Brand Newbie

[joemungus]

Hello, all.
Greetings from the Seattle area. Very much appreciative of this website. Trying to absorb as much as possible thru osmosis. What a cool thing these journals are! What an awesome thing for a newbie! Hopefully this will serve to keep me from asking too many rookie questions. Not exactly sure how to even use this site yet. Sure im going to make some mistakes. I might as well get the apologies out of the way in advance.

Im looking for some posts on home electrical. Probably should spend some time researching whether or not my wiring is up to snuff to my requirements before I get started. Dont want any nasty surprises. Might need to convert to 220v to drop the amperage draw. I can only have 15 plants in this state. Probably not going the scrog route. Think im going to grow them big. Would appreciate anyone who may know how much breaker im going to need for 2 1000w hps, ballasts, an ebb and flow , at least 2 fans to cool the reflectors, and probably 3 little internal fans. I may need to allow for a dehumidifier and a few lesser electronics. i may even have to use more light than that. Depends on how they look in my 5x9 once it arrives. Greatly appreciative of any and all tips. Thank you for your time, joemungus.

 

[Spimp]

Re: Brand Newbie.

to

Here are some links you may find useful:
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Lighting questions

 

[Dresney]

Hello, welcome to the boards!

I'm sorry I can't help you much with the electrical questions, but there are some pretty hefty setups in some of the journals. You might luck out looking through some of them and asking questions about their setup. Most everyone here is very friendly and more than willing to answer questions.

Here are the results of a search with the keywords, 'wiring, breaker.' It popped up some threads that have similar titles to your questions. You might get lucky with those.

Search for "Wiring, breaker"

Search

www.420magazine.com

Good luck with your quest for answers! It was nice meeting you!

 

[GreatLife4All]

Im looking for some posts on home electrical. Probably should spend some time researching whether or not my wiring is up to snuff to my requirements before I get started. Dont want any nasty surprises. Might need to convert to 220v to drop the amperage draw. I can only have 15 plants in this state. Probably not going the scrog route. Think im going to grow them big. Would appreciate anyone who may know how much breaker im going to need for 2 1000w hps, ballasts, an ebb and flow , at least 2 fans to cool the reflectors, and probably 3 little internal fans. I may need to allow for a dehumidifier and a few lesser electronics. i may even have to use more light than that. Depends on how they look in my 5x9 once it arrives. Greatly appreciative of any and all tips. Thank you for your time, joemungus.

In order to do it right, you will need to get the amount of power consumed by each device. But I can give you some rough estimates.

I would put each 1000W ballast on its own, separate 15 amp circuit. So that is two breakers.

The circulating fans are no big deal - not much draw at all.

The fans to run the ventilation system are much bigger. They will draw more. But still not major.

The dehumidifier will draw a lot of power - mine runs at 6 amps.

Just to be safe, I would likely split all the misc. electrical into two separate 15 amp circuits. It might run on one... but you will likely be close. Worst thing is to have something start up, flip the breaker, and go undiscovered for a long tme. Better safe than sorry.

 

[joemungus]

Thank you sooo much for the reply! Im so new I dont know if Im even replying correctly. I have no experience with websites like this, either. I find this site a bit complicated. If its got a carburetor i can generally fix it. Computers are a mystery to me. I will then certainly split the ballasts and follow your advice. I really should get an electrician in. 6 amps on the dehumidifier? Yikes! Im going to start looking for an electrician for sure. In your experience does it seem realistic to be able to control heat and humidity in a 5x9 tent while running 2x1000 w lights and an ebb and flow hydroponic system? I guess this is my next question. I plan on purchasing vented reflectors and whatever else might be necessary. Im not rich. But, I want to do this right. Thank you! Joemungus

 

[joemungus]

Thank you very much! Pleasure to meet all of you as well! Im fumbling in this site at best. Much apprec. your patience! The search thingie is still a bit confusing. Im definately going to get an electrician in here. Im not rich... But, life has taught me the value of not throwing good money after bad. I cant afford to re-do anything. Ill be checking out your first grow after this. (This site is sooo cool!) Ill do whatever is necessary to keep my heat and humidity under control. Id prefer hydro in the tent. I realize this site has great sponsors. Yet, I would greatly appreciate any opinions on which brands people trust and respect. Seems as though wiring , heat, and humidity need to be my first concerns. Again, I greatly value your time and experience! Thanks! Joemungus.

 

[joemungus]

Exactly! My biggest fear is not giving myself the proper tools to succeed. Seems I'd be pretty screwed if i Started kicking breakers mid grow. Im also looking for some sort of temp, humidity monitoring system that will give me an alert if these things become excessive. Willing to employ a fire supression system if its deemed necessary. Neither my wife nor my insurance carrier will be thrilled if i accidentally torch the house. Definately looking for a hip electrician in the Seattle area. Looking back in life it seems my most epic failures have been the result of not doing enough research. And, for this reason I thank you all for sharing these experiences! You guys, rock!
Joemungus

 

[GreatLife4All]

You should have no problems if you set things up properly.

