Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions

BigBudBalls said:

the main diff between a mh and hps ballast s the hps ballast has the igniter. the switchable (non digtals) basically just bypass the igniter.

wyteboi, does the light come instantly or does it 'warm up'?

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mine? i use all magnetic ballast so they "warm up" ...... everytime i turn around somebody is havin problems with their digital ballast so i will stick to magnetic. yes i have noticed the MH ones dont have the ignitor . So u are saying a hps will not fire up in a MH ballast? hmmm that does make sense .
i was just sharing my experience , i have it all proper now.

I appreciate your insight in advance and thanks for offering your advice.

Here is my situation....

I was giving electrical work a try today by adding another outlet in a more ideal location.

In testing the outlet the black(hot) wire hit the side of the outlet box. It sparked and I immediately turned off the circuit.

In and around the same time that this happened (I cannot be certain the above caused the below but most likely it did).

I have a 100AMP box that runs 7 15amp circuits to my room (6K watts plus lots of heaters). Of the 7 circuits, 4 of them seem to be dead or not working. I tried turning the breakers on and off but they never came back on. Oddly 3 seem to be working fine.

Does anybody have any insight on what I might have done????? I would like to get my circuits working as soon as possible so life can go on and I don't want this to be a big ordeal and I don't know any electricians who I can show my space too.

Your insight is appreciated.

bmiquet said:

I appreciate your insight in advance and thanks for offering your advice.

Here is my situation....

I was giving electrical work a try today by adding another outlet in a more ideal location.

In testing the outlet the black(hot) wire hit the side of the outlet box. It sparked and I immediately turned off the circuit.

In and around the same time that this happened (I cannot be certain the above caused the below but most likely it did).

I have a 100AMP box that runs 7 15amp circuits to my room (6K watts plus lots of heaters). Of the 7 circuits, 4 of them seem to be dead or not working. I tried turning the breakers on and off but they never came back on. Oddly 3 seem to be working fine.

Does anybody have any insight on what I might have done????? I would like to get my circuits working as soon as possible so life can go on and I don't want this to be a big ordeal and I don't know any electricians who I can show my space too.

Your insight is appreciated.

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Im not sure but it sounds like you might have blown the breakers. You might should wait for wyteboi or bigbudballs to answer you bc they are more experienced than me. Roland also knows his shit, but if it was me id just replace one of them and see if it works. 4 15 amp breakers should only cost you like 20 dollars.

bmiquet said:

I appreciate your insight in advance and thanks for offering your advice.

Here is my situation....

I was giving electrical work a try today by adding another outlet in a more ideal location.

In testing the outlet the black(hot) wire hit the side of the outlet box. It sparked and I immediately turned off the circuit.

In and around the same time that this happened (I cannot be certain the above caused the below but most likely it did).

I have a 100AMP box that runs 7 15amp circuits to my room (6K watts plus lots of heaters). Of the 7 circuits, 4 of them seem to be dead or not working. I tried turning the breakers on and off but they never came back on. Oddly 3 seem to be working fine.

Does anybody have any insight on what I might have done????? I would like to get my circuits working as soon as possible so life can go on and I don't want this to be a big ordeal and I don't know any electricians who I can show my space too.

Your insight is appreciated.

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Glad u didn't get hurt ...

Don't Play with Electricity ,... haha

Blowing one circuit .. shouldn't affect any other circuit

look at the plugs in the circuit before the one that was shorted and look for any burning .. and check for continuity and Turn the POWER off !!! when working on wires ...

One other thought .. could you have tripped a GFI ?

hey bmi ,
first off 6k plus heaters in one room ... your the man!
second , just how many heaters do u have? and kinda describe um so i got an idea on how much juice they are pulling....
Roland is right in saying "Blowing one circuit .. shouldn't affect any other circuit" but somehow it happened and we gotta figure out why...... by any chance is it every other breaker that does not work? example : top breaker works , one right under it dont , the third one does an so on ?? if this is the case , you "blew up" one phase coming into that box ..... it could be just as simple as : one side of the 100 main works and the other dont ? do u have a tester ... if so make sure BOTH screws on the main breaker are getting 110volts (or more) ..... then repost and let us know how things are going.....

I use a UPS battery backup for my 396gph pumps in case of electrical outage. It is now time to replace the batteries. It take two small (motorcycle battery size) batteries, 12V, 7amp. Can I somehow use a big RV deep cycle battery instead? Longer life, etc.

