Just hit a wall -- an electrical one!

Growroom Design
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Okay, so I have read several books, watched hundreds of grow videos, and am ready to set up my room. My components are starting to pile up on my living room floor. None of the books I have read or videos I have watched talked about wiring the room. I assumed, I would call out an electrician to wire extra plugs into my space – then just plug in my equipment. Turns out it is more to it than that.

Light controllers are required, and are an major expense. Also, timers are required – these I knew about. But, thought it was as simple as getting timers from Home Depot. It is not. And, what about my fans? Surely, all of those plugs cannot go into a light controller.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the absolute least expensive (while still safe) route I can take. I seek answers before calling the electrician, because being a girl will play against me.

In other words, if you don’t know what is NEEDED to purchase, service people will try to sell enough services to light up Pluto. Respectfully, I am only trying to grow 12 plants, with 3 1000W CMH lamps, in two grow tents (5x5 and 4x8)…

Thanks a bunch

CannaRose

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Bro for 3000w you wont need much. Light controllers arnt needed. The timers i use come from walmart not home depot;) if you need more power run an extension cord from a room on a different breakerXD

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We need to know what amps you have on the breaker to know if it is safe. Also are you sure those are 1000 watt cmh or are there three cmh lights that add up to about 1000 watts?Three thousand watts split between two tents is not sounding very safe to begin with.

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Since your using two tents, two separate wall outlets, should do just fine. you could purchase a higher end surge protector and run both tents from one outlet. There has to be an electrician on here. Best o luck.

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Hi and welcome Canarose,

Firstly as electrics differ from country to country, What country are you in?

I dont think you will need an electrician. How many mains sockets do you have in the room you will be growing in?

1000w lights will require a light controler, I call them contactors, but there are different types. Contactors / relays / timers.

Contactors have a built in relay and timer, relays require a segmental timer to go with, segmental timers on their own will burn out with loads of 400watts plus.

Here is a link, its a UK grow shop, but my freind owns the company and designed the contactors named green power. It has a guide to what you will require depending on what you want to control.

http://www.hydroponics.co.uk/green-power-contactors.html

I reccomend the type that uses 2 plugs that go into the mains (a double plug socket on the wall).

Your fans can be plugged staright into the mains socket on the wall or an extention lead from another room.

Houses generally have a ring main for the upstairs sockets and another for the down stairs sockets. If your lights are on all 3000w you may want to use your hair dryer or straightners on the other floor, as to not over load the circuit breaker.

My circuit breakers are 32amps standard size and I run 2400w of hps a 2500m3 fan, a dehumdifier 300w and 400w of flourescent lighting on the 1 circuit no problems, plus other household items like alarm clocks, tvs, computers etc.

The main draw (pull) of electric comes when the lamps first turn on as they warm up the draw (pull) of current evens out.

So in 1 room with 1 double plug socket on the wall, and 1 single plug socket on the wall. I have 1 extention lead from the single socket for my fans 1 exhaust fan and 2 oscilating fans and a dehumidifier it is a 13 amp extention lead. On the double plug socket I have my contactor with built in timer plugged in and that runs 4 x 600w hps lamps, but can run 6 x 600w hps / mh or it will run 4 x 1000w hps /mh lamps.

I hope this helps, you can help us give you more accurate advice if you tell us how many sockets you have in the room, and if you can find out the amps of the circuit breaker or fuse for the circuit (ring main) you will be using.

I think for safety you only need to buy a quality contactor with built in timer available on amazon or any good grow shop.

Happy Growing and keep us updated :wink:

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My mistake. . . My lights are 315W with 2 bulb under the hood. So they are 630W if both sockets are used. The manufacturer (Grow Co.) said they were equivalent to 1000W HID Lamps.

I will check on amperage right now. In the mean time, thanks for your support.

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My original plan was to do as Ryasco suggested by making sure my box could carry the extra current. Then I planed to do what Kalgrae suggested – use separate outlets and a good surge protector. But, when I got online to buy timers, I saw Titians and other light controller stating they were a must. Lotus710 stated light controllers are not needed. That is what I am researching now.

