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

Thanks sooo much for this thread. If there is anything that scares me in this world, it is fire :( I have been a lurker here for some time now gaining all the knowledge i could. Came out with 2 nice flavors last season but it was not enuf to last the year. so this year is going to be good:)

The question i have for you is..... I am building a new clone box to get the babies nice and healthy b4 they make the transfer outside. I have a 3 socket bathroom fixture and will be running CFL's. I have a broken 3 wire extension cord and have no clue what wire is what or how to go about testing. It has blue, green and brown wires and my fixture has white,black and the naked ground. how can i get this to work safely?
Many thanks in advance.
 

alphawolf.hack

New Member
get a 10$ tester a lowes. green is probably ground, blue is live and brown is neutral. blue to white, brown to black, and green to ground. thats the best guess without testing wires.
 

alphawolf.hack

New Member
im not sure i understand what your saying. if you have the tester, one prong will go on live wire and the other on the neutral or ground and you will get a reading.you can leave stuff plugged in or wired up and test for electricity just make sure you can do it safely. remember to turn off the breaker b4 hooking any thing up to the wires.
 

wyteboi

Well-Known Member
can i use my multimeter while the cord is plagged in or is that on the lines of unsafe?
Thanks for the quick reply!
yes you can just be very careful to not let any of the wires touch. if you do bump into one you'll be fine , you bump into two you'll know it.
your meter wont tell you the difference between the neutral and the ground , but it will tell you which one is "live" or "hot".
me and hack both agree the ground is probably the green wire, so that will go to the bare wire. then the hot wire will go to the black and the leftover one goes to the neutral. (white)





soil
 

wysong

Active Member
I have a weird situation that maybe hasn't been asked before.concerning a Digital ballast.In the same location ,although another room / floor.I'll be running a 5 HP Rotary Phase Converter RFC ,along with a few Variable Frequency Drives VFDalong with a 10 KVA 600/220 Dry 3 Phase Transformer .I used to run a ol magnetic 1000 MH,400 HPS , with No problems, but that was back in the days of true 600/3 into the building ,and one 600 V machine.Then stepping down to 208/3, then grabbing my 220 and 120 off the 208.Those ol systems are too big for my new local ,and I'm thinking of replacingwith a Digital ballast , the Lumatek dail 400/250.Anyone have a like wise experience/ knowledge on this subject.
Fore see any problems with the ballast affecting either the VFD or RFC, or vise versa




Thanks
 

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
can i use my multimeter while the cord is plagged in or is that on the lines of unsafe?
Thanks for the quick reply!
you can test live but it would be easier to set the meter to an ohms scale and check continuity from the wire to the plug.
the light fixture has blk &white so it sounds like its for N.America(110 volts) but the cord is brown,blue & green so it sounds European(220v) cant help much w/out knowing where you are.
 

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
....I'll be running a 5 HP Rotary Phase Converter RFC ,along with a few Variable Frequency Drives VFDalong with a 10 KVA 600/220 Dry 3 Phase Transformer .....
besides a 400 watt ballast,what the fuck are you running in that room that needs this?
what is the question? don't you have any outlets?
not trying to be a dick,just dont understand what you need answers for.
 

808dank

Active Member
So i have a quick question I'm having trouble sifting through to find an answer for. I have an outside shed that has no power to it at the moment. I am going to be running a 1000w hps for the flower room and a 400w hps for veg. Also three inline fans and two oscillating fans (haven't purchased yet so don't know wattage).

I have seen some responses tell people just to run power from elsewhere rather than try and run power and install a breaker themselves in the room. I have basic electrical experience...ie running romex for sockets, can lights, etc... but don't really know much about the breaker box. Ideally what I think I want is to have two 15amp circuits dedicated to the shed. One would run the 1000w, the other would run the 400w and misc fans, etc. How could I go about setting this up? I'm assuming I have to run a wire that gets power from before the circuit breaker to my house, and then install a mini breaker box with two 15amp fuses in the shed, but I don't know how to do this. Or like I said before, I've seen suggestions that say it would be easier just to run extension cords from the house (would like to try and avoid though)

any links/suggestions appreciated
 

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
Doesn't matter if you've been here for 10 years or for 1. An idiot is an idiot.

Good thing it wasn't you that asked about the dehu then...would have wired your room wrong and maybe fried your unit.
do yourself a favor and shutup, you dont like the advice given, thats fine... continue with your attitude like it is and ill personally see to it you're banned from this site.

Grow Up.
 

roidrage152

Active Member
So i have a quick question I'm having trouble sifting through to find an answer for. I have an outside shed that has no power to it at the moment. I am going to be running a 1000w hps for the flower room and a 400w hps for veg. Also three inline fans and two oscillating fans (haven't purchased yet so don't know wattage).

I have seen some responses tell people just to run power from elsewhere rather than try and run power and install a breaker themselves in the room. I have basic electrical experience...ie running romex for sockets, can lights, etc... but don't really know much about the breaker box. Ideally what I think I want is to have two 15amp circuits dedicated to the shed. One would run the 1000w, the other would run the 400w and misc fans, etc. How could I go about setting this up? I'm assuming I have to run a wire that gets power from before the circuit breaker to my house, and then install a mini breaker box with two 15amp fuses in the shed, but I don't know how to do this. Or like I said before, I've seen suggestions that say it would be easier just to run extension cords from the house (would like to try and avoid though)

any links/suggestions appreciated
It would require some research on the type of cable you are allowed to bury outdoors. If you are doing a subpanel, there is no reason not to send more amps there than 30 total. You definitely want to leave room for expansion. Consider if you will want a dehum or AC in there later, as well as possibly ugrading to bigger lights. Keep in mind the high gauge wire needed as well as the quality needed to run under ground will be pretty pricy. Don't quote me on these numbers but 6g romex i think capable for about 50 amps for 25 feet of wire is over $100. I imagine outdoor/bury rated stuff will be quite a bit more.
 

