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So, Round two of this post, I've given up combining two wall outlets to 240v and realized that I need another 120v outlet to safely power everything with an 80% margin.
we have GX24Q-1 outlets for bulbs in the ceiling, hooked up to a box I can only assume is called a ballast. I will upload pictures shortly of the wiring of the ballast, for your perusal. The plan is to cut the main wires between the source and the ballast and add a plug or a switch. For the plug, Female end coming from the source (Saftey First), and then 2 male ends, one to the ballast and one to an outlet. This way I can plug the light in and no one is the wiser. The switch option would be nice, but switches add another point of failure, so that is plan B if I have extra time and money.

Here are some assumptions, which I will verify before I begin. 1) with the light switch off, no power is being supplied to any of the wires connected to the ballast.
2) if the outlet is wired up to the line, and all the lights are on in the room (7x 32w CFL bulbs, one bathroom bar light), I will still be able to draw reasonable power from the outlet I wire in. 32*7=224, allowing 100w for the bathroom light, so 324w lights draw, 20a*120v=2400w available from the breaker, 2400w*.8(safety)=1920w is 80%, 1920w-350w=1570w safely. 3) the gauge of the wire coming to the ballast will be able to handle a 15a draw for a continuous amount of time. I don't know the gauge required, I will need to find that out (put it in the comments)

Obviously, this is stupid and dangerous. If all you have to say is that and don't do it, don't comment. If you would like to offer a constructive argument why not, that would be incredibly helpful. Below is a link to my original question, which led here. the answer there is amazing, so thank you to the one who wrote it. this is safer, as I have access to this breaker and am able to disable it first.

Combining 120v wall sockets to 240v

EDIT #1:

Tri-wire coming from source

So the purple, grey, and green wires are from the source. They go into splitters, conveniently, so Green is ground, white is neutral, and that leaves purple to be hot?

Outlet I am wiring in

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  • Splitting a 3200W load into two independent 1600W loads is certainly the better approach given muliple 20A circuits available. Part of why this is so difficult is it is an XY problem, if you could say what you were doing we may be able to see a solution you do not. But you are on track with provisioning calculations, and receptacles on a lighting circuit are allowed if the hardwired loads aren't more than half total circuit capacity. This could even be done Code compliant if the execution is correct. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Aug 25 at 21:24
  • @Harper good point with XY. I need to power 22a, 2400w of computers in a room with 3 breakers. the lights, conveniently, are on a 4th, so I am adding an outlet and locking out most of the lights to stop it from overloading. But the original problem is not having enough amps available with a safety margin. – Evan Ledwith Aug 26 at 3:27

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