Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions

[BehindYou]

Nicet not building code. Just state your response as your opion not a fact or code.

 

[Coolvibes]

Hi there fellow RIU'ers... Over and over again I continualy see new threads and posts about electrical work question and thought I would post a couple threads to help you guys the same way all of you who have done such a great job having helped me... So, Do you have a grow room question about how to wire something up, or what are the safest ways of doing things? The most important one I see alot is people running lights and fans off power chords... I have wired my own grow room and will post an example of my work.

Please, if you have any questions and are unsure of what to do or if what you are doing is safe, PLEASE! ask me first if you are even a tad bit unsure. I would hate to hear anyone have an electrical fire because they didn't quite know what they were doing when all they needed to do was to ask a couple of questions... I will do my best to point you in the right direction.

If you want to do some wiring your self, I will either let you know if your project is too complicated if your not handy with electrical, or, IF YOU ASK, I will walk you thru your project step by step.

So please, ASK AWAY!!!

You can post questions here but you may not get your question answerd on the thread, best way to go about it is PM me. You will forsure get a response back.

PS Even if you have basic around the home electrical questions, shoot em my way.

Hi I tried running a 10volt charger connected to a 12 volt incandescent car headlight bulb as its 12 volts I thought the charger would power it 90 per cent creating light (well heat is what I want) now every think went fine for 2 hours then the charger stopped working so I found another 10volt charger and rewired it fantastic 3 hours charger burnt out can you explain what I am doing wrong please

 

[BehindYou]

What is the rating of the charger you used?
Headlights should run around 60watts.

 

[IAm5toned]

Nicet not building code. Just state your response as your opion not a fact or code.

you just showed your ignorance.

you know the people that write the NFPA, headquartered in quincy, mass, are all NICET certified.

the National Electrical code is just one small chapter of the NFPA...

anyways, this thread is yours

 

[one11]

Quote:
Originally Posted by thepaan
I'm pretty sure the distance from the electrical source provides negligible loss so you shouldn't count that in your cost estimate. Just use the chart above or find your kilowatt usage then multiply by the number of hours per month you plan on having it on then multiply again by the cost of a kilowatt hour for the area. That is your monthly cost. In the US it varies largely from state to state but about $.15 is average. For a 600W lamp .63 is the kilowatt use if the ballast is 95% efficient or .75 with one 80% efficient. If running for 14 hours a day you sould have the following.

.63 x (14hours x 30days) x $.15 = $39.69
.75 x (14hours x 30days) x $.15 = $47.25

Some places (like where I live) have a pretty good cost as long as your total use is low but the price is doubled or even tripled once you go over a certain amount. For example, my first 100kWh/month cost like $.045 then it doubles every 100kWh. For a cost model like this you have to break out each cost bracket starting from what you use normally (without the lights). Thats why the dude above said look at your electric bill to get an accurate idea of the cost.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


good news. my state has one of the lowest cost per kilowatt hour. .10 cents.
And i did calculate it for vegging and it will be 34 dollars a month. not bad. but how would my ballast not be at 100% efficiency? and i NEED to know if i would be losing significant amount of energy/efficiency/or money due to the 250ft of wiring it has to travel to to the light and fans.

 

[Coolvibes]

What is the rating of the charger you used?
Headlights should run around 60watts.

charger 1 stopped working input:239v 50hz 140ma output 10v 1.2a
charger 2 burnt out Input:100-240 50-60hz 150ma output: 4.9v 700ma
Bulb lamp incandescent 12v 100/80w H4

 

[myxedup]

I feel bad for you guys with your electric costs. Only .07 here
Costs $27 a month per 12 hour cycle 1k light.

 

[EvlMunkee]

the only thing wrong with it is you should be using #12 where i highlighted in red.
#14 would work in a pinch, but if you ever decide to expand the op it will give you lots of problems, especially if you u/g yourlight to a 1000w down the road. using #12 now will save you aggravation later.
and its against code to run #14 on a 20 amp breaker too

Thanks for your quick reply IAm5toned. You have saved me some work and made it safer. Y'all are doing a great job!

 

[Coolvibes]

What is the rating of the charger you used?
Headlights should run around 60watts.