808dank

Active Member
It would require some research on the type of cable you are allowed to bury outdoors. If you are doing a subpanel, there is no reason not to send more amps there than 30 total. You definitely want to leave room for expansion. Consider if you will want a dehum or AC in there later, as well as possibly ugrading to bigger lights. Keep in mind the high gauge wire needed as well as the quality needed to run under ground will be pretty pricy. Don't quote me on these numbers but 6g romex i think capable for about 50 amps for 25 feet of wire is over $100. I imagine outdoor/bury rated stuff will be quite a bit more.
Well the run is only about 20 feet from the power source, and it would be in some sort of conduit/pvc...whatever it needs. I'm more worried about just figuring out the logistics in opening up the circuits necessary to run the shed. Right now I don't think I have any "unused" breakers...so in theory I could isolate which outlets are on which breaker and try and run power from two of the breakers that aren't really being used, but this theory seems unlikely to work out. I'm thinking I need to add at least 30 amps of "new" power to the existing breaker board.
 

phillipchristian

New Member
do yourself a favor and shutup, you dont like the advice given, thats fine... continue with your attitude like it is and ill personally see to it you're banned from this site.

Grow Up.
Who are you toolbag! What makes you think I care what your opinion is? Funny how me, MadCow, and Wyteboi squashed it and moved on but your peanut gallery, idiotic ass comes in a week later to add your 2 cents. Quit trying to start shit on the internet. You must be one of those clowns that thinks he's an internet toughguy. Go fall off a cliff loser.

I'd love to see you have me thrown off this site. Do it. You think you have power but in reality your living in your parents basement with a 2L of Coke and a bag of Doritos trolling over forums acting like a self appointed thread police. I'm laughing my ass off at you right now. Little bitch!
 

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
Who are you toolbag! What makes you think I care what your opinion is? Funny how me, MadCow, and Wyteboi squashed it and moved on but your peanut gallery, idiotic ass comes in a week later to add your 2 cents. Quit trying to start shit on the internet. You must be one of those clowns that thinks he's an internet toughguy. Go fall off a cliff loser.

I'd love to see you have me thrown off this site. Do it. You think you have power but in reality your living in your parents basement with a 2L of Coke and a bag of Doritos trolling over forums acting like a self appointed thread police. I'm laughing my ass off at you right now. Little bitch!
reported for abusive behavior.

buh bye.
 

phillipchristian

New Member
Well the run is only about 20 feet from the power source, and it would be in some sort of conduit/pvc...whatever it needs. I'm more worried about just figuring out the logistics in opening up the circuits necessary to run the shed. Right now I don't think I have any "unused" breakers...so in theory I could isolate which outlets are on which breaker and try and run power from two of the breakers that aren't really being used, but this theory seems unlikely to work out. I'm thinking I need to add at least 30 amps of "new" power to the existing breaker board.
Most panels are designed to have a few extra spaces at least. No one usually fills them up unless it is a sub panel. Maybe you have spaces on the panel but they are not popped out on the panel cover. Take off your panel cover and look directly at your board and you'll see if you have spaces. You probably do. If not then you need to probably call an electrician to rewire some stuff in your house.

If you do have space all you have to do is connect a 50amp (240v) breaker to the panel. Wire it to your sub panel using conduit like you said and you are set. I would definitely leave some extra room like Roid said. You never know what your're gonna need in the future. Your gonna need 2 positives and your ground to come from your main panel. Make the wires different colors so you don't get confused.

Or just call an electrician and have it all done in an hour by a pro.
 

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
183 posts later and you still present yourself as a child...
no rep, no likes.... its pretty obvious no one here cares what you say.
hell, im pretty sure the majority of people here, simply tolerate you and ignore what you say as its just easier than dealing with someone who is incapable of an intellectual reply, I have yet to see a single post from you that deviates from this name calling pattern you seem to have going here on RIU. Personally I believe this forum needs a higher class of grower, people who can get along and point out others errors in a way that doesnt resort to trying to belittle someone else because of a simple oversight. Just Go Away.
 

phillipchristian

New Member
183 posts later and you still present yourself as a child...
no rep, no likes.... its pretty obvious no one here cares what you say.
hell, im pretty sure the majority of people here, simply tolerate you and ignore what you say as its just easier than dealing with someone who is incapable of an intellectual reply, I have yet to see a single post from you that deviates from this name calling pattern you seem to have going here on RIU. Personally I believe this forum needs a higher class of grower, people who can get along and point out others errors in a way that doesnt resort to trying to belittle someone else because of a simple oversight. Just Go Away.
TROLL ALERT!!! TROLL ALERT!!!!

I thought you were getting me kicked out of here? What happened?

You might want to go over those posts again buddy. I have +Rep and Likes. Not that I really care. You're an idiot! GO AWAY TROLL!!
 
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