Electrical Question

Micheal Kelso

Micheal Kelso

Well-Known Member
Hello all, this is my first post :)

I am setting up my grow room for my first grow.

I have:

1 400 MH and 1 400 HPS on the same 15 Amp breaker

1 1000 HPS on the other 15 amp breaker in the room.

Should be enough to cover the load - my fans, pumps, and A/C run on a totally different breaker.

For some reason the 2 breakers that the lights are on keep popping, and I have to go out to the garage - could it be bad wiring or bad switches?

Can I just replace the 15 amp breakers in the box with some 20 amp breakers? Or is more wiring required ? Can I just put 20As in the box?

It is getting really annoying and I am afraid it will happen when I am not home and mess up my light cycles.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
sasarchiver

sasarchiver

Well-Known Member
Micheal Kelso said:
Hello all, this is my first post :)

I am setting up my grow room for my first grow.

I have:

1 400 MH and 1 400 HPS on the same 15 Amp breaker

1 1000 HPS on the other 15 amp breaker in the room.

Should be enough to cover the load - my fans, pumps, and A/C run on a totally different breaker.

For some reason the 2 breakers that the lights are on keep popping, and I have to go out to the garage - could it be bad wiring or bad switches?

Can I just replace the 15 amp breakers in the box with some 20 amp breakers? Or is more wiring required ? Can I just put 20As in the box?

It is getting really annoying and I am afraid it will happen when I am not home and mess up my light cycles.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
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its not so much that u can just put in a 20amp fuse as wire comes in different resistances, ie 15amp wire/30amp wire etc

Your over loading the circuit, thats why its poping off. Ull either get a sparky in to rewire a new circuit for u, or u can go round the house turning things on and off to see what electrial stuff is on the same circuit as u r light, and maybe move electrial equippment to another circuit.

BTW dont put a 30amp fuse in a 15/20amp line, ull blow ur fusebox along with some electric equipment.
 
biggie

biggie

Well-Known Member
give me details of lighting set up - i.e amps per lights etc as much details as possible although looks more like dodgy wiring than incorrect overloads - do they trip at randow or under initial load?
 
Micheal Kelso

Micheal Kelso

Well-Known Member
Apparently I posted for help too soon...

After some further investigation I found out that I had the A/C unit on the same circuit as the lights and I was just overloading it. It seemed like it was happening "at random" but it was probably when the compressor turned on or off.

I moved the A/C to a third completely isolated circuit and all is running well. Thanks for trying to help but it turns out I just effed up.. man growing takes alot of electricity. :peace:
 
abudsmoker

abudsmoker

Well-Known Member
Dont forget about voltage and amperage drop, the further you are from the source the lower the voltage you will get.
 
sasarchiver

sasarchiver

Well-Known Member
abudsmoker said:
Dont forget about voltage and amperage drop, the further you are from the source the lower the voltage you will get.
Click to expand...
yeah u said it....

I wouldnt have put light on same socket as ur lights. Your lights will run on 3amp (well here in uk, dont know if rule still applies where u are?) but here im sure that 100W light bulb takes. 0.5amps 60watt 0.2amps.
take it from a socket, IE plug. thats 30amps.

hope u get it on soon ;)
 
VictorVIcious

VictorVIcious

Well-Known Member
Not to jump in when not asked but.... If you really want to make it tight you should seperate those light. The mh and hps could eventually need to be on different timers anyway. For a 20amp circuit you shold use 12 copper wire. Circuit breakers are less than $10.00. If you changed the air conditioner then you are capable of adding a breaker if there is room in the box. If there isn't any more room in the box you will wnt to consider getting your service upgraded. VV
 
T

Tokecrazy

Well-Known Member
Most likely the two 15 amp circuits are run with 14ga wire.New service that in houses today all have 12ga wire,only the light switch is 14ga wire.Also there is the balance of the breaker box.The amps of the breakers on one side should add up to the same or there about the same on the other sides.I hope this makes cents to you.You did find the problem, but one light and timer to one 15 amp breaker. Peace
 
biggie

biggie

Well-Known Member
if you want to work out load on electrical circuit easiest was is

add all the wattage up so say you had 6 x 100w thats 600w
then divide by the voltage which is 240 vac

so thats 600 divided by 240 so you need like 3 amp fuse to be safe

although if you use CFL these are a fraction of the voltage - my veg room had 7 100w CFL with only 2 amp fuse because they are only rated at 20w electrically not the 100w output they give!!

also voltage drop on cable on domestic cable is negligible and you would not need really to take this into consideration for a simple domestic grow of a few plants

feel free to pm me any more electrical question mate
 
T

Tokecrazy

Well-Known Member
the math is watts divided by volts = amps. a 400watt light divided by 120 volt =3.3 amps. or 400 watt light divided by 240 volts =1.6 amps. Peace
 
Micheal Kelso

Micheal Kelso

Well-Known Member
Thanks all - I got it dailed in pretty good now. My buddy who is an electrician came over and hooked me up. I had some extra slots on my breaker box so he installed some new ones for me. I now have 3 15A to use for lights and a 40A switch added just to run the A/C. All wired up professional style :)

Thinking about starting a grow journal on this one, need to go take some pics :mrgreen:
 
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