@Dutchem Good Luck!!! That little oil heater I use takes some time to heat up my bathroom. I don’t use the carbon filter when concerned about adding heat because it won’t keep up and my the temps outside the bathroom are cold.
@DaGoose After ten minutes I had to check to see if that heater hadn’t tripped anything. Checked my Inkbirds and Temp is 79 degrees in tent. RH was 22%. Checked the controller for the exhaust and changed it from a low setting to 3/4 full. Will check everything again when a hour goes by but the temp had already went down 76 degrees with the RH very slightly increasing. Oh and I did hook up another small humidifier to help it’s bigger brother.
@DaGoose @Skydiver Checked everything again and the system had shut down. Second time now. First time is human error I think. Programing screw up set it for 1/2 hr instead of 1 hour. This time not so sure. Power strip tripped both times but not the breaker. Took off that Century duall stage timer and hooked the ballast/lights directly to the power strip. Doesn’t look good here for the home team.
UPDATE: Was checking the system and it shut down. The other power strip I am running off a different plug with just my 2 fans and sometimes that small humidifier stayed on. Wondering if that heater is at 1500 watts on low and not the 700 watts I was hoping.
@Dutchem Sorry to hear this!!! I’m a hack with electrical stuff but it sounds like you may be tripping the power strip when the heater turns on. And you want that heater on a power strip so you don’t burn the place down. Can you put the heater on a separate power strip and power source by chance? I’m sure others can provide much better advice than I!!! Good luck and watching!!!
Edit: I see you already have the heater on a different plug…sorry I didn’t pay closer attention before responding.
You might be on to something here @DaGoose because I had tested that Lesko heater outside my tent with it blowing the heat threw a bottom vent. When I transferred my controller to the outside and put the heater inside I got these problems. And I had the heater hooked up to a power cord and no power strip at the time. Heater to power cord to wall electric plug.
Just hooked it up to another power strip that runs my fans, small humidifier, and now the heater.
Dude
Look on the back of the power strip, it will show what it is rated at as far as amps and watts max. Also look on each and every electronic devices labels on back of devices or wherever they may be on it you are using for this project and write it all down on a list. Then calculate what each device draws (watts / volts = amps)
Example heater 1500 watts on high 1500/120=12.5 amps. Google your heater model for finding out the low setting watt/amp draw! It will absolutely be anywhere from 6 to 9 amps draw on low setting!
Your power strip that keeps resetting is either rated too low to handle the heater along with other devices OR it is week and needs replaced.
Take a piece of paper and a pen and make a list of your electronic devices and their amp draw and add it up! Google will get you the info for each device so you will know how much you are putting on that power strip and on that breaker.
If you can avoid plugging a heater into a power strip or an extension cord but directly into the wall plug that would be my first choice!
If you need to use a power strip or a extension cord you need to make sure that they are beefy enough to handle what you are plugging in! Minimum for heater would be 14 gauge extension cord and have length as short as you can get away with. Power strips all have ratings of how many watts/amps they can handle.
Read your labels, google your devices, write down all the devices watts/amps and do the math! I had to run a 50ft 12 gauge extension cord into another room to use that plug on another circuit as I couldn’t power all my stuff on the one 15 amp breaker without it tripping!
It’s great that you are doing a dry run of your set up before the grow to tweek things before it becomes a crisis!
Give the man a fish and he eats for a day
Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime
(Insert person, woman, child or cat for man whatever works…lol)
Hope this helps
If you aren’t able to calculate things take pictures that can be read of the label or stamp in plastic showing the electrical specs of power strip and devices and post here.
@DaGoose @Skydiver Okay system is running with no issues. Garage temps are 48 degrees and with RH of 41%. Inside the tent it’s now 72 degrees right were I set the temp at and the RH is 54%. Now before I had set the heater on LOW and the temps were 84 degrees and RH was 28%. Had only one vent open and upon opening another vent the RH shot up. Don’t think I need 2 humidifiers running anymore. LOL And just checked and the Temps are holding at 72 degrees and humidity dropped down a 49%. . Thank you guys for all the great help. Hopefully this thread will be of benefit to others too.
@Dutchem Nice work! Sounds like you’re getting it dialed in!!!
