Electrical Ques. If I can help someone I will...

la9

la9

Well-Known Member
You are thing too hard trying to add sensors for up and down. You just need a CAM and let it rotate and then you don't have to worry about what happens when a sensor fails.

I'll try to describe the best I can if it doesn't come out clear we can make some more attempts to make it understandable.

I imagine a gear on a motor. Drill a hole thru the gear close to the outside edge. Put a bolt or something thru the hole and tighten it down. Might think about using a bearing also. Hang your light on that. Use a Low RPM motor and you should be good. As the gear spins around the hole goes thru an up and down motion.

Make sense or not ?
 
la9

la9

Well-Known Member
Here is a high quality picture I did myself to explain what I was talking about, hope it helps.
 

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BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
ganjagoddess said:
Thats an interesting idea, if the motor has enough strength to load the bungee with any force...

Could be that the motor wont even be able to stretch the cord at all, after all your talking about a really cheap motor.
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Those little syncro motors are geared and quite strong. Add in a little mechanical advantage (purchase) with some block an tackle and you are done.

Bungees on both up and down with a bias can really dial in a near zero load yet still keep on track. ( a guide wire can work too, but seems like more work)
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
ganjagoddess said:
Why not just buy a $109 Hydrofarm linear light mover, and mount it vertical... use a pulley and some metal cable and viola!!!!

Actually you can mount it any way you want, just attatch a cord to it, through a pulley, and to the light fixture....
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Just a thought (haven't looked at it. lazy stoner with no link; too lazy to do a google :) ) But the linear are meant to hang a light and drag. The leverage to use on for up/down would require a counter weight (trip for fishing weights at Waly-World)

$5-7 For motor
$6 for some masonite to make wheel
$10 for rope
$6 for misc bolts, etc.
$8 for misc elect connectors and such.

(And the $400 for the power tools to pull off the above :) Said the tool junkie)
 
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lorenzo08

Well-Known Member
BigBudBalls said:
Those little syncro motors are geared and quite strong. Add in a little mechanical advantage (purchase) with some block an tackle and you are done.
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the diameter of the wheel would have to be about the same size as the distance you want the light to travel. a 3 foot travel distance would be a 3 foot diameter wheel. bbb might have a good solution, block and tackle. even just a single pulley would cut the diameter of the wheel in half.
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
la9 said:
You are thing too hard trying to add sensors for up and down. You just need a CAM and let it rotate and then you don't have to worry about what happens when a sensor fails.

Make sense or not ?
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Already revised thought. But yup Spot on!!!
Great minds think alike.

(us too!) lol!

Put the spot on the wheel/cam on a slot or various holes from the center point and you can adjust the travel.
 
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TreeTrunkBuds

Active Member
hey guys, first post.

i've been wandering through these boards the past week, and the ball is in motion. i'm going to build my first cabinet. I think i have the general concept of construction down, I am just concerned about the electrical aspect. obviously, no one wants to burn the house down, you want your shit to run like its supposed to, and you want to do it in the most efficient way possible. at least i do, haha.

so, i have a closet about 3 feet deep, 8 feet wide and 7 feet tall. I think i'm going to get a 400 w lumatech hps/mh ballast that comes with the light fixture and a reflective hood. ideally, i would have duct tubing fitted with a fan running for just the light, along with another fan or two for the main compartment. The box I want to build is going to focus on one main flowering room that i'll use for everything while i get the process down, but i also want it to have a second veg room so i can beef it up once i get going, and a utility room, pretty much like TheGhost's stealth cabinet but with a 400 watt light and soil instead of hydro.

I guess my question is, what the heck do i do with all those wires? do i just get a surge protector and plug everything in to that, which plugs into my wall? something about fans losing power the more you string up? is there a way to distribute power so i dont fry anything? this is the only part that doesnt really seem intuitive for me, sorry if i come off as so noobish but its because i am, i've never done this. any help on setting up my lumatek light and the fans, with a little advice for when i expand with fluoros in the veg room would be appreciated.
 
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lorenzo08

Well-Known Member
TreeTrunkBuds said:
hey guys, first post.

i've been wandering through these boards the past week, and the ball is in motion. i'm going to build my first cabinet. I think i have the general concept of construction down, I am just concerned about the electrical aspect. obviously, no one wants to burn the house down, you want your shit to run like its supposed to, and you want to do it in the most efficient way possible. at least i do, haha.

so, i have a closet about 3 feet deep, 8 feet wide and 7 feet tall. I think i'm going to get a 400 w lumatech hps/mh ballast that comes with the light fixture and a reflective hood. ideally, i would have duct tubing fitted with a fan running for just the light, along with another fan or two for the main compartment. The box I want to build is going to focus on one main flowering room that i'll use for everything while i get the process down, but i also want it to have a second veg room so i can beef it up once i get going, and a utility room, pretty much like TheGhost's stealth cabinet but with a 400 watt light and soil instead of hydro.

