Breaker started randomly tripping.

I'm 3 months into a grow and everything's going good except the past few days my two 600 watt lights have been tripping and shutting off. I have them plugged into one timer (good for 1800 watts) and the timers plugged into a 25 foot extension cord that runs to a different part of the building. I pictured the cord. And I examined it very closely for damage it seems fine. The part that plugs into the wall is starting to yellow tho from heating up I presume? Can anyone give me insight as to why this might be happening. Is the cord just starting to fail from having 1200 watts run through it 12 hours a day? Should I replace the cord? Or maybe try to split the 600 watts up and power the other 600 off a different socket. I'm in Canada so the walls sockets are 120v pretty sure.

12ga should be able to handle 20a at most, you are using 1200w so at 120v that is around 10a. Not sure how much the units surge when turned on, but i assume you are on a 15a breaker? You might need to seperate the lights...

Power is something that I'm always very careful with. Any doubts and please consult proffessional. I've been in a burning house. You don't want a housefire. Don't play with electricity!

a senile fungus said:

12ga should be able to handle 20a at most, you are using 1200w so at 120v that is around 10a. Not sure how much the units surge when turned on, but i assume you are on a 15a breaker? You might need to seperate the lights...

Power is something that I'm always very careful with. Any doubts and please consult proffessional. I've been in a burning house. You don't want a housefire. Don't play with electricity!

Click to expand...

So my current cord should still be fine Than?

what lights are you using?

Your definitely drawing more amps using that longer power cord.i would split them up or put them both on a dedicated 240v breaker to be safer.i dont like the sounds of that plug changing color and getting hot,not good imo.

LouisB said:

So my current cord should still be fine Than?

Click to expand...

Obviously not if it is flipping breakers...

Why dont you try trouble shooting this. Plug your 600s separately into an outlet and see if any breakers flip. Then use the extension cord and see what changes. If your cord is changing colors then replace it, or figure out a way not to use one at all. Plan this out. Dont play around with electricity, you'll get burned.

It could also be your timer that is fucking up. I would never used a normal household timer for a heavy duty, high amperage application like powering high intensity discharge lighting.

Proper equipment, dedicated circuits, and prior planning will alleviate your electrical and safety issues.

LouisB said:

So my current cord should still be fine Than?

Click to expand...

id trash that cord if its 'yellowing'.electrical fires dont play.yes,like senile said,split those lights.

LouisB said:

So my current cord should still be fine Than?

Click to expand...

no, its probably 18-20g braid and that is why it is getting hot. FIRE ALERT

what else is on the circuit? if you have a pc, tv, xbox plugged in, you are pulling too many amps and overloading the circuit.

a senile fungus said:

Obviously not if it is flipping breakers...

Why dont you try trouble shooting this. Plug your 600s separately into an outlet and see if any breakers flip. Then use the extension cord and see what changes. If your cord is changing colors then replace it, or figure out a way not to use one at all. Plan this out. Dont play around with electricity, you'll get burned.

It could also be your timer that is fucking up. I would never used a normal household timer for a heavy duty, high amperage application like powering high intensity discharge lighting.

Proper equipment, dedicated circuits, and prior planning will alleviate your electrical and safety issues.

Click to expand...

The timers a titan grow timer. And I have each available circuit dedicated to one thing nothing's being over juiced. This setup worked fine for months this just started happening leads me to assume something's starting to fail. To trouble shoot id have to go buy the 100 dollar extension cord anyways so I may as well Brain storm first

cat of curiosity said:

no, its probably 18-20g braid and that is why it is getting hot. FIRE ALERT

what else is on the circuit? if you have a pc, tv, xbox plugged in, you are pulling too many amps and overloading the circuit.

Click to expand...

Only those two lights are on that circuit. And it held the power fine for months

Pjten said:

Your definitely drawing more amps using that longer power cord.i would split them up or put them both on a dedicated 240v breaker to be safer.i dont like the sounds of that plug changing color and getting hot,not good imo.

