plus it gives you 2 untimed plugs on a 15amp breaker.

doesnt take into consideration the 80% rule.
when running any lighting more than 3 hrs in a row, its considered continuous.
thats when the 80% rule takes affect.
so really a 30a breaker u use for lighting shouldnt exceed 24 amps SAFELY.
they are junk.

 

[sns_stealth]

see if this works.....

http://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/...affc3d10b868b26cfc416_17349.jpg?dl=1234301422

and this one recommends 40A

 

[pugnacious]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=771732&ppuser=4591

I guess im going with the ml8. Ive seen numerous growers here use it here. The reason why I wanted to use a 30 amp. Is mainly because im a noob to electricity. ((If you couldnt tell)). I just wanted to reroute the 30 amp circuit that was used for the dryer to the grow.

Now the house im using is only a 100amp service. I took a pic of the right side to show the dual 20 amp circuit breakers. Do I just take 1 set out and replace it with a 40 amp circuit breaker? Might be a stupid question with an obvious answer. But I just want to be 100% sure.

 

[PharmaCan]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=771732&ppuser=4591

I guess im going with the ml8. Ive seen numerous growers here use it here. The reason why I wanted to use a 30 amp. Is mainly because im a noob to electricity. ((If you couldnt tell)). I just wanted to reroute the 30 amp circuit that was used for the dryer to the grow.

Now the house im using is only a 100amp service. I took a pic of the right side to show the dual 20 amp circuit breakers. Do I just take 1 set out and replace it with a 40 amp circuit breaker? Might be a stupid question with an obvious answer. But I just want to be 100% sure.

Man, you don't have a clue what you are doing - and, when it comes to working on electrical wiring, that pretty much means you shouldn't be doing it yourself. No offense, but your line of reasoning is on a dangerous track.

Nothing in your photo is even half-way relevant to a 30 amp, 240v dryer circuit. Regardless, you can't just change the breaker and think that will upgrade your circuit. The wire also has to be properly sized for the circuit/load. You may be okay with the wires you have, probably you won't. But you do need to know the wire size before you even think of changing anything.

Where does that 50 amp - 240v circuit go? Is that to the dryer?

PC

 

[pugnacious]

Man, you don't have a clue what you are doing - and, when it comes to working on electrical wiring, that pretty much means you shouldn't be doing it yourself. No offense, but your line of reasoning is on a dangerous track.

Nothing in your photo is even half-way relevant to a 30 amp, 240v dryer circuit. Regardless, you can't just change the breaker and think that will upgrade your circuit. The wire also has to be properly sized for the circuit/load. You may be okay with the wires you have, probably you won't. But you do need to know the wire size before you even think of changing anything.

Where does that 50 amp - 240v circuit go? Is that to the dryer?

PC

When I posted that pic I gave up on the idea of using the 30 amp dryer timer board. And now am considering using the Cap ML8 that uses a 40 amp. My question was if it was possible to take out the dual 20 amps and replace it with a 40 amp circuit breaker.

The 50 amp goes to the stove.
And I was planning to use 8/3 romex wire.

 

[PharmaCan]

When I posted that pic I gave up on the idea of using the 30 amp dryer timer board. And now am considering using the Cap ML8 that uses a 40 amp. My question was if it was possible to take out the dual 20 amps and replace it with a 40 amp circuit breaker.

The 50 amp goes to the stove.
And I was planning to use 8/3 romex wire.

The simple answer to your question is "yes", but the question doesn't really make a lot of sense looking at the picture. Right now you have 2- 20amp circuits being serviced by those two 20 amp breakers. How are you going to power those existing circuits if you remove their breakers? Did you want to get 240 volts going to your Cap ML8?

Do you have any empty slots in your panel?

PC

 

[00420]

Im looking for a pre made 30 amp timer board that can handle 6 1000watts of lights. All I've seen is this.

http://www.progressive-growth.com/proddetail.php?prod=43060

How is that even possible? Majority of the 30 amp boards Ive seen only handle 4 lights.

Im not interested in using a dryer cord. Are there any timer boxes similar to this that just require a 30 amp line?

no 30 amp will run 6 lights safely.

if your running 6k..... you want 60-70amp line to your room with a sub
then brake that down to 2 30's put 3k on each side and have left over power on each side to run fans pumps cloning/mom light's......

if your going to run 3k on a flop the 30 amp might be helpful...

 

[sns_stealth]

Do you have any empty slots in your panel?

unscrew the panel covering your box and check if there are open slots. it looks like there is as your photo looks to have an extra "tab" below that last breaker.

