50 amp timer box re- wire

So what I've got on my hands is a 50 amp timer box, the boxes set up to run 8 240v lights. Now I dont run this many lights, so now 4 of the 8 plugs are not going to anything. that is 20 whole amps @ 240v that I could be using to run other things like de-humidifier, CO2, res pumps, air pumps, fans etc..but which are all rated for 120v. so now my problem arises

What I am trying to do here is take the exsisting 20 amps @ 240v and rewire it into 2 120v lines rated @ 10amps ea. i've looked online at a few different places but have been unable to find some sort of schematic diagram. if you could help that would be great. thanks in advance

-smoke-

SmokeMedprop215 said:

So what I've got on my hands is a 50 amp timer box, the boxes set up to run 8 240v lights. Now I dont run this many lights, so now 4 of the 8 plugs are not going to anything. that is 20 whole amps @ 240v that I could be using to run other things like de-humidifier, CO2, res pumps, air pumps, fans etc..but which are all rated for 120v. so now my problem arises

What I am trying to do here is take the exsisting 20 amps @ 240v and rewire it into 2 120v lines rated @ 10amps ea. i've looked online at a few different places but have been unable to find some sort of schematic diagram. if you could help that would be great. thanks in advance

-smoke-

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ill try and help you out rea\l quick i gtg in a few mins but tell me what wattage lights you are currently using, i thought you knew what you were doing until i read your second paragraph

my goal is to prevent you from injuring / possibly killing yourself and to keep you from burning your house down...

take the easy way and buy 240 to 120 converters.,...

if i understand what your asking, you want to convert your 240v output into 120v?
you can get a voltage converter.

http://www.voltageconverters.com/voltage_converters.html

GrowDog said:

if i understand what your asking, you want to convert your 240v output into 120v?
you can get a voltage converter.

http://www.voltageconverters.com/voltage_converters.html

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yeah he might need more than one...

oh really I thought that they might make something like that but how safe are they? I know what I'm doing but I dont bla bla... lol I just want to be sure %100 that what I'm doing is much more than suffecient.. I"ll check out the converters but would really like to hard wire it

after further Investigation on the voltage converters I would like to hard wire it I'm pretty sure that If I take the red"hot" and the black"hot" wire and split them. then take the common and ground to each of those then I can wire in some 120v receptacles ??? is that right......

SmokeMedprop215 said:

after further Investigation on the voltage converters I would like to hard wire it I'm pretty sure that If I take the red"hot" and the black"hot" wire and split them. then take the common and ground to each of those then I can wire in some 120v receptacles ??? is that right......

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are you serious?? you are going to burn down your house and maybe yourself. splitting the wiring will give you two 240 volt lines. buy voltage converters, make sure they're rated for the amps you'll be drawing, and sleep in peace.

desertrat said:

are you serious?? you are going to burn down your house and maybe yourself. splitting the wiring will give you two 240 volt lines. buy voltage converters, make sure they're rated for the amps you'll be drawing, and sleep in peace.

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yeah depending on if they are 180 out of phase or not you could be getting 240 at 120 hz , or even 480v..... yeah you would burn your house down

what are you talking about. Taking one hot wire from a 240 circuit and connecting it thru a switch or receptacle to a return does not give you a 240 circuit. It is common for dryers to have heating elements that operate on 220 and motors that operate on 110. As a matter of fact the 50 amp breaker is a common stove outlet, the heating element operates at 220, the fan, light etc operate at 110. How do they do that???VV

I know that it can be done most of you have got a 200amp box on your house and the power is broke down off of that.. and you really think that I'm gona burn down the house... cmon I'm not a tard I know that if i have 240V and somehow get two lines out of if that it will be 120v +120V =240v

This can be done depending on the actual power source. Many here are right, incredibly dangerous if your unsure about the source. Are you plugged into a 240V outlet? And is this just a residence? Or are you dealing with 3 Phase power?

There are other considerations, the box may be rated for a total of 50 amps, but is your source rated for 50 amps? The weakest link is what everything is rated for in terms of amperage. If your at a residence and plugged into a 240 volt outlet then yes, dividing the red and black, and taking either to ground will likely get you 120 volts.

There is no possible way you will get 240 volts at 120 Hz... unless you call up the power company and ask them to run their generator twice as fast.... the most you will get is what you already have... 240 at 60 hz, it sounds like you have a single phase source, and unless you have the means to modulate the frequency your stuck with 60 hz.

