A Bored Electrician to Answer Your Questions

I wired it like this. The relay buzzes loudly. I put 7 & 8 to the photocell.(also tried 8&7) 1 to com and 3&5 to LED's. I got the wrong green LED, it's the 120VAC, will that matter? The red worked, but not green cause it's com is at the red's com. The 12V is .5A so that's plenty right? I must have something wrong here. I have the eye mounted inside so it should work. It's the green huh?
Also what is the best deal/value for a 250W HPS ballast kit (to run a CMH)? I found this one that sounds good. http://www.prolighting.com/soush250q-k.html Is Howard a good one? I couldn't find the wiring diagram from radio shack sry. The red works, then when I power the photocell it(relay) buzzes and the red goes out. Com to 3 red to 5, red comes on when photocell powers.
Daniels

IAm5toned said:

gotcha... dont 4get the 'eye' of the photocell must be inside your grow room.... its what activates the photocell

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Danielsgb said:

I wired it like this. The relay buzzes loudly. I put 7 & 8 to the photocell.(also tried 8&7) 1 to com and 3&5 to LED's. I got the wrong green LED, it's the 120VAC, will that matter? The red worked, but not green cause it's com is at the red's com. The 12V is .5A so that's plenty right? I must have something wrong here. I have the eye mounted inside so it should work. It's the green huh?
Also what is the best deal/value for a 250W HPS ballast kit (to run a CMH)? I found this one that sounds good. http://www.prolighting.com/soush250q-k.html Is Howard a good one? I couldn't find the wiring diagram from radio shack sry.
Daniels

Click to expand...

you may have damaged the relay by hooking the 120vac green led with 12vdc on it.. tho it is hard to say over the internet. give a min and let me find the specs for it.
i have an alternate solution for you about the green 120v LED if its still good- wire it to the same timer outlet as the ballast its what i would have done, and eliminated the red.
having the red LED is what complicates the design...

as far as the ballast, it looks like it would work fine for a CMH. dont 4get you will need some spade terminals to wire the ignitor and and cap tho.

IAm5toned said:

you may have damaged the relay by hooking the 120vac green led with 12vdc on it.. tho it is hard to say over the internet. give a min and let me find the specs for it.
i have an alternate solution for you about the green 120v LED if its still good- wire it to the same timer outlet as the ballast its what i would have done, and eliminated the red.
having the red LED is what complicates the design...

as far as the ballast, it looks like it would work fine for a CMH. dont 4get you will need some spade terminals to wire the ignitor and and cap tho.

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I was thinking of adding it to the green CFL. Then I could put 2 green 12V led's easy (or 1)

ok i looked at the relay, it should be fine... it might just be a bad one. or it might just be a cheap relay.
i could find a quiter one for yo if you want, but i hate to ask anyone to spend more money if they can avoid it.

So a loud buzzing is normal? I'll get 12V Green LED's and another relay and try again. It does look cool huh?

com to 5, green to 3, red to 1, the red works, photo cell powered and green works (I got the 12V) Maybe it is a bad one. Thanks

Hi, i just bought a 1000w ballast, i need to wire it to my cooltube, the ballast just comes with a 16 amp eic cable coming out with a plug like this attached http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Schurter-C19-1...item334ab74b51 , the cable coming out of the cooltube is eic but not 16 amp so the cable connectors dont match. would i be fine buying a 16 amp eic cable such as this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT
then cutting the wire just before the male part on it and attatching it to the bulb holder in the cooltube?
thanks

$piceM£rchant;4235848 said:

Hi, i just bought a 1000w ballast, i need to wire it to my cooltube, the ballast just comes with a 16 amp eic cable coming out with a plug like this attached http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Schurter-C19-1...item334ab74b51 , the cable coming out of the cooltube is eic but not 16 amp so the cable connectors dont match. would i be fine buying a 16 amp eic cable such as this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT
then cutting the wire just before the male part on it and attatching it to the bulb holder in the cooltube?
thanks

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thats exactly what i would do.... just take car to make sure your connections are good and tight, and use wirenuts plz

Danielsgb said:

So a loud buzzing is normal? I'll get 12V Green LED's and another relay and try again. It does look cool huh?View attachment 970143View attachment 970141View attachment 970144

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hell yea it looks cool! +rep

that relay buzzing, might just be a cheap relay... when you go back to radio shack or wherever your getting the parts from, ask the guy @ the counter if they have solid-state relays with the same specs as the one you already have.
a solid state relay has no moving parts to vibrate, so there virtually silent.
myself, i would have used an industrtrial grade relay, as there also pretty quiet, but there harder to come by, you would have to either order it online from a company like allen bradley or go to an industrial supplier like grainger supply. the price will be more for either a solid state or an industrial grade however...

Danielsgb said:

com to 5, green to 3, red to 1, the red works, photo cell powered and green works (I got the 12V) Maybe it is a bad one. Thanks

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I think I have it now. that was the 12V relay, so that's why it buzzed so loud. It failed when I checked the 12V green LED. I got the right relay today (275-0217 I think). plugged it in, the red works, but I have to wait till 10pm for lights on to make sure the green works. The 120V green is wired to the green CFL. Once again Thanks you made my fridge even cooler.
Daniels

Guess we were typing at the same time.
Daniels

It was 1 green 3 red 5 Com. I waited a few cycles to make sure it kept working. I put the project box lid on, duct taped the wiring so it's clean and organized. Thanks so much. It made the fridge even cooler. Pun intended. I'm gonna flip the Red so it points down so I can walk to it to turn the green CFL on without stubbing my toe again.
A rep from you was great. I loved to hear you approve. I learned a bit more on this one.
Daniels

glad to be of help man.
nothing pleases me more than helping someone learn something

