Noobish Electric Questions

I have absolutely zero knowledge about electricity and all that fun stuff...so am here asking for some help. I just secured a nice house for my new 6000w garden. I was wondering how one would go about determining if anything special needs to be done to my electricity before I just go ahead and plug in all these ballasts. I would imagine it would involve going to the circuit box and looking up some numbers...but what do I look for?

The house is very new, built in 2004 so I am assuming the wiring should be pretty modern. Do you think anything special will need to be done for 6000 watts plus 2 12,000 BTU window units?

Do they sell special surge protectors for ballasts? I see some people have those boxes that all the ballasts connect to...is this what I need?

As you can probably tell, I am clueless when it comes to electricity. Any information would be extremely appreciated.

im a noob electrician (a couple months) so i couldnt tell you but 6000 watts is alot.....

I am no electrician, but i know a few things (at least i think i do) The amount of wattage is determined by the ballasts, the ballasts can only draw 110v or 220v. All of the outlets you see in your house are 110v and the ones that your electric dryer plug into are 220v. Now that being said, your breaker box will be the first line of failure if anything is wrong, thats what it is designed to do. If that thing is plugged into a 15a it might not cut it and it might keep popping out on you, depending on the gauge of you power wire (angel hair for 15a and spaghetti for 25a) you may be able to safely upgrade your breaker to a 25a.

How Amps and Volts work out I don't know? But a Google search will yield instructions for how to change out your breaker if you need to.

6000w of HID lighting (it'll actually draw more, especially when they turn on) will need 50+ amps of service I believe. If you hook all that up to one circuit the breaker will go for sure. There's no way you can pull that off with no electrical knowledge. You'll die in a fire man, fair warning.

No no no ! You stated u have no electrical knowlage . 6000watts = 60 amps roughly then you got 2 12,00 btu units?
Thats too much to even run off your dryer circuit . You MUST HAVE a sub panel for all that . You will need an electrician.Good Luck!
Have you ever done a 6000w grow? Or you just probbing for info? I would'nt even keep a job if I was tending to a garden that big.It's more important and can keep you fairly busy .

Going to school to be one. That being said all your plugs are NOT 110/220 they are or should be 120/240v you do not have a circuit in your house big enough for all that, lights are always on there own circuit never with anything else so no btu whatever those are. Automatic overload. You will need i’m thinking some 10-2 unless you are going to put a switch on them then 10-3, you are going to want to get a much bigger breaker with amps from 50-70 amps? Not sure on amps. Are they 1k bulbs or what? Just have someone professional do it, i’d hate for you to electrocute yourself man.

He was talking about two huge air conditioners with the BTU reference. Regardless, he does not have the knowledge to pull it off and you probably shouldn't encourage him. What electrician in DEA-land would wire that up and not be suspicious?

Misuseofyou said:

He was talking about two huge air conditioners with the BTU reference. Regardless, he does not have the knowledge to pull it off and you probably shouldn't encourage him. What electrician in DEA-land would wire that up and not be suspicious?

Click to expand...

This will be a 100% legal medical grow. So basically I will need to do some modification. I will have to find an electrician. Only problem is this house is a rental so I don't know how I can get away with that.

Electricity can be dangerous, but with common sense and a little know how you will be fine.
Watts divided by volts will tell you how many amps you will need to supply from your elec. panel. 6000/110= 54.5 amps & 6000/220= 27.2 amps. So as you can see it will be much more efficient to run everything off a 220 volt circuit. You will need to add a circuit breaker to your elec. panel. A rule of thumb is you do not want to exceed 80% of a given circuit's amp rating. So using a double pole (220v) 30 amp breaker you will be way too close to the limits so you would need a double pole 50 amp circuit breaker.

You will need space for a new breaker in your panel. Your house is relatively new so there should be a 200 amp panel installed on your home. Inside the panel where the breaker switches are there are spaces or removable tabs where other breakers can be installed. If there is space then you are in luck.

I could easily lay out all the instructions right here but I honestly don't like typing that much. Go to Home Depot and pick up their how to electrical book called "Electrical 1-2-3". This book is very informative it will help you get a good understanding of what you need to do and how to go about it. Like I said it can be dangerous but with common sense and safe work habits you will save yourself a fire and about $3000 that an electrican would charge. I will be here if you need me. Late.

epicseeds said:

This will be a 100% legal medical grow. So basically I will need to do some modification. I will have to find an electrician. Only problem is this house is a rental so I don't know how I can get away with that.