VERY IMPORTANT: when buying the 40 amp breaker, it has to be made by the same company as the box its going in. ie. GE, Square D,........

you are gonna need more power than that up there. maybe pull from an unused, or lightly used, bedroom.

you really do need an electrician to help you based on what youve said here. if you go it on your own, turn everything off before you touch a thing.

dont worry though, if you read up a bit youll have a much better grasp of it for the future. I cant tell you how many things i learned from growing that has nothing to do with the plants...lol

db

 

[pugnacious]

The simple answer to your question is "yes", but the question doesn't really make a lot of sense looking at the picture. Right now you have 2- 20amp circuits being serviced by those two 20 amp breakers. How are you going to power those existing circuits if you remove their breakers? Did you want to get 240 volts going to your Cap ML8?

Do you have any empty slots in your panel?

PC

I was willing to sacrifice those origional circuits to power up the CAP.



Till I saw that I have an extra slot available.




Closer shot.



Even closer shot.

unscrew the panel covering your box and check if there are open slots. it looks like there is as your photo looks to have an extra "tab" below that last breaker.

VERY IMPORTANT: when buying the 40 amp breaker, it has to be made by the same company as the box its going in. ie. GE, Square D,........

Very good tip. Thanks.

you are gonna need more power than that up there. maybe pull from an unused, or lightly used, bedroom.

you really do need an electrician to help you based on what youve said here. if you go it on your own, turn everything off before you touch a thing.



Master switch outside. That I was planning to click off.


dont worry though, if you read up a bit youll have a much better grasp of it for the future. I cant tell you how many things i learned from growing that has nothing to do with the plants...lol

db

So I guess ill just ask an electrician to install a 40 amp circuit breaker. I just dont feel comfortable with letting the electrician wire up the CAP MLC8.

I mean if I shut everything off. Get the same brand circuit from the panel. Get the 8/3 romex wire and wire it in both the circuit and the box then im good to go right? Am I wrong on this?

 

[cocktail frank]

i have to correct myself from my prior post.
my math was off, a 1k ballast draws 4.5a, not 5.5a.
light draw by itself will be 27a (6k @240v)
which is STILL over the 80% of 30a (which would be 24a)
i still stand firm saying these are junk tho.

you could also fit the dp40a breaker you want.
you would have to move some breakers around tho.
you could prolly move the bottom right tandem 20a breaker over to the bottom left open slot.
that would leave you the required 2 phases you need for a tru dp breaker.
i notice you have 2 3 wire branch circuits in there.
you would have to make sure that the tandem breaker you move doesnt contain one of these 3 wires (black/red)
3 wire branch circuits must be on seperate phases to avoid over heating neutrals.

if you understood none of this, hire a sparky^^^^

 

[stink.whistler]

So I guess ill just ask an electrician to install a 40 amp circuit breaker. I just dont feel comfortable with letting the electrician wire up the CAP MLC8.

It isn't complicated, but it is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Hopefully it goes without saying, but turn the breaker off before you wire it.

Here are the instructions that will come with the CAP MLC8, you are going to connect three wires. Presumably you will have your electrician install an outlet. You could either buy a cord with the correct plug for the outlet, then wire that cord into the MLC8. Or you could remove the outlet and use the wire that was connected to the outlet to directly connect it to the device.

I don't want to sound like a dick, but I am a bit concerned for your safety, as it doesn't sound like you understand how this all works. Do some reading on the internet, just do searches for wiring new outlets, installing new circuits, etc...

Until you understand everything that is going on, you really shouldn't screw around with it. It's not that it is hard, or difficult to understand - it's just that it is dangerous.

 

[pugnacious]

It isn't complicated, but it is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Hopefully it goes without saying, but turn the breaker off before you wire it.

Here are the instructions that will come with the CAP MLC8, you are going to connect three wires. Presumably you will have your electrician install an outlet. You could either buy a cord with the correct plug for the outlet, then wire that cord into the MLC8. Or you could remove the outlet and use the wire that was connected to the outlet to directly connect it to the device.

I don't want to sound like a dick, but I am a bit concerned for your safety, as it doesn't sound like you understand how this all works. Do some reading on the internet, just do searches for wiring new outlets, installing new circuits, etc...

Until you understand everything that is going on, you really shouldn't screw around with it. It's not that it is hard, or difficult to understand - it's just that it is dangerous.

What im going to do is just have an electrician order and install a new 40 amp circuit breaker that is the same brand as my panel and snap it on. When he leaves im going to turn off the main switch. Wire the CAP MLC8. Then take out the new circuit breaker out of the panel and wire it and snap it back in.

