Electricity usage, wiring, saftey, and YOU!

[sukuhdi]

ONE OF THE BEST POSTS OF ALL TIME!


thank you soo much i have been trying to figure out this watt power usage for awhile.

Originally Posted by TeenagePotHead

Your post is awesome, it has given me alot of help on understanding the price of electricity and i was able to find out a rough estimate on how much my first grow is gonna run me.
Im growing in my attic using one outlet and a power strip which will have four outlets being used. Im using cfls and am starting with four 22 watts, two 30s and two 42s. I am wondering if this lighting setup is hazardous at all since it is all coming out of one outlet

Yeah, that's a great quetion. I know how many watts you run through one outlet (or breaker cirquit) matters, but can having a dozen things plugged into one outlet be any sort of hazard?

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by lizzardGizzard

Yeah, that's a great quetion. I know how many watts you run through one outlet (or breaker cirquit) matters, but can having a dozen things plugged into one outlet be any sort of hazard?

no it doesn't really much matter how many things are plugged into one outlet, as long as they don't pull too much power for the breaker to safely handle and the cords you are using can handle the power too. Those extension cube are a bad idea for much of anything besides christmas lights, but power strips usually can handle a lot of power. For example my computer/stereo (400 Watt system)/tv/xbox 360/ etc. is on two seperate outlets that happen to be on different breakers and only one power strip per outlet. Just keep an eye on things. If you got a lot of things plugged into one outlet, just make sure it can handle it and doesn't make much heat. Also, use your heaviest cords at the start like your power strip then plug your smaller cords off of that. But one of those brown extension cords going to a power strip that powers 900 watts of lights and eleronics is a fire waiting to happen.

[ricard0]

Originally Posted by lizzardGizzard

Yeah, that's a great quetion. I know how many watts you run through one outlet (or breaker cirquit) matters, but can having a dozen things plugged into one outlet be any sort of hazard?

You may also have to/want to do a little math. You'll need to know what all is plugged into the circuit you plan on using for your gear. Because homes were wired at different times and with different codes, a particular circuit could have outlets tapped or tied onto an existing circuit. Before running gear that could monopolize the whole breaker/circuit, it's a good idea to know what's already on that circuit. If your beaker panel is adequately labeled, this should help you determine what is already on the circuit/breaker.

Say you have a space heater plugged into an outlet that's no where near your grow. You got your grow going, it gets cold, the space heater kicks on and BOOM, that's it. Breaker trips... hopefully.

You can buy a simple load tester that will tell you what you're pulling off of a given circuit. Never run a continuous load greater than 80% of the breaker capacity. Hope that helps.

I hope i'm not stepping on your toes here 13ronin, just adding my own $.02.

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by ricard0

You may also have to/want to do a little math. You'll need to know what all is plugged into the circuit you plan on using for your gear. Because homes were wired at different times and with different codes, a particular circuit could have outlets tapped or tied onto an existing circuit. Before running gear that could monopolize the whole breaker/circuit, it's a good idea to know what's already on that circuit. If your beaker panel is adequately labeled, this should help you determine what is already on the circuit/breaker.

Say you have a space heater plugged into an outlet that's no where near your grow. You got your grow going, it gets cold, the space heater kicks on and BOOM, that's it. Breaker trips... hopefully.

You can buy a simple load tester that will tell you what you're pulling off of a given circuit. Never run a continuous load greater than 80% of the breaker capacity. Hope that helps.

I hope i'm not stepping on your toes here 13ronin, just adding my own $.02.

Agreed. Thanks for answering that for me. Def. not stepping on my toes. +rep if I could, but I can't give you any more while. the servers won't let me...

I went with a heavier extension cord running out of my timer, straight to the power strip. I think it's a 14 gauge and it's grounded. I agree about the little brown cords that you can get at walmart for cheap. They're just waiting to burn down a house. Also, try to only get a cord that's as long as you need. If you need to go 10 feet, but are using a 100 foot cord, that's a problem. Not a hazard as much (I think) but you loose power over that far of a distance. And if you are running bigger lights, you might not be getting all that you could. Stay safe everyone!

[M3MPH1S]

very nice post! kudos - you really know your stuff

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by lizzardGizzard

I went with a heavier extension cord running out of my timer, straight to the power strip. I think it's a 14 gauge and it's grounded. I agree about the little brown cords that you can get at walmart for cheap. They're just waiting to burn down a house. Also, try to only get a cord that's as long as you need. If you need to go 10 feet, but are using a 100 foot cord, that's a problem. Not a hazard as much (I think) but you loose power over that far of a distance. And if you are running bigger lights, you might not be getting all that you could. Stay safe everyone!

that is a good point. you will lose a bit of power if you have a really long cord and it will produce more heat than it would if it were short because of increased resistance. +rep if I could, but I already gave you some at some point and it won't let me do it again so soon... Sorry bro.

