[iTarzan]

Thanks! I am at 1060 so I am good.

[iTarzan]

I have another question for the electrical gurus. Rives I like to think this thread is a source of entertainment for you. Hopefully the endless question amuse you and pass some time.

I have a 6" 400 cfm centrifugal duct fan drawing in outside air from a 6" vent tubing. The fan has a 3 prong plug. I need to install a fan speed control. I was just going to buy one but then I remembered I had this unused but a few yeas old Vari-Speed control.

I scavenged a plug cord from it but don't remember how it goes together. It has 2 red wires and one green one. Which red is power and which is neutral. I assume the green is ground.

I want to be able to plug the timer into the outlet and the fan into this speed control.

What do I need to get and do? I guess I need a male 3 prong plug connected to some 3 wire and a 3 prong female outlet and 3 wire.

Here are the pics of what I have.

[rives]

Originally Posted by iTarzan

I have another question for the electrical gurus. Rives I like to think this thread is a source of entertainment for you. Hopefully the endless question amuse you and pass some time.

I have a 6" 400 cfm centrifugal duct fan drawing in outside air from a 6" vent tubing. The fan has a 3 prong plug. I need to install a fan speed control. I was just going to buy one but then I remembered I had this unused but a few yeas old Vari-Speed control.

I scavenged a plug cord from it but don't remember how it goes together. It has 2 red wires and one green one. Which red is power and which is neutral. I assume the green is ground.

I want to be able to plug the timer into the outlet and the fan into this speed control.

What do I need to get and do? I guess I need a male 3 prong plug connected to some 3 wire and a 3 prong female outlet and 3 wire.

From the directions that I found, you can apparently interchange the red wires BUT neither of them goes to the neutral. One goes to the incoming hot wire, and the other will become the hot wire going to your fan motor. Yes, you can get a handy-box to mount the control in, a couple of strain reliefs, male and female cord caps, and some 16/3 cord. You will hook up one of your red leads to the black wire coming from the male cap, the other red lead to the black wire going to the female (the black wires will connect to the copper screw in each cap, the white wires to the silver ones), and join the white wires together. The grounds should connect together also, but with a 3rd one grounding the handy box also tied in with them.

https://www.kbelectronics.com/manuals/kbwc_manual.pdf

[iTarzan]

Thanks rives. I am heading to the garage right now.

[iTarzan]

I have it all connected and functioning properly. Thanks for the help you have given me numerous times rives. You are a very valuable member on IC.

Phillthy started a great thread and you have been instrumental in keeping the flow of information going.

My grow room has evolved and is safer and will be more productive. It is way better to have too much cooling power and need a fan speed control then not enough cooling like I usually have to struggle with.

[2chains]

First time grower in Southern Alberta.

Looking at a small scale 4x4 room grow tent in my unfinished basement with 1000A LED/oscillating fan 30A/6" inline fan 110A with carbon filter (but not sure if I will be needing ac/heater/humidifier down the road anyone feel free to chime in if you have grown in this neck of the woods ).

My understanding is code allows 1440W max on 15A service for a complete single circuit running from a single pole 15A breaker. As I will only have room for one receptacle in this circuit as it will be near maxed with the one plug....am I better off to run split circuit from 2pole 15A breaker so I have use of 120 at each plug in at this receptacle? I am thinking of running two of these split circuits at two receptacle locations.

Is this a safe and/or common practise in this circumstance? Are there better options to achieve this?

[Jhhnn]

Originally Posted by 2chains

First time grower in Southern Alberta.

Looking at a small scale 4x4 room grow tent in my unfinished basement with 1000A LED/oscillating fan 30A/6" inline fan 110A with carbon filter (but not sure if I will be needing ac/heater/humidifier down the road anyone feel free to chime in if you have grown in this neck of the woods ).

My understanding is code allows 1440W max on 15A service for a complete single circuit running from a single pole 15A breaker. As I will only have room for one receptacle in this circuit as it will be near maxed with the one plug....am I better off to run split circuit from 2pole 15A breaker so I have use of 120 at each plug in at this receptacle? I am thinking of running two of these split circuits at two receptacle locations.

Is this a safe and/or common practise in this circumstance? Are there better options to achieve this?

I suggest using #12 wire & a 20A breaker for 1920w continuous. It costs little more & would have excellent safety margin for what you're talking about. If you use 12/3 w ground cable you could readily upgrade to a split phase circuit & ganged breakers down the road if the breaker panel has the avail space.

I'd advise a 4plex receptacle for single phase & two of them for split phase.

Dunno what the humidity is like in Alberta but it's probably not a concern in a large-ish lung room space. The need for a heater depends on what kind of temps the space normally experiences.

[2chains]

@Jhhnn
Thanks for the quick reply. 20A circuit is a great option I hadn't thought of. I have newish house so lots of room at the box for expansion down the road.

[everydayJoe]

I have a similar setup as you. When I do electrical, I tend to be a bit conservative with the anticipated loads to always be on safe side. If I were running a 1000w light, I'd have that on a separate 20amp circuit run with 12/2 wire. If your light is compatible it's not a bad idea idea to run that breaker as 220v since the light will run smoother/cooler on 220v compared to 120v. I'd then have all the other stuff (fans, dehumidifier, etc) on a second 120v/20 amp breaker run with 12/2. Also consider possible need for heater or air conditioner, which depending on the size may require its own circuit. In this case, consider a third 20amp/220v breaker with a hard wired thermostat to run them.

Depending on how your house is designed and how far your main panel is from where you are growing, it might be easiest to set up a sub panel in your unfinished basement from which you can then run all these circuits. Maybe a 50amp subpanel run with 6/3 on a 50amp breaker, or a 40amp subpanel run with 8/3 protected by a 40amp breaker at the main panel. At this point though things get complicated enough that you'll really want to know what your doing or hire an electrician.

[2chains]

@everydayJoe

Thanks for the input. As a noob I had a confusing time with the LED ratings and ended up buying Mars II LED 1600 which is 730watts rating not 1600w. I'm not sure if this will change your recommendations...

By 220v breaker are you talking double pole with two wires operating as hot?

Thankful for an unfinished basement as I can adjust if needed.

I've already run a circuit w/20A single pole breaker with the 12/2 wire to an 4plex--I think code calls for one GFCI so added one. I can easily swap out to 20A double pole breaker and swap to single outlet if that's what brings more head room on the circuits.

I also ran a second identical circuit but w/15A 14/2 single pole breaker and was planning to use for everything other than lights i.e. scrubber fan/oscillating fan/timer/humidifier I can easily add 15A double pole breaker here as well but hoping not to have to change the wiring to 12/2 maybe just add another 20A single pole circuit is what I'm thinking.

Do these changes sound reasonable? I don't have anything running yet so swapping out is not an issue. I won't set anything up until I know all is safe.

One noob question::I do have separate basement heating zone(damper system) and have free standing A/C unit on the exterior of my house. Will that be sufficient or would I need additional A/C or heater?

thanks for the assistance!