Combining all of the replies, I may not need a controller.(Contractors). My lights are 315W with 2 bulbs under the hood. So they are 630W if both sockets are used. The manufacturer (Grow Co.) said they were equivalent to 1000W HID Lamps.

So, I am under 400W per light. I am going to study Herbie’s post and visit the link. I should be fine.

Thanks so much for the responses. I hope my experiences can help someone, as much as you have helped me.

I will keep you posted.

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Off the top of my head you can run 1800W off a 20A breaker, that should be 80% load.

I usually map a grow when going over 2000W, and find the panel so I can see where the load is going to the panel. I’ll leave notes on the panel for what everything is on.

For example I would run lighting on say circuit 1 & 2, and accessories on a 3rd breaker. The only problem with running on different breakers is you need a timer for each circut and sometimes they dont sync perfectly.

The first load will just need a 20A multi tap and a timer… so 10 bucks. 1200W

Second load will need another 20A multi tap and a timer so another 10 bucks. 630W.

Third load optional is the accessories, fans, pumps… etc… up to 1800W, so you could put an AC if needed.

I really cant think of a cheaper way to do it without using a lighting controller.

The drawback is timers getting out of sync. Kinda why I go 11/13 so neither gets into the critical 12 hour dark.

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I have found from experience that the cheap segmental timers you can buy in supermarkets and garden centres will turn a 400w HID light on and off for a few times then they fuse (open circuit). They either stick in the on or the off position. Some people have luck and get one that works for years, but I have never found one. I have used them on my flourescent lights max output 220w, I have tried running the flourescents on an extention lead plugged into the timer, total load 420watts it worked for a week turning 3 flouros on and off (220w + 110w + 90w). A failed timer can induce stress and cause a plant to turn hermaphrodite.

You would easily get away with using a relay and timer. That is a product with 2 plug leads, 1 for the timer and 1 for the relay module. Like this in the link below.

http://www.hydroponics.co.uk/powerstar-2-way.html

There is nothing worse than a failed crop due to faulty timers causing hermaphrodites.

I hope this helps

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This is true, if the budget allows, I try to get a controller… This is why I prefer a controller over multiple timers… You really gotta be on top of timings every day to make sure it doesn’t drift.

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You could even use the cheapest 1 way model and put an extention lead onto it if you are only drawing 630 watts, as the single is rated to 1000w

This model below, many companies make similar products world wide.

http://www.hydroponics.co.uk/powerstar-1-way.html

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The other solution is to run a flip or an OSW. The only problem is the timing has to be symmetrical if running 2 light loads for flower. You will have to section off the grow to have 2 flower areas. But you can do it off of one 20A breaker.

I’ll elaborate…

Simply split the load over time…

2 flower areas, when one is off the other one is on, you can use a flip box or the Growzone OSW. i was using it as as a flip for the lights, and ran a heater when the lights were off running 1800 watts.
all off of one circut… You can just use it for lights if you want. The only reason I had to do this is because the client limited me to 1 circut… (yeah I know)

If you live in cooler climates the flip or OWS works great. I actually like waste heat. :slight_smile:

So with an OSW you will need additional ballasts, with a flip you use the same ballast.

Something like that…

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I use intermatic timers, cheap and they have a rating for the loads and are found at typical hardware stores. 15amp or 1500W. is what I use, totally valid point about contactors having problems with timers that are overloaded.

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A little off topic here but also a warning to anyone that has them.

The type of contactors that have 2 plugs that go into the mains outlet, if 1 plug is in and turned on the other plug that is not plugged into the wall socket is live if the timer is in the on position.

Do not touch the prongs of the plug if only one is plugged in while you plug the 2nd plug into the wall.

