Need help running 200 ft plus of wiring

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by r3m3dy, Jun 15, 2006.

  1. I just found out that I have a huge flaw in my planned grow room. I plan on using an abandoned house to grow and I was just gong to run 100 ft extension cords underground from 2 15 amp breakers. According to some research I have done, every time you add on another extension cord the voltage is cut in half. So at best I would only have 5 amps which is definately not enough. Can anyone suggest a way that I can run 200 feet plus of wiring so that I don't lose any voltage? Thanks.
     
  2. Voltage drop is a bitch yes at distances, you will need to run some romex wireing from the breaker box underground to the house.
     
  3. How much voltage loss would you expect from 250 feet of Romex?
     
  4. Romex doesnt lose voltage as much as any other type of wiring. I have built a few houses and ran 100+ feet of romex and I dont think FHA requirments mention anything about length of romex so your pretty save on running it as your power line. Its the best you can get.
     
  5. What about running 12/3 u.f since it will be underground and I'm guessing that would be cheaper than putting romex in pvc piping since i heard romex isn't supposed to be laid without some type of pvc protection?

    Also how many amps would you guess that I would loose if I ran it 300 feet?
     
  6. 12 guage is too small, remember in AWG wiring (American) the larger the number the smaller the wire...

    At 300ft at 12 guage you will have 12.25% voltage drop

    I would run #8 3 wire insulated cable to carry the load safely to the house with little to no loss.

    8/3 AWG gives you 4% voltage drop, which is very acceptable.

    Here is a calculator for it, scroll down

    http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm
     
  7. Every where I have looked the 8 gauge wire appears to be very expensive. If I'm correct and it is really expensive, where could I find it for a good price/borrow it permanently.
     
  8. new job site :)

    Or! buy 6 of the extension cords you were going to use and cut the ends off (buy new ends) and rewire it so that each extension cord is for one leg (hot, neutral and ground)

    you cn get away with #10 as well if you like.

    No one ever said growing weed was cheap :) At least not when you want to do it right.
     

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