Lighting and Watt Control

So after receiving my latest electric bill.

In the previous month my household used 853 total KWH on an avg of 31 kwh/day over a 28 day billing period.

Today, my bill has me on a 1,586 total KWH on an avg of 47KWH/day over a 34 day billing period.

My question is for those who use power converters or wattage converters...


What is the best way to disperse the wattage out?

How do most of you growers handle this problem?

Does my most recent bill look that much out of the ordinary to my old bill? (I moved in the beginning of Feb, began the G OP around Feb 20th)

I am using a 5000w Metal Halide bulb in my veggie stage which concludes on Tues.

Obviously this will bring the KWH down but what about when I am on a new grow and thus back to the Veggie state?


I would really love some great feedback/input on this.


Thanks for all of your time.

Keep growing! Keep smoking!

5000w mh bulb is that so?

how hot does that sucker get???!!

and last but not least....making multiple threads will not get your questions answered any faster....in fact it might just do the opposite.

cloggin of the forums with 2 different threads about the same topics grinds people gears..... be patient young grasshopper...help will be on the way!!!!

Get yourself LED lighting...I have never used but i have seen in grow rooms... they seam to work GREAT.. hardly uses any power it does not nead ballast they are VERY reasonabaly priced. and the best thing is NO HEAT!!!!

LEDs have a long way to progress

Dude you have to get one of these!



It tracks everything and will forecast your electric bill. You can find out what is taking up the most power, the best settings for fans. Its awesome. I bought mine on eBay for like $30. I bought 3 of them and Im shocked at what Im learning. My LCD HDTV uses almost 300W! I stopped leaving the TV on in both rooms. My ceiling fan uses half as much power on the second setting. Its fun and it Im saving money!

5000W bulb? Im still newbie status, I didnt know there was a 5000W bulb. Dam is that like stadium lighting? You can get a tan under that thing I bet!

yo puff...so lets say i just plug all my equipment in a surge protector...i would plug the surge protector into the killawatt meter then plug into the way? and it will tell the amount of watts im using as well as amps too?

i've been pondering on getting one of these things!

Yup you got it, you can see live amps, watts, va watts, and more. It has a timer built in that will record your power consumption. It tells you how many KWh you have used and in what period of time. Its great for all kinds of uses. The only limitation is the unit isnt designed for more that 15 amps and 1800w of current. You can double check that if you go to buy one. You just plug all your equipment through it and bam! You have a window into the wires.

thanks....

*NIB* KILL-A-WATT Electricity Usage Monitor P4400 - eBay (item 130135031932 end time May-11-08 11:03:51 PDT)

My bad, I have the price wrong, its not $30 if that what I said. There only $16 bucks!!! $7 shipping, but it was only $2 for each additional shipping. So I got 3 for under $60 shipped. I have seen them for $40 w/o shipping.