Hi guys I have finished my grow cab now and have an issue I need help with! Basically my cab is next to a double socket and everything is run off a power strip, my 4 inch inline fan, nft hydro pump, small oscillating fan and 400 watt hps. Basically my temps are getting too hot in there as when the light is on my fan runs a lot slower, so basically why is this and how can I remedy this? I have tried plugging the fan into the other socket on the double on its own but no difference there, have not tryed running a extension lead from a different socket yet to see if that makes a difference as I don't have an extension at the moment, I just thought I would try here and see what you good people think before I buy one! Thanks
im not an electrician but I don't understand why your fan would slow down when you have your light on. if the watts are exceeding the power rating of your sockets it should trip the circuit breakers. Im sure most power supplies have an maximum of several megawatts so you shouldn't be overloading it
what different circuit though? putting stuff on a separate ring main in the house shouldn't reduce the total watts being drawn from the mains need a qualified electrician to come and rescue this thread. or OP could post a clean version of the question on an electricians forum (by clean I mean no mention of growing weed
[quote name='"trifle"']what different circuit though? putting stuff on a separate ring main in the house shouldn't reduce the total watts being drawn from the mains need a qualified electrician to come and rescue this thread. or OP could post a clean version of the question on an electricians forum (by clean I mean no mention of growing weed[/quote] I doubt he is overloading the main. Every home has multiple circuits. Each will have its own circuit breaker. Circuit breakers in most homes have a maximum amperage rating of 15 or 20 amps. The circuit breaker will trip at around 80% load. That means you can pull a maximum of around 12 amps on a 15amp circuit and 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit. To determine your total amperage drawn you have to determine what all is on the circuit. An easy way to do this is by shutting off breakers one at a time a seeing which power outlets and lights go out. Once you determine exactly what is connected to each circuit you need only to determine the load being drawn. Amperage = wattage ÷ voltage. So a 400w on a 110v circuit will draw about 3.64 amps and so on. If other high wattage items are connected to the same circuit he could easily be approaching the Max load. Window a/c units and space heaters are two common items that will pull a lot of current. Even a small unit can draw 1400w and pull around 14amps on its own. Add a 400w lamp and some fans and you may even have power issues. Imagine that. As I said, try another circuit.
[quote name='"trifle"']im not an electrician but I don't understand why your fan would slow down when you have your light on. if the watts are exceeding the power rating of your sockets it should trip the circuit breakers. Im sure most power supplies have an maximum of several megawatts so you shouldn't be overloading it[/quote] Old or bad breakers don't always trip correctly. He would be exceeding the rating of his breaker in order for it to trip not the rating of the socket. I have no idea what you are calling a power supply but normal residential electric service does not allow for one million Watts of power usuage, much less several million.
Try to run the fan directly to the wall outlet. Some power strips are cheap and are rated for less then your house is.
I'd venture a guess that the breaker isn't the problem, but the wiring to the plug. The reason the fan slows down is because the wire is too small to pass the current being demanded. This is why you can't just throw a 50 amp breaker in place of a 10 and run your whole grow off it...