Thatdjguy777
Member
Ok, that flip is one of the many I have seen. But like I asked originally, is there a reason hoods are not hard wired to the outs from the relay or is it just because it's easier to disconnect plugs? Thanks again.
Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions
- Thread starter bricktown73
- Start date
wheels619
Well-Known Member
huh? got me dude im not sure what it is your asking. lol. try again and i might get an idea.
Thatdjguy777
Member
I was talking about DIY ballast flip flop boxes. I have seen where they use a relay like the ones in the link you posted. The power from the ballast to the lights goes to the relay then splits off into two different lights(hoods), when the coil engages/disengages the relay sends the power to the other set of lights. They usually set up an outlet/receptacle after the relays where they plug in the hoods. I was asking why the hoods aren't hardwired straight to the relays(poles) instead of the outlets? Is this just out of ease to unplug the hoods when you need to or is there something dangerous about hardwiring the hoods straight to the relays?
redlube
Well-Known Member
O.k. so i read a few pages back, and I am wanting to do similar. I am looking to have my certified electrician friend build me a flip box. What type of relays/contactors are required? Also can you tell me how much voltage is running on the output of a 600watt digital ballast?
wheels619
Well-Known Member
ok guys so flip boxes are a little out of my league. im in no way able to take the time to research them at the moment since im harvesting right about now and still tossing together a 6 light setup. but i can recommend actually buying one premade. they are well constructed and in all honesty really affordable now for the smaller 1-2, 2-4 and even 4-8 units. thats ballast-hood ratio. a decent 2-4 flip box is about 270 bucks on ebay. local hydro shop should mark it up to about 400+ easily. as far as building them is concerned i havent a clue where to start. i havent researched them due to the fact that they are so cheap compared to when they first came out. also i dig the warranties and the not having to figure out how to stuff. lol. sorry guys.
legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
wheels. I'll I really need clarification on is this... If I get that 30amp 240v breaker installed, then wire it to a light controller, I'll only be using 18amps of power... so does that mean that the other 12amps (6 considering the 20% safety range) will go to waste because the the breaker is wired to the light controller?
wheels619
Well-Known Member
yes pretty much. the lighting controller was designed to run 4 1000 watt lights. it doesnt really care if you use less. its also not wasted power its just not used. also different ballasts mean different amperage ratings but not by much. give or take 5%. they sell lighting controllers with stepdowns for 120v that actually use some of the slack thats left but thats when you get into the bigger bucks. mine was about 175 but it gives me a 120v plug to run my inline fans but not much else. the more you spend the more options you have open to you as far using as much available power as you can.
Figong
Well-Known Member
Agreed, the amperage left over can go into new smaller expansions without more wiring having to be run - I agree with the above, without question. $ is where extra features (and potential sanity) come into play.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
also what i posted earlier wasnt a flip box. it was an actual lighting controller someone had built. i just went thru the wire gauges and shit to make sure it wouldnt burn shit down. flip boxes work differently. the stuff i posted earlier has nothing to do with flip boxes. its about maximizing your power to the amount of ballasts you have. flip boxes are designed to run 2 bulbs off of one ballast at separate times without having the startup and warmup period that takes so much life from your ballasts and to save on total overall equipment costs. even tho what most people dont realize is that if you are running 2 or more 1000 watt ballasts you will need more power ran to the room and a lighting controller of some sort to manage it all. also unless you have a 4-8 or bigger flip box the cost savings arent really that great due to the cost of the box and the recent costs of actual ballasts.
wheels619
Well-Known Member
exactly. what that guy said. lol.
Hi I'm building a room with 4 x 600w and a 400w (grow) also pumps fans and a 3.9kW air con.
I only have 2 power points to run all this off so just wondering if I would need to do some wiring to run all this safely? If so what needs to be done? I have a mate who is an apprentice electrician so he may be able to help with the wiring?
Thanks
I only have 2 power points to run all this off so just wondering if I would need to do some wiring to run all this safely? If so what needs to be done? I have a mate who is an apprentice electrician so he may be able to help with the wiring?
