Humple W.
Well-known member
Hi, all. Long time lurker, first time poster (same old story). I'm building a grow cabinet for my small medical grow, and I'm now at a point where I'm stumped. I'll be running two 250w digital ballasts, each powering a MH/HPS light for each of two grow chambers. Being the noob that I am, I initially bought an Apollo 9 digital timer, only to learn that I shouldn't be using it without a relay/contacter/controller of some kind.
I have searched high, low, far, and wide for some basic tutorial on putting together a simple relay, soley for the purpose of triggering a ballast (or ballasts, since I have two). I've seen write-ups on DIY controllers and flip-flop boxes, but I think that's more than I need? Wouldn't a flip-flop only be needed if I wanted to run multiple lamps off a single ballast? I won't be doing that. I want each chamber to run independently.
So yeah, I've searched "relay" here at ICMag, and I must have read every thread that popped up in the search results, but no luck (it's entirely possible that it's there and I missed it, but I've been looking through the site for DAYS to no avail). I've googled the shit out of this, guys. Maybe I'm getting results that would be useful to someone better versed in this sort of thing, but to my uneducated eyes it all might as well be written in another language.
In summary: I want to build a simple relay (or relays if I need one for each ballast) that will trigger my light timers, without any bells and whistles. Just on and off, according to schedule. Can anyone point me to a tutorial?
And then there's the question of whether I should even attempt this at all. I know it's very foolish to mess with electrical if you don't know what you're doing. But I'm not sure if building a relay and hooking it up carries the same dangers as wiring an outlet or some such? I don't want to be nominated for a Darwin award.
Sorry for my ignorant questions, and thanks for any guidance you can provide!
I have searched high, low, far, and wide for some basic tutorial on putting together a simple relay, soley for the purpose of triggering a ballast (or ballasts, since I have two). I've seen write-ups on DIY controllers and flip-flop boxes, but I think that's more than I need? Wouldn't a flip-flop only be needed if I wanted to run multiple lamps off a single ballast? I won't be doing that. I want each chamber to run independently.
So yeah, I've searched "relay" here at ICMag, and I must have read every thread that popped up in the search results, but no luck (it's entirely possible that it's there and I missed it, but I've been looking through the site for DAYS to no avail). I've googled the shit out of this, guys. Maybe I'm getting results that would be useful to someone better versed in this sort of thing, but to my uneducated eyes it all might as well be written in another language.
In summary: I want to build a simple relay (or relays if I need one for each ballast) that will trigger my light timers, without any bells and whistles. Just on and off, according to schedule. Can anyone point me to a tutorial?
And then there's the question of whether I should even attempt this at all. I know it's very foolish to mess with electrical if you don't know what you're doing. But I'm not sure if building a relay and hooking it up carries the same dangers as wiring an outlet or some such? I don't want to be nominated for a Darwin award.
Sorry for my ignorant questions, and thanks for any guidance you can provide!