Screwed with 12-3.....electrical help needed!

[Yes4Prop215]

hey just when i thought i had things rolling i realized i might have another headache on hand.

i had an electrician install two 20 amp 120v, one 15amp 240v, and a 30amp 10-30 dryer plug for my room.

he used the yellow Romex 12-3 wire...which i just realized is only rated for 1900 watts...which is not enough for what i want.

the room is 10x10, and the plan is to run SIX 600 watt HPS lights, using 240v lumateks, i was hoping to run all the 600s off my 240v plug but because the wires so weak that might not be an option. so might have to put a few lights on the 120v circuit, but i also have a 5500 btu AC that draws around 500 watts too.

Is it pretty hard to convert 12-3 to 10-3? been looking everywhere for a DIY or more info but not finding much.....HELP IS MUCH APPREcIATED...props will be sent your way and if your super helpful theres other rewards too..thanks in advance yall.

 

[Marshall]

you have 3600 watts of lights you want to use. at 240 amps, that is 15 amps. Using the 80% rule, you cant do this. 5 lights at 3000 watts is 12.5 amps. The 80% rule says you can run 12A. so 5 lights is just past the limit. If it were me, I would run 5 lights. I have pushed the 80% limit with no problems. This is a choice you need to make but if you want to play it safe run 4 lights.

Now the other 1-2 lights. you have room on those other circuits. keep in mind at 120V those ballasts will run 5 amps each. You will also need separate timers for everything.

To convert the 12-3 to 10-3 you need to run new wire and install a bigger breaker. I also dont know why you have xx-3. You only need xx-2. 2 wires and a ground. The ground is not included when you say 12-2 or 12-3. If you have true 12-3, you may be able to run an extra wire and using the spare romex wire, you could create another circuit.

I may be confusing you more than I am helping.


Is the 10-3 dryer plug feeding everything, or is it in addition the other circuits? If its in addition, just run the lights off that

 

[Marshall]

I was reading your other post and wanted to clear some things up.

on that 15 amp 240 circuit? is it romex? is it 2-3 insulated wires covered by more plastic? is the outer plastic white or yellow?

I dont understand how he ran a 15A 240V circuit.

 

[Mr. Bongjangles]

hey just when i thought i had things rolling i realized i might have another headache on hand.

i had an electrician install two 20 amp 120v, one 15amp 240v, and a 30amp 10-30 dryer plug for my room.

he used the yellow Romex 12-3 wire...which i just realized is only rated for 1900 watts...which is not enough for what i want.

the room is 10x10, and the plan is to run SIX 600 watt HPS lights, using 240v lumateks, i was hoping to run all the 600s off my 240v plug but because the wires so weak that might not be an option. so might have to put a few lights on the 120v circuit, but i also have a 5500 btu AC that draws around 500 watts too.

Is it pretty hard to convert 12-3 to 10-3? been looking everywhere for a DIY or more info but not finding much.....HELP IS MUCH APPREcIATED...props will be sent your way and if your super helpful theres other rewards too..thanks in advance yall.

http://www.4hydroponics.com/lighting/HIDcontrollers2.asp?ItemNo=capMLC8XT

If you buy something like that, you can wire it directly to the 30 amp circuit that has 10 gauge wire and run all 6 lights off that. Should be a 30 amp 240v breaker already.

You mentioned its 10/3 cable tho, so there will be an extra wire in there, the white neutral, but I believe you can wire that to the ground spot inside the light controller. I'd let someone else confirm that though, as I am not an electrician, just learned enough to install these things.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

^yea im getting a timer box for the 30 amp dryer plug that can run at least 4-5 of the 600s...and i can run another two 600s off the 15amp 240v....and then i can use the 120v for my AC and a spare light if need be.

for the 15amp 240v, im not 100% sure. basically he used the same wiring for all the plugs, but when it came to the 240v he used an extra wire or something, where as the 120v the extra wire was blocked off...i was on his back trying to figure out what he was doing....i checked the wire and it was 12-3 romex

 

[Marshall]

you can run all those lights off the dryer plug. That timer looks like it would be a good deal for those that arent familiar with electricity. Hook up a couple wires and plug that bad boy into your dryer plug.

Do you know ohms law? Watts = volts x amps

 

[growshopfrank]

One question how many feet of 12/3 wire between breaker box and dryer plug

 

[junior_grower]

okay 12/2 or in this case using 12/3 as a shared nuetral is fine for 20 amps per circuit. if that same wire was used for the 240v lines ten have them rewired to a proper wire rated for the higher amperage

 

[Yes4Prop215]

One question how many feet of 12/3 wire between breaker box and dryer plug

about 8 feet is my guess...there is a 100 amp load center placed on the bottom floor which is about 8 feet from my grow room. the growroom is right next door to the dryer plug.

i didnt see what kind of wiring the dryer receptacle had...what is standard code for the dryer circuit. il pop the cover off and check before i install the 30amp timer box..

the 15a 240v had the 12-3 romex that the 120v outlets had...except he used an extra wire where as the 120vs had one wire covered up.

