Light Grow Controller for under $80

[simondetroit]

Take a look at this link How to Build a Four Light Grow Light Controller for Less Than $80 It looks easy enough to build and I have a gas dryer with an unused 240v dryer outlet. My question is do my ballasts have to be 240 also? I'm planning on running 4/ 600 watt hps with this setup. Or should I just run 2 new 20 amp breakers in my box? I have room for 2 more breakers anyways?

 

[budlydoright]

you could take your 220 into the room and break it out into 2 110 circuits. Would give you gobs of juice!

 

[simondetroit]

you could take your 220 into the room and break it out into 2 110 circuits. Would give you gobs of juice!

Yes. I have a gas oven, so I figured since I'm not using the 220v I might as well disconnect it at the box and run a new 220v line into my room which is like 10 feet from the breaker box. I'm not gonna be running more than 4 lights though. So I was thinking maybe an Intermatic T103 timer might be a better option. What do you think?

 

[budlydoright]

I'm not familiar with that one. I'll try to find info on it later. You can take one of your 110v circuits in your room and comvert it to 220 using the same wires. Once in your room you can break the 220 into 2 circuits of 110. When using a relay, the power going to your lights doesn't pass thru the timer. Only the power required to pull the coil on the relay passes. Your time can be pretty much anything.

To convert your 220 to 110, you would just take 1 hot instead of the 2. I'm not going to go into detail on how to do this. If you don't already have a basic understanding of how electricity works, a few bill spent on an electrician is money well spent.

Never cheap out on your electrical, the hazards are real and the cost of mistakes can be great. Yet doing it right can be easy and enexpensive.