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

Roughly how much should it cost an electrician to install 3 20 amp and 1 30amp circuits with the material. The box is roughly 40 feet away from where i need them.

sticky420scissors said:

Roughly how much should it cost an electrician to install 3 20 amp and 1 30amp circuits with the material. The box is roughly 40 feet away from where i need them.

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$50-$100 in materials depending on how he hides the wiring. maybe another $150-$250 for labor. i don't know what your electrician charges. i have a buddy who charges $75 an hour so i'm going based on that.

polyarcturus said:

say what so when the pumps go off something else come on?


the way you are phrasing it sounds like you just need a timer, what do your need a "relay" for and what do you mean by it?

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,,Sorry I thought it was common knowelege,I need to wire a power strip to a relay,the relay helps so that when you run 4 water pumps on a powerstrip pluged into a timer ,it dosent kill your timer.

ScoobyDoobyDoo said:

$50-$100 in materials depending on how he hides the wiring. maybe another $150-$250 for labor. i don't know what your electrician charges. i have a buddy who charges $75 an hour so i'm going based on that.

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Well i dont have a electrician just yet. Im just wondering about what this will cost. I want it done to code. thanks Scooby.

Hi, and thank you for this thread!

simple question here...: I have a panel outside labeled 100amp max wich have 2 breaker on it (1x240V 15amp and 1x120V 15amp). The power come from my main pannel and its wired on 2x50amp breaker.

Can I add another 15amp breaker(120V) to the 100amp panel?

How does this work basicly? Do 2x50amp breaker equal 100amp? regardless its on 120v or 240v? Do the label on panel mean the total maximum of the panel(ever)or the maximum load THIS setup can take??

you can add as many breakers as the panel will hold a 100 amp panel will supply 100 amps to however many curcuits you have its whats using that power and from what curcuit that matters so lets say you have a 50 amp breaker for an ac/ wich draws 35amps when running the breaker doesnt use the power it allows that much power to pass through it anything over it trips.so you need to do an elec. load calculation to know for sure but you should be able to add the breakers if there is room and a 240 must have 2 hot legs so it will be a dbl. 15 or 20 amp breaker.

m4ster said:

Hi, and thank you for this thread!

simple question here...: I have a panel outside labeled 100amp max wich have 2 breaker on it (1x240V 15amp and 1x120V 15amp). The power come from my main pannel and its wired on 2x50amp breaker.

Can I add another 15amp breaker(120V) to the 100amp panel?

How does this work basicly? Do 2x50amp breaker equal 100amp? regardless its on 120v or 240v? I don't get it... (I never really worked with 240v )

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you will be fine adding a 15amp breaker at 120v. your subpanel has 50amps available at 240v and/or 100amps available at 120v.

oh and to answer the question no a dbl. 50 amp breaker can pull 50 amps from each leg.

Thanks

I guess if the panel is labeled 100amp, the wire gauge that relays the panels should go with it?

m4ster said:

Thanks

I guess if the panel is labeled 100amp, the wire gauge that relays the panels should go with it?

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you shouldn't worry to much about what the panel is rated for. i have 200amp panels at my house that only have 120amps feeding them. you should check the wire size leading to the subpanel just to make sure though. i didn't think of that and it's a good point. it should be #8 or bigger. in wire size...bigger means smaller number. #6 is bigger than #8. it should say on the wire somewhere either #6, 6 gauge, or 6awg.

hi, i by passed my meter for my lights, and hid it well, i paid for my electricity for the rest of the house, which was a grow house anyway but i used to put the electric water heater on daily and tv, kettles, lights etc to use power to make it look like a normal home occupation, you can pay the electric as a pay as you use it through a key system, i installed a consumer unit with mcb`s and i installed all double rcd sockets to protect the equipment and myself. the meter guy used to come and read the meter and then leave, i used to shut it off for 20 mins before i new he was due, the property ran like this for about 18 months and then the house got broken into and all the plants, skunk, and 4 but nearly 5 figure sum in cash was stolen, plus 66 ounces of wrapped skunk, the police responded to a report of a burglary and went to the premises to check it, when i got there later that night there was 4 police cars and 2 police vans so i legged it.
i hid for 2 days and then i called them, i was taken in and questioned to which i replied no comment to all questions, they had nothing on me as the lot was nicked but charged me anyway with cultivation as the equipment was still set up and running, they found the bypass because when they turned off the main power to leave the property, the fans and lights etc all kept running, the electric company then arrived to disconnect it all. i got a letter from the prosecutor stating i do not have to got to court now as there is not enough evidence for a cultivation trial. the electric company have said nothing and that was in feb this year and they have brushed it all under the carpet, i am now trying to get all my equipment back as the.police had confiscated most of it although the idiots missed £300 worth of nutrients, boosters, medicines, acids etc, i salvaged two ballasts a couple of large aeroponic propagators and a few bits and pieces from the property which was wrecked during the break in and i had 3 brand new laptops in there too.
anyway i do not know why there was not a theft of electric power charge but i am assuming it is because it was being paid for the rest of the house and they either dont want any one to know how i did it, or they maybe can`t prove how much power was actually stolen, i mean if a judge asks "how much power did he steal" they can`t say "i dont know" can they.
or can they!

i have a question for the electricians of roll it up...

I have a 1000w quantum ballast for a 1000w digilux hps bulb and it keeps tripping the gfi outlet, even if fired up at 500w. but at the same time i can start up a 600w mh in the same outlet. all the outlets in the room are connected to this one gfi, and i can run many other things off those outlets while the 600w mh is running. my question to you guys, is there a way to bypass, remove, change the gfi outlet in order to run the 1000w hps? i assume it's because the ballast needs a large amount of energy to spark the bulb and its tripping the gfi outlet. since they are all connected in the room to this one gfi, will removing this single outlet and replacing with a regular one fix this issue? I've thought about running 1 or 2 400w ceramic mh instead of the 1000hps, but also not sure if they together would trip it too...


any suggestions? i can post more info if necessary

yes it will fix the issue unless you are drawing to much power for the breaker or the 1000watt quantum ballast is defective.

H R Puff N Stuff said:

yes it will fix the issue unless you are drawing to much power for the breaker or the 1000watt quantum ballast is defective.

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just replacing the gfi with a regular outlet? it's not the whole circuit since the whole room trips off it? hmm, is it easy to replace? i dont have a soldering iron but can replicate diagrams and match wires if that's all it is

the ballast is relatively new and ran at the last place fine, so i doubt its defective

a gfci plug can be removed pretty easy match wires from gfci to new outlet black on one side ,white on the other and ground on green screw but now the other plugs will not be protected by the gfci.and do yourself a favor and turn power off at panel so you can work without shocking yourself or causing a short.

is it really inportant to have a 4 prong outlet for a 240v cause I have a three prong I plan on running 4 600w ballasts I'm looking at some of the light controlers at dxsoundco.com I'm interested in a few of them but I heard the three prongs whern't safe they sell one with an option for three prong its the one on the bottom of page but should I just install a four prong,hard wire it to the system or is the three prong safe these are all options with this unit I almost think it would be safer just to hardwire the light controlers plus I think it would be best to get one of their more expensive ones that don't come in three prong

3 prong is fine for 220. If you want to break it out to 110 then a 4 wire is nice. I run 3 wire on mine and break into 110 breaking a few rules along the way.

Get a book on basic wiring and read it in about 1 hour and you will know this stuff.

what gauge romex do I need to wire a 240v circuit for my ballasts?

CanniCastro420 said:

what gauge romex do I need to wire a 240v circuit for my ballasts?

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depends on the size of the ballasts and how many you are using on that circuit.