Tank is tripping breaker....

[MarkoD]

so i just installed 4x 250 watt metal halides over my tank and when they're all on, and i turn on the lights in the room (same circuit) it trips a 15 amp breaker.

all my tank stuff is plugged into powerbars.


anyway to avoid this?

[Dyspnea]

Those lights are probably drawing close too 8 amps. General household cuicuts are 15 amps. Plus whatever else you have running is pushing the breaker to trip. You need too find another circuit too run them off of.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Dyspnea

Those lights are probably drawing close too 8 amps. General household cuicuts are 15 amps. Plus whatever else you have running is pushing the breaker to trip. You need too find another circuit too run them off of.

yeah i figured that.... but thats no possible

[Skimmerking]

Hey Mark I had to run aseparte circuit to the panel to run 3 of them. i had the same problem once I ran it i was good to go

[BlueWorldAquatic]

also can be a stray current too, just a coincidence when the lights were added.

Put a meter to the water.

Just a suggestion.

[MarkoD]

thanks for the input guys. theres no way i can run a separate circuit to the panel. whole basement is finished and there isnt any room on the panel for another breaker..

how would i test for stray current? just a volt meter in the water?

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

yeah i figured that.... but thats no possible

time to buy a nice long heavy extension cable?

[spawn]

Originally Posted by fishytime

time to buy a nice long heavy extension cable?

heh heh heh

[cwatkins]

You really need a dedicated GFCI circuit for the tank.

I have one dedicated circuit for the lights and pumps and another shared room circuit for the Apex and ATO, etc.

All tank circuits NEED to be GFCI or you are taking your life in your hands when working on your tank.

Also as per electrical code, a circuit can only run at 80% load. So that's only 12 amps you can use in your whole room.

If your basement is finished, you need to find a creative way to run a dedicated circuit if you're running 1kw of lighting. Trust me, there's always a way. Any decent electrician will come up with 1 or 2 ways it can be done.

Maybe pull back the baseboards to access the wall cavity? That's how all my home theatre wires were run. I'm not saying run a circuit behind the baseboard as that's not to code, but it may help you access behind the wall without cutting holes everywhere.

[mark]

does sound like your maxing out but can get a bad breaker