Hid Lighting Limits

[grandpabear3]

So i was wondering what a safe # of light/watts is for an indoor grow.
a buddy uses 7000w in his flowering room alone. my op pulls less than 5k and i'm considering lowering it to under 4k.
i'm not in a mmj friendly place and i take all needed precautions such as air cushions, a.c and ir block and insulation and cool tubing. looking into ice boxes now with a 1/3 hp chiller. so i am/will be all but invisible to thermal and ir but the power is still bothering me. its already a full household. 3bed 2 bath family of 4 with pets blablabla........i guess i want some feed back on what you folks think is doable before going crazy on the electric useage.

thanks guys/gals

 

[Al B. Fuct]

bugs, your biggest exposure risk generally comes from noise audible outside the op & scent leaks. I'd focus on those long before I'd worry too much about IR signature. Neighbours and meter readers don't usually look at your place with FLIR, but they won't need that to hear & smell an op.

Your second biggest risk is from fire due to poorly planned wiring. You won't be just plugging 7kW worth of anything into existing wiring. That much consumption requires some dedicated cabling from the op to the breaker box. For 7kW, off-the-cuff, I'll suggest at least 2 runs of 10ga Romex and a 20A breaker for each. Mind you, the plans change depending on whether you have 110V or 240V mains service. I'd have to math it out and then refer to US wiring standards before I could tell you specifically how to set up 7kW on 110V mains.

I guess the real question you need to ask is 'zackly how much dope do you need to grow?' I keep me and 6 mates swimming in smoke with 2x1000HPS in flower, a 400HPS running the mums and a few fluoros in the clonebox.

 

[LostInSpace...]

Al. B, good to see you still drop in to check up on us once in a while..

On the subject of air-con noise, I run a 9300 BTU split-system air-con 24/7 due to my tropical location.
Would you consider this to be a security issue for me?
Obviously a lot of people do overuse their air-cons up here but mine never stops,
and its not exactly quiet...

 

[Al B. Fuct]

I guess it depends upon who can hear it. If you're in the middle of bumfuckegypt and there's no one around, no problem. In tropical locations, as you note, it's not unusual to run a/c often. I don't think it's going to attract any attention in your area.

 

[gogrow]

Al. B, good to see you still drop in to check up on us once in a while..

On the subject of air-con noise, I run a 9300 BTU split-system air-con 24/7 due to my tropical location.
Would you consider this to be a security issue for me?
Obviously a lot of people do overuse their air-cons up here but mine never stops,
and its not exactly quiet...

i wouldnt sweat the ac... i am down in louisiana, and we run our air 24/7 in the summers... most of the time i have a huge 1hp attic fan running as well

 

[Boneman]

i wouldnt sweat the ac <----- Now there's a good quote

LMAO on that one gogrow

 

[gogrow]

LMAO on that one gogrow

was gonna put the ole "no pun intended" in there, but figured nobody would really notice my ironic choice of words

 

[Al B. Fuct]

i wouldnt sweat the ac...

bwahahahahaha... off to the punitentiary with ya!

Back on topic, I forgot to mention that one should plan some overhead for HID lighting startup current draw into any wiring plans, whether that is with heavier gauge Romex (you can't ever go wrong with 10ga) or by stagger-starting multiple lights. In example, my 1000HPS lights (on 240V) draw 4.6A while warmed up and running but suck up about 6.5A for about 10-15s while striking and warming up. I'm willing to bet that if I looked at that startup with an oscilloscope instead of an RMS ammeter, I'd see a very brief peak much higher than 6.5A (in the first few hundred mS). Big surges like that, repeated a few hundred times, can loosen mechanical compression connections which are not up to the abuse. By delaying the start of my 2nd 1000 by a few minutes, I prevent the overall current draw from exceeding the rating of the 10ga line to the breaker box and associated connections.

 

[grandpabear3]

well, shit fire. it's al! thanks for the input. my op isnt 7k, my buddies flower room is. i use a 400mh for my mums and 1-1000hps over my tables, ala albfuct style.....didnt think you wold remember me what with how popular you are/were. and a 1000w hps on a light mover over my newly built nft. not stinkbuds stuff just regular ol nft.
my noise is muffled to say the least and i'm far enough away from people that odor isnt a problem. and i just put the 6'' carbon back inline in the exhaust. i was only concerned with the upper limit of lighting useage. i know its a generic question. i was just wonderig how much is too much. i hear the rule of thumb is a 1000 per bedroom.
anyway good to see you again and hope your doing well in the new job.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

well, shit fire. it's al! thanks for the input. my op isnt 7k, my buddies flower room is. i use a 400mh for my mums and 1-1000hps over my tables, ala albfuct style.....

Oh, I see.

didnt think you wold remember me what with how popular you are/were.

heh... well, popularity simply isn't my reason for being here. Rather, it's all about encouraging ppl to use critical thinking and the scientific method. Growing cannabis is all about science. Those who reject science in favour of wives' tales like 'organic' hydroponics, LEDs, CFLs for everything or worst of all, molasses in hydroponics, should be the only ones to suffer for their silliness.

