20kW,electricity company and ballasts peak

[maitre menator]

hi,

i open this this thread to ask some help about growing with a 20kW or more.
this subject has always been an important one for those who want to grow a little bigger.
one of the first thing to do is to pay the bills in time and to justify the need for such high power but there are solutions for that.

but about the ballasts, lets say someone uses 30 magnetic ballasts of 600W so a total of 18 000 W, the 30 ballasts start every day at the same hour.

is the peak created by the startup of the 30 ballasts can be a security issues with the electricity company ?

are electonic ballasts a solution to this peak problem ?

and what are the other solutions ? i heard of coil choke but i don't understand what it is...

i hope some of us will help
thanks a lot

 

[Aeroguerilla]

Ive found that my residential grow cannot accommodate more then 20kw on at once even with a 200amp service box. instead i have 2 flowering rooms 1. 8kw and 2. 9kw on opposite times of day so theres never more then 10-11kw running at one time with all the blowers, veg room and 1 flowering room running.

tried running all 17kw at once and kept setting something off at the pole that they had to come reset. after the 3rd time we decided to switch it up a bit

i would not advise running more then 10kw at once unless of course you do like im doin.

 

[Sam the Caveman]

Hey Aero, didn't you say you have 4 houses ran off the same transformer on the pole?

That might also be something to look at, how many houses are connected to the transformer, the less the better for you.

If you are worried about the surge when all the lights cut on, you could wire a delay start timer on half of the lights, that would help some.

I've seen a surge chart somewhere on here showing amp draw per time, and it looked like the surge slowly drops off, rather than a quick peak and immediate drop off. I'm guessing the surge dropped off over the course of 5 minutes, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Aeroguerilla]

The surge was not and issue because i had the 9kw fire onto 18/6 6 hours later then the other 8kw room. it was the constant draw that blew something. and theres only 2 other houses connected to the pole. but i think your def correct less houses connected to your transformer the better. Unless of course the guy across the street is doing the same shit

 

[vannuysorganic]

Voltage????

 

[joe fresh]

since where i am there are no smart meters....yet.....

the electric company would notify the cops for 2 reasons...

#1-- high energy draw.....lets say the average house around you uses 1500kwh per month, but you are using 4500kwh, that might be enough to raise their eyebrow, im not sure the exact amount but if you are drawing signifigantly more power than the average house in your area then that raises a red flag



#2--power surge/drop....although we dont have smart meters yet, the electric company can monitor large amounts of current at the distribution center, each center is rated for so many transformers, and each transformer to so many houses. so although they cant find you immediatly, they could narrow down the power surge/drop to a certain numbver of houses in one area, then notify the police to open an investigation with the electric company help


out of the 2 the 1st is the most likely...so even if you are paying your bill on time, if you are using considerable more power than the average house in your neighborhood then that raises a red flag

 

[dtfsux]

I flipped 15KW for a few months w/o any issues.

I remember reading on OG that a large amount of ballasts can create a surge at the pole.


I would suggest if it is something you are concerned about, staggering the startup. Also consider in a commercial/industrial location, it would not be uncommon for large items to start up, large AC's, walk in coolers, warehouse lights, motorized equipment, etc

 

[growshopfrank]

1000w HPS ballasts wired 240v draw a little more than 2 amps at start up then fairly slowly rise to around 4.5 amps there is no big surge on start up but if you run too many it can smoke the transformer on the pole.

 

[Applesauce]

I'd be weary of the software being used. I have heard they can get some pretty in-depth information on your usage, time of usage etc.

 

[Tilt]

only problem with an industrial location is the yearly fire inspection.......

 

[VIKINGtrich]

20KW, man, that's alot of juice....

 

[Aeroguerilla]

If your going to be running more then 10kw on the grid make sure you change your location every year. Most cases ive read DEA investigates for a few years at one location before they go in based on electric bill.

constant cat and mouse game.

 

[VIKINGtrich]

Man, It sucks, where I live, i couldn't use 20kw....don't have enough power.....Im not an electrician, so i dont know enough info...but I have problems running what i got now...between 1600-3000kw worth of lights, and then all the fans and heaters and other things that are a must.......My brother is an electrician, but i don't even tell him Im growing...NOBODY knows.....I'd like to tell my bro so he could hook me up with more power, but the problem is, I DONT TRUST ANYONE! its not me, its the nature of the game we play.....So far, Im winning.

 

[macro]

my door has been knocked on by the power company because they (i'm paraphrasing) "detected a spike of interference at the same time every day, usually caused by grow lights"

I changed up my cycle a bit but he knew I was growing somehow from some kind of EMI detection system or somehting... not really sure how they figured it out my op was under 5k too

 

[Nugga Boo]

Bro get a flip flop set up

 

[Lazyman]

When I first flipped on a 7kw grow my transformer on the pole tripped and they had to come replace it with a newer one. no questions asked. (pg&e)

I now have a total of about 19.5kw of lights that come on every day at the same time and not a peep. Pay your bill on time, and if you're in Florida, or OK you're boned with too much power usage.

 

[krunchbubble]

never had the power company ask one question when i was running 4 50 lighters and a 100 lighter at the same time, same name on power bills......
t
they just wan to make sure you pay your bill.

there are flip flops that turn on lights at different times, so no spike for you.....

 

[Strainhunter]

......

tried running all 17kw at once and kept setting something off at the pole that they had to come reset. after the 3rd time we decided to switch it up a bit

i would not advise running more then 10kw at once unless of course you do like im doin.

That "something" is called "fuse cut" (most residential ones are 15-24KV) and you can easily re-set it with the same insulated fiberglass pole the electricity company is using.

Or use PVC pipes with a hook @ the end, works just as well.

The ring @ the top right in the pic is where the hook goes in.

Works just as well if you wanna piss off your neighbors REAL BAD by disconnecting their power. Do that a few times and they will have gone insane. Or you to jail

 

[BlueberryLovr]

never had the power company ask one question when i was running 4 50 lighters and a 100 lighter at the same time, same name on power bills......
t
they just wan to make sure you pay your bill.

there are flip flops that turn on lights at different times, so no spike for you.....

So the "1k light per bedroom" rule of thumb I was led to believe all this time is bunk? (I'm in SoCal, btw)

Now I feel silly. Could have been doing so much more!

 

[Strainhunter]

Don't let flip flops fool you in to safety.
They do camo large spikes appearing @ the same time BUT your electricity usage will stay THE SAME.