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

Ok since I don't know anything about electrical wiring and very limited knowledge about appliances, I'm gonna ask some dumb questions which I can't find the answer to anywhere.

Under what circumstances would you need to do all this crazy wiring and shit that I keep seeing people do on these forums (like this https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/937-how-grow-marijuana.html#post4675). Is it when you exceed the amount of amps?
And why would you need 240v? Why not just stick with 120v?

I currently run about 1000w, plugged into 2 seperate outlets,
with some fans for circulation. I plan on getting a 400 CFM fan or so. There are 3 outlets near my growroom. Is this safe?
What I didn't understand was, most houses have limit of 20 amps, is this on the entire circuit or per outlet?.. or per room?

Also, is it safe to have a power tap running off another power tap or surge protector?

Thanks!

JayDoe71 said:

Thanks, man, but hardwiring is a little out of my realm. I will consider running two Xcords rather then one

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not trying to make light of a dangerous situation. but all hard wiring is is going to the breaker box, killing hte breaker you are hardwiring to, right?? or kill the whole panel, safest way for newbs, but have flashlights. then, already have the hardware to hardwire the romex into the outlet. i am not sure what hardware does this, or if 5toned meant to wire nut the romex to the wiring in the outlet that goes back to the breaker. then on the board with outlets in your grow space connect the wires to the outlets, and make sure you run a ground.

isnt that able what it takes to hard wire? i have found electricity is dangerous, basic or advanced! but basic electricity is not complicated, you know an outlet or 2 in the house, all 120, no phasing or anything. sorry if I posted bad info, but this seemed pretty straight forward and simple.

i live in a 2800 square foot house, is it unrealstic to aim to have a total of 8 (1000) watt lights among all the other equipment in my basement, as long as i have a power box hardwired to my breaker box that can support the 8 lights? Also, how far can i stretch the hardwire from the breaker box?

TheWinter said:

Yea definitely run more than one line. The problem isn't nessesarily the line itself, Its the socket connection. I just had a situation where i nearly melted a (defective) 20a outlet. My extension cord was a big 10 gauge bastard but it just heated up the socket because it didn't make a perfect connection. BTW the socket & extension cord were both brand new. It can totally happen when your right up on the amp limits. If you can, run one #12 extension cord to your 1000 watter, and run another #12 for your accessories.

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Thanks, my light should be under 10 amps and the total accessories is gonna be less then 6 amps. Do I need 10 gauge Xcords, or will 12's be fine?

Also, the chords will be ran from a basement window to a shed around the side of the house. I checked the shed and it's bone dry with no leaks, but the xchord will be exposed to the weather. I'm assuming an outdoor rated/heavy duty xchord will be ok in this senerio.

Most 12 gauge extension cords rated for 20 amps, so your well within the limits even with a pretty lengthy cord, which it seems like you will need. Ive seen some extension cords, even though they were 12 ga, were not rated for 20 amps, so make sure you check the actual rating of the cord and make sure its 20 amp. A regular 14ga line would definitely get warm running the lengths your talking about.

Definitely get an outdoor rated cord. They are a little more expensive but you wont have any problems with corrosion and they will last longer than the indoor cord. outdoor cords are sealed, so moisture cant get in. A big plus even if its not being run outside.

anomolies said:

Ok since I don't know anything about electrical wiring and very limited knowledge about appliances, I'm gonna ask some dumb questions which I can't find the answer to anywhere.

Under what circumstances would you need to do all this crazy wiring and shit that I keep seeing people do on these forums (like this https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/937-how-grow-marijuana.html#post4675). Is it when you exceed the amount of amps?
And why would you need 240v? Why not just stick with 120v?

I currently run about 1000w, plugged into 2 seperate outlets,
with some fans for circulation. I plan on getting a 400 CFM fan or so. There are 3 outlets near my growroom. Is this safe?
What I didn't understand was, most houses have limit of 20 amps, is this on the entire circuit or per outlet?.. or per room?

Also, is it safe to have a power tap running off another power tap or surge protector?

Thanks!

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Most bedrooms in the us are wired with 14-2 romex (14 guage wire), on a breaker for 15a. Sometimes bedrooms share a 15 amp circuit. Say you have Bed #2 and Bed #3 on a 15a line. You want to grow in both rooms, and do 4 1000 watters (over 2 4x8 tables, one per room). Each 1000w pulls approximately 8.5-9 amps. 8.5 x 4 = 34 amps. Your WELL above the 15a limit that every socket in Bed#2 and Bed#3 could provide. So some people run dedicated lines from their breaker box, or splice off their washer/dryer/range lines. That is one example why people would want to do some crazy wiring shit.

