How Much Can An Outlet Take?

im currantly with a small outside grow,its pretty safe as long as i dont go past 4 or 5 plants and 5ft tall,so i built me a nice size shed (wood).i can do pretty much what i want,the ol lady is not trippin,but i dont want to start cutting into the electricity.anyways im wondering,ive seen those light fictures thst have 3 sockets and with the y connection it makes 6,so how many of those can run off an outlet,i have 4 outlets to work with.can say as many as 20 plants grow off of these?(cfl's)i dont want to burn the place down pushing to much out of these,lol

you're going to fill a shed with CFL's?

Depends on how big of a circuit breaker is supplying that feed. I would guess a 15-20Amp at the most. I don't think you will burn your house down but, too much power on one circuit will trip the breaker.

Which brings up another question, how old is your house? Does it use breakers or fuses?

fdd2blk said:

you're going to fill a shed with CFL's?

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if its possable ,yes ,i want to.bad idea?

Check the breaker size on that circuit. That should give you an idea of how many lights you can run. Or just keep plugging shit in until it pops, lol.

fdd r u there?could i expect a decent grow with the cfl,shed get up i got going...and thanks chrisuperfly.

run 10 awg wire install a 30 amp circuit and load it up with electrical outlets at your place.

if you are not comfortable wiring a 30 amp breaker then have an electrician do it for godsakes- no need to die


-pot

Get a 400 watter HID dont bother with the CFLS

was trying to keep out cuttin into the electricity(first post on thread) but for godsakes,thamks anyway,lol,but i just might ,i just remember a nephew that does electrical,my brain is asleep sometimes,thanks for the wake up.lol

mattso101 said:

Get a 400 watter HID dont bother with the CFLS

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that 1 400 w will push the whole shed?im not to hip on lighting,barely finishing up on first outdoor grow,and im in love,i do want some good results.

you may not need to go that far but look at it this way

if you have electricity in there already what gauge is the wire? 12 awg is good for 20 amps so is that on a 20 amp circuit or a 15 amp?

Now if you have 14 awg on a 20 amp circuit and have loaded those outlets to say 14/15+ amps you could be asking for an electrical fire.

Count the amps you'll be running on that circuit and see if anything else in the house is on that circuit so you know. General rule is around 4/5 load on that circuit so @ 20 amps I would run right around 16/17 amps just to be safe- you can test it up to 19 amps and see if something trips the breaker, but have fun w/ that

I by no means am an electrician but I've ran a few wires- never messed with the breaker box YET... but if you do biggest thing to remember is MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN MAIN is shut off before you do anything.


-pot

also,

what are the dimensions of your shed?

For flowering you want to aim for about 5000+ lumens per square foot, go for 8000 lumens if you can swing it.
For vegging you can go as simple as buying walmart shoplites and using 48 inch daylight 6500k fluorescents @ around 2000 lumens each- do the math to figure out your needs(2000-3000 lumens per square foot at vegging)

If you put a good fan on it to exhaust you won't have any issues- Bang for the buck check out stanley fans @ walmart for 39.99 they push around 2300 cubic feet per minute on their high setting and can be modified to work alot like a squirrel cage fan. You will NOT find a better deal


-pot

how big is the shed? your cost of electricity gets paid for with big fat colas. same with the cost of the light. CFL's will never pay off. go HPS. blow it up.

Fuck yeah FDD blow dat shit up! Lots of light

Yep, first question should be how big is the shed. Potlike is giving you some good advice. If you are going to spend the time and effort to put up a shed it would be the perfect time to have a seperate circuit run to a panel (small breaker box) in the shed. If you follow his advice and make sure nothing you work on is live you will be safe. VV

thanks guys!...first off the shed is7ft high,4ft wide,8ft long,i just sealed off everything with that foam u get at home depot,that helped alot.I ran a 6in pipe going out of top for exsaust,i know plumbing so i put in my own water line direct to shed,cold only.at first i was to anxious and went out and wasted money on a grip of cfl's thinking i was gonna tear it up,but from today im going to go to this hydro shop and check into it.hopefully u guys can shoot me in the right direction as to how many watts ill be needing,i asume 400 wt was a estimation?but there r the measurements and ill be here waiting for the much needed help!imjwaiting onan address to get my sees sent to,trying to cover all tracks,using lil homies houses,only ones i can trust..and thats just a handfull.maybe a lil info on seeds would be cool for my first indoor grow too,thanks fellas...i cant wait...tick,tock,

4ft. x 8ft. = 32 sq ft
from High Tech Garden Supply you can pick these hps sytems up at a pretty good deal.
600w = 95,000 Lumens = 2969 lumen per sq. ft.
1000w= 150,000 Lumens = 4688 lumens per sq foot
spreading the space btween 2 lamp might serve your purpose better
2x600w = 190,000 Lumens = 5938 lumens per sq. ft.
2x1000w = 300,000 Lumens = 9375 lumens per sq foot
it would be a wise investment to pick up the air cool reflectors to exaust all that heat

Getting the MH conversion bulbs gives you
600w = 66,000 lumens
1000w = 110,000 lumens
good luck bro itll raise the bill a lil bit

why not go all out and go hybrid solar as a supplement to your power since it is at the shed or you could go power generator

yeah I am baked - it is when I do my best thinking and engineering as well.


-pot

potlike said:

why not go all out and go hybrid solar as a supplement to your power since it is at the shed or you could go power generator

yeah I am baked - it is when I do my best thinking and engineering as well.


-pot

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i like the way your mind works!!!!if they have a small enough for my needs i think i can go for that 3 to 4 hundred bucks if that,or even cheaper,just gas for the genarator,thanks for the tip potlike ,definitly another way to go...rascalone

dude a 400 watt in a closed out space in the shed would be great for a 1/2lb crop. a 400w runs 3.3 amps on a normal house outlet and doesn't even really the hydro bill that much at all.

just food for thought.........

1 x 400w hps with say 2x4 feet , theres usually about a half pound right there