sub panel? or just add breaker?

k so ive been searching all night (well for weeks) and im still unclear as to what i should do....ive had 1 600 hps and 1 400 mh running off of 1 outlet in my basement.... i have a power strip and all my stuff is plugged into that... fans, lights, everything.... so i wanna add 2 more 600s to my new room .... if i add 1 20 amp breaker will that be enough??

if you are running 240V you can fit about 1000w = 5 amps
If you are running standard 120V its 1000W = 10 amps

so if you want to run 2200W and fans/timers you can't do it off your current outlet at 120V and 20Amp

really?? so i dont need to do anything?? itll handle all the power without adding another breaker?

jimmy slim big said:

really?? so i dont need to do anything?? itll handle all the power without adding another breaker?

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no.

20 amps at 120 volt will be enough to handle your extra 1200 watts, but it won't handle your entire grow.

use this equation to figure it out: Watts/Volts = Amperage

so each 600 watts at 120 volts will use 5 amps.

each 600 watts at 240 volts will use 2.5 amps.

only use 80% of your available amperage. so use only 12 amps of a 15 amp breaker, or 16 amps of a 20 amp breaker.

and the most important part, call an electrician and have them do it for you. move our grow and hide stuff if you have to.

Look at your panel to see type of breakers. Mines Siemens 15a

Goto local store buy another breaker ( unless u already have spares)

Get some 14\2 wire
Couple elctrical boxes with covers and outlets

Run your wire from the panel to the room.

Hookup the wire in the room to an outlet ( I'd suggest two to be safe ) u can always tear em out later. I just mount my outlet on the wall.

Plug the breaker in the panel and make sure its off.. Then carefully hook it into the panel like u see the rest..its really simple just make sure u don't hit anything and u have at least 5-6 blank breaker spots

I actually just ran another outlet yesterday..just gotta get a drill bit to rubln it through the wall now lol

i have a 20 breaker running mine ,what i did was piggyback off my recepticle ,i wired it off recepticle to a ground fault recepticle, then rolled out 10 ft romex ,run it across the room ,screwed in recepticule to a stud and add reg recpticul ,if it overloads it will throw breaker on gfi rec,if it throws it you will have to get a breaker .i run 2 400 watt hd and hps 2 fans,on timers also inline fan on carbon filter , my set up has never thrown the gfi, not one time.

cbuts05 said:

Look at your panel to see type of breakers. Mines Siemens 15a

Goto local store buy another breaker ( unless u already have spares)

Get some 14\2 wire
Couple elctrical boxes with covers and outlets

Run your wire from the panel to the room.

Hookup the wire in the room to an outlet ( I'd suggest two to be safe ) u can always tear em out later. I just mount my outlet on the wall.

Plug the breaker in the panel and make sure its off.. Then carefully hook it into the panel like u see the rest..its really simple just make sure u don't hit anything and u have at least 5-6 blank breaker spots

I actually just ran another outlet yesterday..just gotta get a drill bit to rubln it through the wall now lol

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Get 14/3..we're working around water..you want it grounded, get a GFCI breaker, or wire a GFCI outlet first in line.

UB was dead on with his advice as to loading circuits. Run a 240V line for you lighting if you can, one 30A 240v circuit can handle 5 1000W lights...or equivalent. A single 110V should handle all the ancillary stuff like pumps,fans etc, but 2 110V will give you room to expand.

I say D.I.Y if your confident, electrical isn't that hard or as dangerous as people like to say, as long as you have some common sense, but if your not confident in your work, get a pro.

I added two 20amp breakers. They were doubles so i used only two slots in my box to get 4 20amp outlets. Easier than adding a sub, but a sub would give more options...

WeedFreak78 said:

Get 14/3..we're working around water..you want it grounded, get a GFCI breaker, or wire a GFCI outlet first in line.

UB was dead on with his advice as to loading circuits. Run a 240V line for you lighting if you can, one 30A 240v circuit can handle 5 1000W lights...or equivalent. A single 110V should handle all the ancillary stuff like pumps,fans etc, but 2 110V will give you room to expand.

I say D.I.Y if your confident, electrical isn't that hard or as dangerous as people like to say, as long as you have some common sense, but if your not confident in your work, get a pro.

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im very handy and can build/make/fix/put together/figure out anything really and ive been looking at my panel but i only have 1 free slot at the bottom.... should i still add a breaker and fill the last spot?? or do you think the breaker thats already powering the outlets in basement is enough to run my room?? i used it for my first run and had 400 watt mh 600 watt hps ... fans, dehum, and everything else and had no issues.... but now i built a bigger room 12x9x7 with multi bays.... flower bay is 5x5 ... veg is 3x4 .... im adding 2 more 600 hps and 8 tube t5, carbon filter with inline fan, 2 more inline fans one for intake one for outtake....4 wall mount fans, light rail so im thinking im gonna be around 2400 watts with everything... sound about right?? will the current breaker handle that?? i was also looking into a 4 hub hid controlor and just hard wire that into my panel?? but yes i do feel very confident in my self to take this on diy style!

