HPS users... Help! (Please), and a few other concerns...

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xesvuli420

Well-Known Member
I know this is a lengthy post, but I wanted it to thorough as possible to avoid confusion.

Normally the web is a useful tool,, but in this case the more I search the more I get frustrated. I would like to know by experience the truth about HPS lights. .. Energy usage, heat, noise, ect.
F.Y.I. - I will be using 1 light for 12 hours daily.

My Flowering room is about 18 inches front to back, 33 inches wide, and 6.5 feet tall. It is enclosed with no option of ventilation besides occasionally opening the door. I need to keep it as quiet as possible!!!
***Can a HPS setup be quiet?***

For these reasons, It seems that the 250watt HPS, is about as big as I can go, or I will just have to flower with fluorescents. I will have a fan circulating the air.

I searched Google and have read (in forums and articles) different opinions on these HPS lights.

Some say that a 250w HPS light WON'T even really show up on an electric bill. Some say It WILL raise your bill and by about 15.00-30.00 dollars. I've even seen people who swear that a 400w raised their power bill from 60.00, all the way to 100.00 dollars. This site says it will go up by about 10.00-13.00 dollars (I picked something that used close to 250W)
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

***Funny note- When I was buying my supplies from a garden center, I asked a guy where I could find water pumps, he looked in my buggy and saw the hoses, fluorescent lights, and other irrigation supplies and said "You ain't going to get no good weed from that light" LMAO, I just smiled and said I know, I'm getting a HPS light as well. Long story short, he told me to call my power company and inform them I had bought a deep freezer, because the HPS would raise the power bill about 30-60 dollars, and I should inform them so I don't get flagged.

I don't mind increasing my power bill a little.I also plan on cutting back on my stand alone air conditioner, surround sound, and a few other things to help keep it in control but I can't go more than around 15.00 dollars!!!

When I do make a decision, If I go with the HPS, then I plan to "stage it in" meaning run it for about 5 hours a day the rest of this month, 7 hours a day all next month, then finally 12 hours a day the next month (hopefully have it staged in before I need it)
***I think this is a good idea...***

So in case you forgot what all I'm asking...
1.Can a HPS light be quiet
2.Will a 250w HPS be ok for about 4-6 plants
3.Whats the FACTS on cost
***If you need any more details just ask,
 
billybob88

billybob88

Well-Known Member
IMO HPS lights dont make any noise. I mean the ballast has a slight hum but u gotta put ur ear up next to it to hear and the bulb doesnt make any noise. You could get away with a 250 on 4 but you need a 400 for good results. Heres the thing from my experience. When i hooked up 2 600hps and 1 250mh in my house, my power bill went DOWN! Simply because I started paying attention to the power I was using elsewhere. At any rate, even when I wasnt growing my power bill would flux up to 100-150$ every month and power company never said a word about anything. As long as you pay your bill on time every month they wont even give a shit what your doing. I mean think of how many people go buy a hot tub for their house, they dont call the power company to let them know that. Sounds shady calling them to tell them your bill is ganna go up 10-15 dollars. Just roll with it, keep your mouth shut, pay your bill on time every month and you'll be fine!

Oh yeah no ventilation, not ganna work with an hps ganna get way to hot in there. plus the plants need fresh co2 to be able to grow. ventilation is just as, if not more important than lighting IMO.
 
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OrganicOzarks

Active Member
So in case you forgot what all I'm asking...
1.Can a HPS light be quiet
2.Will a 250w HPS be ok for about 4-6 plants
3.Whats the FACTS on cost
***If you need any more details just ask

If you get a digital ballast like lumatek they make no noise at all.
I would go for a 400 watter for that amount of plants.
As far as cost the cost of the electricity depends on your electric company. A 400 watter would not bring up your bill more than $15 to $20 per month on the bill. Like I said that all depends on how much your electric company charges per killowatt hour. I would say that it would be closer to $10 to $15 based off of current rates. Look at it this way a 42" plasma can run 250 watts. A movie projector in a theater room can run upwards of 400 watts. A typical microwave is between 700 watts and around 1600 watts. A blow dryer is about 1500 watts. Just some comparisons for you.
 
