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word of advise of how you power your equipment!!

r3m1

r3m1

New member
so tonight it was a bad night for me, Ptsd kicking in and having me backtrack in my mind so im sitting up surfing the web. well id say 340 rolls around i look back at my room to because i didnt hear the fan anymore, so i notice my lights look off. sure enough not they are, no wait the entire room is off. so i then notice a smell like burning rubber, and then bam one light kicked back on flickering. next thing i go to do is unplug everything to check the issue. well the plug wouldnt come out and as soon as i tugged the plug i noticed the burn marks on the outlet. fuck my life if i was not up i could have started a huge fire and killed myself (let alone anyone else including my daughter). so everyone lets do a check on our equipment to include how things are wired up to power. even know i had a 6 outlet plug i was using it to only power lights and 2 fans. well that became a huge problem as this thing melted now i am worried my lights are fucked or ill have another issue.
 

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well think the 400w hps might have caused this issue light is not working and ballast is a humming.
 
look on the 6 outlet and see what amp rating it is set for...might be pulling too many amps through the 6 outlet and causing that to happen. too many people don't look at that same with timers. they need to be rated for the amp draw your going to put through them.
 
You are very lucky. Once everything is cleaned up, perhaps look into a separate breaker box, just for the grow. I ran a 240V line, through a 40A breaker at the main box into an Intermatic timer and then to a few 240 outlets (timed) If this is something you are not comfortable doing, an electrician might be the ticket for you. I am very glad you are all good!
 
First i'd like to say glad to hear u are safe and more aware of the issue at hand with overloading an outlet. A normal residential outlet is 120vac rated for 15-20amps depending on the wire size and breaker that feed that receptacle circuit. I would trace this circuit back to the breaker box panel and check to make sure the breaker isnt stuck on by flipping it off/on a few times to excercise the breaker and free up any corroded moving parts, springs. As the breaker should trip before any issue like above ever happens. Its a good idea to do this will all the breakers once or twice per year for preventative measures. To prevent power overloads I would recommend using atleast 2 or more outlets to power all equip for a grow room. Ext cords are also rated by their wire size so becarefull if u need to run an extra length of cable. 14awg wire is rated for 15amps continuous and 12awg is rated at 20amp cont. Also be aware of degrading equipment drawing more power than listed as u mentioned about the HID ballast. You can check the amount of power draw with a plug in reader or an amp clamp on the wire feeding the circuit. If u have any questions or electrical concerns feel free to ask. There is no dumb question when it comes to safety.
 
also re-check the tightness of the wires there at the breaker.. tighten them down and see if they are loose. stosh is right the breaker should have tripped before that damage
 
I saw an extension cord end fry and shoot sparks 10 feet, left a crater in a concrete floor. Electricity is really frightening when things go wrong! Thanks for sharing your experience, glad it wasn't any worse and no one got hurt.
 
That outlet was bad. Plugs where loose and yes i was drawing a tad to much when i hooked up the hps light. Reouted some cords to other areas (diff breakers). I had afew timers so i used those so now i have 4 timers hooked u. Ugh guess ill need to run two lines per room, this way power is not faulted out lile this
 
Those 6 plug outlet boxes are sketchy glad it wasn't worse. I run a surge protector with auto shut off for extra safety on each setup. I also use seperate plugs for the HID and T5 lights.

I'm an ex car enthusiast and i was actually thinking of running a seperate dry cell battery just for the HID ballast like they do in cars. Would that save me some electricity??
 
Your not alone. In fact my 1st 2 weeks of Veg. were pure solar power banked into 3 deep cycle batteries.
I think with the emerging Marijuana development "Country wide" we could use a few more Alternate Energy Companies. That way the Green is the Truest Green u can get!!!
 
Every thing put in the circuit is a potential hazard. Timers, power bars and extension cords all put up resistance, are often cheaply made, and can and will burn out. These items are the real danger in the grow I find, so buy high quality, and use as few in the circuit as possible.
A device for measuring how much actual power you're drawing, like a Kill-a-Watt tester, is very handy and brings peace of mind.
 
give me a few harvest i will have my whole setup done on solar power fuck this bill ill be paying.
 
Prob be cheaper to build this myself. Good idea tho, ill toss together my own power box to supply the rooms
 
syncro92 i notice that you had done this when i subscribed to your grow journal. i have minimal wiring experience, i've done hard wired lights, converted a hardwire to a portable corded light, installed a ceiling fan, never done a socket but only bc it hasn't come up. however doing something along the lines of what you've done is something i have wanted very much to do but have been worried i would be in over my head. but it was crazy when i saw your pics bc i was like, THAT is exactly what i had pictured in my head. anyway, what do you think?

also, re. your rec above...if i do need to get an electrician, what would i tell him i wanted it for? live in real red state so getting an electrician involved seems just way too risky that it wouldn't probably be worth it, for me at least...
thank you for the good info.
 
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