Ok so I used to run a Philips Son-T Agro 400w when I had a good paying job and the bill did not matter (It was about $60 a month to run 18 hours a day). Now however I'm moving into a place where the power bill is paid by the landlord so I can't be racking up ridiculous power bills. Can i get some suggestions on low cost bulbs? Growing area would probably be no larger than 1 - 1.5 sq meter, maybe 4 plants. I need something that wont spike my power usage and perhaps would still work on my old ballast? It's a 400W ballast / shade I got with the bulb. Or do I simply have to buy all new gear? Actually her is the link to the exact set-up I have Switched on Gardener Feel free to ask for any info I've left out that would be needed. Thanks Murdoch *Edit* This thing was pretty beast, it would go like a street lamp, literally. And would heat up the whole room to the point where I'd have a fan on 24/7 (Room was 4 square m approx)
Have been talking to some guys on /b/ and have decided that 2x 125w dual 6400k/2700k cfl lamps would do the trick, worked out to cost roughly half the power cost too @ est $30 a month. Have found a British site that could supply them costing around £80. Would like a second opinion how ever if anyone has one. Confirmation or better ideas? Restrictions/requirements are, price to buy and energy consumption. Also to a lesser degree sourcing a supplier.
A watt is a watt as far as consumption goes and considering that equivalent means nothing to plants, or your bill, I don't see how 250w of cfl will be better then 250w of anything else /shrug. I've got to ask though, whereabouts do you live (vaguely, not looking for specifics obviously lol)where electricity is over $0.30/kw/hr? Unless I botched the math, which is always a possibility.
Cfls use less watts because for 23watts of draw they can produce an output similar to a 100watt incandescent, so for less watts and less energy you get decent light output, combine 4 and you have 400watt equivalent output but your only drawing 92watts so it will be cheaper. I do agree that the hps won't cost what he says to run though. If it draws 400watts that's less than $10 a month for 24 hour a day use.
It wouldn't cost that much to run the hps in the NW, but it very well could where ever he is. That was a genuine question. The 100w equivalent that you mention means absolutely nothing to the plant though, that's why we don't buy cfls based on equivalent we use the actual wattage. You may save a few pennies on cooling the light but other then that I must be missing something for the "cfls are cheaper to run" mentality. I'd love to learn what it is that is over my head if there is something I'm missing. Fwiw... I am truly curious, I'm not the brightest bulb (lol) so missing a big piece of this puzzle is a very real possibility.
The 23watts put out the same lumens as a 100watt incandescent so your thinking is wrong to just go off the labelled wattage. Lumens and the color rating are what's important. That is why hps are considered more efficient by some because you get more lumens per watt in a smaller package than using cfls because they require multiple bulbs. The cfls will draw less than an hps although the difference would be minor money wise. You also have to account for bulb life and replacement costs. For the price of one hps bulb I could get 4-6 cfls and they will last about twice as long. There's positives and negatives to each though so we could go back and forth all day.
We could go back and forth, but neither of us are here to argue. I don't dislike cfls I just was obviously over looking something. Thanks for taking the time to break it down. OK I'm done hijacking.
Yeah you were right as far as the output and efficiency go, because a 400watt hps will put out 55,000 lumens when 8 cfls would be around 12,000 lumens so the hps beats it by a lot but having that many lumens isn't necessary and that's why hps cause more heat and must be spaced further and you normally want a fan to blow on them and cool it.
Hate to contridict you but your wrong those extra lumens a HPS put out depending on your # of plants and spacing they will suck up that light growing bigger faster, CFLs don't put out enough light for cannabis plants they grow weak and slow under cfls I know I used cfls for 2 years before wising up I blew through six 5 plant crops under a 400 Watt HPS where under a 1000 Watt cfl I could only grow 3 plants and I could only crop them 3 maybe 4 times a year I mean sure you need to cool your light but a simple horticulture fan will cool the room if the light is vented but you can run a sea of green method not much spacing Try growing with cfls and you'll find out its slow, why? Because the plant doesn't get enough what? LUMENS MORE LUMENS=BIGGER PLANTS, BUDS, AND FASTER GROWTH (AND WHAT LIGHT WILL DO THAT FOR YOU WELL A HPS WILL BECAUSE A HPS COVERS THE LARGEST LIGHT SPECTRUM OF ALL GROW LIGHTS)