Alternative Power

For security reasons being in an apartment, what could you gook up as an alternative source of power? could you hook up things that weren't lights like fans n shit to a large battery? No I can't get a huge generator...

how much electricity do you need? how much is your growing using/would use?(including lighting)

Let's say 8-12 40 watt CFLs, carbonfilter, a medium sized fan, and a UVB reptile light for my last two weeks of flower.

if your planing on running 10 40 watt cfls you might as well go out and get a 400w hps/mh uses the same juice and would be better for your plants

a 400 watt pulls around 3.5 amps add some fans couldnt be more than 6 amps
standard circuits are 15 amps. Find you breaker box look at your breakers find the one
for the circuit you want you use find the outlets for that circuit and dont use them could eastly run two 600s

Johnny Potseed said:

Let's say 8-12 40 watt CFLs, carbonfilter, a medium sized fan, and a UVB reptile light for my last two weeks of flower.

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Ummm....reptile lights are mostly for heat...not for lumen output... Dumb idea you're going to burn plants and have temp issues all over.

ExDex1x1 said:

Ummm....reptile lights are mostly for heat...not for lumen output... Dumb idea you're going to burn plants and have temp issues all over.

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I don't think he was going to use it for lumens but for the uv light that is emitted . It helps increase potency. Soooooo. Not so dumb...

Chem Dawg said:

I don't think he was going to use it for lumens but for the uv light that is emitted . It helps increase potency. Soooooo. Not so dumb...

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Meh still dumb from a cooling standpoint and lumens per watt but it'll help a tad i guess.

what do u mean for security reasons? do u mean u dont want the landlord to see the extra electricity usage?

Hi,
all you need is 15 amps. Sounds like a stress free problem. You can run everything you want off your bedroom etc, just for the sake of it, find out what else that circuit its tied to. No landord is going to bust your chops over your increase in electrical for what your running. I mean, God for bid me to plug in a heater, or let my women run her flat iron. Ill even stop eating toast I guess!
BTW, i see your point on 10,000k temp for ripening but this sounds like your first grow, just keep it simple and you will never notice the difference!

Yeah basically I'm trying to use as little wall power as possible. I'm probably going to do 6 lights on two separate power strips to two different room wall outlets. And if there were little things like fans and such that i thought I might be able to hook up to some kind of separate power source. And yes I could do the one HPS but I don't have room to get amazing irflow so temp is a problem and I really don't feel like messing with a cooling system. plus I want the wider spectrum with more points of light and more surrounding the foliage, especially during flower. I'm going to have an even amount of lights above and below the canopy in between plants. Hence the 6 and 6.

Thanks Chem.

Johnny Potseed said:

Yeah basically I'm trying to use as little wall power as possible. I'm probably going to do 6 lights on two separate power strips to two different room wall outlets. And if there were little things like fans and such that i thought I might be able to hook up to some kind of separate power source. And yes I could do the one HPS but I don't have room to get amazing irflow so temp is a problem and I really don't feel like messing with a cooling system. plus I want the wider spectrum with more points of light and more surrounding the foliage, especially during flower. I'm going to have an even amount of lights above and below the canopy in between plants. Hence the 6 and 6.

Thanks Chem.

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using two different wall outlets DOES NOT mean its on a different breakers. my house has 3 rooms on one 15 amp breaker

Christ paranoid much? You are aware of.course that a small portable.fan heater for under your desk, well they will pull 2000w alone. You would have to work very hard to install enough lights in an apartment to cause any suspicion whatsoever with regard to the power bill

That does help. Thank you. I just did a rough draft of what I want my first grow for 3 small bushes to go and I'm looking at 293 watts actual, 1230 equivalent (CFLs) and 20,380 lumens. Running 14 lights, very mixed spectrum, with 3 lights in one hung powerstrip on each side of the line of 3 plants, and one more powerstrip with 8 lights in it pulling 256 watts of the 293.

Hi, I would not dink around with all that stuff above/below etc. Just go out and buy the Quatum big boy t5. It has several lamp options ranging from 2 lamps to 16 T5 lamps that cover a 4x4 area perfectly. It will also run you 800Watts and also produce little heat. Just place an oscillating fan in the room. Heres the good news. You will also get 60,000 lumans, not 20,380, and thats at a good color spec too.

Take the point made by Lugar to heart about the outlets being tied together from room to room. Every house and place has that sort of wiring going on. You can run all your lights and a fan on one line, thats all you need since you not messing with air in and out? Or just pull some air out of the room, and make a filter. Better yet, if you dont want to move air out, make a filter and scrub the air in the room. This should be a simple set up,- point blank. Nothing else.

Johnny, not trying to bug yea, but really- do not worry about the power you are running. Would you worry about a 22 light, 1000watt HPS set up? I dont worry because they want those running 50+ lol. If they catch me, they will be lugging we dirt

We* Wet Dirt

Heh, thanks man. Just a little paranoid about all of it really...for the first time. Psyched though. Workin towards the card in Michigan, then trying to find somewhere to send my seeds!

I know what yea mean. I felt the same two. best of luck! +rep

Johnny Potseed said:

Heh, thanks man. Just a little paranoid about all of it really...for the first time. Psyched though. Workin towards the card in Michigan, then trying to find somewhere to send my seeds!

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if u have your card, just order the seeds to your house. the feds arent going to knock down a door for a handful of seeds. the worst that happens is they confiscate them and send u a letter. thats it...

like stiffy said, i think one T5 rack would work better than a bunch of CFLs. maybe even a MH

Even though the T5s do have a wide spectrum, I'm setting up my CFLs in a specific way, and I'm placing more lights underneath the canopy to get max coverage. I might have a small t5 up top then maybe do some regulat CFL bulbs underneath....that's a thought.