Solar Power Question?
- Thread starter SMOTHERme
- Start date
Is there a solar panel kit on the market to power a 1000w lamp? So that one can get off the grid and save money. Solar power would be at the mercy of the sun, your plants would be stress'd from the random off's and on's. I know the balast would not like it at all either.. under load, off and on withought a cooldown time etc.
What I can suggest is to look up guirilla growing.. just use a small fluorecent light to start them, and then plant them outside. And you may want to check the price of the 1k watt bulb and balast before you worry about the cost of the power to run it.
What I can suggest is to look up guirilla growing.. just use a small fluorecent light to start them, and then plant them outside. And you may want to check the price of the 1k watt bulb and balast before you worry about the cost of the power to run it.
wannaquickee
Well-Known Member
youre prolly gonna spend the cost of electricity to run your 1k light for two months, on a weeks worth of mj....
SMOTHERme
Member
So your saying it would cost me $75 a month for 1k. One has the 1k watt bulb and balast, plus a smaller 400w kit. Just wanting to get ideas for a flower room for the babies and trying not to be cost effective.
TruenoAE86coupe
Moderator
Cost of running a light, most areas charge between 10 and 15 cents per kilowatt hour (1000 watts for 1 hour) so every 12 hours you will use 12 kilowatts (well a little more like 13 due to the ballast) so in 30 days you will use 390 kwh at 15 cents that is only $58.50 a month.
A solar panel to run a 1000 watt is going to be about the size of the entire roof of your house. Solar technology is no where near where it needs to be to be worth the investment. Wind power is feasible but also expensive and you have to be approved for it.
Cough up the cash to the power company and find a buddy to buy a little every now and then and it will pay for the lights.
A solar panel to run a 1000 watt is going to be about the size of the entire roof of your house. Solar technology is no where near where it needs to be to be worth the investment. Wind power is feasible but also expensive and you have to be approved for it.
Cough up the cash to the power company and find a buddy to buy a little every now and then and it will pay for the lights.
Illumination
New Member
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-1000-Budget-Light-System/dp/B001DVW4KE/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&m=A1O863TZYF0C7N&s=home-garden&qid=1296002122&sr=1-14
I dont see that to be too much money...and with batteries and an inverter it is very doable to go solar...just a pretty big initial investment... but sure wouldn't take long to return the invested growing with no electicity charges
Namaste'
newworldicon
Well-Known Member
Most consumer solar panels are approx a sq. metre of space that can at maximum produce about 180-300W of power, therefore you would need about 4 sq. metres of solar panels to drive the grow, not ideal. And as was mentioned the ballast might not compliment it. Overall you really need to spend a lot of money and have the place to put it. Perhaps a generator but then at best you would get a gas one, not fuel. And it's noisy with fumes to deal with. I have looked into this before, I would need to spend about £18000 to get sorted and then I would still be hooked to the grid but only for my shortfall coverage. Any extra leccie produced on good days can be sold back to the power company but you may not have that option in the crumbling republic.
It's a tough one and only worth doing large, in which case a small personal grow is never going to justify it, unless you incorporate the rest of the household.
It's a tough one and only worth doing large, in which case a small personal grow is never going to justify it, unless you incorporate the rest of the household.
Illumination
New Member
Very well put and accurate my friend...definitely for one who is going to operate a grow for the medical market commercially it would be very doable and feasible
+rep
Namaste'
DirtPoor
Well-Known Member
I have always been interested in the renewable energy grow house, but every time I look at doing it, it seems to be far to expensive to be reasonable. I read a thread on another forum about this exact thing and the guy writing it was actualy an engineer and broke the whole thing down bit by bit and explained, really interesting. Also maybe think about wind power, when it's not sunny because of rain...it's usually a little windy. And there are a bunch of videos and wensites that show you how to make both the solar energy and wind energy.