I guess my question is, what the heck do i do with all those wires? do i just get a surge protector and plug everything in to that, which plugs into my wall? something about fans losing power the more you string up? is there a way to distribute power so i dont fry anything? this is the only part that doesnt really seem intuitive for me, sorry if i come off as so noobish but its because i am, i've never done this. any help on setting up my lumatek light and the fans, with a little advice for when i expand with fluoros in the veg room would be appreciated.
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a power strip is ok to use. generally you can add up the watts of everything you're running to make sure the circuit can handle it all. a 15 amp breaker can safely handle about 1500 watts, and a 20 amp breaker can safely handle about 2000 watts. you might have other rooms on the same breaker, so whatever power is used in those rooms would count against it also. it's not fun having breakers trip in the middle of a light cycle and your plants are left in the dark for unknown hours.
 
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allgino4life

Active Member
Hey I'm looking for some advice. Im in Canada. Im looking to run 2 1000w hps, 1 600w MH, and various vent fans and such in a friend's 2 bedrooms apartment. How do I know if i can safely plug all that in. I know not to put more than one 1000watter on a regular circuit, I was planning on just running the proper guage extension cord from various rooms. Is this smart at all?

Also, a little later I will want to hopefully add up to 4000w hps, I know there are controllers that you plug into the 220v stove plug. Do i have to hard wire it or are there controllers that plug directly into the outlet?

Thanks alot if you can help clear up the few remaining q's I have left.
 
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havefungodumb

Well-Known Member
i saw this guy wire a ballest, he asked my friend if he wanted 240 or 120.. said u can connect wires different, he had 1 of those older 1000w .....

is that possible? i told him to say fuck it ...incase hes wrong....but he did wire up ballest for him and it worked
 
la9

la9

Well-Known Member
havefungodumb said:
i saw this guy wire a ballest, he asked my friend if he wanted 240 or 120.. said u can connect wires different, he had 1 of those older 1000w .....

is that possible? i told him to say fuck it ...incase hes wrong....but he did wire up ballest for him and it worked
Click to expand...

Completely possible, it's called a multitap ballast.

You are just selecting the voltage it will run on.
 
la9

la9

Well-Known Member
You don't need a GFCI but I would recommend one. You can get a breaker GFCI or a regular electric outlet with GFCI either one will protect the entire circuit if installed correctly. Basically what it does is shut off the electric branch if there is a ground problem anywhere. Extra Protection never hurts and at around $10 you might as well. Surge protector is up to you, but you are going to be connecting up lots of electrical things so you might as well get a surge strip, they have a smaller breaker in them and will trip sooner than the main, extra protection once again and they are about $5 and up for the 6 outlet ones. If you are thinking about battery backups then you probably won't need them because the lights and faans would run the batteries down so quick you'd probably be lucky to get 5 minutes out of them, but if the power surges a lot then it will save your HID's from shutting off and taking 10 minutes to come back on. You will have some money invested in a UPS battery backup system though.
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Surge suppressors are a joke!
All they are is a MOV. They 'wear out' anywhere from 6 months to a year. They give NO warning either.

Now a line conditioner is something different. And a LOT more money.

A battery back up is a fine idea, just have it run a few CFLs and not the HID. That will be enough to keep the plant on sched.
 
Dr Jones

Dr Jones

Well-Known Member
Please advise if you can; I have had 3 timers short with my 400w hps. I have purchased an envirolite 22a timer and am concerned that where the timer was shorting previously, something else may burn now?
 
jimo09

jimo09

Active Member
I am wanting to set up a room with 240v. I have a dryer outlet about 10 feet away. Can I put a junction box in line before the dryer outlet then run romex to my room? Dryer is gas so outlet is not used. I would like to keep it however in case I sell the house later.
 
Higher Education

Higher Education

Well-Known Member
Hey Everyone,

Any idea on how much a typical 120 volt outlet installation would be? The desired position of the outlet is about 16 feet from the breaker and it is also on the same floor so there is no need to go through any walls or floors. A good estimate is really all I am looking for. Any input is greatly appreciated!
 
TOKEMASTERFLEX

TOKEMASTERFLEX

Well-Known Member
jimo09 said:
I am wanting to set up a room with 240v. I have a dryer outlet about 10 feet away. Can I put a junction box in line before the dryer outlet then run romex to my room? Dryer is gas so outlet is not used. I would like to keep it however in case I sell the house later.
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im no electrician but i know this is easy to assemble yourself...because i did..or you can buy one already made...i have used this box in many houses...its the best thing i ever invested in...its always just three wires and the breaker for your particular fuse box...you could build it bigger if you want but i use this box with 4 220v 600w hps ballasts, 1 110v 1000w mh.I also run my oscilateing fan as well...to me this is the easiest way of adding outlets to any desired room..but thats just me i could be completely wrong...:o
 

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