Hey Guys, I currently have a 600w hps and 900w LED in addition to dehumidifier,fans,etc Fortunately the breaker has only been tripping during the light on cycle, and as far as I know that is not too stressful for the plant if it happens only a few times. However I am running into problems with the amount of power im getting from the designated circuit. I was hoping to just reroute one of the unused circuits in the box and that would essentially double my available power? idk sry i'm not an electrician which is why Im in dire need of a 420 friendly electrician in bay area. I have a valid prop 415 recommendation but im still very skeptical of calling the local electrical company. Any advice would be appreciated. I
You're pulling too much current. You're pulling over 13 amps just for the lights. Add in the fans, dehumidifier, plus room lights and what ever else is on that circuit and it's easy to see why the breaker is tripping. Your circuit was designed for 15 or 20 amps at most. Plugging things into free plugs in the same room most likely won't help. Most electricians would be cool about it but still be careful. When you find someone, just tell them you need a dedicated 20 amp outlet in the room and plug both lights into that plug. If they ask, tell them it's for a space heater or something. Just make sure the plug they install will let you plug in both lights.
First off circuit breakers do go bad over time, the get weaker every time they trip Upgrade the breaker to 20 amp. Watch the electrician when you do get one so you can do this yourself next time. You can do it yourself with a screw driver and a $6.00 circuit breaker. its just slightly more technical than a light bulb.
Thanks guys. I actually found a 420 friendly electrician and he put in a sub panel with 4 circuits @ 20amps each I believe...all I know know is they told me I'll have more power to do with what I know what to doSent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Ummm...it takes more than just changing the breaker to upgrade to a proper 20 amp circuit... Run 20 amps through the existing #14 wires and you have a perfect recipe for a fire... To run a proper 20 amp circuit, you'll have to remove all the #14 wire on that circuit and replace it with #12... Safety first...
If the breaker is bad, you can easily replace it with one rated for the same current but never just put a larger rated breaker in without upgrading the wiring. You need larger gauage wire to carry the current. The smaller wire will overheat and cause a fire. Running a separate circuit for the lights is a safe way to fix it. The best way is what Purple had done. A subpanel with four 20 amp circuits. It's a little more expensive but is the best way.
Did they tell you why they went with a subpanel? Seems like a lot of extra work (and money) for no reason unless your primary load center was full, but a standard load center supports like 40 breakers. With a subpanel, you have to run expensive 4ga copper cable to supply the load center (Even though you probably wont need to draw anywhere near 80amps, considering lights use 8.3amps/kW). And do you know if they're using GFCI and/or AFCI breakers (Ground-fault, arc-fault, respectively) or just standard breakers? GFCI/AFCI combo breakers are the safest way to go. Nothing wrong with the subpanel, but it just seems like a waste of money to me. Also, yeah, as per NEC article 310.16, 12ga or larger for 20-amp breakers unless specified otherwise by the conductor temperature rating. But if you don't know or the temp isn't listed, assume 60C. Here's a chart: http://www.houwire.com/products/technical/article310_16.html. I run all my circuits (The ones I installed) on 12ga, even on 15amp circuits. So much easier if I ever need more ampacity. You should always remain up to applicable code (Like I don't need to run arc-fault even though it is required now since my house was wired prior to the code update) cause, believe me, you don't want someone finding out your wiring is not up to code, plus, it's a major fire hazard running 14ga or smaller on 20-amp fuses. And if you ever want to upgrade your service, electrical companies require master electricians to install the feeders and shit followed by UL inspection before they'll turn you on, and they will see you're in violation.