Thanks for the insight gents. I am making progress but not there yet, your continued insight is appreciated.

Of the 7 breakers on the panel, 4 are out (including the one I fiddled with) and 3 work fine. All 15amp.

Six of the breaker have a 1000W light on it and some have a 300-500W heater and others have fans, etc. I figure each is running close to max at 12-14amps. That is how I set it up anyways.

I have jimmy rigged my op so that 4 of 6 lights are on including other key electrical like heating pads for clones etc. so I have bought myself a few hours to get the real issue resolved.

I am going to make a trip to the store to pick up some new breakers and a tester. The circuit box I have has 8 areas for circuits and I have two free spots. I am thinking I will start by getting two more 15AMP breakers and move two of the critical not working ones to those, then I can tackle the broken ones. Make sense?

Something interesting. I had a spare breaker and I swapped it with one of the not working ones and it still didn't work????? What could that mean?

Please let me know your thoughts and insights on next steps.

I should also mention my panel is 100amps and is a pony panel that comes off the main power.

I am not sure exactly what a GFI is but I don't think I have one on this panel and I don't think I tripped one. How can I be certain?

Also, someone recommended that I might have blown something inside the main meter box that has a wax security bracket. Could that be possible?

mi, why did it spark when you were working on it? Missed rule #1: turn off the power and *verify* that its off.

I have wired up wall switches live. But I'll use the rubber gloves (the ones for elec work)

You should have just tripped a breaker in the normal panel, not inside the utilities company. If thats not it, its possible yo *might* have blown off a loose connection _somewhere_ along the run. (if you are just tapping off to add this outlet)

I don't mean to sound like a prick, but I think you are in over your head. Just looking out for ya. Got a buddy that knows this stuff? (but then that kinda breaks rule 1 of growing, don't tell anyone)

haikubutthead
Maybe you can. Recharging lead acid batteries is typically at 10% of the rated output current and a few volts over the batteries output voltage.
What I would do for a el Cheapo, is get new batteries, a extra one or two. Charge them up normally, swap out for the extra. Once they are all charged up, the charging circuit won't be overly taxed maintaining all them, so you can tie them together for a longer run time. But the prob is if the power comes back up when you aren't there. A little relay logic can put a safeguard for that.

do i need a relay for a 600 watt hps if its only the one bulb? 13 amp timer and plug

GFI = GFCI ( Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor ) like you see in bathrooms .. that have 2 little buttons .. one says test .. the other says reset .. push in the

reset .. also do you have power strips ? .. they also have built in overload protection and there is usually a reset button .... did you reset the main breaker ?

Even though they are 2 pole .. and should trip both phases if overloaded .. they sometimes only trip one of the two .. try resetting MAIN ... other than that ...

I'd say ... make friends with an electrician that smokes .... Man I wish I could take a look at it before giving too much advice

doobie_brother said:

do i need a relay for a 600 watt hps if its only the one bulb? 13 amp timer and plug

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A relay is just a switch ... that is usually connected to some type of sensor ... ( humidity .. temp. , ..... CO2 etc) they can be 110 or low voltage .. depending on how it's set up

for instance a humidity sensor/controller with 110 output allows u to plug a fan into sensor and when the humidity reaches certain level ..your 110V device comes on

so .. the short answer is ..u don't need a relay to turn on a light from a timer ...

13 amps on a 15 amp circuit is a lot (125% of 13 amps = 18.75 .... u need a 20 amp circuit for that) ...u can get breakers that are rated for 100% of maximum allowable current (for continuous load

hey bricktown ive got a problem here just moved to a new place. theres 2 breaker boxes on e at the front house and another in my house ( the back house ) there are 6 gauge wires going into the breakers now with 60 amp and im trying to run 8000w but was told i couldn't. so what do u think my situation is right now? i have 80 clones now in 16oz cup under a 1000w and i need to finish up before they take over that cup. please help
if i could run 220 with that white box ( holds 8 220 plug at 40 amps ) thats what the hydro guy says then i cool with that too!

1ostbo1z said:

hey bricktown ive got a problem here just moved to a new place. theres 2 breaker boxes on e at the front house and another in my house ( the back house ) there are 6 gauge wires going into the breakers now with 60 amp and im trying to run 8000w but was told i couldn't. so what do u think my situation is right now? i have 80 clones now in 16oz cup under a 1000w and i need to finish up before they take over that cup. please help
if i could run 220 with that white box ( holds 8 220 plug at 40 amps ) thats what the hydro guy says then i cool with that too!

