How can I check my power requirements / limits?

thcme

thcme

Active Member
I'm trying to figure out if I have enough power for a 4x2x5 tent and a 4x4x6.5 tent

4x4x6.5

600W Apollo MH/HPS digital
6" inline fan
6" duct intake fan

4x2x5

400W HPS
6" inline fan
6" duct intake fan

Just based on those specs, are most residential places set-up for that sort of electricity load? Would I be cutting it close?

How can I check if I have enough power in my house for this? I'm an electricity noob lol
 
Orlandocb

Orlandocb

Well-Known Member
Most definitely. Most places usually have 120 amp boxes. I have an old 50 amp one and still can use over 1000 watts. each of my lights take 2.4 amps
 
ASMALLVOICE

ASMALLVOICE

Well-Known Member
I would have a minimum of 2 - 20a circuits, preferably 3 and have 1 with a gfci for all the incidental 24/7 equipment ( circulation fans, filter fans, air pumps and the likes ) as these pose the greatest risk of causing a fault. By doing that, you can minimize the chance of any one circuit affecting the whole grow or at a minimum knocking the lights out.

Peace and Safe Grows

Asmallvoice
 
Green Thumb MN

Green Thumb MN

Active Member
Will all this be on a separate (new) breaker/circuit? If you are plugging it all in to one or two existing outlets, you may have problems. I had all my stuff plugged in on a circuit in a basement closet. Turns out it was the same circuit running to the microwave and living room outlets (TV, cable, etc). Ended up running a new set of wires to the panel, problem solved.
 
wyteboi

wyteboi

Well-Known Member
if your on a circuit by itself (no other things in the home on same breaker) then you'll be fine. most houses have 15amp or bigger plugs and your setup is 10-11 amps.

just turn off the breaker you plan on using an go through the house an see what is not working..... then try that on another plug till you find one.




soil
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
light: 600w + 400w = 1000w
light: 1000w / 120v = 8.34A
inline fans: 2 * 1.3A = 2.6A
duct fans: 2 * ~0.35A = ~0.7A

8.34A (lights) + 2.6A (fans) + ~0.7A (duct fans) = 11.64A

Max circuit load (80% rule) = 12A
Load requirements = 11.64A

You have a fraction of an Ampere left over in the safe zone if running on a single 15A 120V circuit. This assumes that there is NOTHING else on the circuit, and does not take into consideration the start-up cost of each device (which even if staggered could possibly trip the breaker).

I would highly recommend having a dedicated 20A circuit, or two separate 15s to be safe. You may/will need to plug in more items in the future (humidifier/dehumidifier, air/water pumps etc).

-spek
 
I

IndicaDom

New Member
thcme said:
I'm trying to figure out if I have enough power for a 4x2x5 tent and a 4x4x6.5 tent

4x4x6.5

600W Apollo MH/HPS digital
6" inline fan
6" duct intake fan

4x2x5

400W HPS
6" inline fan
6" duct intake fan

Just based on those specs, are most residential places set-up for that sort of electricity load? Would I be cutting it close?

How can I check if I have enough power in my house for this? I'm an electricity noob lol
Click to expand...
Residential hookups are usually 100AMP/200AMP. Which do you have? Are you running that equipment on 240V, or 120V?
 
kinddiesel

kinddiesel

Well-Known Member
there both digital so your running 120 volts I take it . they will pull . 9 amps or so . soooooo you can use a 12 or 14 gage extension cord . will be just fine for the 2 ballasts. and use a different out let for the fans. would be no problems . if your concerned about how much a house will be able to pull . easy do ten . 1000 watt lamps and other equipment suck as an ac . the electrical would be total maxed out with 110 . im talking about not being able to plug in your razor. now if you run 220 you could run double the equipment. because it runs half amps. I know of some people that pull over 100 amps and energy company had to install 2 power meters ! yeah bill over 1500 a month . hurts my wallet.
 
I

IndicaDom

New Member
kinddiesel said:
there both digital so your running 120 volts I take it . they will pull . 9 amps or so . soooooo you can use a 12 or 14 gage extension cord . will be just fine for the 2 ballasts. and use a different out let for the fans. would be no problems . if your concerned about how much a house will be able to pull . easy do ten . 1000 watt lamps and other equipment suck as an ac . the electrical would be total maxed out with 110 . im talking about not being able to plug in your razor. now if you run 220 you could run double the equipment. because it runs half amps. I know of some people that pull over 100 amps and energy company had to install 2 power meters ! yeah bill over 1500 a month . hurts my wallet.
Click to expand...
How could it hurt your wallet? The electricity spent on a grow is so inconsequential. Give me $5,000 in electric a month and it still wouldn't matter, that is like saying it is expensive to feed the horse that is worth a million dollars.
 
Mont@n@

Mont@n@

Well-Known Member
spek9 said:
light: 600w + 400w = 1000w
light: 1000w / 120v = 8.34A
inline fans: 2 * 1.3A = 2.6A
duct fans: 2 * ~0.35A = ~0.7A

8.34A (lights) + 2.6A (fans) + ~0.7A (duct fans) = 11.64A

Max circuit load (80% rule) = 12A
Load requirements = 11.64A

You have a fraction of an Ampere left over in the safe zone if running on a single 15A 120V circuit. This assumes that there is NOTHING else on the circuit, and does not take into consideration the start-up cost of each device (which even if staggered could possibly trip the breaker).

I would highly recommend having a dedicated 20A circuit, or two separate 15s to be safe. You may/will need to plug in more items in the future (humidifier/dehumidifier, air/water pumps etc).

-spek
Click to expand...
^^^ whatever he said.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
run 10 amps max to each breaker and your always safe. also be sure all cords running to outlets are rated for that load, hope this helps
 
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