Electricity usage, wiring, saftey, and YOU!

[4BW]

hey everyone. I am new to this stuff. I am planning on growing hydroponically. I was hoping someone can tell me how to hook up the main timer box for all the lights. Where do I hook it up too. I have seen people go straight to the fuse box panel, but I think it is to much work. Can someone tell me please! I want to run four 600W hps lights. Thank you.

[13ronin]

eek... That's a lot of power. Ima have to let someone else answer that one, but I don't see any other SAFE way than doing it that way...

[greaterthings]

Dude, how many plants are you planning? How much space do you have? 4x600watts is overkill and pointless unless you have at least 120 square ft. of grow space and are planning on 40 or more plants

[greaterthings]

As for the breaker box- YES! You will definetely have to make a breaker for this. Do not do this yourself. Hire an electrician. Don't tap.

[pomangro]

hey a new sticky!,
i read this when it wasnt, makes me feel like a big man
sweet post

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by greaterthings

As for the breaker box- YES! You will definetely have to make a breaker for this. Do not do this yourself. Hire an electrician. Don't tap.

Agreed. It is possible to install a new breaker and wiring yourself, but its not a chore for those who are inexperienced. Ive learned slowly over the years from helping others and reading the how to guides available at Lowe's and now swapping out breakers and adding breakers to a fuse box as well as wiring is old hat, but I'm still no professional. For the wattage you're talking about, not only would it seem to require one new breaker on a new circuit, but raher two breakers and two circuits to be on the safe side. If you don't know EXACTLY what you are doing, I would hire/consult an electrician. A certified one, not a friend who says he could do it.

Originally Posted by pomangro

hey a new sticky!,
i read this when it wasnt, makes me feel like a big man
sweet post

Thanks man! Ya I'm pretty stoked about it myself!

[4BW]

thanks for the advice. I knew someone before that had 14-1000Watt running in one house.But he steals electricity. My place is wanting 75 plants, i was told by a guy to start of with 4-600w, but noticing the defected system, I am turning more to 8-400w. somebody please help me. Do i plug it in to the dryer outlet, or tap into the breaker box?

[4BW]

hey greaterthings! My space is12' longx8'highx8'wide which equals 768'sq.

[greaterthings]

NO that is only 96 square ft. You are thinking cubic ft. I think you need to scale back with the light and # of plants for the space that you have. You can have big dreams, but walk before you run.

For a 12x8 ft space I think you should put a wall up and make 2 Chambers. One 5x8 for your veg chamber. 1 600Watt w/MH bulb. on 18/6 off. I think 1-2 Clone moms could be in here along with 20 or so clones in the vegitative growth period. (I would have these in only 1 gallon containers at first to allow space between the plants).

In chamber 2 which would be 7x8ft, I would mount 2 of your 600W ballasts with HPS bulbs in this slightly larger room. I wouldn't use this chamber until the first FEMALES are ready to move to budding. When I make the transplants, I would move them into 3 - 5 gallon buckets depending on how thick I wanted them to branch out.

YOU COULD POTENTIALLY DO THIS SET-UP ON 2 SEPERATE BREAKER LINES IN THE HOUSE. DON'T MESS WITH THE BREAKERS. JUST PLUG CHAMBER 1 INTO A DIFFERENT PLACE IN THE HOUSE AND RUN YOUR VENTILATION THROUGH THIS POWER LOCATION AS WELL. fIGURE OUT ANOTHER SPOT THAT RUNS THROUGH A SEPERATE BREAKER TO PLUG CHAMBER 2 INTO.

REMEMBER THAT YOUR BREAKER HAS AN AMP RATING. IF YOU HAVE 1200 WATTS OF LIGHTS PLUGGED INTO A 120 VOLT SOURCE, YOU HAVE 10 AMPS. IF YOUR PLUGS ARE WIRED THROUGH A STANDARD 20AMP BREAKER, YOU ARE SAFE. BUT WATCH CLOSELY WHAT OTHER HOUSEHOLD THINGS ARE PLUGGED IN AS WELL. A SINGLE HAIR BLOW DRYER CAN BE 1500 WaTTS.

aLSO THINK OF THE WATTAGE GOING THROUGH YOUR VENTALATION SYSTEM.