Dude. Go with another 20 amp breaker and run 12 gauge wire from the box. Not 14 gauge. Bucks post was on time. When you are running that kind of voltage for long periods of time at the same time, best to be safe, over do it and use 12 gauge wire. And the GFCI is code. Just OVER DO
IT!

Personally. I would go ahead and use 10 gauge wire and really OVER DO IT for peace of mind.

jimmy slim big said:

im very handy and can build/make/fix/put together/figure out anything really and ive been looking at my panel but i only have 1 free slot at the bottom.... should i still add a breaker and fill the last spot?? or do you think the breaker thats already powering the outlets in basement is enough to run my room?? i used it for my first run and had 400 watt mh 600 watt hps ... fans, dehum, and everything else and had no issues.... but now i built a bigger room 12x9x7 with multi bays.... flower bay is 5x5 ... veg is 3x4 .... im adding 2 more 600 hps and 8 tube t5, carbon filter with inline fan, 2 more inline fans one for intake one for outtake....4 wall mount fans, light rail so im thinking im gonna be around 2400 watts with everything... sound about right?? will the current breaker handle that?? i was also looking into a 4 hub hid controlor and just hard wire that into my panel?? but yes i do feel very confident in my self to take this on diy style!

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2400 watts would be dangerous on a single line. Plus, what other outlets throughout the house are on the same circuit? Don't mess around and overload a circuit. It might be 99.9% safe, but that .1% is a mother fucker. Yeah man. Call you an electrician and do it right! Code was developed to protect amateurs from turning themselves and their families into crispy critters.

GrowUrOwnDank said:

2400 watts would be dangerous on a single line. Plus, what other outlets throughout the house are on the same circuit? Don't mess around and overload a circuit. It might be 99.9% safe, but that .1% is a mother fucker. Yeah man. Call you an electrician and do it right! Code was developed to protect amateurs from turning themselves and their families into crispy critters.

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i mean if all i gotta do is just add a 20 amp breaker and have that breaker run my room then i can install it myself... all i need to know is and ive been searching and searching and im having a hard time finding solid info for some reason between the 15 amp breaker powering the outlets in my basement ( wich there are 2 and nothing is plugged in... plus 4x 60 watt lights all on one light switch at top of stairs...so between that 15 amp and then me adding another 20 amp breaker will those two be enough to power my room??

jimmy slim big said:

i mean if all i gotta do is just add a 20 amp breaker and have that breaker run my room then i can install it myself... all i need to know is and ive been searching and searching and im having a hard time finding solid info for some reason between the 15 amp breaker powering the outlets in my basement ( wich there are 2 and nothing is plugged in... plus 4x 60 watt lights all on one light switch at top of stairs...so between that 15 amp and then me adding another 20 amp breaker will those two be enough to power my room??

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Dude. Your questions are indicative of not having the proper knowledge to do this. 14 gauge wire is good for a 120 volt 15 amp fuse. Sounds like you're taxing that circuit to the max with all of the stuff you have on it already. And, often circuits have branch circuits. That means that the one outlet you are already using in the basement may have other lights or whatever on it. See bucks post. Only use 80% of the maximum of a circuit. Those wires heat up. The breaker is designed to keep you from overloading, nevertheless, it's a device that can fail.

Now if you MUST do it yourself. Snake 12 gauge wire to the basement and use a GFCI outlet. That is code bro. I would over do it and run 10 gauge. That will give you approximately 2200 watts(20A X 110V) of the Max rated power at 110 volts, which is about . The 80% factor is because you will be running that equip at the same time for long periods. Wire heats up. So only use 80% of the max at the same time. So you will only have approx 1760 SAFE watts available. I can't find my meter but, I assume my voltage runs about 110 or so.

Sound like your already overloading that 15 amp circuit.

BE SAFE AND LIVE BRO! Over do it! GFCI and 12 gauge are musts, if you must DIY.

P.S. I made a mistake. The wire and breaker would be good for 20A at 120v giving you 2400 volts or at 80%, or 1920 safe watts.And this is in addition to your 15 amp circuit.

WeedFreak78 said:

Get 14/3..we're working around water..you want it grounded, get a GFCI breaker, or wire a GFCI outlet first in line.

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Saw you post this a couple times....

FYI 14/2 or 12/2, is with a ground.

http://www.acmehowto.com/electrical/electrical-wire-romex.php

- Jiji

Same question how many times? Waiting for an answer you want to hear? The math is simple...if youre going to put 2400w on a 15amp circuit you might as well light the match yourself....

