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length of lead from ballast to bulb

Cork144

Cork144

Active member
howdy guys, spent a couple days searching IC and google and cant find anything stating it, but is there a minimum length you need the lead from ballast to bulb, I'm asking as I can get mine down to about a foot and a half long with the ballast in the top of the grow space, just want to be clear before I begin cutting, stripping and rewiring the reflector
 
Koondense

Koondense

Well-known member
Veteran
There is no minimal length, the shorter the less rf will be emitted.
Look at the gavita designs for example.
 
Cork144

Cork144

Active member
thank you sir, always got my back, p.s. redesigned my LED set up to use 6 veros now driven at 76watts each, should give me 8 percent more lumens while using 6 percent less energy
 
Switcher56

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
Cork144 said:
howdy guys, spent a couple days searching IC and google and cant find anything stating it, but is there a minimum length you need the lead from ballast to bulb, I'm asking as I can get mine down to about a foot and a half long with the ballast in the top of the grow space, just want to be clear before I begin cutting, stripping and rewiring the reflector
Click to expand...
The shorter the better, less resistance :)
 
I

Iamnumber

Active member
Switcher56 said:
The shorter the better, less resistance :)
Click to expand...


Hi, bit OT but..


have you crunched the numbers from financial point?


if considering say 10m or 33 ft of cable.. and say 1600w usage 24/7 .. how long will it take to save the cost of thicker wire? I know that price of electricity varies but I am looking for ball park figure.. 5 years, 20y? 150y?


Bit same for length.. how much % loss will occure with extra 10m or 33ft of cable? (say 'standard' electrical outlet wiring cable) .. assuming same power usage as given above.





This is not my area of experice.. I am just wondering if any noticable savings can be made with more direct line of drawing the wires or by using thicker wires. 1% would be noticable for me.. .. less than that.. I think I would prefer better esthetics of wire placement over energy savings.
 
GOT_BUD?

GOT_BUD?

Weed is a gateway to gardening
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Iamnumber said:
Hi, bit OT but..


have you crunched the numbers from financial point?


if considering say 10m or 33 ft of cable.. and say 1600w usage 24/7 .. how long will it take to save the cost of thicker wire? I know that price of electricity varies but I am looking for ball park figure.. 5 years, 20y? 150y?


Bit same for length.. how much % loss will occure with extra 10m or 33ft of cable? (say 'standard' electrical outlet wiring cable) .. assuming same power usage as given above.





This is not my area of experice.. I am just wondering if any noticable savings can be made with more direct line of drawing the wires or by using thicker wires. 1% would be noticable for me.. .. less than that.. I think I would prefer better esthetics of wire placement over energy savings.
Click to expand...
It's not a cost savings issue. You will never notice a difference.

It's a safety issue. Too long of a cord drawing a large amount of current will heat up thinner conductors, and they could potentially melt or catch fire. But you have to push a lot of current to catch fire.

A good example of this is your vacuum cleaner. run it for 15-20 minutes, and the cord will get warm. Run it for an hour, and it will be hot to the touch. If you could run it for 24 hours, the cord might actually begin to melt. But I've never done it or seen it done.

In the OP's case, I'm guessing he doesn't want a 10 foot cord to deal with when he can put them close together and make it look cleaner in the grow room. That's what I'd do. And did.
 
Cork144

Cork144

Active member
GOT_BUD? said:
It's not a cost savings issue. You will never notice a difference.

It's a safety issue. Too long of a cord drawing a large amount of current will heat up thinner conductors, and they could potentially melt or catch fire. But you have to push a lot of current to catch fire.

A good example of this is your vacuum cleaner. run it for 15-20 minutes, and the cord will get warm. Run it for an hour, and it will be hot to the touch. If you could run it for 24 hours, the cord might actually begin to melt. But I've never done it or seen it done.

In the OP's case, I'm guessing he doesn't want a 10 foot cord to deal with when he can put them close together and make it look cleaner in the grow room. That's what I'd do. And did.
Click to expand...


ballast was in the attic on a long lead but the summer heats was getting the ballast dangerously hot, so i bought a digi and mounted it in the space, but didnt want emf messing with my wifi which is located in the same area as my grow, so wanted it as short as possible, thanks for all the advice guys i love all the chitter chatter, always learning:huggg:
 
Lost in a SOG

Lost in a SOG

GrassSnakeGenetics
Also if you don't uncoil really long extension leads when you use them they will melt and catch fire whilst blowing all the fuses lol
 
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