I'm wanting to setup a grow room in a spare bedroom of my rented apartment. I want to use 2 600w hps in the flowering tent and one 600w mh in the veg tent along with a intake fan etc...
I'm wondering how you all who are using multiple 600w and/or 1000w lights are going about not tripping a circuit or causing a fire?
there are several ways of doing this. you can wire several outlets to your box each on their own breaker.
you can run extension cords from outlets that run on separate breakers. make sure the cords are rated for the proper amperage. when doing this make sure you know everything that is on that circuit. a lot of times outlets are on the same circuits as other outlets and home lighting. bathrooms and kitchens usually have 1 or more dedicated outlets for high power appliances like hair dryers, microwaves, etc. unfortunately a lot of times outlets share the same breaker as outlets in other rooms so if you do this make sure you know everything on each circuit.
or you can get 240v 40 amp light controller hard wired to the box and just run all your lights off that. thats what i do for flower. you can also wire these in 120 but with 240 you get more amperage on the same line. then in veg i just use a single dedicated 120v outlet. with 240 though make sure your ballast supports it or it may fry.
if you have an old bus fuse box i would have it replaced with a new one. the modern ones with the breakers are so easy to work on by yourself. simple as turn off the main breaker and you wont get shocked as long as you dont touch nothing before that breaker. i had a friend show me once how to do it and been doing it myself ever since. you actually can wire in the boxes also but i recommend get a licensed person to do it. but once thats in it's easy to do what you want with power DIY saves money. i just dont trust those old bus fuse boxes.
always note how many amps each piece of equipment is using on it's breaker. add it up for each breaker. check your breakers to see if they are 15 or 20 amp. this is how much you can run max before the breaker will trip. anything that that runs often like a fan or light in a grow is considered a constant load. when you have a constant load make sure not to exceed 75% of the max amperage rating. if so you should add another outlet on it's own breaker. i think they do this to there is less heating of the wires lowering the risk of fire.
It's good you're looking into this. This is very important and often overlooked. Your landlord will appreciate you not burning the place down unless he wants insurance money then maybe you could do him a solid if you know what i mean.
