Growroom Electricity and Wiring

[madpenguin]

Yep... It's wired correctly. Just make sure the timer neutral is also connected to the neutral bus in your panel. I would have ran the neutral from the relay coil to the neutral bus bar and then wire nutted a white extension conductor onto the timer neutral and then terminated that on the neutral buss bar as well.

Either or. Just make sure all neutrals get back to your feeder neutral.

Hows about a close up of the entire panel?

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Okay I didn't do that. That white lead goes to the timer and it's a bitch to redo...... what do

i can take that neutral off the coil and terminate it in the bus bar but how do i get a wire from the timer? Do i have to do it over or can I jumper it somehow?

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Everything i touch today turns to chit. That chunk I cut off the 6/3 to get it back into the house...... guess how much I'm short of the damn power box?...... just about exactly what I cut off...... so looks like it's dryer cord time

I dug around the shop and found a Nema 14-30 plug and recptacle...... i don't think that'll work.... do i need a 14-60?

Edit..... 14-60r is like $100...... jesus..... I can't really move the panel because it would be mostly in the flower room...... everything in the veg room would have to be on a cord..... that doesn' work.....

Junction box?

Edit again.....

 

[madpenguin]

Yep. Junction box. Buy some connectors and the heavyduty sticky/tar electrical tape. Torque down both screws on the connector and then wrap it with the tape. Use a large enough junction box so you can plate it.

BTW, you've only got one neutral coming out of the 240 side and it lands on the coil center contact. That 120v circuit for the timer won't be complete until you crimp another neutral jumper going from that same coil contact to the neutral buss.

That or if you dont want two spade terminals on that one contact, wire nut a neutral to the timer neutral in that single gang handy box (3 white wires joined,not two) and then land it on the neutral buss.

 

[madpenguin]

Sorry... Didn't see your last post on the previous page. But.... I answered it any way above. Just make a short jumper of white wire going from the neutral coil contact to the neutral buss. That will complete the circuit...

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Sorry... Didn't see your last post on the previous page. But.... I answered it any way above. Just make a short jumper of white wire going from the neutral coil contact to the neutral buss. That will complete the circuit...

So quick question...... When I have my fluke set on the ===> tone setting... i was testing all the hots, neutrals, and grounds to make sure they were all correct. When i touch the neutral coil and the timed coil on the sides of the relay i get a short beep and then a reading of .181... of whatever measurement... I'm not sure..... I just have a feeling the two shouldn't read anything??


Anyhows..... the 1000w has only been connected for a little over a week.... just waiting for me to finish the powerboard. i have it running to a heavy duty outdoor intermatic (1.5hp timer) I noticed the strip is burnt..... I don't remember if it was like that and I didn't notice or what because none of the cords are sooty..... anyhow

Death traps

smiley

 

[madpenguin]

So quick question...... When I have my fluke set on the ===> tone setting... i was testing all the hots, neutrals, and grounds to make sure they were all correct. When i touch the neutral coil and the timed coil on the sides of the relay i get a short beep and then a reading of .181... of whatever measurement... I'm not sure..... I just have a feeling the two shouldn't read anything??

That's how much power the digital display uses on the timer. 22 watts is what that equates to. Sounds about right for the display. As long as the armature is still open when the timer is off then that's what that reading is all about. I'm assuming that was an amp reading anyway. Either way, you'll have constant voltage and amperage because of that digital display.

That powerstrip is why I don't like to see people using them. They are all cheaply made. Even the ones that claim to be "industrial heavy duty" have a decent chance of burning out.

 

[madpenguin]

Added 2 more pics to the very end of the light controller tutorial along with some info about relays when you first fire them up. Also going to work some more on the relay tutorial...

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Walkthrough is looking great MP.


So does my wiring look alright?

I guess all I have left to do is get the stuff to setup a junction box and mount the board.

so if I got this wiring wrong the worst that should happen is the breaker will pop and not reset yeah?

i don't own one of those testers..... how do i do the same thing with my fluke?

cheers
Smiley

 

[madpenguin]

Yea. Just get that other neutral jumper in there and you should be good.

 

[madpenguin]

And those receptacle testers just test the polarity of the device. Will tell you if a hot and neutral are reversed or if you have an open neutral, blah, blah... Go buy one from HD or Lowes if you really want. They are only 5-7 bucks if I'm not mistaken.

And yea, if you really wired something wrong, then the breaker will trip.

 

[SmokinErb]

Hi again.

I just signed my lease today Once again I'm here about wiring up a circuit... only get this... I might not have to!

So we turned on all the lights and stuff and it seems that the bedroom is located on its own circuit already! Each of the 3 bedrooms has its own switch rated @ 15 amps. Turning one off didn't affect anything else in the house.

However I'm pretty sure 15 amps is going to be a problem. Doesn't 1kw HPS pull about 9 amps? So my question now is, can I just kill the breaker box, take out the breaker for the bedroom and put in one that's rated for a higher amperage or something? That would be the easiest way for me, obviously. But is it possible/safe?

I think my breaker holds both 120v and 240v... I'll post a picture what you need to see later, but it says "200 AMPS, 120/240 V AC...... 1 phase, 3 wire."

Now if I have to run a new circuit, I can see that being a problem. I have no attic and you can't see up the walls in the basement.