 

[monkeysee]

@ 240v, you can run plenty more than 1900w on 12/3. In fact for growroom lighting applications, you're just wasting copper with the 12/3 and can be done just the same on 12/2. You could easily switch that 15a/240v to 15a/120v, and the 20a/120v to 20a/240v w/o neutral for lighting.

Technically, 240v x 20a * 80% = 3,840w.

Wouldn't hurt at all to upgrade to #10 wire (particularly since you'll likely need a >20a breaker, unless your 3600w of Lumatek's have a "soft" enough of a start that it won't trip a 20a breaker), but isn't usually necessary unless you need to derate it due to distance, conduit, etc.

Why can't you use the 30A (assuming 240v) circuit for your lighting and the extra 240v/15a?

Doesn't sound like you "got screwed", just sounds like you're confused along w/ many of your other posts.

 

[StealthDragon]

You should be able run 5760watts off a 10/2 240v dryer plug..actually 80% of that ..

I recently had an electrician install a 30amp 240 dryer plug for me too, actually it was a "rv" plug..it has three holes/prongs ..I guess "dryer" plugs have 4 holes/prongs. With mine I plan to get a grow controller and wire the RV plug to it...I wanted to do this for later upgrades and stuff and didn't want the controller "hardwired" to the wall. I don't have my grow controller yet so I went and got an Intermatic EH40 hotwater heater timer thingie......and I wired a 4 plug outlet box to it. It's just temporary till I get a controller..but it goes
240 plug -->10/2 wire --> timer --> 10/2 --> 4 plug box, and my ballast plugs into that..and there's room for 3 more 1k lights. I don't know if that made sense, but I figured I'd post what I did if it's any help...but I was able to throw it together in an hour or 2 to get my 1k up and running on a timer till I get a light controller, it's a solid setup ( i think) but I'm getting a controller anyways.. I can snap a pic later with my cell if ya want.

I'm not an electrician btw, just some dude that smokes weed and reads alot.

 

[growshopfrank]

about 8 feet is my guess...there is a 100 amp load center placed on the bottom floor which is about 8 feet from my grow room. the growroom is right next door to the dryer plug.

i didnt see what kind of wiring the dryer receptacle had...what is standard code for the dryer circuit. il pop the cover off and check before i install the 30amp timer box..

the 15a 240v had the 12-3 romex that the 120v outlets had...except he used an extra wire where as the 120vs had one wire covered up.

With that short of a run you should be good to go,if you had a long run it would be sketchy but 8 feet should not be a problem at all if you are worried run it for 12 or more hours and feel the wires for heat

 

[rives]

Check the wire size on the dryer circuit either at the panel (chase it down from the breakers until you can see what you have) or the receptacle, and get back to us.

 

[250wscrogger]

For 6 600w lights...
I would just go with two 20amp 240v breakers wired to intermatic t-104 timers for lights (using 12/2)...and two 6-20r duplex receptacles on each circuit.
You can safely run up to 3 1000's or 5 600's per 20a 240v circuit.

I'm about to do the same thing for my 4k...

I'm going with a 60a breaker in the mainpanel wired to a subpanel which powers my whole grow. Two 20amp 240v timed circuits for lights, one 20amp 120v timed (veg room), two 20amp 120v continuous for fans and one 20 amp continuous for a dehuey (just incase)

 

[stagehand099]

To the OP...What is the 240v 15a outlet for? Your 30a dryer outlet can run all your 600w lights by itself. The 240v, 15a would be ideal for a good sized 240v A/C window unit and the 120v outlets will run atmosphere controls. I don't see your problems?

stagehand

 

[Yes4Prop215]

the 15am 240 was kinda just an extra 240v plug thrown into the room because i reqeusted it.

im paranoid about load issues...so im gonna run four 600s off the 30 amp, 2 600s of the 15amp, then run my AC and fans off a 20a, then use the spare 20a 120v to maybe throw in my extra 400 watt HPS lamps to fill in empty corners...

yea i guess was kinda worried about nothing earlier...better to be cautious and ask questions than burn the house down!

 

[Marshall]

you are WAY under capacity on that 30A circuit. It can handle 7200 watts at 240V. It would be alot easier to time all your lights on one circuit.

A intermatic hot water heater timer will work great. $40 and some wire and you are all set

 

[monkeysee]

Water heater timers suck. Get yourself a double pole contactor & digital timer for less $$ and better reliability (no shifting on outage, exact timings).

 

[Yes4Prop215]

there is a timer built into the custom box im getting....comes with a timer. and a 10-30 conversion to four 6-15r receptacles...and it allows me to run my dryer when the lights are off..props to whoever gave me the link to that timerbox builder in south dakota..