[TheDevilsRansom]

Just wanted to say big ups and +rep to you bro! I've done the outdoor thing a couple times now and have learned some really important things about growing through that. I loved the challenge of growing outdoors, cause its so much harder to put out a quality product outdoors, imo. You have to deal with external conditions that are often out of your control. There's no timers on your lights cause its the sun and it'll do anything it damn well pleases. There's no guarantee of a self sustaining watering system either. Can't tell you how big af a pain it is to water a plant 84 times on a 100 degree day when it hasn't rained in a month. That plant will drink the ocean at that point if you let it. Then there's the whole mess of diseases, infestations and mold to worry about. Not to mention there's not much you can do in the way of fans or filtering systems for CO2 or smells. So yea, the outdoor stuff was a challenge, but a great learning experience. Now I'm getting ready to take that knowledge and apply to indoor growing. This sticky was exactly what I was looking for, since I know most of what I need to know in terms of the actual growing part. Its the indoor setup itself that has always scared me off, as I'm sure it has many else. I've always envisioned indoor growing as something left to shadow dwellers with secret underground setups who are constantly paranoid of the man coming to get them. Though I'm sure a lot of that paranoia is warranted and necessary when growing on a very large scale, I'm just now realizing that growing indoors on a small scale for personal supply is a very real and feasible thing for a lot of people, including myself. So kudos to you sir for spurring my desire to get out of the rain and into the warm comfort of the indoors!

[13ronin]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thanks man! Go for it bro and good luck!

[TheDevilsRansom]

I know this question is a bit off the main topic, but you seem to know your stuff so I'm gonna ask anyway. I've been looking into it a bit and it seems that a metal halide bulb is the way to go for vegetation and HPS for flowering. Am I correct in assuming this? Also, can you point in me in the right direction as toward what kind of space and setup is ideal for a cycle of 2-3 continuously flowering mothers? How many clones should I have in vegetation cylces while the 2 or 3 mothers are flowering? Any help you could offer is greatly appreciated! Nothing in life has ever delighted me more than growing and all of the intricacies involved in it. I never get tired of learning new things about how to grow better.

[tenacity2986]

I have a 8 gauge 240 volt wire I spliced and connected to the oven outlet and fed into another room to create a 240 outlet there... Works well but remember, if you live in a warm part of the country, heat increases the resistance in a wire which means its harder for current to flow through the wire thats trying to be drawn resulting in additional heat of the wire that conducts which could result in fire! Make sure to keep your eyes peeled especially if you are wiring yourself. And if you dont know, ask. Especially if you know nothing more than plugging things into outlets and having things turn on.

[13ronin]

Originally Posted by TheDevilsRansom

I know this question is a bit off the main topic, but you seem to know your stuff so I'm gonna ask anyway. I've been looking into it a bit and it seems that a metal halide bulb is the way to go for vegetation and HPS for flowering. Am I correct in assuming this? Also, can you point in me in the right direction as toward what kind of space and setup is ideal for a cycle of 2-3 continuously flowering mothers? How many clones should I have in vegetation cylces while the 2 or 3 mothers are flowering? Any help you could offer is greatly appreciated! Nothing in life has ever delighted me more than growing and all of the intricacies involved in it. I never get tired of learning new things about how to grow better.

You are right about the light types, but I can' guide you any more than that when it comes to cloning, space arrangments, etc. lol. I'm really not very experienced, I just know electricity. I'd ask in the indoor section. I'm sure you could get some great pointers there.

[RedSoxToker420]

Hey Sci-Fi! you said you have a 48v and .42amp cmf fan that would give you 20.2 watts, but you would have to divide that by 1000 because of the Kwh (Killowatts per hour) and that would give you 2.2Kwh so now you multiply that by the price per killowatt which I did 12 cents because of what 13ronin said so your fan uses up $26.40 a month. = )

[kushman2020]

just something you may want to mention in the guide, 13ronin:
someone made a comment recently about plugging power strips into power strips, AKA daisy chaining, to increase available outlets. obviously this is very dangerous and not to be done, so you may want to mention that.

also maybe just a little subsection about extension cords and the load they can handle. i know you already made a mention of them, but what some people dont realize is they need to find the shortest, fattest one for optimum performance from their lights.