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.

 

[El Caballo]

I am thinking of hiring an electrician to install a circuit just for my grow room, because currently the floor where the grow room resides is powered by a single circuit and it easy to go over board (my girlfriend cant blow dry her hair near the grow area). Until then, should I worry about my 600 watt HPS lamp producing less lumens ( light intensity) than I would usually expect?

 

[Truu]

No you should be fine caballero. Unless you have a heavy load (like when your ac unit starts up and the lights dim for a quick second) you should be fine. Most of the time a big start up load will dim lights but that's just for a quick second.

In my opinion you should get your electrician to run 2 circuits for your grow room. They can use a 4 conductor wire and split up your lighting and power for you room. This will cost the same for labor and add maybe and extra 20$ for material. Well worth the money to be completely safe my friend.

 

[TshirtNinja]

I am thinking of hiring an electrician to install a circuit just for my grow room, because currently the floor where the grow room resides is powered by a single circuit and it easy to go over board (my girlfriend cant blow dry her hair near the grow area). Until then, should I worry about my 600 watt HPS lamp producing less lumens ( light intensity) than I would usually expect?

if you end up getting a quote on that service please post it here..... im wanting to get a separate circuit put into a room sometime in the future and would like to know what the going rate is now a days.

 

[El Caballo]

Thanks Truu. I think I am running a heavy load. In a small room I have two 3 and a half foot wide grow tents with a 600w lamp in each of them. I also run an AC ( I love how an ac simplifies temperature issues). A couple of clip fans in each tent and the lamps uses an inline fan. And there's 4 air pumps in each tent for my hydro DWC setup. The lights around the grow area do flicker but I think I just have to plug everything to surge protectors and just try to keep the lights on

The quote for the setup was $250. He was gona have to go from the basement, where the fuse box is, to the second floor.

 

[darryl123]

somthing to remember about oscolating fans , there is a wire in the head that bends every time it moves and that wire will eventualy break. when it does the fan will stop then when you move it it works again. that wire will catch on fire if the fan isnt replaced. this caused my gr to catch my house on fire and cost me 18 months state time.

 

[quixotic1]

Hey tru, I do have a ?. I have 2 12v computer fans, I had been running them off individual 9v chargers and its just not doing the trick. My questions is, can I run them both off of a 24v charger? Sorry if it seems like a rudimentary question but I am quite ignorant in matters of electricity.

 

[Truu]

Hey quix, simple solution here. All you need to do is get an old cell phone charger that has an output of 12v. This is basically a 12v transformer. In your question you are thinking about having 2 fans in series with 24v. In series your voltage will add up (12+12=24). So that's when you would need 24 v. But if you hook them in parallel the voltage will remain the same throughout the circuit. So you can hook them in parallel with a 12v transformer and they will both be receiving 12v. However you will need to make sure your fans arent exceeding the rated amperage on the transformer. You should be perfectly fine but it's always best to double check so it doesn't blow up.

So in simple, just get an old 12v cell phone charger and hook your fans up in parallel. Cut the plug end off of the charger and separate the 2 wires. There will be a solid black wire and one that is black with white stripes running down one side. Hook the red off your fans to the solid black from the transformer and the black from the fan hooked up the the black with white stripes from the transformer. In simple, same wires to same wires.

I'm sorry if I didn't explain it good enough for you. Sometimes I tend to ramble on when I get high lol. If you need any help just ask me again, also pictures always help.

Ps you could buy one of these and control the speed of the fans seperatly. I use one of these and they work wonders. http://www.amazon.com/Scythe-Kaze-3...RY/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1337817695&sr=8-46

 

[quixotic1]

Thanks for getting back to me. Didn't know if you were still checking this or not. Problem is that of the "tons" of old chargers I have around, none are 12v. I found 2 9s but I don't think they are pulling enough air out of the box so at full power I think/hope that will do it. As I said I'm no electrician, so if I hook the 2 blacks, and 2 reds to the seperate wires of the charger is that series or parallel? Thanks again I'm at work now but later ill try to get a pic up. Thanx again.

 

[Truu]

It will be parallel if you put blacks on the same wire and reds on the same wire. Series is +-+- . Parallel is ++, --.

 

[quixotic1]

So the Pos. from trans. to Pos. on fan, neg. on fan to Pos. on 2nd fan and then neg. on 2nd fan back to neg.on trans. Is that right?
I'm a plumber, so you know when they say electricity and water do not mix....they are right . Really appreciate the info