am I tripping the breaker?

[Woall]

I paid an electrician to install a new breaker in my basement. I'm assuming it supports at least 15 amps, as I told the electrician I would need to plug in things like space heaters and various appliances. For the past few months I have had the following things plugged in, for my grow: A 100WHPS light, two shop lights, a panasonic whisperfan, and sometimes a box fan. One time a while ago when I went to plug in the fan everything shut off. There is normally a little green light on one of the two outlets I had installed. It went off when this happened. I had to press a little button also on the outlet, "reset." I did this and never had this problem again.. until now. I decided to upgrade to a 250W light, and I removed the other 3 lights I had previously. So the only thing I had plugged in at the time was the fan, which has been on 24/7 for a while. When I turned on this new light for the first time the same thing happened that happened a couple months ago. The fan went off, as well as the little green light on the outlet. The 250W light looked like it was trying to ignite but couldn't, just before everything went off. The switch in the breaker main breaker box to my house had not popped over, so I'm not sure if I tripped the breaker. I waited 10 minutes, pressed "reset" and tried it again and the same thing happened. The bulb would start to fire up, and then when it ignited and I hear the ballast start to make noise like it's on... everything shuts off. I waited 10 more minutes and tried it again and this time the light lingered in start up mode... not igniting for 10 or 15 seconds. Afraid that this was not good for the bulb, I shut off the light's power switch and made no more attempts.

I don't understand how I could be tripping the breaker with a 3 amp ballast and a low power fan. I'm using a 250W ceramic meltal halide bulb in a 250W HPS ballast that's built-in with my reflector. I thought maybe I didn't screw the bulb in properly... I screwed it until I couldn't screw it anymore without really forcing it. From what I understood, I was having a completely new and separate breaker installed so I don't think anything else in the house is running off it.

I don't know much about electrical issues and it would be great if someone who does could possibly give me an idea what's going on.

 

[KermitTheHermit]

It sounds like the outlet with the green light is a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) type of outlet. These are safety devices, designed to interrupt the circuit if there's an indication that current is flowing through a path other than to the normal AC ground (such as through your body).

Your post says you're using a 250W metal halide bulb in a 250W HPS ballast? If the MH bulb isn't a conversion type that may be a problem. MH bulbs go with MH ballasts, HPS bulbs with HPS ballasts. There are conversion bulbs; I use a MH conversion bulb in my HPS ballast. Do you have a 250W HPS bulb you can try?

These type of GFCI outlets are also notorious for failing; I've replaced a few around my place.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Sounds like you may have a wiring problem or the breaker in the outlet (The one with the green light) is a lower amperage than 15. What I can't figure is why a 250w light would cause a problem.

Are you sure that's the ONLY stuff plugged into that circuit?

 

[PharmaCan]

Yeah, that's a gfci receptacle that's tripping. It has nothing to do with the breaker. CMH bulbs can be finicky. Do some reading on the CMH threads here and you should be able to isolate your problem.

BTW - There's no need to wait ten minutes to reset the receptacle, you can do it right away.

PC

 

[KermitTheHermit]

So is it OK to run a CMH bulb with a HPS ballast?

 

[PharmaCan]

So is it OK to run a CMH bulb with a HPS ballast?

It's been a while since I read any of the CMH threads, but I think so. As I recall CMHs were designed as replacement bulbs for HPS in overhead lighting applications. But don't take my word for it. There's lots of real good information here on the CMH thread(s). Take a couple minutes to do some reading and you will learn all you need to know.

PC

 

[Woall]

yes the 250W CMH bulbs are designed to run on HPS ballasts. I do not have an HPS bulb, but I'm definitely going to order one if I can't figure out how to light the CMH bulb without tripping the GFCI receptacle. I don't understand why the type of bulb would cause this.

 

[homerjay]

The GFCI in my bathroom is doing the same thing . Bad GFCI is my problem, those things go bad quite frequently. I am a master electrician is why I know this. If I was at your place The first thing I would do is check your stuff on a different outlet on a different circuit. If it trips that breaker or GFCI then you know it's your equipment. Run an extension cord from your bath room and see.

 

[Woall]

So any bathroom circuit supports enough amps to handle a 250W light? There isn't a bathroom close to my grow.. should I just take the light up to a bathroom and plug it in with no extension cord?

If I have a bad GFCI is there anything I can/should do without an electrician? I can't call one over without taking down the entire grow and putting some electrical device in its place that would also be tripping the GFCI, or he would wonder what tripped it. That would be pretty difficult. I just don't understand why the combination of my fan, 100 HPS light, and two shop lights and sometimes a box fan wouldn't trip the GFCI... but the fan and the 250W by themselves would.

 

[axel neek]

I do not believe your GFI is bad, it sounds like it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.
Magnetic ballasts draw a lot of current, when lighting the bulb the ignitor and capacitor are firing and drawing current, the capacitor needs to charge and store energy. When a GFI senses a difference in outgoing current to incoming current for something like 40ms it trips.
Try pluging in to a non GFI socket and see if your bulb lights up.

 

[Oldmac]

Why not try the ballast/CMH setup on another circut in the house, one that's not a GFI? (as Axel pointed out above) Make sure it works there first, then try it on a GFI ckt. You may have to take the GFI out of your grow area.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I do not believe your GFI is bad, it sounds like it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.

If the GFCI is tripping because of the draw from a perfectly good 250w, it's broken. Period. The 'surge' isn't going to trip the breaker, doubtful even a 1000w would.

Definitely test your equipment by plugging it into another outlet in your house that doesn't have anything else running on it. If it trips the circuit breaker at the main power panel, your ballast is bad. I seriously doubt this will happen though.

 

[blowwhole]

So any bathroom circuit supports enough amps to handle a 250W light? There isn't a bathroom close to my grow.. should I just take the light up to a bathroom and plug it in with no extension cord?

If I have a bad GFCI is there anything I can/should do without an electrician? I can't call one over without taking down the entire grow and putting some electrical device in its place that would also be tripping the GFCI, or he would wonder what tripped it. That would be pretty difficult. I just don't understand why the combination of my fan, 100 HPS light, and two shop lights and sometimes a box fan wouldn't trip the GFCI... but the fan and the 250W by themselves would.

Two things, first most Hair dryers run at 1500W, I know only for a short time, unless your my wife, lol. Second, just replace the gfci with a regular outlet, unless you have standing water you should be alright, its very easy to do.

 

[HeadyPete]

Replace the GFCI. They break. That's why you are supposed to test the monthly. As mentioned above, tripping a breaker is not the same as tripping the GFI. Buy one from Home Depot or wherever, shut the breaker to the circuit off and change it out. Copy the wiring from the one you have now. It's not hard to do, just make sure the power is off.

You can safely run 1200 watts on any household circuit.

 

[homerjay]

I'm with axel and hydro on this one, I think it's you equipment not the GFI. The GFI should have NO problem with the start up inrush on a 250w light. I have never had a problem (10+ years service electrician) with a light tripping a GFI. Motors, compressors on old fridges/freezers, bad electronics, old computers yes, but not a light. I also have not seen these digital ballast until the last few years so what the hell do I know.
Where you at? There is an electrician in Boulder CO that roams this board that helps MMJ patients with grow set ups. I can't do it my self anymore but if you are in CO or NM I can point you to trustable, friendly electricians.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I would never assume it was 15 amps, I would know what amps it is...