Electrical question

Aquattro · #1 01-29-2009, 04:08 AM

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

mike31154 · #2 01-29-2009, 02:12 PM

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.

NAS · #3 01-29-2009, 05:34 PM

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.

banditpowdercoat · #4 01-30-2009, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike31154

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.

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??

NAS · #5 01-30-2009, 04:52 PM

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?

BC564 · #6 01-30-2009, 04:57 PM

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

ridder · #7 01-30-2009, 05:03 PM

If you can get hold of an amp meter, then you can monitor your lights,pump,ect.
After your lights startup, wait for your bulbs to warm up around 5 min and then check
the amp reading on each lamp. Two hours later recheck each lamp again, if the amp
reading on any of the lamps go up, This mean your ballast is getting weak or short.

mike31154 · #8 01-30-2009, 05:28 PM

Can Tire currently has UPMs (power monitor) on sale. They kind of look like the larger digital timers that plug directly into the wall. Don't know how accurate they are but they're designed to monitor the usage of your larger appliances. You can monitor different parameters such as wattage, amps, etc. and if you know what your paying per kilowatt hour, you can even input that information. It will then calculate the cost per kilowatt hour of the appliance you have it hooked up to. Less than $20.00

Aquattro · #9 02-01-2009, 01:01 AM

Ok, so I hooked up a Kill A Watt meter, and with both lights and fan running, I'm sitting at 8.5A draw. And it tripped just as I'm typing this. I wasnt watching it to see if it spiked, but today it's tripping every 15 minutes. I'll watch it next round to see if it spikes. It could be the cheap power bar, maybe I need a better one?