Right now keen to hook up 500 watts of cfl for an indoor grow im new to indoor but know alot thank's to this place hey what i dont know is how much this will cost me per month. im in aussie dollar's....really hopeing for somethin reasonable ha. And an extended question: any easy way's to save power and save some dough? any of those power saver cfl worth buying? such a noob thread but hey an answer would be great
500W of CFLs? Are you sure that you're not talking about equivalent watts? 500 watts is a lot of CFLs. Make sure you're reading the real watts not how they compare to incandescents. Cost is going to depend on how much your electricity costs which can vary fairly widely.
I'm using 327w of CFL right now at 21,500 lumens, and theyre all enegy saving spirals. Im not sure 500w is efficient. Because HID or High intensity lights put out a sertain high number of lumens per watt, and CFL's put out a different number of lumens per watt, I belive a 400w HPS would put out 39,000-45000 Lumens, and 500w of CFL is lots of light! but only gonna give 27500 lumens f light! if you want to pay fr that bill each month than you should pay or a 400w HID lamp at an indor garden store. the ballsst is $130, and the bulbs can be $45 each or $75 each i guess it depends. A 400w HID lamp like a 400w HPS or MH will probably cost less than the CFL's to run each month. There is a line you can cross when using CFL VS. HID in terms of monthly bills. hope this helps!
how many equivalant watts you thinking on 1 plant? i learnt that you need 100 W per plant for 2 week old seedling's. Can you please run me through equivalent watt's? am i really off track oh fuck
very informative thank you. How much impact doe's the power saving bulb's do for you? save you any cash
Ignore them. Just go by the real wattage. The meaningless 100w number will probably be in the in 23 - 27w range, depending on the bulb. So, 4 of those will put you at around 100w--not 400w. Besides wattage, also be sure to use 6500k daylight bulbs for veg & 2700k soft white bulbs for flowering.
Like Mike said, go by real watts not equivalent. If the light only has one wattage listed on the box then that's the real wattage. But, if it has 2 such as 15W and 60W, then use the lower number, that's the real wattage. The higher numbers are for people trying to save energy on home lighting. The companies are trying to make it easier for them to pick out bulbs because people are used to incandescent wattages.
okay HID lamps (HPS, MH) give us light at up to 140 Lumens/ watt. CFL's give light, at 30-65 Lumens per watt. I'm using (9) cfls @ 327w and hopefully no increase to my bill at all, and stinky lants!! good luck.