Electrical question
 

A question for anyone that knows more about electrical than I, which should be everybody! Recently, say last three weeks, the power bar my lights are plugged into trips about 5 hours into running. Tried a new bar, same thing. This setup has been running unchanged for some time, say 5 or 6 months, and only recently this has happened. Nothing has been added. Would cooling for the ballasts help? although it ran fine in the hottest part of last summer.
Thoughts?

Typically when ballasts start to loose their "stuff" they draw massive amounts of energy. Get a Kill-a-watt and test them independently to see if they are drawing more than they should.

These are electronic and 6 months old, is it possible they're drawing too much at this point?

I wouldn't expect there to be any problems, but anything is possible I guess.

I think we have a meter at work, I'll bring it home and check.

Any idea what the nominal wattage of your lighting system currently is? What does the lighting consist of, MH, T5HO, VHO or a mix? Most power bars should be rated to handle close to 15 amps, or around 1800 watts, which is normally the maximum available through a 15 amp circuit in your home. That would take a lot of lighting to trip. I suspect that since it takes up to 5 hours to trip and it does this with both power bars you've tried, there is a problem with one of your lighting components. Then again, it's not out of the question that both power bars are somewhat faulty. What brand are they, same? Do they have an ON/OFF switch and a circuit breaker, or just a lighted switch. Surge protection capabilities?

Without a tester and complete specifications of the components, it's almost impossible to troubleshoot something of this nature.

That is really wierd... If the breaker is going after 5 hours there has to be a cause. You tried a differnt power bar, its not that.

What all is pluged into the power bar that is tripping. Try to find what is kicking in at the 5 hour mark buy removing the non-esential plugs one at a time. Ie, skimmer, then light 1, then 2 ect... you can keep the equipment running by using an extension cord. This should let you isolate the current leak.

It's acctually 12 amps on a 15 amp circuit. You can not load a breaker more than 80% of its trip rating. So, that said, a 15 amp breaker will trip at 15amps short circuit, But for overload, it will trip at 12 amps continous.
But thats still 1300 watts, thats a bit. But, 3 400W lights, and if ballasts/lights are getting weak. Also, I dont know how accurate the powerbar breakers are. They could be tripping at 10 amps??

I just recently had a similar problem. After all was said and done I ended up testing my actual breaker box with a meter and found that I had a dud Breaker. It was a 15a breaker and was constantly trippin.

But im confused I thought that the powerbars were cuttin out... Is the main breaker goin on that chanel in your house?

Can I have more info on the type of power bar it is? GFCI ...surge or just a normal power bar.