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

You generally can't just switch the breaker unless the wire is big enough which isn't likely., If your wiring is 14/2 then 15 is it. if for some reason they ran it 12/2 (which would be awesome) then it can handle a 20amp breaker. You can have a small breaker on big wire but not a big breaker on small wire if that makes sense.

A 1000w is more in the neighborhood of 11 amps if I recall, that on a 15 amp breaker is fine if that's all thats on there.

As far as running wire look at some articles on google about pulling cable. they have extra long drill bits for getting up in walls and through fire blocking if need be and have a notch to pull wire back through or you can use fish tape. They sell those bits etc at home depot.

Cheers
Smiley

 

[madpenguin]

But is it possible/safe?

Yea... If you have to ask the question then you probably already know the answer. That will start a fire by putting a larger breaker in there.

There is ALWAYS a way to run new circuits. It's what 90% of my work is. Old-working new circuits in a finished house. You can fish 3 or 4 stories in a finished house with no existing way up from the panel.

You drill holes and make your own path to where you need to be.

 

[SmokinErb]

Okay, so let me make sure I got this right:

The only way to change the breaker is if the wiring is 12/2. Okay so can I just pull out a receptacle and look at the wiring going into the back of that to determine the type of wiring? How can I tell if its 12/2?

Either way, if I need to wire up a circuit, that won't be a problem. I can veg in my bedroom closet for the time being while setting up my flowering room.

George said that the 1000w is about 11 amps, but my understanding was that amps = wattage/voltage. I just round up to be safe, so I say 9. What am I getting wrong here?

I don't get it though. My television is 1100w. or 9.1 amps (doing w/v =a) Are you saying I couldn't run 2 of those tv's in that bedroom? That sounds absolutely insane, I run more than that all the time, and each of the other bedrooms are also on 15 amp breakers. This is totally unrelated, but are you telling me I basically can't run my TV, computer, CD player, DVD player at the same time in my bedroom, because that's definitely over 15 amps.

I'm really high right now so I'm gonna ask a dumb question I pretty much already know the answer to, but I'm going to ask it anyway, because well... you never know. 15 amps. Is that for the whole circuit or is that 15 amps per receptacle?

My camera battery is dead and charging right now, I'll probably follow up in about 5 minutes with a picture of the breaker box.

 

[SmokinErb]

Okay so here's the breakers. You can't read it, but the blue switches have the number 15 imprinted on them, and all of the black ones are 20. Dunno about those 240's, I didn't really pay too much attention to them. You can see the extra slots for more breakers.

This is probably totally worthless, but fuck I don't even know what you guys look for, ya know?

Also, throughout the process of whatever I'm doing I'll likely be posting pics. I shrank those two down A LOT. So if a more detailed picture is needed, that's easily provided. I just shrink them down so I can upload them directly here. I take my pictures in 3264x2448, so you can really get your nose in there, so to speak.

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

keep in mind I'm learning just like you.....

A 1000w ballast actually more like 9.5 amps.... a 1000w ballast draws roughly 1100 watts input. Sorry, my memory...... Yeah it has to do with constant draw compared to what you would call casual use.

I'll leave it for the electricians to explain but I too went on watts/volts/amps and did the math but the actual draw is less when it comes to tv's and the like. My home entertainment components have all sorts of wattages listed but when it's all in full swing you can hook it up to a voltmeter or in my case recently to a killawatt and the usage of the entertainment center was really really low..... less than 3 cents an hour if I recall

My power supply in the computer is 600w but it only draws 260 most of the time. 1000w constant for 12 is a continuous load. These kind of appliances don't use power the same way. They don't draw constant 11amps like a1000w ballast does. Or maybe they use it the same way but that's max watts for 1/10th of a second peak or startup.

Like I said, the sparkys can explain it better. BTW with the killawatt I skinned $35 of my power bill just by turning computer stations off more often and setting them to hibernate.

smiley

 

[SmokinErb]

Okay so basically 15 amps isn't even enough to run a 1kw room then is it? Unless its 15 amps per receptacle, which I doubt.

The lamp alone pulling we'll say 11 amps... that leaves 4 amps for vegging in the closet, fans, timers... everything =/

Anyway, I'll figure something out. I've got about 4-6 weeks before I'll be needing to use any real amperage, so I got time to get it dialed in.

 

[Orygun]

well since you should only use 80 percent of a circuit you should only be using 12 amps on a 15 amp breaker. I hope this helps,

Orygun.

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

Okay so basically 15 amps isn't even enough to run a 1kw room then is it? Unless its 15 amps per receptacle, which I doubt.

The lamp alone pulling we'll say 11 amps... that leaves 4 amps for vegging in the closet, fans, timers... everything =/

Anyway, I'll figure something out. I've got about 4-6 weeks before I'll be needing to use any real amperage, so I got time to get it dialed in.

it's 15amps for the circuit which may be the receptacles and sometimes lighting on the circuit depending on the age.

A good condition 15amp circuit with nothing else on it but a 1000w and a blower. I think my 8inch is like 240watts and a circulation fan isn't much would be fine. Your panel looks pretty good so I don't see what's stopping you.

in a perfect world it would be perfect but what you got sounds like it'll work. I would definitely run more power if this grow spot is going to be used for a longer period of time because as your grow evolves, somehow the number of shit you have to plug in multiplies.

Cheers
smiley