Electrical questions..220 the way to go?

[Hindu Killer]

Ok have 3 1000 watt HPS balast and an A/c Ill need to push. Was told 220 is the way to go. So how do I wire that up? Box is very close, actually ballast are going to mounted with in 5 ft of it.

Ive recently wired a new 20amp plug, so have some sense. Should I cut the cords on the ballast to put 220 plugs on them? Ballast are 120/220.

 

[poo-hand]

you can purchase the correct cord from your hydro shop. they are pretty cheap.

 

[trogg]

Re: Electrical questions..220 the way to go?

So if you wired the circuit from the breaker, remeber how you clicked in the 20 amp breaker and it makes contact to one of the two copper rails? You just use two 20 amp breakers, and make sure one is on one rail and the other is on the other rail. Each rail is a Phase of 110. You get two phases of 110 with normal residential service. Both of these are combined to be 220, because they are different phases the voltage adds up.If they were from the same phase (like two outlets) they don't add voltage they merge and reinforce current. Think of the electric being a rolling square,or triangle, or in the case of 220, a coin flopping from face to face. Each side is a phase. Its all in how they generate it, and then split it to distribute.


Need wire with an extra Hot, instead of white black and green(or bare copper), you will have white black red green(or bare). But, the white is still ground and the green (or bare)is still just a little extra ground,for good measure. Then the black goes to a breaker on one rail, and the red to a breaker on the OTHER rail.

I am not sure of the amp rating for the breakers, 20 or 30, have to research that.
Wire to a 220 plug.


Always thought it would be a neat trick to find and CHECK an outlet that was on one phase and an aoutlet nearby that was on the other phase and make a super dangerous set of 2 normal 110 plugs wired to a 220 outlet. Although I would be nervous about running something on it unattended, it would be cool.

 

[dtfsux]

So if you wired the circuit from the breaker, remeber how you clicked in the 20 amp breaker and it makes contact to one of the two copper rails? You just use two 20 amp breakers, and make sure one is on one rail and the other is on the other rail. Each rail is a Phase of 110. You get two phases of 110 with normal residential service. Both of these are combined to be 220, because they are different phases the voltage adds up.If they were from the same phase (like two outlets) they don't add voltage they merge and reinforce current. Think of the electric being a rolling square,or triangle, or in the case of 220, a coin flopping from face to face. Each side is a phase. Its all in how they generate it, and then split it to distribute.


Need wire with an extra Hot, instead of white black and green(or bare copper), you will have white black red green(or bare). But, the white is still ground and the green (or bare)is still just a little extra ground,for good measure. Then the black goes to a breaker on one rail, and the red to a breaker on the OTHER rail.

I am not sure of the amp rating for the breakers, 20 or 30, have to research that.
Wire to a 220 plug.


Always thought it would be a neat trick to find and CHECK an outlet that was on one phase and an aoutlet nearby that was on the other phase and make a super dangerous set of 2 normal 110 plugs wired to a 220 outlet. Although I would be nervous about running something on it unattended, it would be cool.

Use ONE double pole breaker, which is basically two breakers in one. The difference is that both sides trip on an overload, versus using two breakers, where only one side may trip on an overload

White is NOT ground, white is NEUTRAL. The green is not just an "extra" ground

And residential service is NOT two phase. There are two legs, not two phases

Do you already have the 220 circuits wired? If not, you can wire them using normal 120 outlets, and use your existing cords. But be sure to mark those outlets as 220/240. If you plug something 120 in them, it wont last long.

There are some stickys up top that explain what you want to do.

 

[sparkjumper]

Good point I've run my 3 1K fixtures wired for 240V on 120V receptacles for years now.You're just avoiding another splice with a 220V cordcap and if you ever switch back to 120V you havent cut your cords

 

[PharmaCan]

So if you wired the circuit from the breaker, remeber how you clicked in the 20 amp breaker and it makes contact to one of the two copper rails? You just use two 20 amp breakers, and make sure one is on one rail and the other is on the other rail. Each rail is a Phase of 110. You get two phases of 110 with normal residential service. Both of these are combined to be 220, because they are different phases the voltage adds up.If they were from the same phase (like two outlets) they don't add voltage they merge and reinforce current. Think of the electric being a rolling square,or triangle, or in the case of 220, a coin flopping from face to face. Each side is a phase. Its all in how they generate it, and then split it to distribute.


Need wire with an extra Hot, instead of white black and green(or bare copper), you will have white black red green(or bare). But, the white is still ground and the green (or bare)is still just a little extra ground,for good measure. Then the black goes to a breaker on one rail, and the red to a breaker on the OTHER rail.

I am not sure of the amp rating for the breakers, 20 or 30, have to research that.
Wire to a 220 plug.


Always thought it would be a neat trick to find and CHECK an outlet that was on one phase and an aoutlet nearby that was on the other phase and make a super dangerous set of 2 normal 110 plugs wired to a 220 outlet. Although I would be nervous about running something on it unattended, it would be cool.

There are several well-qualified electricians on this forum that do a pretty good job of answering electrical questions. Since it's obvious that you don't have a clue what you are talking about, it's best you find someplace else to play.

PC

 

[poo-hand]

I just purchased a power cord with 240v plug on it for my ballast and it was like 10 bucks. I have used the 110v plugs that come with the ballast while using 240v power and had no problems. for piece of mind I switched all my cords out to the proper ones.

pretty cheap fix and then there is NEVER the possibility of making a mistake.

 

[trogg]

Re: Electrical questions..220 the way to go?

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[Hindu Killer]

thanks everyone....Ive got a 30amp breaker,10 something wire,3- 20amp plugs. Is it safe to piggy back them all out of the first one.(the plugs)

Im doing it because i was told Id run stuff more effectively...A/C , lights etc. Was told lights will dim if I left at 120, when the A/C came on.

Ive also got a water heater type timer. Wire from box..to timer, out of timer to plugs? This way all lights are on same timer. Any thoughts? Want to get this done this weekend.

 

[sparkjumper]

To put it as simply as I can you have the line side and the load side.The lineside are the wires coming from the panel and should be landed on terminals 1 and 3.There is a place for a neutral we dont need that here so disregard that.The loadside are the wires coming from the timer to the receptacles and are landed on terminals 2 and 4.The ground goes to the ground screw of course.You say you have three 20A plugs.Are they 120 or 220?