Thanks
TooRare2Die
Active Member
Hello Bricktown im glad weve got an electrical guy here.. what im going to be running is 3 1000watt ballasts 2 hps ballasts and 1 mh ballast. 435 cfm fan couple of in room fans and one small can fan.. along with a few timers.. i was told i need to upgrade my box from a friend but i figured id ask you.. here are two pictures of my panel..
.. my brother in law is an electrician but hes an asshole so im not even going to attempt to ask him.. if you look closely the orange cord near the bottom right is an open 220v but i dunno how id convert it so i was going to just stick with 110.. picture was taken sideways. oops!! was hoping you could tell me how many amps this box can hold and if im going to need to upgrade or can i just run a sub off of it? thanks for your time.
.. my brother in law is an electrician but hes an asshole so im not even going to attempt to ask him.. if you look closely the orange cord near the bottom right is an open 220v but i dunno how id convert it so i was going to just stick with 110.. picture was taken sideways. oops!! was hoping you could tell me how many amps this box can hold and if im going to need to upgrade or can i just run a sub off of it? thanks for your time.
supchaka
Well-Known Member
I dont know if the original poster comes in here much anymore. Im not an electrician, but that box already looks like a sub panel. And some of that wiring looks older than me, and Im 40! Have you followed the 2 wires feeding it to see if they go to another panel? By looking at it, obviously its over the 100 amp rating of the main breaker already, but boils down to whats getting run and when etc? For your safety Id get an electrician to check out that shit. Whether its a rental or you own, I wouldnt want to take a chance.
supchaka
Well-Known Member
To elaborate a little more. You can see someone spliced right off the incoming line, that's a no no. You can also see on a couple breakers where there's more than one feed coming off it, another negative. On the bottom there's a neutral, or at least it's white jumped from one breaker into another. I don't even know why all those neutrals are even going into the breakers. The breakers themselves look old enough to replace as it is. I'd honestly get that whole panel redone even if I wasn't planning to grow off it!be safe mang!
Shawns
Active Member
I was going to say the same thing, that panel looks overloaded already, someones already put in space saver breakers witch allows you to put in double the amount the panel would normally allow also almost all the breakers have 2 wires in them maybe even 3 on some witch I'm pretty sure they should only have 1. Like supchaka said I would have a electrician look at that before adding anything more to it
Rusty Shakelford
Well-Known Member
Hi ALL!! I have a 50A 250V 6-50R Straight Blade outlet in my grow area that I would like to utilize. Does anyone know of an Adapter that I can use for normal electronics such as Fans and Lights?
wheels619
Well-Known Member
yeah a lighting controller and a home depot plug with 6 gauge minimum wiring. it will let you run everything off of it.
this will work.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-Amp-Light-Controller-120-240v-24-hrs-Timer-Box-Bulb-/290532368204?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a5141f4c
this will work better.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Light-Powerbox-DPC-15000-240V-Controller-50-Amp-Hardwire-Ammeter-Light-HID-/190646513136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c636aedf0
the second is more expensive but gives you more options on running 120 shit off of it. fans and stuff like that. no ac and shit with higher amps of power.
Rusty Shakelford
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the Links, but WHOLY SMOKES!! Those are pricey.. Not sure I can go with those options..
wheels619
Well-Known Member
in all honesty they are your best option. unless your handy enough to build your own lighting controller which i wouldnt recommend do to not wanting you to potentially burn your house down. another option is to pay an electrician to build you one in place but the cost of supplies and his hourly rate its going to probably cost about the same. either way up to you. also they sell other brands and model of controllers. some cheaper and some more expensive. but generally the expensive ones give you more options like you are asking for. unless you have a buddy who is an electrician this is the way to go properly . plus you shouldnt have to pay anyone to wire anything into place. the controllers are simple basic plug and play stuff so you dont have to fight with a thousand different timers. the more shit you invlove the more can go wrong. i suggest looking into the lighting controller option even if you dont really want to use one. just to keep your options open. also 240 volts at 50 amps isnt cheap to run properly. the $400 controller i posted a link for is as cheap as you will get unless you know an electrician.
Rusty Shakelford
Well-Known Member
Thanks again for the Info.. Is there a reason I need to have a Light Controller? I was basically just looking for some type of adapter that would turn this outlet into a regular outlet that I could plug an Oscillating Fan and Maybe a Space Heater into. Is there anything like that?