MAKE SURE TO KEEP LIGHT OUT OF YOUR BUDDING CHAMBER WHEN ITS 12 HOURS OF SLEEPING. BUDS NEED SLEEP.

[4BW]

Hey greaterthings. Thanks for correcting my plause. Mostly appreciated. I was planing to use one room for both vegie and flowie. What I was thinking off was to take clones from the clone room and plant them in the vegie/flowie room. After that, it is all about how much lighting to give them. I just don't like moving tthem around to much. Once from the clone should be enough.

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by greaterthings

NO that is only 96 square ft. You are thinking cubic ft. I think you need to scale back with the light and # of plants for the space that you have. You can have big dreams, but walk before you run.

For a 12x8 ft space I think you should put a wall up and make 2 Chambers. One 5x8 for your veg chamber. 1 600Watt w/MH bulb. on 18/6 off. I think 1-2 Clone moms could be in here along with 20 or so clones in the vegitative growth period. (I would have these in only 1 gallon containers at first to allow space between the plants).

In chamber 2 which would be 7x8ft, I would mount 2 of your 600W ballasts with HPS bulbs in this slightly larger room. I wouldn't use this chamber until the first FEMALES are ready to move to budding. When I make the transplants, I would move them into 3 - 5 gallon buckets depending on how thick I wanted them to branch out.

YOU COULD POTENTIALLY DO THIS SET-UP ON 2 SEPERATE BREAKER LINES IN THE HOUSE. DON'T MESS WITH THE BREAKERS. JUST PLUG CHAMBER 1 INTO A DIFFERENT PLACE IN THE HOUSE AND RUN YOUR VENTILATION THROUGH THIS POWER LOCATION AS WELL. fIGURE OUT ANOTHER SPOT THAT RUNS THROUGH A SEPERATE BREAKER TO PLUG CHAMBER 2 INTO.

REMEMBER THAT YOUR BREAKER HAS AN AMP RATING. IF YOU HAVE 1200 WATTS OF LIGHTS PLUGGED INTO A 120 VOLT SOURCE, YOU HAVE 10 AMPS. IF YOUR PLUGS ARE WIRED THROUGH A STANDARD 20AMP BREAKER, YOU ARE SAFE. BUT WATCH CLOSELY WHAT OTHER HOUSEHOLD THINGS ARE PLUGGED IN AS WELL. A SINGLE HAIR BLOW DRYER CAN BE 1500 WaTTS.

aLSO THINK OF THE WATTAGE GOING THROUGH YOUR VENTALATION SYSTEM.


MAKE SURE TO KEEP LIGHT OUT OF YOUR BUDDING CHAMBER WHEN ITS 12 HOURS OF SLEEPING. BUDS NEED SLEEP.

indeed watch what else is plugged into the same circuit. A desktop with a monitor can run 700 watts, and like he said, a hair dryer can run at around 1500.

[rasputin]

Thanks for this. I'm running down my check list before I make my first attempt and just coming across this part now. Work to do for sure.

[ramidus]

Nice Post! One of the few well written AND informative pieces out there. Safety minded and useful! ++rep

[kushman2020]

my DC transformer says its input is 120V and 60 Hz. so how do i calculate that in watts?

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by kushman2020

my DC transformer says its input is 120V and 60 Hz. so how do i calculate that in watts?

I have no idea cause Hz is not a measure of power so much as it is in frequency. Sorry bro, but I'm clue.

It should still have an amperage rating on there somewhere. It might be expressed first... I dunno. When you get a chance type in exactly what it says on there. I'll come back later and see if I can help you out more...