Here's the final pics. Look what's in the fridge, and I can check them when the Bright red is on, with the Green CFL and it's green LED on.
I got all the wiring organized, and secured.
Daniels
.

as a new grower and much learned im still having problems with my weeds smelling stoke when i cut but after the drying process I dont' know what happens but it never never smells like the "good green bud smell". Ya know, instead it can tend to smell like weed mixed with grassy hay. But when I pinch the bud the smell gets better. I think it has something to do with my drying process????? JEANINE

jeanine-

are you curing the buds after they are dry?
a bud can take anywhere form a week to a month to hang dry, depending on local conditions, mainly ambeint temps and relative humidity, but thats not the end of the process!
inside the bud, there are volatile compounds (mainly chlorophyll and CBD's) that need to either evaporate, or oxidize into something else. the chlorophyll is what is causin the grassy smell and taste, and even gives some people a nasty headache. CBD's are cannaboid compunds, that though they do affect you, they tend to make most people drowsy and lethargic. some of these cbd's will decompose chemically into thc, which will add to the potency of the product.
curing is done is several ways, but the most common method is the glass cure, or plastic cure (plastic is used for large volumes, as its not practical to have 100's of mason jars laying around)
it involves sealing some buds inside an airtight container, like a mason jar, and just waiting for about a month or 2. it is a good idea to periodically 'burp' the jars, that is, to take the lids off and let the air inside exchange for fresh air. after 2 weeks, your buds will start to get that smell and texture you've been looking for.
some people say that the longer you cure a bed, the better if gets... but either way, curing is an art form and like anything else, takes practice to get it down right.
dont get discouraged!

New to this forum. Here is my question.

I would like to use the 220v dryer outlet in my bathroom (washer and dryer are in a different bathroom) to power a small cabinet (one 1000w and all accesories such as fans)

Can I build my own 220v to 110v panel without purchasing a "step down" converter? All my equipment is north american 110V
Sorry if its been posted a billion times ive done a search and found nothing

Something identical to this (if safe to use)

I got another one for ya.
I got a Philips MasterColor CMH bulb
MHC150/U/M/4K/ALTO
to change for my HPS bulb. I thought they use a non-digital HPS ballast. I found out that that wattage (the MHC, not CDM like my CDM250S50/HOR/4K/ALTO) needs a Metal Halide ballast. Can I convert my HPS to a MH for this? Maybe a pulse start issue I didn't get? Maybe a special cap/ignitor to make it pulse start?
On a side note the S50 in the CDM250S50/HOR/4K/ALTO bulb I got coming and the ANSI S50 of the ballast I asked about (and is coming) is what tells me it's the right one correct? Once again thanks in advance
Daniels

track said:

New to this forum. Here is my question.

I would like to use the 220v dryer outlet in my bathroom (washer and dryer are in a different bathroom) to power a small cabinet (one 1000w and all accesories such as fans)

Can I build my own 220v to 110v panel without purchasing a "step down" converter? All my equipment is north american 110V
Sorry if its been posted a billion times ive done a search and found nothing

Something identical to this (if safe to use)

Click to expand...

yes you can, but the dryer outlet in question would need to be a 3 wire w/ ground ( a 3 wire w/ground 220v receptacle has FOUR prongs. they are a newer type of 220v outlet.) if it is a 2 wire with ground (3 prongs) you will have problems with grounding.... the reason being is there is no neutral for a 120v circuit. the newer 4 prong outlets are perfect for this application however. pretty much a 40 amp (or whatever breaker/wire size you have in the panel) circuit for whatever you need.

Danielsgb said:

I got another one for ya.
I got a Philips MasterColor CMH bulb
MHC150/U/M/4K/ALTO
to change for my HPS bulb. I thought they use a non-digital HPS ballast. I found out that that wattage (the MHC, not CDM like my CDM250S50/HOR/4K/ALTO) needs a Metal Halide ballast. Can I convert my HPS to a MH for this? Maybe a pulse start issue I didn't get? Maybe a special cap/ignitor to make it pulse start?
On a side note the S50 in the CDM250S50/HOR/4K/ALTO bulb I got coming and the ANSI S50 of the ballast I asked about (and is coming) is what tells me it's the right one correct? Once again thanks in advance
Daniels

Click to expand...

yep, thats what the ansi code is for.
i googled the ansi on the MC lamp and it tells me its a non retrofit pulse start lamp. the retrofit lamp you already have, will run in a hps ballast... but thats not the case with the new lamp. it needs a special ignitor.

here is the spec sheet for a generic CMH ANSI M142/M102 ballast, on it are the specs for the ignitor and starter combo throw them on that 150w HPS ballast core and you now have a CMH ballast for cheap! tho the price for the same ballast is 45$ plus S&H. off the top of my head i have no idea what the ignitor/cap combo would cost. when ordering a cap, what you need to know is the microfarad rating, which looks like this: 17 Mfd ± 3% that is a 17 microfarad capacitor, with a correction factor of plus/minus 3%. you dont need to worry about the correction factor, just the microfarad rating.
when ordering an ignitor, there are 2 things you need to know, first, the part number... thats the important one, looks like this: 356-AS-71-HC its kinda like a VIN, as each digit means something or the other, lol. the other thing is the ballast to lamp distance. thats important in that if you exceed the ballast to lamp distance of the ignitor, the lamp will slow start or not start at all. most ignitors ballast to lamp distance is 5 feet, though they make some pretty big ones for remote ballasts. i have personally seen remote ballasts 300' from the lamp.


sorry guys, i would have got to these questions sooner, but ive been extra busy traveling for work....