captainmorgan
Well-Known Member
I know someone that replaces his HPS bulbs after each cycle, he sells them to a friend.
CXB3590 versus Quantum Boards
- Thread starter newguy41410
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fair play yield wise your mates a muppet
skoomd
Well-Known Member
1. That's a subjective experience. If you put a 600w HPS in a 3x3 tent, it will put out a lot of heat. Directly cooling it with vented hoods/cooltubes is pretty much required in such a setup. And it will still give you fairly high temps unless you are sucking 400cfm out of there... You shouldnt need AC for one 600w HPS, but once you start getting multiple setups in the same room or bump up to 1000 watters in 4x4 tents it becomes a likely outcome that you will need AC...
2. The savings can be negligible, or they can be thousands of dollars extra in your pocket... It's a matter of how big the setup is. But for me it costs $38 a month to run a 600w HPS setup, and my 350w (at the wall) LED setup that replaces it costs $20 a month. So a 600w HPS costs me $216 a year MORE to run than my 350w of LEDs. That is NOT negligible, in 2 years my light is paid for and will last another 5-8.
3. MOST people.... people who know how to do math.... An HPS bulb looses 6-10% of it's output in 6 months. So that can equal 6-10% yield at 6 months old. And at 12 months, 12-20% reduced output. LOL. And that's for good bulbs. Sometimes you get a bad bulb and ive seen testing show those can get 25% reduced output in 6 months.
4. Reflectors loose 3-5% of their reflectivity per year. If you are using a larger reflector, that's gonna really affect output onto the plants as more reflection occurs in big hoods. Commerical grows replace them every couple of cycles. Because if they didnt, they'd loose massive yield overall.
5. And yes, better quality buds. Sativa dominant phenos grow less dense bud than indca dominants. Why do you think that is? It's because sativas stretch and have longer internodal distance.... It's simple and EVERY experienced led grower will tell you the buds are denser than under HPS.
I'm not coming up with bullshit here (i did mistake the energy cost but corrected myself). Top end LEDs are kicking ass. And HPS is on it's way out the door. I know if you've used HPS for the longest time it is painful to hear this stuff. But if you want to be in denial about the logistics then feel free. Im just trying to share some important pointers.
skoomd
Well-Known Member
Smart man. Especially if he has multiple lights. The 2-4% output loss in 3 months (1 cycle) on a 1000w HPS bulb can equate to 10-40 grams of lost yield potentially. Even if you only loose 5 grams of bud, that just about pays for a new eye hortilux bulb in itself.... 40 grams would pay for 4 or 5 of them lol
I forgot to mention that as hps bulbs degrade, they loose blue spectral output the most. So as a side disadvantage to output/yield loss, you will get less and less dense buds
. A 12 month old HPS bulb is NOTICEABLY less blue than a new one.
captainmorgan
Well-Known Member
I also know someone that waits till they burn out to change them lol.
It's not BS. Good LED is something like 25% more efficient. Some adjustments should be made when going to LED. For instance, LED gives off less IR so higher air temperature is needed to get the same leaf temperature and experienced LED growers suggest low 80's air temp.
5 1000watters is 5 kilowatts so 5 x 16 hours = 80 kwh per day. 80 kwh x 30 days is 2400 kwh. 2400 at $.10 per kwh = $240 per month. You must have really cheap electricity!
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skoomd
Well-Known Member
I think $150 a month is bullshit if he's in the US.. The cheapest electricity in the USA as far as I am aware is something like $0.05-0.06 a kw/hour. And all the BTC mining companies flocked over to where that is and made them regret charging so little. But they have a huge hydro power system there so that's why it's so cheap.
You're right about needing to adapt to using LEDs if you're coming from HPS. But frankly if you're a decent grower, it shouldnt be a hard change to make. You should be able to read your plants and adjust what you're doing to them accordingly. And be aware of VPD. Some people claim they "need" the ir hps outputs to grow well... Well that's why you use higher temps under LEDs with no IR output.... it's simple shit.
I never had any issues doing it... but my last hps grow was 2-3 years before my first LED grow so maybe that's why.
ffs u need to get a life my friendSmart man. Especially if he has multiple lights. The 2-4% output loss in 3 months (1 cycle) on a 1000w HPS bulb can equate to 10-40 grams of lost yield potentially. Even if you only loose 5 grams of bud, that just about pays for a new eye hortilux bulb in itself.... 40 grams would pay for 4 or 5 of them lol
I forgot to mention that as hps bulbs degrade, they loose blue spectral output the most. So as a side disadvantage to output/yield loss, you will get less and less dense buds
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
Your electric cost is quite low. 8.3 cents per Kw/h is definitely on the low end of the scale in the US. In southern California the rates are as high as 30 cents per kw/h which would put the cost of 1000 watts for 12 hours a day right at $108 per month. Low end of the scale (8.3 cents) is $29 per month.
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nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
I just ran the numbers on that - it works out to 12 cent per kw/h.
Edit: Oops, I divided wrong. its 8.3 cents. That's figuring 12/12 cycle.
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skoomd
Well-Known Member
Sorry dude. I just want growers to be aware of this stuff. I just think it's worth anyone's while to maximize their setup. If commerical growers didnt factor all this shit in, they'd be loosing thousands of $ a month.
genuity
Well-Known Member
skoomd
Well-Known Member
I don't think so. At $0.12 a kw/hour it costs $292 a month to run 5x 1000w HPS lights. Plus some change for the extra 50-100 watts the ballast wastes.
https://www.hydroponics.net/learn/hid_lamp_op_cost.php
https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/electricity-calculator.html
skoomd
Well-Known Member
16 hours is a median between 12 hours for flower cycle and 18 hours for veg.
And if you arent running your lights all year round, then factor that into the cost ofc.
no problem all the best appreciate it pal and as i say will report back if these quantum boards dont live up to the hype
skoomd
Well-Known Member
Yes you should use higher temps, and slightly higher humidity. This is because with these LEDs being so intense, they push the plants to their max (just like HPS at 65w a square foot does_) . And the only way cannabis can make use of that much light is if the leaf temp is around 85F or higher, and the humidity is a bit higher than usual (50-60% is perfect) so the vapor pressure deficiet is maintained.
HPS and lots of other grow lights radiate IR (heat) directly down onto the plants. This warms the leaves up to be at 85f no problem. So you dont need as high of a room air temperature.
It's like CO2. CO2 only works when you max out everything for your plants. High temps, higher humidity, REALLY high light intensity, high nutrients, etc. To maximize the potential of your cannabis plants, you need to ensure these variables are in order.
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I corrected that. - his cost at 12/12 would be 8.3 cents.
skoomd
Well-Known Member
Yeah no biggie
I just hope HPS growers recognize how quickly you can pay to upgrade to LEDs simply in electricity cost savings. My 350w (draw) led setup is very close in PPF/ppfd of a 600w hps, but I am saving $200 a year in electricity by using the LEDs. That's a lot of money, and considering HPS growers complain of the upfront cost of these LEDs, they need to realize how hypocritical that is .
