Using A Exstention Cord With A Grow Light!

[dr.micology]

If a grow room does not have an outlet to plug your lights into, can you use an exstention cord to power a 400 watt light?


I am talking about using one of the single outlet, orange kind.
Not the cheap kind that has 3-4 outlets on it.

[ShroomGuerilla]

Do you mean you have a 2 prong outlet?
And you are trying to convert
it to a 3 prong via an extension cord?

This can be very very dangerous.
You must make sure that the 2 prong outlet
is grounded, in many cases these ones are not.

This can result in burning your house to the ground...

Or if you are running a cord from another room with
proper grounding, make sure the cord can handle the juice
you are pumping through it, most cords have that info on their package.

Hope i answered your question..

[i patch]

be ok till u get over a thousand watts with 16 awg which is what most laying around house are.. stay safe shorter the better

[pubensis]

I am not qualified to give any advice, but...
Using an extension chord up to 80% of it's load capacity should be moderately safe. Hint: Don't coil excess chord
On a side note, I'm running an air conditioner off an extension chord atm. I think it's an 800 watt air conditioner, and the chord is rated for 1750w

[toadstooll]

Use a 12 gauge ext. cord under 50 Ft. You could get away with 16 gauge but may get a lil hot( would not chance it myself ).

[i patch]

safe to say 75 percent longer u run the more drop u get

[roscoe]

i would bet you could load a stock length of extention cord with 80% of its rated load. no more and no longer. the best type is called SO cord and you can get it in any size. I have seen this stuff abused to the MAX! i am an electrician and i use it in my own house. like were i sleep.

[Dank Side Of The Shroom]

we used to use em alot. the thick orange ones. if u are using it for a hps a 400 watt id not worry at all. we had 1k going on each of ours last year.

[Myc]

As mentioned, a properly grounded extension cord is a good idea.
If you don't have an equipement grounding conductor ( a green wire) or the "D" shaped hole in the receptacle outlet face
Try to protect the circuit with a GFCI - Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor

Only load the ciruit to 80% of it's rating capacity

If a 20 amp breaker powers the circuit:
the maximum load on the circuit is limited to

20 amp breaker
20 amps X 80% = 16 amps
16 amps X 120 volts = 1920 watts
Load requires a minimum size # 12 AWG conductors in the extension cord

15 amp breaker
15 amps x 80% = 12 amps
12 amps x 120v = 1440 watts
Load requires a minimum size # 14 AWG conductors in the extension cord

Commercially available HID lighting normally comes with a multi-tap ballast capable of recieving multiple voltage inputs. (120v, 208, 240v, 277v, 480v, and others)
I'm presuming you're using the 120v tap for the ballast.

[sandman]

whatta you think would happen if you ran 2000 watts on a 20 amp breaker? Its only 80 watts over 80%. Safe?

[DrDee]

Originally Posted by sandman

whatta you think would happen if you ran 2000 watts on a 20 amp breaker? Its only 80 watts over 80%. Safe?

As long as you're not using an extension cord and as long as your breaker doesn't trip, you should be OK. You should have 12 guage wire for that application.
Dee

PS: One little trick that you can use is to have a separate timer for each light and stagger them a few minutes so that the starting surge from both lights doesn't happen at the same time.

[alounacara]

Good advice the in rush current is what can make fires
++Rep points
Oops i cannot give you rep points again but somebody else should

[zep101]

a foaf ran 10/3 NMD90 300V from the panel to his room and a 2 pole 20 amp breaker was installed in the panel(abit pricey but he's taking it ALL with him when he moves). BUT he's using 9-42 watt cfl so he's well over the limits. BUT the biggest thing is bonding to ground, like everyones sayin heh. I also am an electrician. making sure that every fixture is bonded and that every polarity is right is the biggest key. just make sure your testers work well enuff. voltage drop is probably the only concern (after everything bonded of course ) but usually you don't see much drop until past 30 meters. but yes, I must stress bond to ground!! if your fixture becomes live, best case scenario you get a gentle poke. worst case, you burn your house down and you with it! good luck! great info in this thread. Myc, your numbers remind me of school. I love it! foaf might have gone overkill with the 10/3 but his room has two circuits(balanced loads aswell) and has plenty of headroom to add more.


BTW voltage at outlets are 117 all around the house...thats the VD that you can't fix cause it's most likely right off the poll