.
Let's look into this further: If ledbudguy used 6 (or what ever number of ISIS units he had) 400W units instead of the 170W LED's he would have walked away with several pounds. Dude had CO2, great nutes, and an entire attic, and 24 plants. What did he say he had 26 zips? That probably dried a ways below that in curing, but I'll take him at his word. Still, lets assume he got a good deal on the ISIS units (especially as I suspect he has a certain relationship with the company) and he got them for 300 each. Thats 1800 bucks. 200 bucks gets a real nice HID, so the lights would have cost 1200 instead. Right there he saves 600 bucks. (yeah I know, replacement bulbs ect. ect. ect...Im just looking at start up costs) He would be using 2.4KwH using roughly (assuming at 30 day veg (1296 Kw) and a 60 day flower (1728 Kw)) 3024 Kw total lighting for the grow with HID. Lets add 200 KW for ventilation (which is generous). 3224Kw total electrical consumption. At 15 cents a Kwh that works out to: $483.60 electrical cost for the grow. It would be horrible if he didn't pull at least 2 pounds from the grow, especially with the CO2 going on. 2 pounds, assuming he is letting go in zips or QP (at 100 a zip - (low for some high or some) = 3200 bucks. 3200 less 1200 for the lights, less 484 for the electric (all other costs are identical between the two grows), that leaves 1516 after covering all mentioned start up costs.
For LED, like we said, he probably spent 1800 on the lights, the 170's draw 120 (as stated from the company in an email I sent to them) Veg = 388 Kw, Flower = 518 Kw = 906 total KW's for the grow. At .15 per KwH that comes out to: 136.02. So lets look at the math: 26 zips at 100 a zip = 2600 less 1800, less 136.02 for the electrical. = 664 left over.
I recalculated based on my energy rates of $0.23
Everything below is based on that so let's REALLY look into this further. If ledbudguy used 6 (or what ever number of ISIS units he had) 400W units instead of the 170W LED's he would have walked away with several pounds. Dude had CO2, great nutes, and an entire attic, and 24 plants. What did he say he had 26 zips? That probably dried a ways below that in curing, but I'll take him at his word. Still, lets assume he got a good deal on the ISIS units (especially as I suspect he has a certain relationship with the company) and he got them for 300 each. Thats 1800 bucks. 200 bucks gets a real nice HID, so the lights would have cost 1200 instead. Right there he saves 600 bucks. (yeah I know, replacement bulbs ect. ect. ect...Im just looking at start up costs) He would be using 2.4KwH using roughly (assuming at 30 day veg (1296 Kw) and a 60 day flower (1728 Kw)) 3024 Kw total lighting for the grow with HID. Lets add 200 KW for ventilation (which is generous). 3224Kw total electrical consumption. At 15 cents a Kwh that works out to: $483.60 electrical cost for the grow. It would be horrible if he didn't pull at least 2 pounds from the grow, especially with the CO2 going on. 2 pounds, assuming he is letting go in zips or QP (at 100 a zip - (low for some high or some) = 3200 bucks. 3200 less 1200 for the lights, less 741.52 for the electric (all other costs are identical between the two grows), that leaves $1259 after covering all mentioned start up costs.
For LED, like we said, he probably spent 1800 on the lights, the 170's draw 120 (as stated from the company in an email I sent to them) Veg = 388 Kw, Flower = 518 Kw = 906 total KW's for the grow. At .15 per KwH that comes out to: 136.02. So lets look at the math: 26 zips at 100 a zip = 2600 less 1800, less 208.32 for the electrical. = 591.62 left over for a difference of $670 more for you.
And now grow two. Mostly nothing changes except first off I pay close to $0.23 a kwh So 3224 at $.23 a kWh (and rates go up may 1) comes to $741 $3200-741= $2459 left over. Instead of 906 kWh I reinvest my 600 on more LEDs. bringing me up 200kWh to 1106w at $0.23 kWh = $254 and now I get 30 instead of 26 zips at $100. $3000-208.38= 2746. Now I've made about $300 more than you on less O's. You are still up 1500 from the first grow since I spent my $600 profits from the first grow.
So to do a little recapping
by the start of the 3rd grow you are still up the 1258.48 (based on $.23) because after the first grow I purchased more LED with my profits.
Second grow we both made some cash. I made $300 more than you with less product and had to sell less (less risk). So again I reinvest my 300 for another 150 Kw (safe estimation) and so you are STILL up the 1258 you made on the first grow but other than that we are even
3rd grow now I'm up to a whopping 1258 Kw compared to your 3224Kw at again $.23 except this time I get the 32 zips and lets just be honest a couple more than you. because when you increase LED wattage by 350w you get closer to 10 zips more. but we'll play it safe and say 32 zips and not the 36 I think is realistic. So now 3200 for you and 3200 for me. 3200-741=2459 and 3200-289.48=2910.66. Now we both are making some serious cash but I'm making close to $500 dollars more than you each grow. So now each grow I use the 500 extra that I'm making to reinvest on more LEDs. How long until I have the same amount of wattage as you in LED but with 3x the yield?? A couple years at the most, and in that time we are both making $ but in 2 years when I get up to using the same amount of wattage as you but yielding 3 x the amount what's the profit differential then. $3200-741=2459 versus my 96 zips at $9600-741=8859. Now I'm aware that to grow 3x the amount will require additional 4 on nutes and all sorts of other supplies so I'll knock off a whopping 2000 grand to justify those costs and I'm still at 6859 extra every grow cycle after I get up to the equal wattage.
+ who on here can accurately predict where energy costs are going in the next two years?? When I get up to rocking 3300 LED Kwh I expect them to be more than my current $.23 not any less. Seriously think about if prices rise to .40 Kw. That couldn't happen could it?? No way!! Not here in cali. When, and I do believe the key word is "when" prices reach $.50 a kWh no HID users will survive. It'll be a grower extinction. Judging by all the used HID setups for sale used on craigslist the die off is already occurring.
Now with that said. I don't agree with your numbers. I keep a close eye on my power bill and my kwh. The entire power bill at my spot is used for our specified purpose. I literally have nothing else running at that site. Not even a fridge and without going into very much detail I get more than your kWh to zip ratio and 2X that $ per zip so yeah my costs are heavier currently but I've got cash coming in and am not broke and every few weeks I have a harvest and plan on buying additional panels every 2-3 weeks until I'm up to the 3000kWh I used to use in HID but pulling down mad weight.
This is my last post unless I come back to post a photo of soon to be fat Harvey. The information I got from this site has been extremely helpful. I'm almost entirely done with my expansion project. I decided from here on out to go with ISIS. $450 for 120w is $3.75 a w better than the magnum's 180w for $750 so roughly $4.16 a watt with the magnums. Same spectrum, and ratio but having multiple panels to spread out is the added benefit at a slightly lower cost. So now with my 5 kessils at 175w. My HSS at 180w my (2) ISIS for 240w, a hydrogrow penetrator 115w and 2 blackstars +240w I'm at 950 LED w. In the next 2 months I'll have 4 more ISIS for a grand total of 1430 watts. Now the best part of it is to play it safe I recently decided it's time to move and already see the additional benefits of LED. This will be the second move for me in the last 8 months. This is the first pad I didn't have to tear the hell out of to put in a grow area. The move will be so much easier and set up a breeze, and this I think will be the first time I'll get my deposit back without having to correct all my renovations.
all the haters and I look forward to adding another 240w unit where that 100w is and adding 2 more 240w units after that for a continuous grow of 18-24 ladies.
