4,000 Watts?

tibberous said:

If you in the US, you should be fine with 4000. My buddies last grow was 5200 and in the winter you can even go higher because 1) it looks like spaceheaters 2) you don't need AC / chillers.

Just make sure the house has solid doors, locked windows, ideally a car in the driveway or garage, cameras, ect. Also, if your not going to be there, remember to be super careful with all your wiring / ballast placement -- smoke detectors and fire extinguishers don't do shit if your never there.


You might want to remove your picture from your avatar too

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Preciate it tibberous,LOL..thats not me,thats marlo from the show,the wire ever heard of it?

Technically yes, just don't overload them. Running too much current through too thin a wire causes it to heat up, eventually burning / melting / shorting.

Thanks tibberous.

rainman36 said:

Hi everyone,I just needed a quick answer is to weither you think 4,000 watts would be too much for a home grow? This home will not be occupied by anyone,meaning it will be just be a grow house with no one living their.It will be a 3 bedroom home with good space,what I wanted to know is,should I worry about is the energy use and my light bill,any good tips would greatly be appreciated also.

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Not knowing your area I can't say this for sure. Most electric utilities are working overtime installing "smart meters". You MIGHT be able to refuse having one, again depending on each company's policy, but will then be forced to pay a monthly fee to have a meter reader visit to read your meter.

I'm posting a cut-and-paste from an online news story about getting busted by these things.

http://www.horticulturesource.com/c-a-p-custom-automated-products-cap-mlc-4x-master-lighting-controller-4-lights-p6030/

get one of these dont run cords lol and its cheaper on electricity. maybe you didnt under stand tibberous when you run 30 amp 220v i did not mean 1 ballast pulling directly 30amps. when digital ballast run 220v they only pull 4.5 amps (vs 9.7 amps on 110v) so 4 x 4.5 amps is 18 amps that your pulling off the thirty which does pull more then 80% capacity to that circuit. just buy romex $50 or less depends how many feet you need a dryer plug $3 the dryer or stove, or water heater that you wont be using should all be 30 amps 220v. just hook up + - and the ground in the plug on one side of romex then run the romex through the attic then wire the other end into the box and plug your lights into that. just make sure you switch your ballast to 220v if you dont have digital

str8sativa said:

http://www.horticulturesource.com/c-a-p-custom-automated-products-cap-mlc-4x-master-lighting-controller-4-lights-p6030/

get one of these dont run cords lol and its cheaper on electricity. maybe you didnt under stand tibberous when you run 30 amp 220v i did not mean 1 ballast pulling directly 30amps. when digital ballast run 220v they only pull 4.5 amps (vs 9.7 amps on 110v) so 4 x 4.5 amps is 18 amps that your pulling off the thirty which does pull more then 80% capacity to that circuit. just buy romex $50 or less depends how many feet you need a dryer plug $3 the dryer or stove, or water heater that you wont be using should all be 30 amps 220v. just hook up + - and the ground in the plug on one side of romex then run the romex through the attic then wire the other end into the box and plug your lights into that. just make sure you switch your ballast to 220v if you dont have digital

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So do I absolutely have to do this with just 4,000 watts,bcuz I know about this much>>>>___ about dicking around with a circuit breaker,besides switching what I want,on or off lol..I'm just use to 1,000 watts right now,wich doesnt require any use of romex wire.

rainman36 said:

So do I absolutely have to do this with just 4,000 watts,bcuz I know about this much>>>>___ about dicking around with a circuit breaker,besides switching what I want,on or off lol..I'm just use to 1,000 watts right now,wich doesnt require any use of romex wire.

