Huge light problem....

stukkonstoopid · Dec 8, 2010

Hey guys, my light bill just went up 100 dollars this month and thats not gonna cut it for me.... for now.... so i wanted to downgrade the wattage a little bit..... I was wondering what is your opinions on what would be better.... CFL or HO Floros, and what would be the best kind or type?
Thank you in Advance....

woodsmaneh! · Dec 8, 2010

I would go with T5 HO you can buy them in 2 or 4 feet and also use them vertical and daisey chain up to 8 of them and they are inexpensive.

DANKSKANK · Dec 8, 2010

I'm running 18 x 26w CFLs + 1 x 250w CFL in 2'x4'x5' tent and my power bill is about $45 a month higher than when I'm not growin. Not sure about power usage for T5. HID provides much better yields and tighter budz but when you gotta beat the heat CFLs are great. My 250w CFL is awesome (19,500 lumens supposedly) but not cheap. I got my bulbs off Ebay for about $70 ea. including shipping (1x blue and 1x red spectrum) I keep em about 2" above my plants and have yet to burn them.

myowncaregiver · Dec 9, 2010

stukkonstoopid said:
Hey guys, my light bill just went up 100 dollars this month and thats not gonna cut it for me.... for now.... so i wanted to downgrade the wattage a little bit..... I was wondering what is your opinions on what would be better.... CFL or HO Floros, and what would be the best kind or type?
Thank you in Advance....

just buy 600 watt lumatek dial a watt ballast and a xxxl magnum hood then you can dial in down when you need too and feed them some lumens when you can afford it

stukkonstoopid · Dec 10, 2010

3 great options thank you guys

Tahmi.Guhnn · Dec 10, 2010

stukkonstoopid said:
Hey guys, my light bill just went up 100 dollars this month and thats not gonna cut it for me.... for now.... so i wanted to downgrade the wattage a little bit..... I was wondering what is your opinions on what would be better.... CFL or HO Floros, and what would be the best kind or type?
Thank you in Advance....

leds are the way to go. you get to specify the spectrum you want so you get more usable light compared to ANY other kind. and for about 300w of electricity you get the effect of a 1000w. and thats just for flowering. im using blue led panels that take only 14 watts each and together they put out less heat than the 5 T5 florecents they replaced which pulled 14 watts per tube. more usable light for only twenty percent of the wattage. gotta love it. and you can get em for a decent price if you look in the right place. the internodal space before flowering is like a centimeter which grows to about an inch during flowering. which maximizes the space you can use. HIDs are nice but the amount of bud they produce per cubic foot will never compare to leds

TheOrganic · Dec 10, 2010

Just curious what are you running now?

Tahmi.Guhnn · Dec 10, 2010

just 3 days after i planted the germinated seeds...

stukkonstoopid · Dec 11, 2010

400 Watt metal Halide

bigv1976 · Dec 11, 2010

Here is my little T5 scrog to help you decide.

Snow Crash · Dec 11, 2010

It depends on what you're willing to spend on the light. No sense spending $200 on a new light to offset only $50 of the bill in total (the new light still uses some power). The new $200 fixture is worth 4 months worth of growing.

I think the only option for you, if you just cannot afford it, is a $50 CFL setup. Anything else is going to be too expensive up front.

You're going to pay for it in the harvest though. One way or another... I'd just sack it up and pay the bill.

bigv1976 · Dec 11, 2010

Hey Home Depot sells real cool 68 watt Cfls for $15 that are good for flowering (2700K). The problem with them is that big Cfls arent as efficient as small ones and it is fairly pricey considering you can probably 10 23 watters for that same money but more bulbs means more fixtures too! Also dont forget more watts means more heat.

stukkonstoopid · Dec 11, 2010

Snow Crash said:
It depends on what you're willing to spend on the light. No sense spending $200 on a new light to offset only $50 of the bill in total (the new light still uses some power). The new $200 fixture is worth 4 months worth of growing.

I think the only option for you, if you just cannot afford it, is a $50 CFL setup. Anything else is going to be too expensive up front.

You're going to pay for it in the harvest though. One way or another... I'd just sack it up and pay the bill.

You make a great point.... when you put it like that..... thanx

IAm5toned · Dec 11, 2010

Tahmi.Guhnn said:
for about 300w of electricity you get the effect of a 1000w.

HIDs are nice but the amount of bud they produce per cubic foot will never compare to leds

nice... lol.

so do you sell LED's?

because thats a crop of bullshit if ive ever heard it....

ps- i carry certifications frome phillips, lithonia, advance, metalux/sylvania, and a host of other lighting manufacturers.

riddle me this-

if a 300w led fixture can replace a 1000w fixture, then please explain to me how i would use a single 300w led to light a 6 x 6 footprint?

really, id like to hear it....

because LEDs are directional lightiung

HID is omnidirectional lighting

theres a huge difference you know....

ckckck · Dec 12, 2010

i think u have made a mistake m8 there is know way a 400w metal halide uses 100$ a month 40$ maxiumum

TheOrganic · Dec 12, 2010

Ya when you said your bill went up a 100 and with a 400w that's not right I understand state to state it varys but damn dude. Try cutting power on things like comp. running all day or TV Heaters what not. A lot of that stuff pulls 200-1500w.
Are you running 24/0?

stukkonstoopid · Dec 14, 2010

ckckck said:
i think u have made a mistake m8 there is know way a 400w metal halide uses 100$ a month 40$ maxiumum

TheOrganic said:
Ya when you said your bill went up a 100 and with a 400w that's not right I understand state to state it varys but damn dude. Try cutting power on things like comp. running all day or TV Heaters what not. A lot of that stuff pulls 200-1500w.
Are you running 24/0?

yeah thats the thing.... but my average bill is $160 - $180 a month, and this month it went up to $265!.... im just running 18hrs a day.... i live in California, maybe that has something to do with it.... i know theres a calculation i could do to see the exact price for 18 hours compared to my kilowatt hour price, but i forgot what it was, anyone else know?

Snow Crash · Dec 14, 2010

California power is crazy expensive.
My power bill is about $80 a month.
I have two computers, a 60" TV, w/d, about 1200sqft, and close to 15kwh per day in growing equipment. Good think I only spend like $0.10 per kwh up here in Oregon. The water is 100x better too. I left California and I'm not looking back.

MightyZeppelin · Dec 14, 2010

Tahmi.Guhnn said:
leds are the way to go. you get to specify the spectrum you want so you get more usable light compared to ANY other kind. and for about 300w of electricity you get the effect of a 1000w. and thats just for flowering. im using blue led panels that take only 14 watts each and together they put out less heat than the 5 T5 florecents they replaced which pulled 14 watts per tube. more usable light for only twenty percent of the wattage. gotta love it. and you can get em for a decent price if you look in the right place. the internodal space before flowering is like a centimeter which grows to about an inch during flowering. which maximizes the space you can use. HIDs are nice but the amount of bud they produce per cubic foot will never compare to leds

Oh my, what a load. Hey, I've got some prime swamp land for sell. Swamp is the new way to go...

Peace

*BUDS · Dec 15, 2010

stukkonstoopid said:
400 Watt metal Halide

no dont severly downgrade to a fluro. get a 400 hps as its more energy efficient

Huge light problem....

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