2000 watt mh lights on 225 amp / 3 phase panel 120/208

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ronball

Senior Member
Location
Champaign Il.
Occupation
Electric Contractor
Not exactly sure to figure out about how many of these 2000 watt mh stadium lights I can
get on a fully loaded 225 amp panel. No other loads on this at all.

Thx Ron
 
tw1156

tw1156

Senior Member
Location
Texas
Additional Factors to consider

Additional Factors to consider

Don't forget to account for the following factors:

Ballast draw on the 2000W Metal Halides (so 2000W is not 2000W, but higher depending on that factor).
If lighting will be continuous (ie, more than 3 hours), you will have to account for not rating the panel more than 80% of the 225A max.
What voltage will you be wiring them at?
 
tw1156

tw1156

Senior Member
Location
Texas
Here's an example of Ballast draw; reference article on page 20: http://www.acuitybrandslighting.com...rochure/Ballast Handbook/Ballast Handbook.pdf

Assume an 8% ballast draw. This would make the 2000W Metal Halide input watts to now be 2000 x 1.08 = 2160W.

80% of 225A = 0.8 x 225 = 180A that the panel can handle with lighting considered continuous.

180A x 208V x 1.73 = Max Power permitted in Panel (kVA in this case with assumption of power factor of 1) = 64771 W (or VA for simplistic purposes)

64771W / 2160W(per lamp) = 29.9866 lamps max per 225A panel. I would round down to 29 to provide slight safety factor for the ballast draw unless you have that number.

I have never worked with 2000W Metal Halide lamps and their ballasts, so please check the ballast data you have on it in case the factor is higher than 8%.
 
JoeStillman

JoeStillman

Senior Member
Location
West Chester, PA
If they are magnetic ballasts, I hope they don't all come on at once, or you might be tripping that 225A MCB. Solid state ballasts probably have less inrush though.

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J

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
JoeStillman said:
If they are magnetic ballasts, I hope they don't all come on at once, or you might be tripping that 225A MCB. Solid state ballasts probably have less inrush though.

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Click to expand...

Ditto that. We had 6 26KW (13 2kW bulbs each, 156kW total load) lighting towers for site lighting at a plant I used to work at. They all came on at once, which would frequently cause the blowers or centrifuges to trip off-line.

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Anyway, a 225A 3ph 208V panel is good for 81kw. 40 bulbs if the ballasts were perfect (1.0pf), 32 (80%) if they are continuous loads, and 30 if the ballasts are .925pf or better. 30 would also give you perfect load distribution, with 10 on AB, 10 on AC, and 10 on BC.

Why 208V with 2000W bulbs? At 10A draw, even #8 is only good to 450' if VD has to stay at 3% or better. Also, a cursory search of 2000W ballasts didnt show any that could run at less than 277V.
 
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