Im new here so hi there, Anyway I cant find an answer to this particular hypothetical question anywhere so I thought you guys might be able to help me. Hypothetically speaking, say someone was living in U.K and was absolutely useless with wiring, electricity in general and did not want to go trying to wire a bunch of stuff together. And that person wanted to plug a surge protector lead into the wall socket. Then plug '5 or 6' timers into that surge protector and then plug '5 or 6' 20w (maybe 25w) cfl's into the timers. Would this be safe? As far as i know sockets in U.K are 13 amp so if I assume it would not be a problem given the small amps used by cfl's, its just the surge protector being full of timers and the timers being full of plugs does not sound very safe, although it might very well be. There would more than likely need to be a small pc fan plugged into the same surge protector as well as possibly another 25-30w cfl for a separate space so a single timer plugged into the wall before the surge protector will not be feasible. Any thoughts?? (sorry for the long first post, I am researching as much as I can in old threads and FAQ's its just I could not find a definite answer to this one)
Hey, there will be other equipment plugged into the surge protector like a fan that I want on 24/7 but if the surge protector is plugged into the timer then everything plugged into the surge protector will go off at the designated time, I think??? I know it will be a lot of wires, plugs and timers but I am still trying to figure all this out. I would be a little nervous about re-wiring bulbs or plugs and I figured if a surge protector has 8 or even 10 plugs then surely it must be safe to fill it up?? What do you mean? Cant go outside, only in a very small inside space.
Considering that 6x20- is 120 watts your pulling that is a drop in a bucket. My blow dryer pulls 1300 watts. I do not know what the limit is but in the us 1500 watt pull is the max something can pull on household current per socket. It may look like alot when its all plugged in but a Xbox 360 sucks more then double that amount. As for it being safe well thats why you have a fuse box. You pull to much and it trips. Thats built that way for your protection.
Now this is what I was hoping to hear I already have a surge protector in my room with a pc, monitor. HD TV, satellite TV set-top box, phone charger and internet router plugged in so I was thinking as long as the surge protector with the bulbs is coming from another wall outlet it should be ok. It just seems like a lot. Do the timers themselves heat up?? sorry but I dont know how timers work, do they just allow the power pass through them and not actually create any of their own heat and then cut the power at the appropriate time or are the timers constantly working and creating their own heat?? I mean, I assume the plugs coming from the bulbs might heat up if on for 18+ hours per day, I was just thinking that having 5 or 6 timers close together in between the plug and socket might be creating way more heat than is safe. Wow, after reading all that, I didnt realise I was such a dumbass till now Thanks for all the replies by the way, I know im the new guy asking loads of probably ridiculous questions.
Your breaker is designed to trip, under max amperage. But outlets and breakers are really only designed to pull 80% of max amperage all the time safely - know what your plugging in. You cannot just pull 15 amps from every outlet you want. A common bedroom circuit may include a single room or more than one, often with your lighting and outlets on the same circuit. But regardless of how many outlets there are, that entire circuit is limited by what the breaker and the wiring is sized for. This is what you can do. Plug a light into whatever outlets you plan on using for your grow and turn them on. Then turn everything else on in that room and nearby rooms(lights, tv, whatever). Now go downstairs, and find the electoral panel and flip breakers until you turn off the lights you plugged in. Everything else that turns off as well, all of that is pulling power from that circuit. Chances are your TV and all that other stuff is maxing out your circuit. Everything should have a name plate stating amp draw. As far as timers, unless you wind the timer by hand it draws power. Digital and those analog push pin type timers draw power - but very little.