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yes its simple when your ready ill walk you through it step by step. unless you want to ghetto rig everything which is not a good start if your trying to start a real presentable setup. or you can have hundreds of feet of extension cords going from room to room running hid lights lol thats asking for fire or frequent breaker tripping. you dont have to mess with circuits, just shut off the power to the one your working on at the panel on the side of the house. all your doing is putting a wire into a slot and tightening a screw down 3 times not difficult at all. if you can use a computer or grow a decent crop you can do simple wiring

str8sativa said:

yes its simple when your ready ill walk you through it step by step. unless you want to ghetto rig everything which is not a good start if your trying to start a real presentable setup. or you can have hundreds of feet of extension cords going from room to room running hid lights lol thats asking for fire or frequent breaker tripping. you dont have to mess with circuits, just shut off the power to the one your working on at the panel on the side of the house. all your doing is putting a wire into a slot and tightening a screw down 3 times not difficult at all. if you can use a computer or grow a decent crop you can do simple wiring

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how about I get a eletrician,he wouldnt guess what the hell I'm doing right? or wouldnt care bcuz he's getting paid to do his job.

vent the hot air into the guts of the house,,ie between floors and wall cavaties make the heat spead out so it disperses

rainman36 said:

What would you say the average 3 bedroom home with 3 people living their watt usage would be? and I'll agree with loose lips do sink ships part.It will only be me and a close pal of mine in on it,but you really have me thinking about this thermal imaging,thats the only thing really that could get us in trouble,4,000 watts max and no higher than that.Any good ideas for air venting for all of that hot air?

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Vent your heat to attic, use lights during day. Hot roof during day is distinguishable from any other with IR. Sticks out like a flashing neon light at night. It is illegal by recent SCOTUS ruling to use IR to randomly search for grow houses, but is legal if discovered pursuant to other investigation, whatever that means. I once vented heat thru dummy window A/C, but would not make sense in cool weather. Currently vent thru stealthy open window directly over central air condenser. Back of house, facing woods. Everyone uses A/C year round here. "Smart meters" can be a problem. You really want to think this thru if you are going to invest that much money. A large grow can require lots of labor at times. Lots of risk, too.

rig your grow rooms with IP DVR cameras. if you don't live there you still wanna be there virtually. it's not too expensive. and you can access your grow from any internet capable phone or pad. it's the next best thing to being there.

dannyboy602 said:

rig your grow rooms with IP DVR cameras. if you don't live there you still wanna be there virtually. it's not too expensive. and you can access your grow from any internet capable phone or pad. it's the next best thing to being there.

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Been had this idea in place,I will be checking in every hour on the hour,but I think that I will be staying their for a minute to see how things go,some people say stay their,I just can't,bcuz I'm just paranoid and love to have company over,I'm just not a hey look what I do,I grow kind of person,this is really like a second life for me,I'm a very private person when it comes to these things,and cant afford to be sloppy.

Thanks for the replies and ideas guys,I really appreciate it,this is not going to be easy thing,but you know how the saying go's "if its easy then it aint worth it"

sum interesting shit on here,,it may seem a bit gay but its worth a watch made me change sum of my plans for grow room mate

[video=youtube;8z9ftq4yODQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z9ftq4yODQ[/video]

rainman, not sure if your aware but do your self a favor and do a closed grow set up and consolidate your grow into one room if you can. generally, 3- 1k lights can support about 14 plants under each depending on strain and bucket size.

closed grow rooms.

pros: heat and smell is concealed in the grow room and venting is not necessary because you will run a small a/c unit (about 12,000 btu's or so) and dehumidifier unit and also a can fan with a carbon scrubber in the room its self. another benefit is a reduced risk of bugs or mold and such. you will need to vent the a/c exhaust but this is very little compaired to the heat from the lights.

cons: these setups can be a little pricey. expect to spend a fair amount of $$$ if your serious about this.

you might want to get some ceramic micro beads. about 40$ will get you enough to mix in a 5 gal bucket of paint. they even have heat barrier paint at places like home depot and combined, they will work great. also get some heat insulator matt of some kind and line all the walls if possible. also, run with soil. hydro can be really tricky esp. starting out and its hard to sell hydro buds to places like dispensaries and such. their very picky!

you gotta remember too, that amount of plants will require constant care if you wish to be successful. expect to spent at least a few hours a day in there maintaining them and feeding/ watering them when needed. you cant just setup shop and leave for a few days or a week and expect good results. shit can go wrong really fast!


there three things that get people caught: telling people about your grow and getting ratted out, heat, and the smell. control all of those and your golden brotha.

hope this helps! good luck!