Hi people me again well its winter here and I have 4 metal cans with screw lids I am able to tin weld the lights under the cap feed the wires through the hole I ran this in my non heated propagator for 3 hours with a steady temp of 78f now in my roof space(winter) unless directly under lights it falls to 10c which isn’t much good for propagation as you know now my flower room is 10c and worked out roughly it bring my temps back into the 70’s at night with no light naked flame or cost so a work round on the power would be great I have a large selection of power sources can some one point me in the right direction I know I am nearly their what valuable bit of the puzzle am I missing as if resistance before the light a coil say would lower amps/watts/heat/light and would solve the problem?? Help

 

[wyteboi]

5toned dont leave this thread, you are the man and know your electricity. There is a big difference in wiring a house/building and knowing what you are doing!
Thanks

wb

 

[wyteboi]

it has to do with the way a/c works. even after the electricity has passed through your device and done its 'job' additional volt-amps are used up by the current running down the neutral and dissapating into earth.

when you have a balanced load, the volt/amps travel across phases and help power other devices on the opposite phase.

ill give a simple but somewhat complicated explanation...

at peak voltage on a 120/240 service, you have 177 volts positive on phase one, and 177 volts negative polarity on phase 2...

now lets pretend there are to devices on that service, one on phase 1, one on phase 2. both devices pull 10 amps, balanced load... when the device one phase 1 uses 10 amps of positive current, the device on phase 2 uses 10 amps of negative current. ( b4 i go further, think of a train, constantly going one distance in one direction, then reversing and traveling the same distance backwards, repeating the cycle endlessly, that is alternating current... the cars of the train would be individual electrons) now because you have 2 phases at opposite polarity, the energy that would normally be used to carry the load down the neutral, to the panel, outside your house to the power companies pole, will instead do something rather remarkable, at the panel, where the load would normally go outside, instead travels back up the neutral and is used tpo power devices on the opposite phase.... if you had one device on phase 1 that pulled 12 amps, and a device on phase 2 that pulled 10 amps, then you would have 2 amps of unbalanced current running down the neutral.... make sense?

makes a ton of sense. Thanks

 

[OGKush00]

Ok, quick question. I am wanting to change the light in my attic into a socket that i could plug my hps and a couple fans into. Would this be possible, if so what would I need to do this?

Here are some pix of what I have to work with.

 

[wyteboi]

Ok, quick question. I am wanting to change the light in my attic into a socket that i could plug my hps and a couple fans into. Would this be possible, if so what would I need to do this?

Here are some pix of what I have to work with.

It is very possible but your gonna want to know what else might be on that circuit, and also how many watts/amps you will be using (lights, fans, ect...) and you need to know what size wire it is?
other then that you will need a outlet to put in place of that light, you can use an adapter but i dont like um.....

sorry not very detailed answer


wb

 

[OGKush00]

It is very possible but your gonna want to know what else might be on that circuit, and also how many watts/amps you will be using (lights, fans, ect...) and you need to know what size wire it is?
other then that you will need a outlet to put in place of that light, you can use an adapter but i dont like um.....

sorry not very detailed answer


wb

Well the attic is right above my laundry room and bathroom, so i would assume it is on the same circuit as one of those, probably the laundry. As far as the light goes, I am wanting to completely remove the light and change that into the socket I would use for the HPS/fans.

As far as the size of the wire I would have to go back up, but before I do.. What should I be looking for?

 

[DnaK]

Well the attic is right above my laundry room and bathroom, so i would assume it is on the same circuit as one of those, probably the laundry. As far as the light goes, I am wanting to completely remove the light and change that into the socket I would use for the HPS/fans.

As far as the size of the wire I would have to go back up, but before I do.. What should I be looking for?

Without being able to look at what is holding the light fixture in its hard to say.

But NORMALLY you would just take the light off, add a "mudplate" (they sell multiple ones, this is used to hold the sockets) to the "electric box". I forget its real name.

i personally would run a dedicated circuit for a 600w hps and fans unless your sure nothing else uses it much.

Check to make sure the circuit is not a 20amp. Putting a 15 amp outlet on a 20 amp circuit is a no no.

Also, make sure everything is grounded via the box or a ground wire. Ungrounded outlets are a hazard.

Your going to the hardware store to buy , mudplates, and 15 or 20 amp outlets. 20 amp outlets are preferred, and obviously are no problem on a 15 amp circuit. And possibly a little bit of 14 gauge wire to daisy chain to one other outlet.


That box looks wierd and possible non standard. An electric box with a wireclamp fitting would solve that problem.

 

[buggin69]

Check to make sure the circuit is not a 20amp. Putting a 15 amp outlet on a 20 amp circuit is a no no.

