220 V Outlet issues

[Highpotanoose]

Oh and btw I am a Lic electrican and work in the trade daily
17 years on the job

 

[MacEFL]

Also AEP meters spin by current which is amps,yes you get charged in kW but amps makes your meter spin

Also the amps is determined by the ballast they raise the voltage and decrease amps if you was running 1000 watt light on 110 volts you would pull right at 9.1 amps and 4.5 at 220 volt your ballast should be marked as to what amp draw is at both voltages so you deff will use less power on 220volt hook up
Hid ballast don't increase the volts as much a floursents (some floro's output 10,000 plus volts at the pin sockets this is why you only draw .50 amps or less on 4 32 watt lamps on 110volts depending on type of ballast)

Hope this helps I have a hard time explaining things in print somtimes

Plus reps!!!!

 

[missywelden]

are you running 600 for veg and flowering.

 

[Starkiller]

Highpotanoose nice to see a fellow elect!

 

[GeorgeFoster]

are you running 600 for veg and flowering.

Hi missy,

I started out with one 600W electronic ballast and ran it off my standard 110v wall plug...problem is that ballast at 110V draws 10amps at startup.....so if I had a fan or heater in the same plug it would trip my breaker as it was a 15A.

My house built in 1942ish with a spliced in 125amp circuit panel and the old fuse boxes removed.

I then decided to add a second 600w ballast.....

I then had no choice but add a 70A breaker to my panel and used a 8/3 main feed to supply a sub panel box with a 50A main.(edited to reflect I used an 8/3 not 10/3)

I took 1 20A and made 2 - 220 outlets strickly for the ballasts and then added 2 - 15A breakers to the subpanel for 3 - 110 wall plugs to supply the heater, fans, vent fan, T5's etc


I also used to run both 600w ballasts to veg and flower...so 18hrs a day of 1200W for 2-3 months at a time for veg is just throwing cash out the window for me.

So, I added a 54W T5 with 4 6500K bulbs and veg under it and clone under it exclusively.

I save a few bucks running T5 over the 600W ballast for vegging and now run the 600W ballasts 365 days a yr 12/12 and just keep cycling plants into the flower room as needed.

So while I am not saving any cash by using 220, I am able to put in more outlets because the 220 runs on less and is dedicated to the ballasts.

Hope this is of help.


******
So, can you run your 1000W ballast on 110 at full power...YES you can as long as anything else does not exceed the breaker amps and trip your power.

So you may need to run a large diameter extension cord from somewhere else or new wiring subpanel etc.

 

[Highpotanoose]

Hey heady not to scare you but that 10/3 should not be on a breaker larger than a 30 amp the wire will burn up before the breaker 50 amp breaker trips

 

[Highpotanoose]

And most newer floursents electronic ballast are multitap or will accept multiple voltage so you can run those t5 on 220 also if it has a multitap ballast

 

[GeorgeFoster]

Hey heady not to scare you but that 10/3 should not be on a breaker larger than a 30 amp the wire will burn up before the breaker 50 amp breaker trips

Ya I was typing faster than thinking....it's actually 8/3..I will edit my post above thanks

 

[GeorgeFoster]

And most newer floursents electronic ballast are multitap or will accept multiple voltage so you can run those t5 on 220 also if it has a multitap ballast

Now I didn't know that, thanks and reps bud

 

[tokersmokeg]

it appears that there is no power savings by going to 220 Watts Cheaper 110 or 220 Volts

a hydro shop owner told me 220 was cheaper so its a myth busted

 

[Highpotanoose]

No myth brother
I hook up CT's on large services 400 amp and up the conductors are to large to land under the meter so we run them through current transformers (current = amps ) this is what makes the meter spin aka how the power company charges you the higher the voltage the lower the amperage
I have installed 480 volt panels for lighting so on single phase it draws 277 volts and cost less to run lights in dept stores
So there is no myth to it it is electric 101

I can pos link after link debunk your hydro store your theory also but if you want to find ou for your sel hook your lights up 110v then 220v and turn off all your circuits beside your ltg ckt and watch the diff how fast your meter spins
If you don't believe me call a local electrical contractor and ask them
Or your power company

 

[tokersmokeg]

i would like to see a link that says its cheaper to run 220 other then that article i saw pages of websites that said there was no differece. no offense you know more then i do obviously

 

[Starkiller]

Tokersmog you are correct there is none.

 

[Highpotanoose]

Read the part about electromechanical meters and how it talks about how voltage and current(current =amps) determine the meter spin

This paragraph is just above the electromechanical meters part

Electricity meters operate by continuously measuring the instantaneous voltage (volts) and current (amperes) to give energy used (in joules, kilowatt-hours etc.). Meters for smaller services (such as small residential customers) can be connected directly in-line between source and customer. For larger loads, more than about 200 ampere of load, current transformers are used, so that the meter can be located other than in line with the service conductors. The meters fall into two basic categories, electromechanical and electronic.

Electricity meter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Starkiller]

Yes the meter watches amps and knows volts and calculates the time va are being used and volts times amps equals watts! So yes amps make it spin but the meter still sees the same current flow. It's all ohms law. Because if it truly was cheaper to run 220/240 then we'd make everything run at that voltage. I'm gonna bow out on this one now either way happy growing everyone

 

[Highpotanoose]

And no offence taken just trying help where I can not try to offend anyone
I understand the logic behind your argument but I have been explained this my whole electric career

Star killer we would have a lot more electric deaths if we ran only 220 (although common in Europe)

Again I have installed 480 volt services specifically for lighting and the engineering idea behind this was to reduce electric cost and run lights on 277 volts
Yes the meter does the math(ohms law) but as the meter spins slower( the article explains this and how it is like a car odometer ) it calculates slower so should cost less ,50% less prob not with just 1 light but should see some savings

 

[Starkiller]

I agree many diy would get smoked. And no offense taken here either and I do respect you have been doing this a bit longer than myself. That's why this is such a cool place so much experience in all walks of life to learn from.

 

[tokersmokeg]

i like how everyone can get along.i dont know whos right maybe someone will do an experiment.im not an electrician.happy growing

 

[MacEFL]

I just read through 5 pages through Google and not one person said that it was any cheaper. This included forums with electricians answering peoples questions. It was explained that the meter does the calculations. So even if the meter spins at different speed for a different voltage use, the watts ARE indeed the same.

I WAS in the camp of believing that 220 was cheaper to run. No longer. And now I will un-subscribe to this thread.