Truu's electrical help thread.

Howdy folks.

This thread will be dedicated to any of your electrical needs. Whether it be a question about your growing setup, or if you just need help around the house. I have many years of electrical experience in residential, commercial, and industrial fields.

Just ask your question as detailed as possible, throw in some pics if needed. The more info I can get, the better I can understand what you need. It is also a good idea to let me know if you are from over seas, for I am not lol.

 

[wwwillie]

Quick question for you brother, My grow op sits out back in the shed. I have no expirence when it comes to electricity, how hard would it be to run a wire back there to get power to the shed? I live in a mobile home and it looks like somoene ran a wire to it before but it was cut. Personally i'd rather just use an extension cord. What would be the best cord for me? I am running a 600 watt hps, a 20 watt commercial air pump and a 6" inline fan for the cooltube on the light. Isnt it more expensive to run an extension cord than it would be to just wire it?

It is important to get the right gauge wire regardless. Add up all the watts and divide by the voltage to get amps. anything around 12-15 amps or more you need 12 gauge wire for safety. Also a good idea to make sure your plugged into a GFI circuit as well. Remember a smaller gauge wire is a fire hazard!! And the equipment may struggle as well.

 

[Truu]

Quick question for you brother, My grow op sits out back in the shed. I have no expirence when it comes to electricity, how hard would it be to run a wire back there to get power to the shed? I live in a mobile home and it looks like somoene ran a wire to it before but it was cut. Personally i'd rather just use an extension cord. What would be the best cord for me? I am running a 600 watt hps, a 20 watt commercial air pump and a 6" inline fan for the cooltube on the light. Isnt it more expensive to run an extension cord than it would be to just wire it?

Hey bud. It's really hard for me to tell you what would be the best and safest route for you to take when I can't look at it myself. I have my room set up on 3 circuits. Before I added the extra circuits I was running off of a 20 amp circuit that was being shared with a room in my house. Personally I feel safer when nothing is being shared. However you sound like you won't be pulling to many amps.

How far is your room from the place you want to plug in to? If it's less than 50' you should be ok, but you must make sure you buy a 12 gauge extension chord. If you can afford a 10 gauge extension chord it would be even safer. It would be more expensive to go the safer route. Wich would be to run a dedicated circuit from your panel to the room. All up to you bud. If your just going to be using 1 light a pump and a few small things you should be fine with an extension chord. Safety first!

 

[Truu]

Hey Truu, nice to see you helping others that need it! Just remember if Chupa is in a European country most likely the power from the wall is 230V 50hz. He might not need a transformer to run that fan.

I use a similar fan in my closet only it is 120v 60hz standard for USA, I just bought a 2 prong extension cord and cut the outlet off it and then connected it to the two wires coming off the fan, polarity doesnt matter with those fans.

Thanks for the help bud. Ya I'm clueless when it comes to European electrical things. 230v to me sounds like something totally different lol. Do most things overseas run on 230v? Do they have 120 over there? I know they run on a lower frequency than us but that's about all I know lol.

 

[Mindzeye]

Thanks for the help bud. Ya I'm clueless when it comes to European electrical things. 230v to me sounds like something totally different lol. Do most things overseas run on 230v? Do they have 120 over there? I know they run on a lower frequency than us but that's about all I know lol.

Yeah most residential power overseas 220v - 230v and at 50hz, very few countries in the world use 120v 60hz like we do in USA. With 230v you can run more devices on smaller wire. A 15 amp circuit overseas will handle 3450 watts but with a 120v 15 amp circuit can only handle 1,800 watts.. So they can get away with smaller wire size or put a lot more on the same circuit..

Heres a helpful link, it shows countries all over the world and what voltage and frequency their standard is..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country

 

[Truu]

Awesome info dude! Now I know, and knowing is half the battle! :hug:

So my next question would be, do they use a grounded leg? Or is it strictly 230v?

 

[Mindzeye]

Awesome info dude! Now I know, and knowing is half the battle! :hug:

So my next question would be, do they use a grounded leg? Or is it strictly 230v?

Its a 230v wire, a common, and a ground

 

[NikaVolkova]

Hello Truu!!! I would like to ask a few questions. I am converting a 400w HPS to a 400w MH. The transformer is a CW Autotransformer, it currently has a 55uf capacitor and I bought a 24uf capacitor to replace it. I know the only difference is the capacitor and ignitor. The ignitor currently installed says it will also operate a metal halide from 35-400w so can I simply leave the ignitor in place or do I need to remove it?
My BF says all I need to do is replace the capacitor with the 24uf but I heard the metal halide won't need the ignitor, is this so? Thank you

 

[suggz1980]

Hi I have a question. I read somewhere that you can run led chips straight of a transformer, is this safe? I've had difficulty finding right driver for them. They are 10w and need 7 - 9volts

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

Hi Truu

I have an electrical panel with all my sockets breakers all on the same rail with a main socket breaker on the very end.
Under that rail there's a second rail with all my light switch breakers all on that second rail.
Once every few weeks... months.. the main socket breaker flicks off. It kinda freaks me out that if I'm sleeping or away and it goes off that my air pump will go off and my DWC that I started running will crap out.

I'm not trying to draw too much amps off a single circuit.
Nothing that I can pin point is faulty.
It's been happening for a long time, very intermittently.

I'm thinking of replacing that main socket breaker that keeps flicking off just to rule that out.
But is there anything I can get to test the circuits to see if there's anything weird on any of them?

It's strange the main circuit breaker flicks off and not the specific socket breaker.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Truu

I have an electrical panel with all my sockets breakers all on the same rail with a main socket breaker on the very end.
Under that rail there's a second rail with all my light switch breakers all on that second rail.
Once every few weeks... months.. the main socket breaker flicks off. It kinda freaks me out that if I'm sleeping or away and it goes off that my air pump will go off and my DWC that I started running will crap out.

I'm not trying to draw too much amps off a single circuit.
Nothing that I can pin point is faulty.
It's been happening for a long time, very intermittently.

I'm thinking of replacing that main socket breaker that keeps flicking off just to rule that out.
But is there anything I can get to test the circuits to see if there's anything weird on any of them?

It's strange the main circuit breaker flicks off and not the specific socket breaker.

 

[Mindzeye]

Hello Truu!!! I would like to ask a few questions. I am converting a 400w HPS to a 400w MH. The transformer is a CW Autotransformer, it currently has a 55uf capacitor and I bought a 24uf capacitor to replace it. I know the only difference is the capacitor and ignitor. The ignitor currently installed says it will also operate a metal halide from 35-400w so can I simply leave the ignitor in place or do I need to remove it?
My BF says all I need to do is replace the capacitor with the 24uf but I heard the metal halide won't need the ignitor, is this so? Thank you

Truu has been out for a while but Im a union trained electrician so I will fill in until he decides to return.. A metal Halide Lamp still needs an ignitor. If the one installed says it can be used for both HPS and MH then that is what its rated for and will work.. In fact you didn't need to change the capacitor out either. The uf rating is just a measurement of how much charge a capacitor will hold and has nothing to do with what type of lamp you use.