Your going to the hardware store to buy , mudplates, and 15 or 20 amp outlets. 20 amp outlets are preferred, and obviously are no problem on a 15 amp circuit. And possibly a little bit of 14 gauge wire to daisy chain to one other outlet.

This is wrong.

You CAN have a 15a duplex receptacle on a 20a circuit(as long as it is not the only receptacle on the circuit). Alternatively, you CAN NOT have a 20a outlet on a 15a circuit. Also, for a 20a circuit you should use 12 gauge wire.

That is all.

 

[wyteboi]

Well the attic is right above my laundry room and bathroom, so i would assume it is on the same circuit as one of those, probably the laundry. As far as the light goes, I am wanting to completely remove the light and change that into the socket I would use for the HPS/fans.

As far as the size of the wire I would have to go back up, but before I do.. What should I be looking for?

Look at the side of the wire, it says the guage all the way down it. if its 14 wire then its good for upto 15 amps. you dont wanna use anymore then 75% of the total ......so you would not want to run no more then 11 or 12 amps/ or 1500 watts, topps.
and thats only if the circuit is by itself (its not)
and as long as your wire and breaker sizes match then who gives a fuck what kind of outlet..... a 15 is fine and so is a 20. that might not be code but its common sense.
the easy way would be to wire up your outlet to a couple small pieces of wire........then climb up and take the light down and use a plate that will hold an outlet or u could take down the whole box and replace with a outlet box (dont matter) and just take the wires from the light off and replace with the wires from the outlet u hooked up.

sorry i dont explain things worth a shit....

wb

 

[DnaK]

This is wrong.

You CAN have a 15a duplex receptacle on a 20a circuit(as long as it is not the only receptacle on the circuit). Alternatively, you CAN NOT have a 20a outlet on a 15a circuit. Also, for a 20a circuit you should use 12 gauge wire.

That is all.

No offense, but if you're so damn knowledgeable, explain to me why you can't put a 20 amp outlet on a 15amp circuit. I'm an electrician apprentice for 4 years now, and pretty damn sure i got that right.

If you put a 15 amp outlet on a 20 amp circuit, the breaker wont trip if you overpull the outlet causing a hazard. (yes im aware CODE allows you to put 15 amp outlets on a 20 amp circuit as long as there is a few, but why chance it?)

If you put a 20amp outlet on a 15 amp circuit the breaker trips before you hit the outlets limit. Aka, no problem.

Yes, he SHOULD use 12 guage on a 20amp, but we haven't determined ANYTHING about his setup. On top of that, i am not about to ask a person with no electrical backround to re-wire a circuit, 14 gauge wire is FINE for his setup under 800 watts.

 

[one11]

yes hello hello! Question. Im going to be running a 600w hps along with a fan or two. This shed is located approx. 250 ft away from the power outlet (120v 30amp) and it will be traveling thru 10/2 wiring. I've calculated the cost if my ballast is running 95% efficient at 34 bucks a month. But i havent taken into consideration if i will be losing power/efficency/money due to the distance it must travel. Will I? And also, i dont understand how my ballast would not be running at 100%. Thank you ahead of time.

 

[buggin69]

No offense, but if you're so damn knowledgeable, explain to me why you can't put a 20 amp outlet on a 15amp circuit. I'm an electrician apprentice for 4 years now, and pretty damn sure i got that right.

If you put a 20amp outlet on a 15 amp circuit the breaker trips before you hit the outlets limit. Aka, no problem.

Just common knowledge bro... don't know who you're doing electric for.. but I'm feel for them

It's in the NEC and if you want an explanation it's so somebody doesn't come down the line in the future and say.. well this must me a 20A circuit... so I can load up 16 amps right here... and then pop... and maybe the breaker isn't EXACTLY 15 amps... maybe it is 16 (they aren't PERFECT you know)... and maybe the wire heats up and starts a fire...


you got it backwards.. you said no to 15a outlet on 20a circuit and yes to 20a outlet on 15 a circuit

you can't have a 20a receptacle unless the wire and breaker are both rated for 20a... 12gauge 20a breaker



EDIT: for functional purposes it will most likely be fine.. and in theory you're right.. any overload will cause the breaker to trip... and I'm sure you can find an electrician buddy to agree with you. that's all well and good... but i can read. I know the code.

dude if you bought a 20a outlet already throw the breaker and figure out what's on the circuit and it's it's not too much install the thing.. write 15a on the box... and be done