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one 60amp panel is not enough for 8000 and both 60 amp panels is pushin it if u plan on living there....appliances....ect...
plus A/C for all them lights.
now if u run them all 220 (thats 16 breaker spaces) then u can do it. thats just alot of light for 80! i would say 4 1000's topps. do u have 16 available spots in your breaker boxes ?

1ostbo1z said:

hey bricktown ive got a problem here just moved to a new place. theres 2 breaker boxes on e at the front house and another in my house ( the back house ) there are 6 gauge wires going into the breakers now with 60 amp and im trying to run 8000w but was told i couldn't. so what do u think my situation is right now? i have 80 clones now in 16oz cup under a 1000w and i need to finish up before they take over that cup. please help
if i could run 220 with that white box ( holds 8 220 plug at 40 amps ) thats what the hydro guy says then i cool with that too!

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I started to give you a reasonable answer and it kept getting longer and longer .. then I started adding safety issues ....

so I deleted it .....

haha ...I don't have time to interpret and explain the code ..haha that'd take years

So .. 60 amp is to your subpanel .. which appareantly supplies the (back house ) ... u can run 2 - 220 V lights .. with ballasts on a 15 amp 220 circuit .....


but you need to consider the total load on the 60 amp panel ...... Like wyteboi said above ^^

You can run 3 - 1000 W lights on a 20 amp circuit ... it requires # 12 wire for a 20 amp circuit


Good Luck ... be safe !!! .........

I'm reluctant to give you too much ..advice ... I don't want anyone to get hurt or have a fire .........

Roland, I added up my total AMPS used. This is worst case scenario. I came up with just under 80 amps. I installed a 100 amp sub panel fed from a 200 amp main panel. The only thing I did not add to the equation was a 2hp chiller and water pump. I am not sure if I am going to go that route. Isnt there a "rule of thumb" as to not to exceed 80% of the feed?

Oh yeah, and why do I hear so much about "throwing up red flags" if our power bill is too high? If we pay it, and assuming that what we are doing is legal then why worry?
I have read that there is a concern with todays new smart meters.
Is this a valid concern? Are we to believe that the power companies and the law are in cahoots?

wyteboi said:

hey bmi ,
first off 6k plus heaters in one room ... your the man!
second , just how many heaters do u have? and kinda describe um so i got an idea on how much juice they are pulling....
Roland is right in saying "Blowing one circuit .. shouldn't affect any other circuit" but somehow it happened and we gotta figure out why...... by any chance is it every other breaker that does not work? example : top breaker works , one right under it dont , the third one does an so on ?? if this is the case , you "blew up" one phase coming into that box ..... it could be just as simple as : one side of the 100 main works and the other dont ? do u have a tester ... if so make sure BOTH screws on the main breaker are getting 110volts (or more) ..... then repost and let us know how things are going.....

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wyteboi

You hit the nail on the head

1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8

is the breaker formation in the box. 1,2,5,6 work fine and the other four don't. I am going to get a tester tomorrow, but I assume your hypothesis is true. Assuming so what would I do next?

Thanks

Had a question or two for whoever wishes to chime in.

I'm bringing in a 100A sub-panel into my basement with a #2 Aluminum feeder line. The main has 200A service, 20A of which is being used at any given time.

The first picture is of the sub-panel. My first questions are:

1. I couldn't fit the entire ground wire into one screw port, so I split it over two on the bus. Will this cause issues?

2. Should I cut the hot leads so they don't bow outwards or is my current setup alright?


As for the main panel, I plan to remove an unused 50A double pole breaker (as circled) and replace it with a 100A of the same brand to feed the basement.

1. I think I may be out of room for a ground/neutral line, how can I find which of them is unused?

2. Any foreseeable issues with this arrangement?

Thanks in advance.

80 % applies to continuous loads ... since your lights are on for mor than 3 straight hours you shoildn't exceed 80% of that circuit breakers maximum amperage

I don't think the chiller wold be considered continuously running ... the pump might be

U CAN get breakers that are rated for continuous maximum alllowable load .. is that including 220/230 V lighting ? ... 80 amps is a LOT of power

a 2 hp chiller = 760W x 2 = 1520 Watts ...@ 220 V .... 1520/220 = 6.9 amps