@Skydiver Yesterday I picked up 2ft 12guage extension cord and was looking at cord sizes but was at a loss. So thank you. My tent is setup is right at the wall socket. But all my extension cords are long.Wish I had two plug in outlets but like your idea of running it into the house. Not sure if the wife would though. LOL. I do have a kila watt checker. I was thinking other night that i am forgetting about probably one of the most important issues. Wattage! So will be getting into that next. .
Is it feasible to think i can plug the kila watt into electrical outlet in the wall to the power strip with everything connected and get the total wattage that way without doing everything individuall?
Yes both power strips are directly plugged into the wall outlet. The one that was tripping has a 5ft cord. The other power strip has only the fans (2) running with the heater. That power strip has only a 2ft cord to the wall. But maybe I can hook everything to the one power strip and the heater directly into the wall like you say. Will be checking what watts will be now going into that one power strip. Thanks
The power strips are the weak link in the chain (more than likely). Your wall outlet is on probably a 15 amp or 20 amp circuit. Anything plugged into that circuit can’t add up to more than whatever it’s rated for.
If your heater is drawing 7 amps, that would leave you with either 8 or 13 amps still free on the wall outlet.
If you plug a power strip into the wall outlet, the power strip has a circuit breaker too. Power strips are given ratings in joules and amps:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0781SKPRZ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That one, for example, supports 900 joules and 15 amps. So… you’ve taken your potentially 20 amp pipe, and via the power strip, narrowed it down to 15 amps with those specific power strips linked above. Now you plug your heater into the power strip, and you use up 7 amps let’s say… you have 8 amps left on the strip. You can plug a lot of other things into it (with that particular strip).
Unfortunately the less expensive (and not by a whole lot) strips don’t support 900 joules and 15 amps:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014EKQ5AA/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Now, that one can support 15 amps. But only 200 joules. What is this joule thing, you might ask?
It’s the amount of energy the power strip can absorb before it fails. Why should you care?
Because you don’t want to burn your house down.
The best solution is to plug your heater directly into the wall outlet. You can simply use an extension cord with multiple receptacles on the end to split your power, thereby relying on the wall outlet and the breaker box for protection against faults. Like @SlowOldGuy above, I only run my heater directly off of the wall outlet. In my case I use a properly rated extension cord. Extension cords have capacity too. For example:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VY53QE/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That one can support 125v at 13 amps.
Also, full disclosure - I am not an electrician and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. So take anything I say with that in mind.
Yea what @Bogleg said…
No holiday inn and not an lectrician…until I can spell lectrician I ain’t one!
The power strip tripping with the 5 foot cord try swapping with the other power strip?
Again read the ratings on the power strips sticker dam it!
The 5 foot one is either low ratings for power or it’s week and if it is and you should just replace it with one rated 15 amps/1800 watts and good family joules rating lol
Oh yea and feel free to get intimate with your plugs!
Touch them hug them and call them George!
If they feel warm it’s usually ok.
If they feel hot than you gotta look into that…heat, melt, short, fire death!
Check Plug into wall, plug into power strip or extension cord…all plug ends…touchy feely
NICE!
I just ordered that power strip with the big joules along with a new heater. The heater I have now works fine hooked to the wall. Both power strips are new but the one controlling the fans doesn’t have a light that tells its on. Wasn’t too enthused about that. So the one recommended has two in the package so will transfer those out. Not going play with switching them instead going with power strips that can handle better my set up. Thanks guys!
i know a lot of people do it, but in my opinion…
do not use power strips for 1500 watt heaters.!
your life and/or house is at stake, why risk it…???
a few hundred watts of lights and fans is one thing, but when u add a heater it is a hazard.!
i personally would not buy anything from Amazon, especially electrical equipment.!!
i m poor tho and do not like wasting money on junk and/or higher insurance premiums.!
You sound like my wife Skydiver! Lol But for the heck of it I wanted to hook it into that other power strip just to see if it would and then plug the heater into the wall to see if it would indeed handle the 1500 watts. When @Bogleg posted that great info on power strips I felt no need to check those 2 power strips I have for ratings. Please keep after me because old age (71) is sitting in lately! LOL.
Thanks again