Howdy-
Please, do yourself a favor. Before DOING anything- read your ballasts/boxes. Some ballasts can do 240 or 120V, some only do one or the other. I have yet to come accross a 240V T5 system, not that I am looking for them either. Same for 400W MH or HPS, haven't come across one that is both 240V and 120 (got about 5 of them sitting around too, just went over them). 600W and 1000W yep, quite a few you can do either 240 or 120.

Now, Add up the total Watts and Amps of your ballasts- which would be slightly different if you run 240 your amps drop.

From what you are describing- running both 120v and maybe 240v, you may want both lines in the room.

240v= 10/2 romex wire- 30 Amp cuircuit
120v=12/2 romex wire- 20 Amp circuit

I would personally recommend running 10/3 ------ BUT only if you know what you are doing- which I can see you are having a hard time grasping this- the 10/3 on a dual pole 30 Amp circuit would allow to run both 240v and 120v circuits from the single breaker...... giving you roughly 20-24 amps for lights, and 5 amps for other stuff. If the existing circuit is in the same room just use that.

If you only have one breaker available on your panel box- This is a Red FLAG- You need to look at your master breaker at the top.... it should say either 200 or 400. Then you need to look at each breaker and hopefully they are labelled and find out where they go and how much power you are constantly using. If you have a 100 amp coming in, and you have a constant rough draw of say 60 amps (fridge, ac, oven etc) then you should not add another breaker, instead- you need to update your panel and maybe add more power coming in (through the power company). Otherwise you will trip breakers constantly and risk a fire.

I just added (x2) 20 Amp circuits AND 1 30 Amp 240 Circuit (to a dedicated light controller box, closed circuit). I used ALL 10/2 wire because of the constant load I am putting on it. So I can run bigger ballasts and more of them on the 240 line, and smaller ballasts or just 120 only ballasts, t5s and fans etc on the 20A 120 circuits. BUT- I had space for 10 breakers, and only had a constant draw of 35A on 200A master breaker- so adding my 70A is ok.

You need to remember that these lights dont turn on and off like your fridge does, or Air conditioner, they are a constant draw. When you are running a constant draw that is more than 2/3 of your master breakers max, you risk throwing breakers when your other appliances trigger on, if they trigger on at the same time could cause breakers to trip or a fire if there is a fault in the wiring somewheres.

You need to know what you have and what you need before you start messing with anything. Sure installing it is all fairly simple until you start splitting a 120 off of a 240V and pigtailing into other circuits etc (which is against code, it works, but don't ever do it.)

Make a list of all equipment, power source options for it, and its usage.... then decide what you need and where you need it so you can put your lines in....

jimmy slim big said:

i mean if all i gotta do is just add a 20 amp breaker and have that breaker run my room then i can install it myself... all i need to know is and ive been searching and searching and im having a hard time finding solid info for some reason between the 15 amp breaker powering the outlets in my basement ( wich there are 2 and nothing is plugged in... plus 4x 60 watt lights all on one light switch at top of stairs...so between that 15 amp and then me adding another 20 amp breaker will those two be enough to power my room??

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if you have to keep asking these questions, please hire an electrician. for your own safety and the safety of anyone living with or near you.

UncleBuck said:

if you have to keep asking these questions, please hire an electrician. for your own safety and the safety of anyone living with or near you.

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AND once you have figured out what you really need and where..... DO what UB said- Hire an electrician.... but when you do, you need to know what you need and where and what you already have.

jijiandfarmgang said:

Saw you post this a couple times....

FYI 14/2 or 12/2, is with a ground.

http://www.acmehowto.com/electrical/electrical-wire-romex.php

- Jiji

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IDK..I've been doing wiring all week and I had a major brain fart..I got ripped on it the other post..lol..i deserve it.

mikeykrinshaw12 said:

Howdy-
Please, do yourself a favor. Before DOING anything- read your ballasts/boxes. Some ballasts can do 240 or 120V, some only do one or the other. I have yet to come accross a 240V T5 system, not that I am looking for them either. Same for 400W MH or HPS, haven't come across one that is both 240V and 120 (got about 5 of them sitting around too, just went over them). 600W and 1000W yep, quite a few you can do either 240 or 120.

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Most magnetic ballasts can be rewired for multiple voltages, at least most of the ones I've come across, just a matter of swapping some wires inside the ballasts. I've rewired a couple high bay MH's from 277 to 120, a couple industrial hps's from 240 to 120 and a hydrofarm 400W from 120 to 240. HTGSupply has T5's that runs on either 120/240 all you need to do is buy the correct cord, I just picked up a 6 bulb unit.