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]

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.

[fishytime]

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

time to buy a nice long heavy extension cable?

[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?

[viperfish]

What kind of ballasts are you running? Electronic will use about 8 amps but magnetic will draw a lot more than that.

[MarkoD]

What kind of ballasts are you running? Electronic will use about 8 amps but magnetic will draw a lot more than that.

discription of light says "Oceanballast M magnetic ballast"

and extension cord isnt an option. i dont want cords running to my tank.... i like the fact that everything is clean and hidden.

what im gonna try and do is move the room lights to another circuit (it'll take 6 halogen bulbs off the load)

[phi delt reefer]

swap to electronic ballasts - as you stated they are magnetic ballasts. discontinued icecap ones are pretty cheap - same for the vertex ones (identical ballasts - different cases)

have the halides come on like this

early morning - left light comes on
mid morning - second left comes on
lunch - both centre lights on and left one off
afternoon, both right lights on, 2nd left off
evening only left one on

I think Asmodeus does this as well.

[AquaticFinatic]

What I found helped with this situation is to change the bulbs on this circuit to cfl ones as you can run roughly 7x13wat bulbs to every 100wat normal bulb. Hopefully you get what I mean. That way you cut the load down on the circuit.

[parkinsn]

As stated above change your room lamps out to CFL's. If you can pull another circuit or run an extension cord to another room to take 1/2 the load.

[MarkoD]

What I found helped with this situation is to change the bulbs on this circuit to cfl ones as you can run roughly 7x13wat bulbs to every 100wat normal bulb. Hopefully you get what I mean. That way you cut the load down on the circuit.

the current bulbs are not incandescent. its the halogen bulbs on track lights... and the only other bulb i could get is the LED, but they're not as much light

[spawn]

time to buy a nice long heavy extension cable?
heh heh heh:twised:

[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

[MarkoD]

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.

thanks for the advice but theres no way to run new wiring. i work for telus and i run lots of inside wiring and the only way to run wire to this part of my house (if it were coax or cat5) would be to drill outside and run the cable on the outside.

i think what im gonna do is just rewire the panel and put the room lights onto another circuit.

[StirCrazy]

thanks for the advice but theres no way to run new wiring. i work for telus and i run lots of inside wiring and the only way to run wire to this part of my house (if it were coax or cat5) would be to drill outside and run the cable on the outside.

i think what im gonna do is just rewire the panel and put the room lights onto another circuit.

that isn't realy going to help much.. you are maxed out and if your only getting 8 amps from four 250 watt MH that would be the most efficient lighting I have seen. a more realistic estimate is 10 to 12 amps from your lights alone.. then you have heaters and everything else.

do you have a plug on another circuit you can move two of the lights to? or maybe getting a nice 12 guage extension cord in a color that will blend in witht he surounding to bring the power from an unused outlet to your tank.

although the best way would be a new circuit, I have never seen a house you couldn't put a circuit inside.. its just a question of how much you feel line doing. I know when telus was here when I bought the place they told me I would have to go outside to get what I wanted, so I told them to leave the material and I would run it myself and call them back to hook it up. but I had to cut small holes in drywall, take out narrow strips in some places ect.. then repair it. even if you are not confident in doing that kind of work, you could do the cable/phone installers favorite method, drilling through the wall to the outside (saves them time and work) and then run conduit on the out side of the house or under ground. if you do that way run 12/3 so you can bring two 20 amp outlets to the tank. then you'll be good to go.

Steve

[sphelps]

Well honestly I think you should bring in an electrician to discuss your options as a tank should have at least one dedicated line especially one with such a high load. Even if you manage to get this working as is you're taking a significant risk. Once your tank is established it'll be a significant investment and blowing a breaker when you're not around could result in a total crash in a short period of time. MH ballasts draw a large amount of power during start up and if you have a brief power trip in the house all the ballasts would refire at once so staggering the times they turn on isn't a reliable solution unless you have a controller which will restagger after a power outage. Also as others stated heaters could kick in at different times and change things as well.