If I am a popular writer, it's because what suggestions I make not only work but are replicatable by everyone.

i was just wonderig how much is too much. i hear the rule of thumb is a 1000 per bedroom.

One should base their planned power consumption on how much dope they really need to grow and the limits of the AC mains service provided to the premises.

An efficient op will keep 5-7 enthusiastic smokers perpetually in buds with just a couple of kW lights in the flowering area.

anyway good to see you again and hope your doing well in the new job.

Thanks for that, all's well.

 

[grandpabear3]

i wouldnt sweat the ac... i am down in louisiana, and we run our air 24/7 in the summers... most of the time i have a huge 1hp attic fan running as well

i want to put an attic fan in my garage/family room. i hear they make a huge difference. do you know how much power they pull. you said yours is huge. what size do you think i would need for a 2 car garage. havent put the ceiling in yet and wanted to do something about the heat up there before i did. i was thinking about just a couple of those swirly do-'s that everyone has on their roofs.

 

[gogrow]

i want to put an attic fan in my garage/family room. i hear they make a huge difference. do you know how much power they pull. you said yours is huge. what size do you think i would need for a 2 car garage. havent put the ceiling in yet and wanted to do something about the heat up there before i did. i was thinking about just a couple of those swirly do-'s that everyone has on their roofs.

you wouldnt really need much for the garage.... but you're gonna want ALOT of air moving through if you are gonna cool off an attic in the summer time.

 

[grandpabear3]

you wouldnt really need much for the garage.... but you're gonna want ALOT of air moving through if you are gonna cool off an attic in the summer time.

agreed. but (shhhhh, dont tell anyonr) my op is in my garage. i made a room inside the garage with about 5' of air space between the roof and the ceiling of the op. so when i exhaust the grow it goes into the massive airspace in the garage. but the guy that built it didnt put any vents in it at all. i have a 110v 20A line with room to plug an attic fan in (but i wouldn't have a clue about the size or type i would need) or maybe i could just put in some of those round things you see spinning on everyone's rooftops. thoughts? the temp in that garage is around 120+. the grow has a.c. and is seperated quite nicely and despite temps being 101 the last few days in a row the op has only topped out at 89-91. dangerous, i know but it's usually around 75 in there.
anyway, i'm rambling.

oh, and al....if your still around...i'm only running the 2 1000w hps now

1 over 2-2x4 flood tables and the other over an nft set up i built on a light mover. there are 12 plants per run and 2 runs total so it's not like i'm trying to stretch my light coverage too much. so now i'm running 3 set-ups basically. on a 3 week perpetual schedule. 3 weeks in the aerocloner for roots @ 7-9 days and the rest of time for veg (the reason for the veg is the damned white widow i'm growing. it's not very zero-veg friendly). then 1- 2x4 filled with about 25-27 plants in 5.5'' square pots, then the other 2x4 gets the same (of course) and the nft holds 24. so every 3 weeks i'm pulling em out and throwin em' in the bud dryer for 3 days and off to the market where everyone swears they've been curing for months. lol @ silly people. i tell them i dont cure the bud and they think i'm lying. wtf?

anyway, thanks to you guys for the help and the read. i wouldnt be any kind of grower if it wasnt for al and of course this site.
thank you all sincerely

 

[gogrow]

agreed. but (shhhhh, dont tell anyonr) my op is in my garage. i made a room inside the garage with about 5' of air space between the roof and the ceiling of the op. so when i exhaust the grow it goes into the massive airspace in the garage. but the guy that built it didnt put any vents in it at all. i have a 110v 20A line with room to plug an attic fan in (but i wouldn't have a clue about the size or type i would need) or maybe i could just put in some of those round things you see spinning on everyone's rooftops. thoughts? the temp in that garage is around 120+. the grow has a.c. and is seperated quite nicely and despite temps being 101 the last few days in a row the op has only topped out at 89-91. dangerous, i know but it's usually around 75 in there.
anyway, i'm rambling.

oh, and al....if your still around...i'm only running the 2 1000w hps now

1 over 2-2x4 flood tables and the other over an nft set up i built on a light mover. there are 12 plants per run and 2 runs total so it's not like i'm trying to stretch my light coverage too much. so now i'm running 3 set-ups basically. on a 3 week perpetual schedule. 3 weeks in the aerocloner for roots @ 7-9 days and the rest of time for veg (the reason for the veg is the damned white widow i'm growing. it's not very zero-veg friendly). then 1- 2x4 filled with about 25-27 plants in 5.5'' square pots, then the other 2x4 gets the same (of course) and the nft holds 24. so every 3 weeks i'm pulling em out and throwin em' in the bud dryer for 3 days and off to the market where everyone swears they've been curing for months. lol @ silly people. i tell them i dont cure the bud and they think i'm lying. wtf?

anyway, thanks to you guys for the help and the read. i wouldnt be any kind of grower if it wasnt for al and of course this site.
thank you all sincerely

alright; the little whirly-bird vent isnt gonna be that great, but it is alot better than nothing