Im not using a dryer outlet, I want to wire it strait from the panel. I dont really see the need to call an electrician if this is all I have to do. The only reason why Im considering it is because I want to make sure the right circuit breaker fits in.

Ill admit strait up that im a newb to this. And im obviously insecure about it because im here asking these questions. Im not getting offended by anyone telling me to get it an electrician. Im just trying not to compromise my security. Thats why im here running it by more experience growers like yourself.

So do I have the right idea?

And if I dont. Then I'll gladly hire an electrician. But I could use some feedback on how to legitimately hire an electrician for this.


And I just wanted to thank everyone for putting feed back and helping me out with this.

 

[whiskeytango420]

i have to correct myself from my prior post.
my math was off, a 1k ballast draws 4.5a, not 5.5a.
light draw by itself will be 27a (6k @240v)
which is STILL over the 80% of 30a (which would be 24a)
i still stand firm saying these are junk tho.

you could also fit the dp40a breaker you want.
you would have to move some breakers around tho.
you could prolly move the bottom right tandem 20a breaker over to the bottom left open slot.
that would leave you the required 2 phases you need for a tru dp breaker.
i notice you have 2 3 wire branch circuits in there.
you would have to make sure that the tandem breaker you move doesnt contain one of these 3 wires (black/red)
3 wire branch circuits must be on seperate phases to avoid over heating neutrals.
if you understood none of this, hire a sparky^^^^

What he said^^^^. CF knows his shit.

Snsstealth did most of the wiring and hook up stuff in my rooms at Area 51. Like frank said, after doing our math, we came up with like 33 amps, so we used a 40, and put the fans and whatnot on another breaker. We also used 8/3 wiring.
good vibes

This box you can plug normal 120v ballast plugs in, and it still delivers 240v

 

[Philosophelon]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this or if you are already aware, but I bring it up just in case.

If you install a 40A breaker where the 20A used to be, you are also going to have to install 8AWG cable (or larger, depending on the length of the run) from your main panel to your sub-panel, because the 20A breaker is probably hooked up to 12AWG cable, which is not thick enough. If you are installing a long run of cable, be sure to consider the drop in voltage caused by resistance in the wire. In order to calculate how much voltage drop there will be in a given length/size cable, you can use the voltage drop calculator on this website.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

 

[sns_stealth]

So I guess ill just ask an electrician to install a 40 amp circuit breaker. I just dont feel comfortable with letting the electrician wire up the CAP MLC8.

I mean if I shut everything off. Get the same brand circuit from the panel. Get the 8/3 romex wire and wire it in both the circuit and the box then im good to go right? Am I wrong on this?

yes that will work. thats exactly what i did except we used the 8\2 wire. wit 8/2 you wire the ground to the "ground bar" (should be behind the breakers on one side or the other), connect the breaker to the box, cut wires to length and attach the two wires to the two connectors. then on the other end there is a ground plate on the back and two spots to connect the other two wires. you can buy the breaker at the de pot or lowes along with the cable.

i dont know where the third wire goes with the 8/3 as there were two connections in the box.

pretty simple really. as long as the power is off the entire time you should be fine. youve got the right wire and the easy to wire box so id say you should be able to do this.

another note on the breaker, the first one i got was a mini 40A and it wouldnt fit the box due to a metal piece on the back. fought it till i figured it out. i got the regular wide one and it fit like a glove.

good luck man, just keep reading till youre ready.

db

 

[PharmaCan]

Why don't you get an electrician to hook up a sub-panel for you and then you can wire whatever you want into the sub panel with much less risk. People who don't know what they are doing shouldn't be dicking around in main panels. Anyway, you could get a nice sub-panel pretty reasonably priced with an installation you know is up to snuff.

PC

 

[pugnacious]

Why don't you get an electrician to hook up a sub-panel for you and then you can wire whatever you want into the sub panel with much less risk. People who don't know what they are doing shouldn't be dicking around in main panels. Anyway, you could get a nice sub-panel pretty reasonably priced with an installation you know is up to snuff.

PC

If I decided to go this route what should I say the sub panel is for?


I understand where your coming from. This shit is dangerous and shouldnt be taken lightly. And trust me im not jumping into this with out any respect for electricity. I know this could kill me.

But if all I have to do is shut of the main panel , snap on the new pre wired 40 amp breaker. Then it kinda seems unecessary.

I am interested in this idea if the sub panel can give me the 40 amps i need and some more amps for AC. I just dont really know how to ask for these things with out looking suspicious.
And if what I just said in bold is dead wrong. Just tell me strait up.