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Electricians?? Advice wanted.

RosettaStoned
Oh for sure I'm not an expert in electrical work, hobbyist at best. My Helios box is plugged in to two separate, 20amp breakers. Two different hots. I found it like this when I bought the house, someone had an old laundry room in the garage, with a dryer hookup. I undid the dryer plug and hard wired it into the Helios. That's about all I did myself.
The Helios is a BEAST!, definitely more potential than I can physically use, but having two separate triggers is the best and unique part (two different timers).
 
Makes sense it's a short run to the box and I have worked in the field just never hooked one up so I'll go the safe route and run straight through the wall to the breaker box. I just wanted to pull the box off of that circuit with just a standard plug into the outlet. Thought the box handled the load. It's all double pole in my box. We're talking 30+ years this home was manufactured. I'll be getting a pro to take a look just thought I could run that circuit with the box taking the load and not my breaker.
 
@kighkush
Nor am I. I know a few. What you did sounds the easiest to me. So does that mean each switch is wired to it's own 120 volt 20 amp breaker essentially? Or both switches run off 240 volt and the combined 20 amps?
 
Is this fixture selectable between 120/240 via a switch? 1900 watts is 16 amps @120v, a 15 amp breaker should only be loaded to 80% of nameplate or about 1500 watts - which is why every 120v electrical device sold in the USA is rated at 1500 watts or less.
 
Sorry Chefbjy i could not get to you sooner, i have been very busy and unwell. I seen your tag and this thread but just could not comment without looking at the data sheet first. 240v in 120v distrubuted sources, is from a two pole or two phase tap which is used together to gain 240v.

As for the capacity for cable and breakers. The breakers are usually rated for less than the capacity of the cable itself. In order to prevent the cable acting as a fuse and burning up. The minimum capacity of the circuit and breaker depends on standards and code for the country with which the wiring is done in. I am outside the US so cannot comment on these. But the datasheet for the helios requires a 50amp circuit, which would likely be beyond the standard circuits. Which would require a dedicated wiring circuit in order to satisfy the required installation specifications.

If you do not intend to use the full rated power input for the controller and instead only utilize the capacity that your current circuit is rated for. This is fine, just be sure that the average current usage is less than the breaker is rated for, just to be on the safe side. The current capacity of cables change widely depending on the environment and installation.

Sorry if i have missed anything, let me know if you need any further info. I have just finished building and wiring my new living quarters. ^.^
 
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Thank you DANGERDAN I'll see what I can do...I'm going to have to hard wire it to a bigger breaker just to be safe. 😉 sorry to hear you're not well...hope you get better soon.
 
Chefbjy

The Helios is designed to run 240v only, so you will need to run two hot wires. The only way to install two hots in your breaker and get 240v is by using two different breakers. If I plugged into one breaker, it would be 120v. But using two means that you get 120v + 120v . It's literally exactly like hooking up a clothes dryer or oven. Not too hard or complex.


All this does is drop your amperage.
So at 4000w I'm only pulling ~20amps instead of 40amps @120v
I chose this route and 240 so I could utilize my existing circuitry and breaker panel. I just run all 3 of my lights with a single dryer wiring.
 
been paying since the 1987 NEC code cycle, retired now but still drive by the ibew daily so that still counts.
 
I'm a journeyman electrician for 30 years. NEVER PUT 220 TO A 110 OUTLET ! you never know who might plug something in there by mistake. You should only run at 80% of the breaker to be safe according to the National electric code. Hope this helps.
 
Yes he had it plugged into a washer dryer outlet. I can't remember if it was a 220plug. I'll be having someone come and take care of it for me 😉 thank you for the assistance.
 
I see people on here changing from 15 to 20 amp breakers on a number 14 wire circuit, I see people tapping in to dryer circuits. It's like pot growers are oblivious to the dangers of mishandling electricity. How many fires, I wonder?
 
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