Hello, I am planning on buying a 1000w [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004DDX9B2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=A18F233SN21KKY"]light[/ame] with a 120v digital ballast. The grow room will be 6'x4'x4' 6' being height. The grow also includes an inline fan and a bubbler that has 6 separate buckets. I live in an apartment and my floor has two tvs both rather large , 40-46 inch range. Both have xboxes that are almost always on as well as five computers constantly running. As well as two refrigerators. I include all of these items because I am wondering if a 1000w light will just blend in as if I bought a gaming pc or a server? Would buying a 900w battery backup help at all with reducing power consumption, I don't know just throwing it out there. Also if 1000w is overkill for that size what would you recommend for that size and maximizing growth. Thanks ahead for all the help and thanks for reading
considering the dimensions you gave are in inches i would say a 1000w is a lil overkill.. lol Edit: Any raise in your bill is going to be noticed. It sounds like you already use a lot of electicity as is, I'd try maybe cutting down on the electricity you normally use while you have your grow going. But in the space you said you will have above a 1000w should be fine. Depending on the hood you will be using a 1000w has a 5'x5' area it illuminates. I'm by no means a pro but I've been at it for a couple years now. I'll be posting pics of my next grow. I'm currently about to harvest 6 plants in about 3 weeks
Ill start with fans and battery operated dehumidifiers. I have an energy star a/c that works nice if it gets bad I will use that. I imagine that with proper venting a inline fan and a good carbon/ion filter I will be able to keep it under wraps. This is why I am wondering if the battery backup would allow me to space out the electrical usage. Like if I ran the lights on it and it ran off the battery while slowly filling the battery by charging it at a low rate so it would sustain the lights. This would put the great energy drain on the battery for the majority of the time. Until the lights shut off and it recharges to full power during the dark period but still at a much lower rate. So I would be using the same amount of electricity but spaced over a much longer time.
What all do you plan on running on the battery? also what kinda battery is it and how do u plan to charge it?
1000 watts at 120v is only 9.5 amps you can run up to 15 amps on a standard 20 amp circuit. And you can run up to 2k watts on 100 amp service and up 5k watts on a 200 amp service. It safe to assume that unless you cause problems by pulling more that what your service will handle. The power company will not care as long as you pay your power bill in a timely manner. And if you go with 1000 at 220v it is only 5 amp which mean you can run two of them on one circuit for the same power use on the 120v circuit.
I say keep the 1000 watter... it'll be worth it for a huge yeild... just invest in a good fan to cool the hood.
Your fine. Keep the 1000. Pay your bill, and they have absolutely no reason to go after you. Also cops can't come looking off electric bill alone. They only use it as proof after the fact.
i have a tent the same size and use a 600w hps with a cool tube. im sure they could tell what you are doing as to a spike in your electric usage for 12 hrs on then 12 off. you would have to be being watched for anyone to actually notice and it is not illegal to have an indoor garden. i dont worry about it, but then again i have my medical card. my opinion a 600w is perfect for that size but the heat becomes a problem without proper ventilation. i use 2 fans one goes straight through the cool tube from one side of the tent to the other to remove heat from the light. then also have a carbon filter/fan for exhausting the smell and more heat.
You have 16 sq ft, you don't want anything less than 1000w in there. Your overall power consumption sounds like it could be reaching the level of being suspicious. Why are you running so many other appliances? Not the smart way to go about setting up a grow. Can you cut down to one refrigerator, turn off some of those computers, etc? You are sucking a lot of juice for an apartment already. That's not entirely true. True that the electric bill alone is not enough to get a search warrant, but if the cops are getting a search warrant on you then it's too late anyway. What a too-high power bill can do is put you on their radar screen, so maybe they decide to watch you for a little while or come by for a knock-and-talk (which is just an excuse to get you to open your door so they can then say they saw or smelled something suspicious and then can enter). In some places the cops and the power company do work together to identify potential grow ops, and sometimes the cops pay meter readers for reporting a place that seems suspicious. You want to remain unnoticed in the first place, get your overall power use down.
Thanks so much for the responses Going to go 1k watt and remove some of the other appliances that are in the apartment. Thanks again.