Click to expand...

the cord does not pull amps. when it comes to electrical, don't comment unless you KNOW EXACTLY what you're talking about. your cord statement is relatively benign, but some wayward info is extremely dangerous as electricity can KILL YOU, and bad wiring can cause fires which can KILL YOU!!!

always best to find a professional if you are at all unsure

cat of curiosity said:

the cord does not pull amps. when it comes to electrical, don't comment unless you KNOW EXACTLY what you're talking about. your cord statement is relatively benign, but some wayward info is extremely dangerous as electricity can KILL YOU, and bad wiring can cause fires which can KILL YOU!!!

always best to find a professional if you are at all unsure

Click to expand...

cat of curiosity said:

the cord does not pull amps. when it comes to electrical, don't comment unless you KNOW EXACTLY what you're talking about. your cord statement is relatively benign, but some wayward info is extremely dangerous as electricity can KILL YOU, and bad wiring can cause fires which can KILL YOU!!!

always best to find a professional if you are at all unsure

Click to expand...

Hoping there's one on here lol. And when I split the lights I'll need an even longer cord but then it will only be 600 watts running off. It's Own circuit

LouisB said:

Only those two lights are on that circuit. And it held the power fine for months

Click to expand...

your breaker might be starting to shit the bed.doesnt matter,youve got a dangerous situation going on.your cord has already given you that warning by yellowing.id split those lights up and stay away from cords

LouisB said:

Only those two lights are on that circuit. And it held the power fine for months

Click to expand...

so no overhead lights? no fans? air pumps? if that is the case please answer the following?

did you install the circuit?

what gauge wire is on the circuit?

how many receps on the circuit?

what is the size of the breaker, and who is the manufacturer? (square D, etc)

you may have a ground short on a recep, check your wiring. you may have heat degradation in the cord, causing open/short which will trip the breaker.

instead of a hundred dollar extension cord, consider buying a 100' roll of 12g romex and a male/female end (or recep/s box) for fifteen bucks.

LouisB said:

Hoping there's one on here lol. And when I split the lights I'll need an even longer cord but then it will only be 600 watts running off. It's Own circuit

Click to expand...

i am an electrician

LouisB said:

The timers a titan grow timer. And I have each available circuit dedicated to one thing nothing's being over juiced. This setup worked fine for months this just started happening leads me to assume something's starting to fail. To trouble shoot id have to go buy the 100 dollar extension cord anyways so I may as well Brain storm first

Click to expand...

Ok, so it probably isnt the timer than.

The cord shouldn't be $100... you could buy 100ft of 12ga, 3 conductor, and a few male and female plugs and make your own for cheaper, if you're confident/competant enough to do that.

It could be your breaker. Taking your whole setup and running it off anoher breaker would confirm that. Or maybe the existing wiring within the circuit is too small. Smallest wiring is always your bottleneck.

Im thinking this is a circuit wiring issue, or the breaker itself. Need more info though, and I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN. WE NEED ONE IN THREAD THOUGH.

cat of curiosity said:

i am an electrician

Click to expand...

Oh goody! How conveniant. Take everything i say with the knowledge that i learned most of this from youtube.

cat of curiosity said:

so no overhead lights? no fans? air pumps? if that is the case please answer the following?

did you install the circuit?

what gauge wire is on the circuit?

how many receps on the circuit?

what is the size of the breaker, and who is the manufacturer? (square D, etc)

you may have a ground short on a recep, check your wiring. you may have heat degradation in the cord, causing open/short which will trip the breaker.

instead of a hundred dollar extension cord, consider buying a 100' roll of 12g romex and a male/female end (or recep/s box) for fifteen bucks.

Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on that last part someone just tried explaining that same thing to me and I've never heard of that, it's like make your own extension cord?

is it a 15a or 20a breaker?

cat of curiosity said:

so no overhead lights? no fans? air pumps? if that is the case please answer the following?

did you install the circuit?

what gauge wire is on the circuit?

how many receps on the circuit?

what is the size of the breaker, and who is the manufacturer? (square D, etc)

you may have a ground short on a recep, check your wiring. you may have heat degradation in the cord, causing open/short which will trip the breaker.

instead of a hundred dollar extension cord, consider buying a 100' roll of 12g romex and a male/female end (or recep/s box) for fifteen bucks.

Click to expand...

Also let me break it down for You, I'm in an apartment. Using one room of the apartment. Three lights. One 1000w 2 600w. 1 hurricane 115 w van 3 little fans for air movement. In the rest of the apartment 1 tv, 1 ps4 1 lamp, phone charger. Nothing else plugged in anywhere.