240v is more efficient than 110v in some ballasts, so some people prefer it. Another reason that people use 220v is because most peoples dryers run on 220v outlets. So it's pretty easy to run 220v into the room from your dryer, and not mess with anything. Instant 30 amps at 220v, which could essentially run 6 1000 watters. 220v is more of a shock risk though. Getting zapped with it hurts and is much more dangerous in a wet environment. I like to stick to 110v outlets. If I have a 220v line, I break it up into multiple 110v outlets.

In your situation, it depends on what your circuit is rated at. Its probably 15 amps if its a bedroom. 20amp circuits are usually in the garage, washer, and fridge. if your running 1000w worth of lights, your using up around 9 amps. If your going to get a 400 cfm fan, lets guess that it is around 200 watts, so thats 2 amps. So now your at 11 amps, so your under 15. Its always better to use more outlets when possible. That means less chance that any one outlet will overheat due to a weak connection.

Daisy chaining those surge protectors/xcords is OK for low amp stuff, but I wouldn't do it with lights.

I see.. I guess I'm fine for now.. I'm under 1000w atm. I think 1200-1500w will be the most I'll ever go up to.

Curious though.. Once my friend was building a guitar pedal.. it didn't quite come out right and when he plugged it into a the living room downstairs (my closet is upstairs on the opposite side of the house), it smoked so he unplugged it. However, this tripped the circuits in the closet-grow and master bedroom (which are in same room).... Any idea why?

Just a quick one!

I got a 50w HPS with an E27 screw fitting. What sort of ballast would I need?

Cheers

I have an electrical box that is made to connect to a washer 240v plug. This electrical box also contains a timer which is then transfer to about 12 outlets, 8 are 240v Time and Live and 4 are 120v Live. The way I understand it, is that there is 4 wire in a washer outlet... 240v, 120v, a ground and neutral. I want to connect this box to a electrical baseboard heater (which runs on 240v) but I am missing a 120v wire... Can I take the wire from another circuit... a socket elsewhere? Since the 120v is required tu run the motor on the electrical box. And if so, since there is only 1 neutral I imagine the 120V and 240V go out the same way?

anomolies said:

I see.. I guess I'm fine for now.. I'm under 1000w atm. I think 1200-1500w will be the most I'll ever go up to.

Curious though.. Once my friend was building a guitar pedal.. it didn't quite come out right and when he plugged it into a the living room downstairs (my closet is upstairs on the opposite side of the house), it smoked so he unplugged it. However, this tripped the circuits in the closet-grow and master bedroom (which are in same room).... Any idea why?

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Well, if they are all on the same circuit, it would trip that one circuit breaker, and thats OK. If it is on a different circuit, it could be that he is in an older home that has overlapping circuits, or has some kind of wiring problem throughout the house,plus a possibly bad circuit breaker, the one that didn't trip. Definitely something to get checked out by an electrician.

LoVeSeNsI said:

Just a quick one!

I got a 50w HPS with an E27 screw fitting. What sort of ballast would I need?

Cheers

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a 50 hps is a 50 hps regardless of the socket. Pretty much any 50 hps ballast will work. They use E26/E27 sockets on those really small bulbs because they suit the small bulbs better.

Your bulb and socket, however, (not to be negative) are worth probably under $20... so instead of spending on a 50w ballast, it might be better to look for a 150+ watt hps system that comes with everything. They can be found for pretty cheap.. like heres a 150w HPS ballast, bulb, and hood for around $60. http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=9151

Of course, if you dont mind wiring yourself, you can find those 50w HPS ballast kits for like $20..

i want to know what is the safest light system to use and most effective..is it LED? im worried about the risk of FIRE, im always at work, and i need to know what system i can trust the most...any help please?

TheWinter said:

Most 12 gauge extension cords rated for 20 amps, so your well within the limits even with a pretty lengthy cord, which it seems like you will need. Ive seen some extension cords, even though they were 12 ga, were not rated for 20 amps, so make sure you check the actual rating of the cord and make sure its 20 amp. A regular 14ga line would definitely get warm running the lengths your talking about.

Definitely get an outdoor rated cord. They are a little more expensive but you wont have any problems with corrosion and they will last longer than the indoor cord. outdoor cords are sealed, so moisture cant get in. A big plus even if its not being run outside.

