question about wiring

[Nyhm Reaper]

Being a scrapper I have wires out the yingyang. Old plugs from just about every kind of electronic or appliance you could think of. My question is on average how many CFLs can I run off one plug safely? I realize its probably a watt or amp issue but Im not an electrician. I know enough to not kill myself or maybe its just im scared of it enough to not push it...lol..

The socket splitters have a 660W max total, I guess what I am asking is would the power cord from something like a TV or old foreman grill also have a W limit that it can run and how would I find that out for specific cords?? Remember im not an electrician, im just tryin to not blow myself or my wife and kids up or burn down the house..

 

[Harley001]

It all depends on the size of the wire. Wire that is not large enough will overheat and cause a fire if the circuit is protected with a fuse or breaker that is sized for larger wire. if you are running 660 watts on a 15 amp breaker, sized for 14 ga. wire, you will be pulling about 6 amps at full load size 18ga. or larger should be fine

 

[Nyhm Reaper]

Im not runnin anywhere near that much. Each reflector has its own cord. The wires are from older TVs and a George Foreman grill. Im sure those all pushed much more than these little bulbs. I hope at least...lol One reflector has 2 40W CFLs and the other 2 reflectors have 4 23W CFLs in each. What im gettin at is I am running out of outlets so im wondering if I can combine some of these and free up some outlets but its lookin like the answer to my question lies more in the wires available to me than the lights being used.

This did lead me to another question but im not sure how to word it at this moment and make sense so give me a few...LOL. THANK YOU!!

 

[Nyhm Reaper]

ok I checked my supply and got 4 or 5 power cords together. The wires themselves all have 18AWGX2C printed down them except one and it has 16AWGX2C.

So I guess now it comes down to the circuit its running on.

 

[Mike Wright]

I had 430 watts of cfls running on a single powerbar in my first grow on a 15 amp circuit if that helps.

 

[Nyhm Reaper]

Yes it does, thank you. I saw a post on here, cant remember where but the person had made a light bar out of a power strip that had sockets plugged in it with splitters and CFLs. It was running I believe 8 CFLs but im not sure what the watts on them were, I cant remember. Gonna have to find that. Thank you again. Im not only trying to cut down on outlets used but also the baking pans are a little flimsy and just dont FEEL very sturdy even though they have held up very well so far with no problems. I think I am going to go with the DIY PVC pipe light fixture with the stretch out heater vent used as a reflector. Not sure yet though. Wanna be able to get as many lights in it as I can.