DIY-Become a DIY home grower Electrical Engineers

I'm running 1 120w agro plant light,the flood light shape,and a 75w same kind and shape.In a 25"x25"x17" Deep box.With a new hard plastic cat litter box with distilled water in the bottom of box,fits great!:cool: so I don't have to water every damn day.I also have a fan blowing over the TOP OF THE WATER.And a vent hole on other side across from fan.Is this enough light to grow.I started the seeds on just plain shop lights "florescent".and now have them in the box I described,Will this work?It's around 78 to 80 degrees in the box.:blunt:
 
hello 420 community.

I want to build a cfl reflector for my cab. I;ve seen a few on here i want to immualte<--- fancy word for outright copy!!! lol!! Anyway, my question is, Does this reflector need to be grounded? If so, how? Thanks in advance for your help/responses!!!

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Caneyebus Neat looking reflector.

Yes you should ground anything metal in the grow room. One of those hot wires could wear the insulation or touch the reflector. If it were grounded it would trip the circuit breaker. If not it would make the reflector hot (live) and you could complete the circuit to ground with your body. Ground ground ground.
 
G-Dog said:
Caneyebus Neat looking reflector.

Yes you should ground anything metal in the grow room. One of those hot wires could wear the insulation or touch the reflector. If it were grounded it would trip the circuit breaker. If not it would make the reflector hot (live) and you could complete the circuit to ground with your body. Ground ground ground.
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Thanks G-Dog,

My question still remains. How would you or how to ground a fixture such as this. As you can probably tell, I'm no electrician. I can get the lights to work by the simple wiring.... black to black, red to red. But how or where do i add a ground wire? Also, can any type of wire be used ie. scrap copper wire, pc wire, etc.

Examples would be nice. Thanks!!!
 
Caneyebus do you have a plug on that contraption?

If you have a plug, make sure it is a three pronged plug. The third prong of a 3 prong plug is your safety ground.

You can buy three pronged plugs at any home center if you do not already have one. Put a connector with a screw on your hood. Add a wire to that and run that to the third prong on the plug.

I have to be careful, they do not want me telling you anything to burn you up here, but if you ask your hardware store rep questions they are always glad to help. Tell them you want to ground a metal lighting fixture and they can help you if you do not understand what I am saying.
 
I would be at least as concerned with the exposed wiring as I would be with the possibility that power might somehow get to the reflector. You'd think the connection-points would be on the bottom of those sockets.
 
Three phase power is of no use in a grow operation. All of your equipment and lighting is single phase. Use the single phase meter. :)
 
I have been working in three phase for many years.

When you are working in motors (for instance) that are above 5 horsepower or so, you start to see an amperage savings and therefore smaller conductor or wire can be used. After about 5hp you start to exceed minimum wire requirements. Also, because of the wave characteristics of 3 phase you have a more efficient operation.

You have too many unknowns to consider with the little information you give. Generally, if you have a larger electrical load, higher voltages and multiphase are better. Since you are talking in the ball park of 60 amp single phase or 15 amp multiphase I would venture to guess that going multiphase at this point is not a great idea. I do not see any possible cost savings.
 
Hogdady said:
Three phase power is of no use in a grow operation. All of your equipment and lighting is single phase. Use the single phase meter. :)
Click to expand...

HD is correct too. Lighting is always single phase, even in huge factories. We use HID lighting in single phase, but higher voltages only because we do not have to step down the 480 volts with a transformer that is so prevalent in factories. About the only thing you would get in a grow room that is multiphase is your AC and that alone would not warrant multiphase.
 
Hi, 420! I am currently looking at a 250 & or a 400 wtt hps full ballast light kit to place in my 32x32x62 tent. I was wondering from the electricians out there if this is something that a complete noob should try to tackle? I surely don't want to burn the house down. I hope this question belongs here.:) Sounds like I am looking for encouragement or the opposite whichever is appropriate. I figured others with the knowledge would have an idea if this is something that a newbie shouldn't tackle or with proper instructions can be done safely. Thanks!
 
Hogdady said:
If you are talking about light with a remote ballast, should be easy enough....
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Thanks Hogdady! That's encouraging. And btw Excellent grows man! I have looked thru some of your journals and they among others have contributed to my knowledge and so far my first grow. Thanks again.
 
placerville said:
Just plug it into a GFIC recepticle.
Click to expand...

A GFI device actually provides better protection than a grounded 3 wire system does, but in a different way. The GFCI electronically detects even a very small ground fault and very quickly interrupts the current to the device. This provides protection even if you are standing in water, that is if everything is working correctly. Is this what you are talking about Placercille? I do have three prong outlets/system already. But it seems as though this device is used in conjunction with the 3prong outlet. Am I on the right page or even in the book? LOL. Thanks.
 
You can either get a Ground Fault Interupt Circuit recepticle and mount it into the box, or by the GFIC device (some have a cord attached or just the GFIC with the 3 prongs coming out of the back of device) and plug it into the 3 prong outlet.
 
placerville said:
You can either get a Ground Fault Interupt Circuit recepticle and mount it into the box, or by the GFIC device (some have a cord attached or just the GFIC with the 3 prongs coming out of the back of device) and plug it into the 3 prong outlet.
Click to expand...

Ok, I got it. Thanks for the elaboration on it, that helps me a lot. I am working out the figures and saw the kit for 50-60 bucks. But I have also found a completey assembled hood/bulb/ballast for under 150 bucks plug and grow that sounds very enticing. Thanks for the input helps me decide maybe get both use the other to learn or get the Mh kit and configure myself. Nice. :lot-o-toke:
 

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