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I took a trip to Lowes today and couldn't find a 12 gauge xchord that was rated for 20 amps. The 20 amps were 10 gauge, and they're big, expensive suckers. I plan on one chord running about 9.6 amps (the light and ballast), and a second cord running the other accessories, about 6 amps. Do I need cords rated for 20 amps?

Question about light socket wiring. I have looked up and read on how to wire light sockets but my question is can I wire 4 light sockets to a single 110v power cord if I'm gonna be using LED lights for the light sockets? Each LED light uses 3.5 watts so I know for a fact that I won't be drawing to much power from a single plug.

I know berets electrical tape is needed so unlike most people that don't use the berets I would have a lower % of a fire starting.

Also I will be plugging them into a 16 gauge wire power bar

hey man i dont know nothing bout electrical stuff but i have an extension lead running to my grown room with a few power boards and about 10 - 15 different things plugged in like light pumps fans stuff like that, how dangerous is this and what can i do to stop shit happening like a fire or something thanks

smackey81 said:

hey man i dont know nothing bout electrical stuff but i have an extension lead running to my grown room with a few power boards and about 10 - 15 different things plugged in like light pumps fans stuff like that, how dangerous is this and what can i do to stop shit happening like a fire or something thanks

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I would get an electrician to install some plugs to where your grow is.

I am making a micro grow 21"w x 10"d x 55"h its going to be a dual chamber grow. I want to get it to where only one wire comes out, at least I think so. There is a good size surge protector at walmart I cant find it on their site it has a 15amp fuse in it. So my question is how much stuff can you put on a surge protector? Will I be fine if I buy one and put say 6 cfls, 2-3 120mm pc fans?

There would be 4 26wat cfls on the bottom chamber with a fan. The cfls would each have there own socket and wire that would then be spliced or plugged together and then into the surge protector. The top chamber would have 2 26 watt cfls, havent decided about location of them yet, and 2 fans.

What would the difference be if there was some 42 watt cfls mixed in? Also if one surge protector with all of that on it is going to burn my place down, would it be safe on two surge protectors? And what if I took two surge protectors and spliced their wires together?

Malenki said:

I am making a micro grow 21"w x 10"d x 55"h its going to be a dual chamber grow. I want to get it to where only one wire comes out, at least I think so. There is a good size surge protector at walmart I cant find it on their site it has a 15amp fuse in it. So my question is how much stuff can you put on a surge protector? Will I be fine if I buy one and put say 6 cfls, 2-3 120mm pc fans?

There would be 4 26wat cfls on the bottom chamber with a fan. The cfls would each have there own socket and wire that would then be spliced or plugged together and then into the surge protector. The top chamber would have 2 26 watt cfls, havent decided about location of them yet, and 2 fans.

What would the difference be if there was some 42 watt cfls mixed in? Also if one surge protector with all of that on it is going to burn my place down, would it be safe on two surge protectors? And what if I took two surge protectors and spliced their wires together?

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1 - Never touch the surge protector wires mainly because your making the fire % higher. If you cut the plug in part off and use that as your wiring from the plug to your light socket that could work but that can be kinda expensive.
2 - I have 1 PS3 (around 300 to 400 watts), Lizard tank (150 watts), TV, VCR, 2 Laptops and 2 external hard drives plugged into a single 16 gauge power bar with no problems but I wouldn't do more then that for safty reasons.
3 -I would never have more then 1 41+ watt CFL on a single wire because the more wattage you have on a single plug the more risk of a fire you have. Also I wouldn't bother splicing more then 1 CFL onto a single power cord. Now if it was LED lights that use 3.5 watts then you might be able to get away with having 4 of them on a single wire because they would only draw 14 watts in all and they don't give off any heat. I have a few in my room instead of using a few 13w CFLs because do the math and having a single 13w CFL running 24/7 for 30 days would cost around $0.60 compared to around $0.15 of running a 3.5w LED light for the same amount of time.

They are the same as the CFLs where you can't use them on a dimmer but its 1 of the best ways to cut down on your power bill cost thus lowering your chances of a person noticing your bill because face it would you rather have a 600w HPS with 13w to 60w lights that most people use or would you rather use the 3.5w LED lights to cut the cost so that its harder to notice the difference in the power bill.

5colorslim said:

i want to know what is the safest light system to use and most effective..is it LED? im worried about the risk of FIRE, im always at work, and i need to know what system i can trust the most...any help please?

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T5 High Output Fluorescent lighting is your best bet.....