Indoor Growers, Estimate your HID lighting power costs

Hey guys, I was on HTG supply looking at lights the other day when I started seriously considering a t5 only grow instead of one with primary HPS/ML lighting. The first thing that comes to mind, Heat, is reduced greatly by using t5 flouros but what struck me was the cost advantage, both inital and in long term upkeep.

Essentially what Im asking is everyone with HPS lights to chime in and throw out your estimates of how much higher they make your bill. Im wondering if the T5 fixtures, maybe 2 4' 8 lamp fixtures Can grow me a huge stash while keeping both power and heat concerns low, spectrum concerns with ML/HPS out of the way with cheaply exchangable bulbs, ect. I understand that systems like this only put out about 40k lumens as oppose to the 100k of a 400watt HPS but they can be placed very near the plands, Im thinking in some sort of inverted V.

And again, the power issue, how much to HPSs cost to run so I can be less ignorant about the electrical consumption issue.

Thanks for listening to my baked rambling

my 1000watt hps raises the bill to about $65 in the winter cus my light heats my place, and up to $150 during summer cus im constantly blasting the a/c. just because your bill is a little higher doesnt mean go with a weak light. we're talking the price of an 8th, you will easily get that back via harvest. the quality of the weed will be on such a higher level you'll regret even considering a t5 - even though i honestly dont know much about fluorescents..you can put the plants just about as close as you would w/ a fluorescent if you buy a reflector w/ a glass cover on the bottom. also, if you do go with fluorescents, you wont necessarily get a "huge stash". if you wanna do it right, go with mh/hps. i rarely ever support t5/cfl/etc.. unless they are for clones/seedlings or atleast just for veg.

alot of ppl support fluorescents, especially for a first grow. my first grow was with a 400watt for veg and a 1000watt for flower and i was really happy with the results. think about it for awhile, but if youre serious about growing then youll probably want what the plant will appreciate most. although theres really nothing wrong with fluorescents, youll get herb it just might be whispy and fluffy.

my 1000w raised the electric about 85 bucks a month (less since it also includes all the rest of the stuff too - fans, hydro pumps, etc..)

check this out, should help you http://www.n-g-w.com/ngw/literature/catalog_powercost.pdf

My bill goes up about $65 a month with a 1000 watt magnetic ballast running 24/7 and then about $30 a month during 12/12.My 2 600 watt difital ballasts raise my bill to about $50 a month on 24/7 for veg and then to about $30 during 12/12.Depends alot on the cycle your in and if you have new digital or old magnetic ballasts

During the summer with ac on my power bill is around $75 and now in the winter its around $60 with space heaters running. chronicle is right on about heating your place with the exhaust from the lights. i do the same thing. temp is mid 70s outside the closet and 80s in the closet . i'm running a 600w hps from HTGS and three 2 bulb 4ft shoplights from walmart. the hps runs 12 hours and the fluorescents run 18 hours.

my 600 watt hps costs me 12.63 a month...thats the most its ever been..

i just got my hydro bill and its up by less than 20 $. i was expecting allot worse. i have a 400 watt hps, bunch of fans, small space heater and 4 32 watt florescents....... i will be upgrading to a 1000 watt hps for my next flowering cycle, and buy a conversion metal halide bulb for my 400 watt ballast and use that for veg!

p.s the space heater is 1500 watts, so it uses more power than a 1000 watt light !!

I am currently using 400 watt hps couple of cfls and a couple fans and noticed minimal increase on 1st power bill. go for the hps for sure!!

from noon 2 frisays ago until last friday at 1pm i had everything in my house un-plugged except the fridage. (2) 4' 8 bulb t-5's and 3 fans, a ceiling fan, and a 96gph air pump. that last night the heat had to be turned on but it was set at 50. i used 99 kilowatt hours total. it dropped from my usual be home hours by almost 50-75. i will calculate the cost and let you know. my last bill with all that going and 12 26w cfl's was a 100.00 even.

the bill cost is nothing in the end.