IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
easy... but first you have to tell me the voltage the autotransformer is plugged into, and what voltage coming out of it, and the wattage or amperage of the fans
A Bored Electrician to Answer Your Questions
- Thread starter IAm5toned
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IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
ok.. you asked for it.
how many circular mils should the neutral conductor be on a 3phase, open delta 120/240/208v continous duty service entry conductor sized for 2000amp service? the length of the wire is 212 feet.
jats
Well-Known Member
Hey IAm5toned,,,, I have many issues with power at my place,,,,the washing machine can trip the fuse box to off.. I have managed to work around this for my last couple of small grows I use 2 x 600w HID and 1x 400w HID plus 2 x100w cfl and 1 500 w cfl also about 4 LEDs and 4 x standing fans and an inline fan for extraction,,, I need to expand my flower room I would like to be using 4 x 600w HIDs....and a 400w HID plus all the cfls and fans (( for my veg space)),,maybe an air conditioner.. but with what I've got now,,if I don't have the lights staggered then the fuse box switches it all off..its a major pain and is stopping me expanding
My question is this... I need to get a sparky in for some rewiring and I wondered if they can fix the fuse problem without having to go any where near my grow room ((so I don't have to take it down and they don't need to know it's there)) .... the fuse box is out the front and the g r is out back so unless they have to rewire the whole place????
What do you think might need to happen???
My question is this... I need to get a sparky in for some rewiring and I wondered if they can fix the fuse problem without having to go any where near my grow room ((so I don't have to take it down and they don't need to know it's there)) .... the fuse box is out the front and the g r is out back so unless they have to rewire the whole place????
What do you think might need to happen???
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
well when your fuse box trips, what breaker is tripping? is it one of the branch circuit breakers (the small ones) or is it the main service disconnect? (the big one)
323cheezy
Well-Known Member
well if there is enuff space on your servicefor another breaker(20 amp)....
you could just run a special circuit just for the washer and dryer.....
Code states a washer or dryer should have a cicuit just for that receptacle....
if the circuit begans in your grow room and end in your washing room ...
you could just have the electrician run a new circuit just for the dryer and washer.... so then you wont need them to rewire your grow room....
and just use the circuit your using for both for just your grow room.....
lets hope your gro room uses less than 20 amps or you could run a couple circuits there....
rigght?
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
lol... ive been in the trade for 15 years on the books. off the books closer to 18 years. my old man is an electrician, his old man, and his old man's old man before that were all electricians. went to school for 4years and did a 5 year apprenticeship. along the way i picked up licenses for both commercial and residential security, fire, and lowvoltage systems. ive worked on high rise buildings, huge automated factories, gianormous churches, tiny houses, 10 million$ mansions with saferooms and indoor pools, state buildings and just about every type of common structure and enviroment in between. ive also had some experience in medium and high voltage terminations. lol i started at the very bottom of the barrel fetching tools and digging ditches by hand, my last project managed was 34 story proprietary life safety system (fire and security and access combined with building management and cctv) valued at 5.8 million and took a 25man crew working 3 shifts to complete.
just been in it my whole life, its all i know and since i started very young ive had a chance to see the trade from alot of different angles, and gain alot of experience along the way, while working alongside some of the best in the business. if it wasnt for other people teaching me things i wouldnt know a damn thing
)
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
his lights alone are pulling greater than 2300w, which is too much for a single 20amp circuit
I don't have access to the fans to get the wattages, they belong to a friend. I'll get that info to calculate how low he can safely reduce the voltage when i talk to him next.
I'm more interested right now in the power supplied by the variac. Is there any kind of feedback issue or other concern when connecting more than one device to the unit?
The transformer on your hydro pole steps down the voltage to several legs of 110v for example, and from there we can break it into as many ciruits as needed to supply multiple devices, within the rated limit of the main breaker and individual curcuits of course.
Does the power from an autotransformer behave the same way? Can you just plug in a power strip and supply several small devices with 75 volts for example, as long as you've calculated that their combined draw won't exceed the rating of power supplied by the autotransformer?
FreeLeaf
Active Member
Thank you for taking the time to write such an informative post 5toned.
It is much appreciated by everyone.
It almost sounds like running a 1000w lamp on a 1000w ballast is not only inefficent but borders on having the ballast fry. Maybe I would be better off running a 750w lamp on the 1000w ballast.
It is much appreciated by everyone.
It almost sounds like running a 1000w lamp on a 1000w ballast is not only inefficent but borders on having the ballast fry. Maybe I would be better off running a 750w lamp on the 1000w ballast.
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your kinda screwed....
your main breaker is tripping because you are trying to use an amount of power that is greater than the wires coming in from the street are designed for...
your grow room setup is a firetrap. id strongly advise you to hire a professional contractor to upgrade the size of your electrical service. typically upgrading a service involves doubling the ampacity.. in other words if you currently have a 100 amp panel your going to need to get a 200amp panel and the wire required to feed it safely from the power companies connection... this is no small job, and only for a professional.
323cheezy
Well-Known Member
ohms law
amps x volt = watts
is this true
i guess if he ran 240 instead of a 120v circuit .....
wouldnt he be able to run more watts???
its been awh...ile
323cheezy
Well-Known Member
correct ....
a new service may be needed....
youll have to trn of the power from the electric company .... most ser\vices can be done in one day for around 1000 dollars.....
or could he run a sub panel .....???
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
the purpose of an autotransformer is to physically and electrically isolate whatever is connected to it, while providing clean filtered power. you cannot get 'feedback' through an autotransformer.
however what you need to be concerned with is the wattage of the fans combined greater than the wattage available from the autotransformer?11 amps @ 110vac provides 1210watts. if the combined wattage of the fans is less than this number your good to go. if it is greater than this figure it will overheat the autotrans and cause a component failure.
always use wattage to compute elctrical loads, never amperage.
wattage is calcualted like this:
W=IxE
Watts = Amperage x Voltage
1210w= 11amps x 110vac
if your motor pulls, say 3.5 amps the wattage would be:
385w = 3.5 amps x 110vac
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
no, running a sub panel is just moving the breakers from the main to panel to another location. the same amount of power is still being used, and will still trip the main breaker
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
the amperage of your service is the size of the biggest breaker in the panel