HIDs and solar panels

has any one used solar panels to run their HID lights? Ive used them to run fans and timers ect. but not lights.

I haven't tried myself although I'd love too. I've researched quite a bit into solar and wind generated power, off the grid stuff, but its really quite expensive and I dont really have the change lol. Be great if someone knew of a cheaper high watt panel!

There's loads of solar panelled houses near me ...they use it to heat up the house.

i don't think they use it for light .

something to do with the energy you put in is nowhere near the energy you get out .....the light energy

I thought this was a stupid question..duh y don't u just use the sun

but i thought again....not so dumb

Up here they feed back into grid and offset power you use but dont actually power house. Off grid will use it but not near enough to run lights.

you want the panels in your tent

Would anybody be interested in getting panels with no out of pocket money and saving a 1/3 of lighting cost monthly?

I like to think that saving that 1/3 gives you room for another light to add to your arsenal.

There is a member on here I've talked to from northern california that uses solar to run part of his grow. I believe he has 6k watts running off the panels and then the rest of the lights run off the power grid. Solar is definitely not cheap to set up initially, but over time it pays for itself. If you build your system well enough I'm under the impression that you can produce enough power that the electric company pays you(some places are trying to ban this).

Buying a system isn't cheap. They'll eventually pay for themselves down the line.

I believe indoor growers would benefit by running solar.

I'd love to run solar, and since my whole grow runs under 2k watts I think it would be very doable. Sadly I have no start up cash atm, and don't own my house so I'm not really trying to outfit a rental. Though if we do buy the place its something I"ve considered. I've also thought about looking into a small wind setup I could mount on the roof. What I really want more then either is a stand alone natural gas generator(like a generac) incase of emergencies. I live in a part of the country that gets very cold in the winter, especially if the power goes out.

If you have the land. There are many wind generators on the market. Havent heard of anyone using them to grow.
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Coleman-400-Watt-Wind-Turbine-with-30-ft-Tower-Kit-48640/205568472?cm_mmc=Shopping|G|Base|PLA|D27E|Electrical&gclid=CNCN4cjwvMICFQsKaQodhowA6w&gclsrc=aw.ds

Banana444 said:

If you have the land. There are many wind generators on the market. Havent heard of anyone using them to grow.
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Coleman-400-Watt-Wind-Turbine-with-30-ft-Tower-Kit-48640/205568472?cm_mmc=Shopping|G|Base|PLA|D27E|Electrical&gclid=CNCN4cjwvMICFQsKaQodhowA6w&gclsrc=aw.ds

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Windmills are prone to failure in my experience (residential) and require lots of service. They may have improved them recently though.

Windmills still suck as far as reliability. I've spent a lot of time recently researching alternative energy for my own reasons.

Using solar to try and power any multi thousand watt grow is an expensive exercise in futility. You'll need lots of panels to gather the sunlight, lots of expensive batteries to store the power, and a huge inverter to convert that power back into AC voltage that your grow equipment can use. It would cost you close to $20K to get setup with enough power to generate 6 kilowatts and that is still not enough.

mike4c4 said:

has any one used solar panels to run their HID lights? Ive used them to run fans and timers ect. but not lights.

Click to expand...

I use solar to offset my energy costs with my HID lighting. I have 32 200 watt solar panels. I figure on average I save enough energy to run 2 1000 watt lights and my house. I run many more than that but it does help keep the costs down. I looked at wind and fuel sells also but solar seemed the best bet with no moving parts. I'm slowly switching to LED lighting which doesn't seem to have the same results as HID. During peak hours between 11 am and 5 pm my solar pumps out between 5000 and 7000 watts per hr. If you multiply that by 6 hrs that's 30000 watts per day just at the peak hr period, the hrs before and after peak also generate power but not as much as the afternoon. Even on overcast days my solar will generate 10000 watts total where on an exceptionally sunny days it puts out 50000 watts. I would have to agree that it is very expensive to install a system a few years back when I installed the panels between the state rebates and the federal tax credits I ended up putting out roughly $10,000. So in reality the state and the feds are helping keep my costs of growing MMJ down to an affordable rates. lol thanks big brother your the man!!!