Hi all

I've got most of the grow room ready in the loft but need some help with the electrics. There are no electric cables up there apart from some going to the bedroom light fittings. Can I put a junction box in this cable and take a new lead to a socket so I can plug in my 400w light?

Thanks

I had the same nitemare when it came down to doing the electrics up in my loft, seeing as i know jack shit about electrics.
All i did in the end, was to buy some good quality ext. cable from b&q(no less than 5mm thick)then locate a double socket down below in one of the bedrooms.Drill 2 holes in the ceiling & run your cable down from the loft & down the bedroom wall, & wire your cable's into the socket's.

Abit basic, but it's working for me & i'm running a 600w hps 1x 6"Lti exstraction & the water pump off one cable, & the other i'm running 1x 4"Lti input 1x osc.fan 1x air stone 1x water heater.

I also ran abit of electrical trunking up the bedroom wall for the cables as this stops 1. your kids from yanking on 'em
2. your missus from moaning about the bright orange wires going up 'er bloody bedroom wall.


hope this helps you out some in anyway, all the best MT

Thanks MT

Taking your advise, I have found a way of connecting to a double socket in a bedroom by running the spur cable up through the wall to the loft. I went out and bought a DIY manual and that is what it says to do as well.

Problem solved

Regards

Just to let everyone know that if your running a spur from any electrical socket, not plugged into the socket, ie: joined at the rear of the socket, you should, according to electrical safety standards, have a fitted fuse between the socket you took the spur from and the spur output socket.

Looks like a normal socket but doesn't have any holes in it and also has a red light and fuse case fitted.

Hope this helps all you safety minded folks!

I actually went one step further, and got an electrician mate to wire up a seperate ringmain into my loft, complete with its own fusebox.
It did not take that long, and I have 5 double sockets running up there now.
If you are just running from a normal mains point, you need to be careful, because you can easily overload the system.
However, a 400w light is not going to put too much of a strain on things. You could even get away with running an extension cable from one of the sockets, and have a normal plug on the end, as you will be way under the maximum capacity for the extension lead, although if you have a total draw of over a kilowatt, then maybe you should start looking at more permanent solutions.
I would avoid going from the light fitting as they are not designed for that kind of load, even 400w is overdoing it.

I ran 2 x triple sockets from a twin socket on my upstairs landing. With the 400w on I have no trouble at all. However if I plug the 600w in (even without the 400w plugged in) it keeps tripping the circuit breaker downstairs, although it didn't when I tested it for the first time when I set the growroom up in the attic a few months ago.

Does anyone know if it's as simple as the 600w is just too much for the ring main to handle? Do I need to run a completely new ring main from the fuse box?

Also if I can only get away with running the 400w at the moment what do you advise is the maximum number of plants I can flower? I currently have 20 plants on 18/6 although 10 are much larger than the other 10, had problems with my first grow and cut some clones. The growroom is about 6 foot wide, 4 foot deep and between 4 and 6 foot high (sloping roof) I can comfortably sit the 20 plants in 10" pots in that space but will a 400w light supply enough for the plants to flower?