This is all under the assumption you have a single phase source... if you something other than a nominal residence voltage... like if you had a shop out back and ran 3 phase motors, then you have many other considerations to make.

SmokeMedprop215 said:

I'm not a tard I know that if i have 240V and somehow get two lines out of if that it will be 120v +120V =240v

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If you split the wires (not literally split, connect them to 2 others), you would get two 240v circuits which could take up to 50A between them, splitting the wires does not alter the potential difference (another term for voltage) as the voltage still cycles between +120v and -120v. To alter that you need a transformer or adapter. Do you think electricity companies would use large, expensive substations to alter the voltage if it was as simple as joining or dividing wires?
You do know how electricity works, don't you? With you not being a 'tard and all.

Of course you can, and since it is a single power wire that your using in your new circuit the phases the power comes in at doesn't matter. Not sure what having wired my own 200amp service has to do with it though. VV

Let me explain this. When you hang your meter on the pole the power company runs three wires to it. Two of them are hot wires, 1 of then is a return wire and you supply a separete grounding wire. The two hot wires get connected at the top and allow you to pull 240 volts by using a di-ploe breaker. If you take one of those wires off the breaker your circuit will be just like any other 110volt circuit. You need both hot wires to make a 240volt circuit. I installed the pole, the grounding rods and grounding wire, the meter and the service panel along with the breakers and all of the wiring in this room, I passed inspection the first time. I would not give advice that would burn your house down.
Both of the hot wires are pulled from the same feed, they are in phase cause they have the same source. VV

VictorVIcious said:

Let me explain this. When you hang your meter on the pole the power company runs three wires to it. Two of them are hot wires, 1 of then is a return wire and you supply a separete grounding wire. The two hot wires get connected at the top and allow you to pull 240 volts by using a di-ploe breaker. If you take one of those wires off the breaker your circuit will be just like any other 110volt circuit. You need both hot wires to make a 240volt circuit. I installed the pole, the grounding rods and grounding wire, the meter and the service panel along with the breakers and all of the wiring in this room, I passed inspection the first time. I would not give advice that would burn your house down.
Both of the hot wires are pulled from the same feed, they are in phase cause they have the same source. VV

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+rep for victor explaining it in laymen terms... if your at a residence and you have 240 volt power, its coming from a single phase source, shifted 180 degrees... each line has its own 120 Volt to ground potential. Anyone who wants to test this can find a 240 volt outlet at home, put a volt meter in both "spades" and you will get 240 volts, take any single spade to ground and you will get 120 volts. Your home is typically wired with 4 colors of wire. Black, Red, White, and Green. Green is strictly a grounding conductor, it is never meant to carry current unless something shorts. The white is considered your neutral, it is a grounded conductor, but NOT a groundING conductor... the red and black are ungrounded conductors and out of phase 180 degrees to provide you 240 volts from phase to phase. These values are all RMS values.... your electricity at home actually peaks at 170 volts on each phase.... however because it is pulsing at 60 times per second between 170 volts, and 0 volts, you only get an effective voltage of 120 Volts to ground.

Wallah... electrical theory 101...

Sorry, American sockets are obviously wired differently to British ones. We have 3 wires, one live, one grounded and one grounding. All our household electricity is 240v, 110 is generally used in construction and maintenance as it's a bit safer.
Didn't mean to spread bad info, sorry folks.

Infamous and Victor are right; in residential electricity in the U.S. each hot wire gets you 120 volts.

His best bet might be to add a service panel after the timer. He could add a 50 amp panel and distribute that 50 amps any way he wants- 120 or 240 just so long as he didn't exceed 50 amps.

cleef said:

Infamous and Victor are right; in residential electricity in the U.S. each hot wire gets you 120 volts.

His best bet might be to add a service panel after the timer. He could add a 50 amp panel and distribute that 50 amps any way he wants- 120 or 240 just so long as he didn't exceed 50 amps.

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The problem with that is he can't run anything else during light off periods. I'd scrap the 50 amp timer and put in a sub panel with 3 15 amp circuits and use timers from there.

I posted some pics of the timer box that I have . this box plugs into the range which is on a 50 amp breaker. havent opened it up yet cause I wanted to know If I could convert it. thanks for explaining it I think that I got it but i'm gonna open it up and take some more pics so that we are
%100 sure that its right thanks

Yeah, get a picture with the cover off. I've never used a box like that, so it's hard to say what's inside it. It looks like you might be able to exchange the breakers.