Lighting

[Dr. Dank]

I heard that if you use a light over 250 watts you should have it wired to its own circut breaker. Is this true? I'm planning on turning a dresser into a grow cabinet and was planning on using a 600 watt HPS light.

 

[carolinagrow]

You need to add up how many amps you will be pulling, the standard household circuit is set up for 15 amps. If the only thing running on that circuit is your light that's fine but usually there are several outlets wired to one circuit and you have to determine what outlet is wired to which circuit and add up all the amps that everything plugged in are pulling. In theory, you can go up to a total of 15 amps on a circuit but I personally don't like to exceed more than 12. If you do exceed 15 amps you a) create a fire hazard, and b) will blow fuses / throw a circuit which could screw up your light cycle

 

[Hightide805]

each circuit can run a certain amount, say 15 amps X 120 volts = 1800 watts, BUT like caolinagrow said 12 amps is a lot safer. and that still 1440 watts.
so you should be fine with the 600 watts and just see what else is on that circuit

 

[Dr. Dank]

Thanks for the info. What kind of fan should I use to cool the light is I'm doing a cool tube set up?