The other options I could suggest are:

Downgrade the tank lights, chances are you could change the 4 250W halides to 2 SE 250W halides in a larger reflector like the lumenmax which will give better coverage. This is enough for a 180 gallon but you'll limit yourself a little with stock but could still keep most LPS, soft corals and even a few selective SPS in certain spots. Other lighting options like T5 (12 3' T5s is only 468W, even 16 is 624W) or LED may also be worth considering. Using lower K bulbs will increase your PAR as well if you're flexible on color.
Invest in other equipment with lower power consumption
Change the room lighting as already discussed, not sure on the exact bulbs you have but you can get CF in a GU10 base, they just aren't dimmable. Also there are LED lights that match a 50W halogen, they just aren't available locally and cost a lot more.
Last option would be downgrade the tank to something you can manage with out blowing a circuit or your budget.

[wickedfrags]

There is always a way. Electricians have some outstanding tools for this .........they can wire new potlights anywhere in your finished home (regardless of what direction the joists run!). So they can get you a new circuit to your tank...if the tank is in the basement it is even easier. Dave

thanks for the advice but theres no way to run new wiring. i work for telus and i run lots of inside wiring and the only way to run wire to this part of my house (if it were coax or cat5) would be to drill outside and run the cable on the outside.

[parkinsn]

There is always a way. Electricians have some outstanding tools for this

Such as this one.

http://www.licensedelectrician.com/Store/RT/Wire_Python.htm

[sphelps]

You can also change a standard single pole breaker to a double pole if the box is full.

http://www.buildmyowncabin.com/electrical/a-single-circuit-breaker.jpg http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSjfKDCrVGXqFB9XFYzsAuUTmHwdwqTd iWWUrOtuhVAA9KvZb-7pg http://images.drillspot.com/pimages/1565/156513_300.jpg

[parkinsn]

Also if your going to pull a new circuit pull a 20amp, so you can have more juice on it. The cost of the wire and breaker to upsize is minimal.

The above breaker will come in a 15amp-20amp combo if that is the route you go.

[sphelps]

Also if your going to pull a new circuit pull a 20amp, so you can have more juice on it. The cost of the wire and breaker to upsize is minimal.

The above breaker will come in a 15amp-20amp combo if that is the route you go.

^ Another good tip!
Be sure to also install a 20 amp receptacle (or two/however many) and if this is a permanent job and you plan on doing it yourself I would advise you also pull a permit and get it inspected. Even though it's an easy job and the inspection is rather redundant it may serve you well later if you ever sell your house as any home inspector will question the existence of a 20amp receptacle in a basement and advise the potential buyers to trace back for permits.

[mike31154]

discription of light says "Oceanballast M magnetic ballast"

and extension cord isnt an option. i dont want cords running to my tank.... i like the fact that everything is clean and hidden.

what im gonna try and do is move the room lights to another circuit (it'll take 6 halogen bulbs off the load)

Facing the option of whether I can deal with the look of an extension cord(s) or risk burning my house down, I'd choose the extension cord(s)... as an interim measure. Then I'd get another circuit added, even if it means replacing the entire breaker panel with a new one and/or opening walls if necessary.

Tripping the breaker is a warning shot across the bow (pardon the navy jargon from an air force guy). That circuit with 4x250 watt (1000 watts right there) including whatever else is on it (more lights or perhaps even other devices, good idea to confirm) will be heating up the wiring a fair bit even if it doesn't trip the breaker. A 15 amp circuit will handle about 1800 watts max, 1500 watts reasonably safely. Why risk running a circuit near it's max? It's a safety hazard, no time to be worrying about how a heavy duty extension cord will look. If you wish to run a big tank with plenty of power requirements, you need to ensure you have the necessary circuitry in place.

[MarkoD]

thanks for your input guys.

heres the solultion i went with.

having my T5s on from 330- 10

and having my halides turn on in sequensial order starting at 4 (when i get home from work)

so at any given point there is only 2 metal halides on at a time.