Here is a link to a thread I wrote some time ago. It will help with the ventilation requirements: Setting for another indoor round! Need advice

I just checked the dehumidifer - I was slightly wrong: 7.8 amps.

I learned a lot in trying to set up my tents correctly. You don't want to be popping circuit breakers all the time.

The other thing you have to really watch out for are cheap power strips. Most will state that they are rated for 15 amps. But unless you get a heavy duty commercial one, most are rated at 800W. I fried a few before I discovered this. I now run power strips designed for 20 amp circuits - 1850 watts. You can safely run a light thru one of those.

And here is a grow journal where one of our members is running 2 x 1000W lights in a 4x8 tent - very similar to what you have: Cultivators Play Pen. He has two other journals in his signature - lots of good information in these for you and your situation.

Definitely go for vented reflectors. Don't go cheap with that large a space or you will have trouble. There are lots of ways to cut corners - but reflectors, ballasts, and fans are not the place to do it.

Thank you sooo much for the reply! Im so new I dont know if Im even replying correctly. I have no experience with websites like this, either. I find this site a bit complicated. If its got a carburetor i can generally fix it. Computers are a mystery to me. I will then certainly split the ballasts and follow your advice. I really should get an electrician in. 6 amps on the dehumidifier? Yikes! Im going to start looking for an electrician for sure. In your experience does it seem realistic to be able to control heat and humidity in a 5x9 tent while running 2x1000 w lights and an ebb and flow hydroponic system? I guess this is my next question. I plan on purchasing vented reflectors and whatever else might be necessary. Im not rich. But, I want to do this right. Thank you! Joemungus

 

[GreatLife4All]

I have used three different monitoring systems. They all work. The two cheaper ones have limitations that I live with.

The first system that I purchased was a CAP. It doesn't allow you to tie the humidity and temperature sensors together. I tried to tie them electrically after the box using a relay - but they have some cheap wiring in this box and I kept getting feedback. This one was cheap... but without the ability to control both humidity and temp using one ventilation system - this is a joke. If you want to do CO2 - you don't want this controller. You can only set one temperature and humidity setting - i prefer to run different targets between day and night.

The second system was a Hydrofarm Autopilot Digital Environmental Controller. Ok... this is a step up. It allows me to have day and night temperature control (which means it has a photocell to detect daytime). It allows me to have day and night time humidity control - a bonus. It allows me to tie the humidity and temperature sensors together - so only one ventilation system is required and no homemade relay. This one has an outlet for CO2 - and you can tie the CO2 outlet to any controller. You can configure this so that the CO2 is either independent from or tied to the ventilation system. The CO2 outlet is timed - so not real useful. I set the time to be impossibly long, and plugged a CAP PPM 4 monitor into it - it works. Very nice for the money... but if you are going to run CO2 the Greenhouse controller is cheaper than buying this

The third system was a Hydrofarm Autopilot Greenhouse controller. It contains all the features discussed for the DEC, plus the remote probe now has a CO2 sensor on it. You can set the CO2 to any level that you want. Very nice. I run it at 1500 through bloom and then cool it down to 1000 during ripening.

Hydrofarm are not the cheapest products - but they are well made. There are cheaper alternatives out there. Check the list of features that I have given and get something that you are comfortable with financially. Basically, as you go up in price, it becomes easier to manage your environment well.

 

[joemungus]

Thanks again! I will certainly ask, then. Just let me know if i become a burden! At this point I need to become a good pupil. I really apprec the links because im nearly computer illiterate. This gives me many more questions. I need to thoroughly read and re- read all you've given me so far before im truly aware of what those questions are. As I become better at navigating this site im sure alot of those will answer themselves. Youre all such good writers! looking at the way youve formulated your conclusions im guessing some of you must have backgrounds in science. (Fantastic for me! Im just floored at the wealth of information in this collective. I need to excersize patience and restraint here . thanks! Joemungus

 

[joemungus]

Dear Greatlife4all, Awesome! Ill be looking for the hydrafarm products then! Being so new I need every advantage I can get. I definately see the value in quality. Yes on the co2. Based on what i've read thus far it seems like money well spent. These tips are huuuge. Your insight is exactly what I was hoping for! thank you! Joemungus.

 

[GreatLife4All]

If yes on the CO2 and the price doesn't scare you - you can't beat the HF greenhouse controller for the money. Very, very happy with mine. I use less CO2 than with the DEC/CAP combination and my temps are running at 75.