Lighting Power Question

[lykaboss]

About 2 years ago i got a dedicated 20 amp line ran, i am not an electrician so i hired a professional to run the line and get it done properly. I am thinking now that i would like to run a 50 amp line to a room, and use a power box that would supply 6 110volt plugs. How do you explain you want a 50 amp line ran into a room? Can you explain that? Would this request raise suspicion?

Alot of these power box's say "plug into your dryer plug" Well for 1, my grow is NO WHERE near my dryer and 2. Even it if was wtf would i plug my dryer into. So that don't make sense.

 

[lykaboss]

no one?

 

[Chester]

Tell him it's for an indoor grow space for Orchids and Strawberries ... 20 amp handles a lot are you sure you need 50 amps ?

 

[lykaboss]

at the current moment i don't, but switching to the powerbox 240 will drop the total number of amps i will use, I know this will not save on electricty but i will be able to expand in the future without the worry of poping a breaker. on that 20 amp i can't run more then what i have going right now really. Two 600 watt bulbs, 2 inline fans, 3 pumps, and i have an AC on its own 15 amp

 

[jackmc]

Hi, It will probably cost as much to run a 50 amp circut as it will to replace your lights with LEDs. Then you won't need more power. The only way I know to bring 50 amps to a location is to put a sub panel where you want that much power. You could tell your electrician your adding a hot tub in the room you want to use and ask them to run another 20 amp circut. Although the electrician will wonder why you aren't running 240V. My advice would be to conserve power with LEDs. Good luck.

 

[Muddy]

By code you can only use 80% of a breakers rated amps, so for a 50 amp circuit the max you can draw is 40 amps. If you install a sub panel in the room you could run two 20 amp circuits and one 15 amp. The max on the 20 amp circuits would be 16 and on the 15 amp circuit, 12 amps for a total of 44 amps if each circuit is maxed out. Over code but still within the 20% "safety" margin. If you use the power box you won't be able to use all 6 outlets unless you put no more than about 7 amps on each one. You could use 3 but again, shouldn't exceed more than 13 or 14 amps on each one. 50 amps will go a long way. I'm running my whole hydro room on less than 100 am (10:00 AM 12h)ps, including the system, lights, heat pump, dehumidifier, etc. and I've still got room for two more 20 amp circuits.

Home wiring isn't very difficult and you could easily teach yourself from a good "how to" book, the kind you see at the big box stores. If you want an electrician to install the circuit, tell him you are taking up ceramics and are planning on installing a small kiln. I doubt that would raise any eyebrows.

 

[lykaboss]

Thanks Muddy, Here is the Power box i am refering too http://www.powerboxinc.com/dpc7500-120v.html I am wanting to run Four 600 watt hps bulbs with inline fans, 2 carbon scrubbers, some pumps for moving air and water, a few ecoplus fans. I figured i would need more then 20 amps to get the job done

 

[Muddy]

Damn, that's expensive. Add in the cost of having an electrician in to run the circuit and you're probably looking at $600 or $700 total. You can probably buy a sub panel box, breakers, wire and outlets, plus a how to book, for less than $150. 110 volt home wiring isn't difficult, especially when just running outlets. I doubt everything you want to run will exceed 50 amps but you might want to add everything up just to make sure. If you want to tackle this yourself I'd be glad to give you a hand.

 

[pop22]

Hi, It will probably cost as much to run a 50 amp circut as it will to replace your lights with LEDs. Then you won't need more power. The only way I know to bring 50 amps to a location is to put a sub panel where you want that much power. You could tell your electrician your adding a hot tub in the room you want to use and ask them to run another 20 amp circut. Although the electrician will wonder why you aren't running 240V. My advice would be to conserve power with LEDs. Good luck.

I just replaced a 600 watt MH light with a pair of generic 300 watt LED grow lightts. They consume an actual 380 watts of power, so I reduced my power consumption by over 33%! And I get equivalent coverage from the LEDs, and my air-conditioner no longer struggles to keep up, in fact I can now run it on the low setting, the heat reduction by switching to LED will again reduce you electric needs for cooling also. I paid $260 for the pair of lights shipped, and they have been working perfectly. Knowing what having an electrician run the circuitry you've described would cost, you could probably buy 4 lights!

 

[thetreeman]

If you were into pottery or ceramics, an electric kiln can suck some juice I think. At least most electricians wouldnt know or care enough about pottery to research it and it doesnt sound as sketchy as 'growing strawberries' in your hizzy.... I agree with the LED suggestion, youll save a lot of $$$ over time just in electricity savings, not to mention the heat problems other lamps can cause. Im finishing my basement and have a closet area under my stairs and was thinking about running a 20 amp circuit to it for future use.