How Much do LED Grow-lights depend on Ground ?

St. Phatty · Nov 1, 2018

I'm about to set up an LED light outdoors.

The Dominator 1200, something like that.

The power cord has a ground. I spent about $80 on copper wire, for 2x 200 foot runs of electrical wire, outdoors.

In the past I have Kluged together much longer extension cords (130+ yards), so that I could use power tools outdoors. It all worked, probably had some significant resistance power loss.

This is the first time I've done that with an LED grow-light.

Have any ICMag members ever been burned by ignorring ground on a small LED grow-light set-up ?

The first extension cord I'm making will support 1x 200 watt light, and maybe some additional 10 watt lights.

I've ignorred Ground on extension cord set-ups for about 30 years with no visible ill effects.

But since this is my first LED, I thought I would ask.

Switcher56 · Nov 1, 2018

Grounding should be a must since the grounding conversion

AgentPothead · Nov 1, 2018

I am not an electrician so take this with a huge kosher style grain of salt, but I think you can run GFCI without a ground. I would definitely look into having all the sockets be GFCI.

beanja · Nov 1, 2018

Grounding is only for safety , if y some chance the metal casing of the led light became energized it would not trip the breaker and if you touched the fixture you would get a shock. led will work fine without .

St. Phatty · Nov 1, 2018

Switcher56 said:
Grounding should be a must since the grounding conversion

Can you explain a little bit more ?

What does grounding conversion mean ?

Switcher56 · Nov 1, 2018

Since the advent of 3 prong plugs

Switcher56 · Nov 1, 2018

AgentPothead said:
I am not an electrician so take this with a huge kosher style grain of salt, but I think you can run GFCI without a ground. I would definitely look into having all the sockets be GFCI.

GFCI requires a ground! That's why the receptacle has a 3 hole female, which accepts the 3 prong male

.

beanja · Nov 1, 2018

You could use gfci breaker ... grounds do not affect performance. Its there for safety so you dont get a shock if stray voltage energizes the metal casing .

ReikoX · Nov 1, 2018

If you look inside these lights, the ground usually simply goes to the chassis. The AC/DC driver doesn't require the ground to function. That being said, it prevents a short from making the chassis "hot" which could shock you, potentially lethally.

Ace Rothstein · Nov 1, 2018

Safety first, run a ground

Ace Rothstein · Nov 1, 2018

Especially considering we are talking about a wet location.

AgentPothead · Nov 1, 2018

Switcher56 said:
GFCI requires a ground! That's why the receptacle has a 3 hole female, which accepts the 3 prong male .

This is incorrect. The equipment-grounding conductor plays no part in the operation of a GFCI, so it will provide ground-fault protection even on a 2-wire circuit without an equipment-grounding conductor.
And from wikipedia.
Since a GFCI only monitors current on the hot leg compared to the neutral, the GFCI can be used to upgrade older two-prong (non-grounded) outlets to three-prong (grounded/earthed) outlets without installing any new wire. A circuit with a GFCI device without a ground is far safer than a two-prong outlet without a ground. A GFCI installed this way must be labeled "No equipment ground."
When a GFCI is installed in the electrical box without connecting the ground screw (as there is no ground wire), a label that says "No Equipment Ground" is placed on the GFCI outlet and all downstream outlets. Several of these labels are usually included with the GFCI. In some parts of the world, "ground" is called "earth".

Switcher56 · Nov 1, 2018

I stand corrected, an expensive way to provide a ground

Teddybrae · Nov 1, 2018

Earth/ground can be made using 1 meter or so of 1/2" copper pipe. Hammer into ground as far as you can. get piece of wire same size or bigger than wires in yr extension cords. clamp wire onto copper pipe. clamp other end of wire to frame of lights. that will earth lights. sandpaper where you are to clamp wire to make good contact. your home's power board/meter board/fuse box should take care of supply end.
Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Zap!

St. Phatty · Nov 1, 2018

Teddybrae said:
Earth/ground can be made using 1 meter or so of 1/2" copper pipe. Hammer into ground as far as you can. get piece of wire same size or bigger than wires in yr extension cords. clamp wire onto copper pipe. clamp other end of wire to frame of lights. that will earth lights. sandpaper where you are to clamp wire to make good contact. your home's power board/meter board/fuse box should take care of supply end.
Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Zap!

Thanks for all the replies !

I've been zapped maybe a dozen times by 115VAC at full strength.

Think I got a taste of the need for grounding once when I had some un-grounded grow lights - but they were HPS. Especially if the floor was wet, I could feel some electrical current which became painful if I touched certain metal parts.

I'm not concerned about my safety, I'm concerned about the light getting hurt.

beanja · Nov 2, 2018

200 ft runs of wire ? I hope you up sized your wire. Running something at that distance will suffer voltage drop . And if you keep increasing load on that wire than voltage drop will increase. Under voltage will cause dimmer lights and burn out quicker

jikko77 · Nov 7, 2018

not really needed to work.
the led itself would work perfectly even not grounded.
safety wise, if you can, get the chassy grounded, but is not required to have it in order to have the led working.
That said one of the driver i'm using doesn't have a ground line, and it's in use from a couple of years at least. never ever had an issue. and it was used in growing room (more or less steady 70% hr) and either in a flowering tent.
by the way most of the led drivers, with the ground line, have it connected internally to the driver chassy.

Klompen · Nov 7, 2018

ReikoX said:
If you look inside these lights, the ground usually simply goes to the chassis. The AC/DC driver doesn't require the ground to function. That being said, it prevents a short from making the chassis "hot" which could shock you, potentially lethally.

That's the entire purpose of the third prong. It is not an active wire. Its just there as a drain if a circuit forms where its not supposed to.

Klompen · Nov 7, 2018

Do not just stab a copper pipe into the ground. It won't work very well and on top of that, a proper grounding rod or two is cheaper. They're about 2 meters long and have a bronze clamp on one end. Run at least some 4 gauge grounding wire to two of these rods if you're going to ground out your panel. This is not the sort of thing to half-ass. Your life may depend on it being done right.

CrushnYuba · Nov 7, 2018

Didn't you say that your wire DID have a ground?

How Much do LED Grow-lights depend on Ground ?

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