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

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rich420ard

Member
HI Bricktown79 and thanks for the offer. I've got a 6x12 room in the basement, opposite end of house from electric panal (about 60'). Panel is an old ITE Pushmatic (?) but I have a DP-30amp breaker not being used. I'm going to run a 1000 watt HPS for flowering room and a 400 watt MH in growing room. Can I make two separate runs of say, 10-2 wire, from the 30amp breaker and run each to its' own outlet to power each of the ballasts? I have other outlets available on different circuits for fans and other small amp items but am most concerned about the two ballasts. Any suggestions and guidence will be appreicated.

hey pushrod....im also a sparky. run one 10-2 from the breaker to a receptacle in one grow room. tap off that to the plug in the next grow room....dont put two sets of wire under breaker terminals.
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rich420ard

Member
Plebscrubber said:
Im running 2 x 400W HID lights, 1x 130W CFL, a 90W centrifugal fan, 2 x 39W inline fans, 2 x small oscilatting fans, 1 x large oscilatting fan, 2 x water pumps, 2 x air pumps

all from 1 x power outlet... is this ok?

the wiring is pretty old... but the breaker never gets activated...

I have 2 x 15amp circuits for my house outlets, the grow room power outlet is on one of them, as well as half the power outlets in my house.

I was under the impression that it dosnt matter if you spread the load over many outlets or just one because they share the same circuit and breaker
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is it a federal pacific panel? they dont always trip....which is very dangerous. do the breakers feel hot? i gotta fpe panel, and had a 15 amp breaker that didnt trip until 28 amps...thats how houses burn down
 
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CapnBud

Well-Known Member
CapnBud said:
help...my relay is clicking when ever i plug in the relays power cord.

View attachment 1452009

this is where i got the instructions
http://www.hydroponics.net/learn/grow-light-controller.asp
Click to expand...

bump...please any ideas ?

30amp breaker 240v
10/3 cable coming from breaker into relay (10/3 grounded into the ground strip not common strip in my breakerbox)
14/3 cable with 240v 15a connector from relay to ballast

when i plug-in in the relay plug...it should click once and then you have power to all the plugs...currently it's non stop clicking
 
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kevb123

Well-Known Member
hey! had a problem last time with fuses tripping in main fuse box due to overload as upstairs of house was using electric as well as the grow lights so thinking of running the new room on its own supply from main box as there are spare unused fuse trippers in the main box.
is it as simple as connecting thick grey wire to the new fuse tripper and a socket on the other end? or does it have to loop back to main box?
how much power can i safely run of a new circuit?
ideas welcome.
thx.
 
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SuperSize82

Member
i have a question, i have an older home im currently living in, and im looking to use a spare room we currently have, im looking to start growing in, the home we live in is about 100 years old, i took a peak at the breaker and there currently no space to add anymore breakers, my main concernt is in the current room say for example in summer time if multple people run ac's it trips the breaker, the house is wired all kinda messed up, im looking to put maybe a few 2-3 600w HPS lights or 2 1000w HPS lights, and some kinda of exhaust system, timers ect, my main question is i doubt the current outlets in there can handle this, so im assuming id have to re-wire the whole room, which ive done wiring befor, i could do all the wire all the way to the circuit breaker or to the basement, i have a family member whosea master electrician, but i kinda dont want to give him any idea's of what im doing, now the question comes down to is for the amound of power i want to use for that setup, what type of wire ect should i run to the basement, all on 1 line or make it into 2 lines ? then the final question would be how to accomodate space in the box cause im pretty sure all the breakers have something going into each of them cause we had my cousin whose an electrician com and replace a few breakers that went bad, hell the current breaker box at times u can hear humming comming from it not sure if that means some lines might be getting towards overloading ect, im sry if this post is long but dont think theres no otherway of telling u about the house without u having a idea of what currently on it an idea of some of the appliances

6 bedrooms ( big house big family ) alot of lights/electronics always on
washer/dryer(electric dryer) we currently dont have a dryer cause it broke been using laundry mat but soon im sure we will have new one
oil furnace
pool filter for summer time
electric stove


im not sure if theres some type of sub box or something that could be added on, or run some type of test during peak to get an idea of how much electricty is being used ect, kinda sucks cause was all hyped about doing my first grow but then i thought about the big picture cant do much without electricity...also what about the line for the dryer i know its a 220 or whatever that voltage is, could always opt for a gas dryer and maybe free up that line, any feedback would help
 
Optic1

Optic1

Well-Known Member
I have a 50 amp circut under my home that is for a hot tub with GFI. Any reason i cant just move that to my grow room and go from there? I've never used it?
 
Limosnero

Limosnero

Well-Known Member
I have question maybe someone can answer. Building a new grow in a basement. I have 200amp service, 100 going to the main part of the house and 2 pole 30 for the water pump, another single 20 for walking lights in the basement. Am I limited to 50 amps worth of breakers to add to the basement? I'm looking to run 5k worth of lights, some 8" vortex fans, dehumidifier/AC, fans and such. Second question, would I be better off trying to wire the 4k worth of lights on one circuit and a 40 amp heavy duty timer or maybe something like a flipflop and make 2 separate rooms for flower to accommodate a lower amp circuit? I would really like to set this up right as I have the opportunity to do so now, thanks
 
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pigeon toe

Member
Limosnero said:
I have question maybe someone can answer. Building a new grow in a basement. I have 200amp service, 100 going to the main part of the house and 2 pole 30 for the water pump, another single 20 for walking lights in the basement. Am I limited to 50 amps worth of breakers to add to the basement? I'm looking to run 5k worth of lights, some 8" vortex fans, dehumidifier/AC, fans and such. Second question, would I be better off trying to wire the 4k worth of lights on one circuit and a 40 amp heavy duty timer or maybe something like a flipflop and make 2 separate rooms for flower to accommodate a lower amp circuit? I would really like to set this up right as I have the opportunity to do so now, thanks
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with 2 poles of 50amps left to work with you should be ok. you may have more available but you would need to do a amp reading at the main with the house powered up. you can only use 80 % of any breakers rating for continuous duty loads. but with 50 amps you you should have power to spare. but if you really are looking to maximize your usage then two seperate areas on flip flop is a excellent idea !!
 
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fishwhistle

Active Member
OK im gonna give this a try,im building a 20x20 room and in it ill be running 4 1000s in a flower room,a 400 and some fluorescents in the veg room and of course a bunch of fans for cooling fixtures and air movement,A/C also.I have to put in a sub panel and the run to it is approximately 300' from the panel on the house,i want to be able to add more lights later if i feel the need,what size sub panel do i need?I have already buried the conduit to the site when i had some other electrical work done,so its just a matter of pulling wire and hooking up as soon as the room is built.Thanks for any insight you can provide!
 
guerillastyle

guerillastyle

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I have an issue where I need to deliver power, but there are no outlets. There are a couple of electrical boxes, and lines as well. I was wondering if I could simply just tap into and existing line that powers a small powered light or so. Or would I have to go directly to the box? I am only planning on running 200 watts of cfls, a couple small fans for ventilation and that would be it. I imagine this would not put a huge load on the circuit.
 
Danielsgb

Danielsgb

Well-Known Member
Running a thick extension cord or two is way easier. It can be done, but you need some wiring knowledge so it's safe. Your question isn't too clear for what you mean to tap into, but go with some cords since it's only Cfl, etc.
 
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