Lighting Tripping The Circuit

[ThaGreenBandit]

Hello to those of you who read this. I'm using t5's (http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Grow-Ligh...item58a96768d8) for the first time, and for some reason, I'm having more problems than I should, and I was hoping someone could help me square things away.
I purchased my light sets off of ebay, and when they arrived, I plugged one in, and things worked fine. Then, I went and installed one in my cab, plugged it in, and the circuit tripped. After resetting the circuit, neither until would work. I sent them back, and received 2 new replacents. They arrived yesterday. I tested each one out, plugging them into a socket in the kitchen, one at a time, and they both worked fine. Installed them in the cab, plug one in, the circuit breaker trips again. I go reset it, take the lights back out to the kitchen, neither will work. What am I doing wrong? I only have 1 small fan, 1 mini humidifer, and 1 400w led panel installed in my grow cab, and that is split between 2 sockets. Can anyone help me with this?

 

[Dazed]

Have you tried plugging them directly into the socket that feeds your cab (without anything else plugged in). If it's tripping it's pulling to much load for some reason.

 

[ThaGreenBandit]

Yeah, I tried that, too. The thing is, after the successful test in the kitchen (the outlet has one of those safety buttons that pops out, preventing the circuit from overloading) once the lights tripped the circuit after being installed in the cab, they won't even work in the kitchen anymore. Now, when I plug them in, they keep tripping that little button!

 

[blue]

Just an idea, but my old style plug socket used to get hot when i had my first cab. It was only 350w of CFL and couple of fans.

I got this

Maxi bright relay which does something to stop things from splazzing out (thats not a real term ^_^)
I'm not an electrician and can't elegantly tell you what it does, but it keeps your cab from blowing up or house burning down.

The maxibright relays are designed for home growers!

 

[ThaGreenBandit]

Thank you, Blue. Is that something I can pick up at an electrical store, or does it have to be ordered?

 

[9bear]

Hello to those of you who read this. I'm using t5's (http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Grow-Ligh...item58a96768d8) for the first time, and for some reason, I'm having more problems than I should, and I was hoping someone could help me square things away.
I purchased my light sets off of ebay, and when they arrived, I plugged one in, and things worked fine. Then, I went and installed one in my cab, plugged it in, and the circuit tripped. After resetting the circuit, neither until would work. I sent them back, and received 2 new replacents. They arrived yesterday. I tested each one out, plugging them into a socket in the kitchen, one at a time, and they both worked fine. Installed them in the cab, plug one in, the circuit breaker trips again. I go reset it, take the lights back out to the kitchen, neither will work. What am I doing wrong? I only have 1 small fan, 1 mini humidifer, and 1 400w led panel installed in my grow cab, and that is split between 2 sockets. Can anyone help me with this?

I'm no electrician but could it be the bulbs ? Is there something else hooked up to the same circuit someplace else in home ? Is there a fuse on the light panel? Are these lamps putting you over the amperage that the circuit can handle ? 2 sockets at the same outlet could be overloading the circuit when you add the lights .

 

[Dazed]

I'm no electrician but could it be the bulbs ? Is there something else hooked up to the same circuit someplace else in home ? Is there a fuse on the light panel? Are these lamps putting you over the amperage that the circuit can handle ? 2 sockets at the same outlet could be overloading the circuit when you add the lights .

+1.

 

[Roark]

Yo bandit. What does that little button say on it. Sometimes the have an amp reading. As for why the lights don't work after you try them somewhere else is beyond me. Take watts divide by volts equals amps. So....400w ÷120=3.3 amps. If you have a 10 amp breaker your plugging into and your running lets say 400w l.e.d and 400w t5 some fans you should be fine. But ill bet the circuit is shared with other things in the house.

Track down th circuit breaker and all outlets on it.

 

[Feenix]

Yeah, I tried that, too. The thing is, after the successful test in the kitchen (the outlet has one of those safety buttons that pops out, preventing the circuit from overloading) once the lights tripped the circuit after being installed in the cab, they won't even work in the kitchen anymore. Now, when I plug them in, they keep tripping that little button!

Just for the heck of it. If there are other GFI's in the circuit, trip and reset them as well as the main breaker. Can't hurt. If the house wiring is known to be sound, you can replace the gfi outlets with regular and rely on the main breaker. Plug the light into another circuit see if that pops.

Edit: I'm not suggesting to overload it, but some cheap GroundFaultIndicators (little buttons) won't even hold their rated load.

 

[ThaGreenBandit]

I'm no electrician but could it be the bulbs ? Is there something else hooked up to the same circuit someplace else in home ? Is there a fuse on the light panel? Are these lamps putting you over the amperage that the circuit can handle ? 2 sockets at the same outlet could be overloading the circuit when you add the lights .

Didn't check to see if there is a fuse on the lights, but I will check into that.

Yo bandit. What does that little button say on it. Sometimes the have an amp reading. As for why the lights don't work after you try them somewhere else is beyond me. Take watts divide by volts equals amps. So....400w ÷120=3.3 amps. If you have a 10 amp breaker your plugging into and your running lets say 400w l.e.d and 400w t5 some fans you should be fine. But ill bet the circuit is shared with other things in the house.

Track down th circuit breaker and all outlets on it.

I never really checked to see if I was overloading the outlets because everything (small fan, mini humidifer, and 400w light panel) in the cab was divided between 2 outlets, so I assumed I was good to go.

Just for the heck of it. If there are other GFI's in the circuit, trip and reset them as well as the main breaker. Can't hurt. If the house wiring is known to be sound, you can replace the gfi outlets with regular and rely on the main breaker. Plug the light into another circuit see if that pops.

I'm gonna stop by a lighting and electric store when I get home and have them check out the lights, and I will have my fiancés' brother stop by and check out the electrical works to see if he can catch what I'm missing.

Thanks a bunch for looking in on me and helping me out with this, guys. Y'all are what makes this site the best on the net