Click to expand...

just cause you have a med card doesnt stop federal goverment from stop on by ya know the cannabis laws are only state laws and can be voided at anytime.. It would be in your best interest to get an electritian and tell him you will be using the room for a home business that requires big mechinary. That should cut out some suspisicion? Unless its going somewhere that doesnt look like an office space.

Is there no product I can buy in a hydro store to help me safely run all these lights? Would something like this do, or am i mistaking?

http://www.horticulturesource.com/ecoplus-50-amp-timer-box-comes-with-ecoplus-digital-timer-734105-p1970/?osCsid=1117e126369ce62818c7d3cdeb846aed

Depending on what kind of service is in the house already, and how many slots are left unused on your box you might be able to get it wired up impermanently so that it can be returned to its original state by simply removing the lengths of wire that have been run to your grow area. A sub panel's maximum load is determined by how many slots on the main panel it's occupying so again that depends on what's there already. Only a licensed electrician looking at it first hand could tell you if its possible. You could always get a free estimate. Good luck but don't get in over your head.

Edit: You could possibly get a whole new circuit split off from the meter, instead of at the main panel? Not sure about that one

houses arent run on 110/220!! Its 120/240 sometimes 120/208 that house wasnt built in 2004 if it has 110/220...

epicseeds said:

Is there no product I can buy in a hydro store to help me safely run all these lights? Would something like this do, or am i mistaking?

http://www.horticulturesource.com/ecoplus-50-amp-timer-box-comes-with-ecoplus-digital-timer-734105-p1970/?osCsid=1117e126369ce62818c7d3cdeb846aed

Click to expand...

Yes, this would work your would just need to wire a single 50 amp circuit from your panel to a 220v dryer outlet. Mount the outlet where you need and rock and roll.

FYI you could also set up 2 flower rooms, with 3 ballasts running 6 lights through relays. One room is on, one room is off at all times, switching when your 12 hour mark comes around. A bit more efficient maybe.

Tyrannabudz said:

Yes, this would work your would just need to wire a single 50 amp circuit from your panel to a 220v dryer outlet. Mount the outlet where you need and rock and roll.

Click to expand...

Awesome! This shouldn't be too hard then! Does anyone have any experience with these types of products? Is there a certain brand to look for?

would like to retract my statement about volts in the house maybe some are 110/220 but did he say what his house volts even were

epicseeds said:

Awesome! This shouldn't be too hard then! Does anyone have any experience with these types of products? Is there a certain brand to look for?

Click to expand...

this is starting to turn out bad i dont think you need any more info. Do you even know how to wire up a device? And ground out the circuit so you dont have an open ground? I didnt look at the product but i think it would be better to hire someone who knows what they are doing. Not something you should mess with high.

Residental voltage in the US is 120/240v with a tolerance of +/-10%. 120/240 are what we call the nominal voltages.

Even though I don't think this was suggested, I feel obligated to mention this every time I see this topic pop up. Under no circumstances are you to remove a given breaker and simply replace it with a larger one. For example, if you have a 20amp breaker in your panel and it keeps tripping, don't go down to your local hardware store and buy a 30 amp and put it in. The wire in the wall for the 20 amp circuit isn't big enough. For a 15 amp circuit you need at least 14 gauge wire. For a 20 amp circuit you need at least 12 gauge. For a 30 amp circuit you need at least 10 gauge wire. You also need to match the outlet/plug to the circuit. Meaning pretty much every appliance in a home except for things like stoves and dryers can only be plugged into a 15 or 20 amp circuit. All those outlets in a home with the 2 parallel prongs are 15 amp plugs. It gets confusing because there is a weird exception in the National Electric Code where you can put 15 amp receptacles on 20 amps circuits.

For 6000w you are talking a minimun of 4 seperate 20 amp circuits to divide the load between. Like someone else mentioned, it is common practice to only run a circuit to 80% of its max wattage. A subpanel is probably going to be your best option, but that will require the work of an electrician.

greenesthaze said:

this is starting to turn out bad i dont think you need any more info. Do you even know how to wire up a device? And ground out the circuit so you dont have an open ground? I didnt look at the product but i think it would be better to hire someone who knows what they are doing. Not something you should mess with high.

Click to expand...

I am merely trying to learn here man. Isn't that the point of this forum? I guess I should have mentioned from the beginning that I will not be doing this myself, but rather with my father who has done these sorts of things before.

I would just like to understand the basics. And what I have learned so far is one can simply purchase that product and most of the work is done.

The main thing though is whatever the final solution is...it needs to be moderately removable and uninstallable.