I know this from education but found out how easy it is to brush your finger against the live by accident when talking to someone whilst working. Yeah needless to say I got a belt of a shock 240v rofl, it pays to concentrate when working with electricity :wink:

I use a system with intermatics for delaying banks of plug sockets turning on at 1 min intervals when making power boards to run 20 plus hps lights, each bank of plugs comes on at 1 min intervals to reduce the load on ignition. The intermatics generally rwuire an understanding of been able to wire up yourself as opposed to plug and play versions. Stop giving trade secrets away @GrowerGoneWild :laughing:

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@GrowerGoneWild these set ups

http://www.greenpowercontactors.co.uk/commercial.asp

You have to hard wire them into the mains board using minimum 16mm tails

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@Herbie

Hahha, trade secrets… sorry brother… :slight_smile:

I gotta go see the panel at the 100 lighter at the legal grow.

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Exactly… Highest wattage I’d switch using regular cheap $5 timer is probably 150W. When using HPS (or fluorescent tubes) there is a moment (when starting the lamp) when there is electric peak - this usually crosses Amps that cheap timer can handle… Its metal contacts bake together. And then someday it simply refuse to switch off on time - and constant light will stress the plants causing hermaphrodites…

Been there, done that.

Use controller with relay everytime specially for lighting sources. Safety above all…

And one sidenote - my friend has almost burnt out his growroom by using faulty HPS ballast. One of its capacitors melted and started to dripping hot fluid down unfortunately on plastic tubing for drip. Whole growroom started burning! :fire: The problem was he had hung ballast on the wall instead of putting it on top of something non-flammable (like fireclay).

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Hi Cannarose, welcome to OG!

Those will be probably those 315w CDM (Ceramic Discharge Metal-Halide) lamps. Does anybody has some experience with them? They compare them to 400w HPS, but I’d say that 25% upgrade in efficiency is not possible…

Electronically they are similar to classic Metal-Halide, so they do have amp peak when they start glowing. And please better use controller or timer with contactor (separate circuit).

I’d say forget about that “equivalent” math, it is nonsense and just marketing game. All that matters is efficiency and real power consumption, not some theoretical comparison.

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Yeah I run 315 nanolux the ballasts they turn on softer than say a regular mag ballast. It usually senses power on then turns on a second later after power is applied as far as I can tell. Manually unplugging the cord from the rear of the ballast there is no zap or pop when plugging in directly.

I like them more than 400MH not just for savings but some of the frostiest flowers I’ve done with single light is from CMH. The spectrum seems more balanced, I ran a 3000K, but I would like to run 4000K now that I use them mainly for mothers.

I think they are better than a fresh 400WHPS Hortilux, but not quite as good as a fresh 600 HPS Ushio. However the quality and longer run time from a CMH beats it. A CMH can run close to 8000 hours with less decay than an HPS or MH in the same time frame.

I got some 630 CMH rigs running a regular HF digital ballast, I dont recommend it, these are earlier versions, and they have wierd harmonics to it, I dont know if CMH is intended to run in a horizonal position. the 315’s run vertical in a parabolic style hood. I guess the new 630’s have fixed the harmonics issue. Prolly gonna run those 630 DE’s until they break then replace with new gen bulbs. Or it could be me, supposed to run LF ballasts with CMH.

Sorry to go off topic on CMH… I

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Hi Cannarose,

I hope you have not been put off by all the posts about electrical itmes wattages and the hazards. Members just want people to be safe and grow safely to succesfull harvests.

When using any high powered / high ampage electrical items it is always best to play safe and use quality equipment rather than the cheapest available. I know it costs a bit more but it is always best to be SAFE and not sorry.

Other items that are of a safety feature for any grow room are smoke detectors above the lights and the ballasts, electrical fires produce a lot of smaoke usually before igniting into flames. A carbon dioxide and / or powder fire extinguisher in the property and a fire blanket, and first aid kit. God forbid anyone here should ever need to use them, but its best to have such household items ready, and that everyone knows where they are located and how to use them.

Safety should come first always

Ask any questions you would like answering, the only stupid question is the one you dont ask :wink:

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