Power Consumption / Light Cost

Has anyone use solar panels to help power their lights? They are pretty expensive but they would pay for themselves after a while.

this chart reads: "$600 per 10 hours @ 2000w". that price has to be runniong 2000w per day per month right?

first....awesome post. When i first started my indoor growing i looked in google for a wattage to $ conversion chart. It worked great and they gave you the monthly price if you ran the particular wattage you intended to use. My 1,500 watt equiv led set up costs me.......$24 a month. heehee. FYI i am a LED guru and love mine. ive tested everything out there and found my lights.
Getting ready to germ trainwreck and bc godbud next week. Cant wait........

gimmenobammerweed said:

this chart reads: "$600 per 10 hours @ 2000w". that price has to be runniong 2000w per day per month right?

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That is incorrect the "600" is Kilowatt Hours used in One 30 day month.

how much would a single 400w HPS light cost to run a month? Would there be a noticeable change in the power bill in a large household?

captaincleanoff said:

how much would a single 400w HPS light cost to run a month? Would there be a noticeable change in the power bill in a large household?

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It really depends on your baseline allotment and how much of that allotment is being used already. That being said your most effective method of keeping the impact down is by looking into saving energy elsewhere in your home. This can be easy in a large home, and much harder in a small one.

With a 400W light your looking at about a 150Kwh to 250Kwh additional per month so the first thing to do is see how close to your maximum Kwh allotment you are. If you can handle the extra usage in your allotment your all good, if not then you could be looking at going into the triple bonus round and getting a really off skew bill. this can be avoided by doing as suggested and save elsewhere.

how hard is it to steal electric?

yourname said:

how hard is it to steal electric?

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Its the BEST WAY to go to jail.

LOL i definately wouldn't go that route but with big op's they always run a line from the pole,i've seen 20 1000w lights if your that big you either steal power or get busted by the power company

Hi All
WHHHAAAA WHHAAAA WHHAAA. Calling ponyboy calling ponyboy!!!!!
You mean to tell me your flowering under LEDs?????
How about some piccys, and some details.
What type lights, type LEDs used, colours, ratio of colours, wattages, size of grow area.
It would be nice to find someone having results from LEDs.
I indend building one or two soon, for my next grow, to suppliment a 400 watt HID, using 3 watt LEDs, 40 or 50 or maybe 60 per lamp.
Up to now I've only seen disapointments, but the time is Now, or at least very very soon.
Thanks

led's suck monkey balls

ok... the only reason u think LED suck is that you never seen enough in the same room...if u use as much wattage in LED as you do for other lights, u would retract ur statement... but thass a lil much for money for some ppl

Little off topic here guys.

I've been at this for a month now, I've been using about 125 ACTUAL watts of cfls for 18 hours a day along with a small desk fan, says it runs at .5A (amps I reckon) and last month my bill shot up $15. It really doesn't seem like it should have done that just because of the few lights I have and I thought I did the math right (according to the excel sheet I should have gone up .12kw, even if thats per hour of use it should have only been 71 extra kw a month and at $.12 per kwh that about $8.5, also got a window ac unit so that could account for more as well)

Does that kind of increase for those kind of watts sound right? I ask because I'm thinking of upgrading to a HPS, especially if for the same amount of watts i get a more efficent light. So, if I went to a 125w hps would i still be using about the same per month? I was told it might even be more worth it to go up to 250w, but i live in a small apt, and the $15 increase brought me from $30 to $45 on electric so I'm cautious about throwing one of those in and risking going up to $60 in two months for suspicions sake

it's all automated from what i hear, just pay yer electric bill on time...

anybody know what electricity prices in the LA region are? just moved into a new apt and starting have 500w of light so like 600w or whatever after calculations (to hiiigh)

i also have this really small 5" or whatever heater that is 2200w, but i'm just using it as a fan right now so its gotta be using waaay less power than that, don't know how to figure out that without getting one of those meters (fun for sure, but a waste in my case)

smoke so thick said:

I've been at this for a month now, I've been using about 125 ACTUAL watts of cfls for 18 hours a day along with a small desk fan, says it runs at .5A (amps I reckon) and last month my bill shot up $15. It really doesn't seem like it should have done that just because of the few lights I have and I thought I did the math right (according to the excel sheet I should have gone up .12kw, even if thats per hour of use it should have only been 71 extra kw a month and at $.12 per kwh that about $8.5, also got a window ac unit so that could account for more as well)

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The correct number is 67.5 KWh with 125w x 18hrs x 30days. The AC probably added the rest as they are energy hogs.

smoke so thick said:

Does that kind of increase for those kind of watts sound right? I ask because I'm thinking of upgrading to a HPS, especially if for the same amount of watts i get a more efficent light. So, if I went to a 125w hps would i still be using about the same per month? I was told it might even be more worth it to go up to 250w, but i live in a small apt, and the $15 increase brought me from $30 to $45 on electric so I'm cautious about throwing one of those in and risking going up to $60 in two months for suspicions sake

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The main thing to watch out for is your cost the energy company could care less if you wanted to run a 1000W 24hrs a day as long as you pay the bill. Making sure that you stay below your baseline allotment is a big deal if you cant afford the extra cost.

Other than that all I can say is I wish I were you. $0.18 per KWh here and I always go over my allotment = $0.28 per KWh. But its still cheaper than buying and you never get a bunk bag.

-=4:20=-Guy said:

The correct number is 67.5 KWh with 125w x 18hrs x 30days. The AC probably added the rest as they are energy hogs.



The main thing to watch out for is your cost the energy company could care less if you wanted to run a 1000W 24hrs a day as long as you pay the bill. Making sure that you stay below your baseline allotment is a big deal if you cant afford the extra cost.

Other than that all I can say is I wish I were you. $0.18 per KWh here and I always go over my allotment = $0.28 per KWh. But its still cheaper than buying and you never get a bunk bag.

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Soo your saying that as long as you pay your electric bill on time the power company won't report you for having a spike in your total usage?

Not within reason they just want your cash. There are a million things that can contribute to a high electric bill.

As utility rates keep climbing, doesn't it make sense to make the move to LED grow lights. In the RED and BLUE spectrum a 50W LED light at 1' above the canopy will equal a 400W HPS at 2' above the canopy.
Pay for 460W or 60W 12 to 18 hours a day. You don't have to change a bulb for 15 or more years.
Rincewind

I did a cost benefit model of LEDs vs HPS based on average life of a bulb at 10,000 hours and with a cost of $50.00 each.
Cost Model
Cost per kilowatt hour
Power Dissipated
Bulb Life in 1000 hours
Initial Cost
Total Electricity Cost over 100,000 hour use
Total Cost of Bulbs over 100,000 hour use
Total Cost 100,000 hour use