I have a small house and my bill is only about $100 a month. I don't live in a city or anything but I'm still worried! How much wattage can I get away with without having to worry about drawing attention? My rate is .08 a month It would help a lot if you guys posted how much your HPS costs you. Thanks
don't get a light larger than 1000w and you will be fine adding things slowly rather than all at once helps too... people put fish tanks in their house all the time...
So maybe one 400w at first and then another one later? 2x 400w HPS shouldnt cost me more than $40 a month right?
There are many, many legitimate reasons your electrical use could have gone up. Remember that a 400w grow bulb is the wattage equivalent of a new roommate who leaves 4 100w reading lights on (for the same number of hours per day). The electric bill should be a concern if you are burning many thousands of watts above the average, and even then it might not be an issue as long as you pay your bill on time. Twin 400w HPS on a 12/12 schedule would cost you about $23 a month extra at your rate.
I was curious about the same thing, so thanks to the thread creator and to the replies, cause I was really curious about the cost myself
You can also Plug in a fridge or freezer befor to help raise bill slowly when you get to need the light unplug frige etc.. It is also geting to be the coldest time of the year power consumption generally goes up anyways. A 2 BR house with 3 ppl should run an average $175-$300 so there is a lot of flex room. Depends also on what the tenant last year had for Electric bill. Pay your bills on time. Dont cause trouble. You will be fine remember only brake one law at a time!
Costs Calculator The power company only seems to get involved when you don't pay the bill or they think you're stealing electricity.
my whole house runs on electric even the heat so if i have the heat and forget about it there are huge spikes in the bill. also if i cook food at home a lot the bill goes up. I range from 400-2000kw a month and it jumps a lot. I live in a 2 br condo and no one has came to my door asking questions just pay the bill on time thats all they care about.
Thanks for the replies guys. Another option ive been thinking about is vegging with CFL's or LED's and flowering with HPS, since flowering is only 12/12. Do plants need as much light during vegging? What if I got a smaller 250w MH for vegging, and a 400 HPS for flowering? MH is better for vegging anyway from what I hear.
i would stay away from LED because they are not worth the price right now and the results very dramatically
Use an Inverter for the wattage you will need and use 2 or 3 batteries depends on the wattage you will use, batteries could be 550 CCA = Cold Cranking Amps each or higher this should be last at least 13 hours or around there, and the difference for the hours of lighting could be completed with your regular power company so that way they wont notice that much time consuming electric1ty. The only bad thing is that you will have to go out everyday to recharge the batteries or buy a charger and recharge them at some other place that you trust.
If your going to use 2 bulbs start out with a 600w and then add another later down the road. At least with the 600s you going to get the best lumen/watt ratio plus they got some nice dual bulb ballasts.
Replace all the 90 watt incandescent lights with 15 watt cfls in the house and you can grow for free. Seriously! Just my bedroom and bathroom and closet alone used to have like 96 watt incandescent lights. Thats 9 light bulbs totaling: 864 watts! Reduced to like: 135 watts. Now this is where I am saying you could grow for free. Because usually the bill would be a lot just for using those lights.