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xesvuli420

Well-Known Member
billybob88 said:
IMO HPS lights dont make any noise. I mean the ballast has a slight hum but u gotta put ur ear up next to it to hear and the bulb doesnt make any noise. You could get away with a 250 on 4 but you need a 400 for good results. Heres the thing from my experience. When i hooked up 2 600hps and 1 250mh in my house, my power bill went DOWN! Simply because I started paying attention to the power I was using elsewhere. At any rate, even when I wasnt growing my power bill would flux up to 100-150$ every month and power company never said a word about anything. As long as you pay your bill on time every month they wont even give a shit what your doing. I mean think of how many people go buy a hot tub for their house, they dont call the power company to let them know that. Sounds shady calling them to tell them your bill is ganna go up 10-15 dollars. Just roll with it, keep your mouth shut, pay your bill on time every month and you'll be fine!

Oh yeah no ventilation, not ganna work with an hps ganna get way to hot in there. plus the plants need fresh co2 to be able to grow. ventilation is just as, if not more important than lighting IMO.
Click to expand...
Well I plan on installing a co2 tank, and the temp was the main reason I was going to go with a 250w. I figure it produces less heat than a 400w AND I was going to use a fan. So your saying basically with what I have, I have to use fluorescents?
 
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z4qqqbs

Well-Known Member
in a closed space u cant use that hps dude ull cook ur plants unless the door is open 24/7 with 3 fans in it....sorry dude if u want it how u said sell ur hps and go for clfs.......
 
billybob88

billybob88

Well-Known Member
not necessarily. you can use a 400 if you vent the cabinet right. shit u could put as 1000 if you could keep the heat down. Look at it like this. The sun produces 10,000 lumens per sq foot. you have roughly 4.5 sq feet. so you will need about 45,000 lumens in that area to match the sun's output. a 250 hps produces 30,500 lumens (6,777 per sq ft). then 400 produces 55,000 lumens(12,222 lumens per sq ft). more light=more bud IMO.
 
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chitownsmoking

Guest
OrganicOzarks said:
So in case you forgot what all I'm asking...
1.Can a HPS light be quiet
2.Will a 250w HPS be ok for about 4-6 plants
3.Whats the FACTS on cost
***If you need any more details just ask

If you get a digital ballast like lumatek they make no noise at all.
I would go for a 400 watter for that amount of plants.
As far as cost the cost of the electricity depends on your electric company. A 400 watter would not bring up your bill more than $15 to $20 per month on the bill. Like I said that all depends on how much your electric company charges per killowatt hour. I would say that it would be closer to $10 to $15 based off of current rates. Look at it this way a 42" plasma can run 250 watts. A movie projector in a theater room can run upwards of 400 watts. A typical microwave is between 700 watts and around 1600 watts. A blow dryer is about 1500 watts. Just some comparisons for you.
Click to expand...

250 will be fine for that many plants
 
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xesvuli420

Well-Known Member
billybob88 said:
88 is pretty damn hot man. needs to be around 75 for optimal growth.
Click to expand...
man hang out here a while and chat with me, you seem to know your stuff on a factual level

I agree 88 is way to hot, however on that link I submitted in my first post (the energy website) it says a fan can cool between 8-10 degrees, Plus the 33X6.5x18 isn't my closet space, its the space reserved for the plant from root to tip. the closet itself is actually that space, plus 14x33x7 (for the VEG section, and still gives me a walkway of about 7x33x24 in between the two
 
billybob88

billybob88

Well-Known Member
A fan blowing around in there wont cool it 8-10 degrees. if your pumping the hot air out of there and new cool air being pulled in the area will probly cool 8-10 degrees. I had my room spike to 84 degrees a few times and i could def tell my plants fucking hated it. On an unrealted note, i was using hydroponics. my tap water has 480ppm of w/e in it and the plants hated it. every time i had to change the water i had to go buy filtered water that was 0ppm. crazy how those things work.

Like i said you can get away with the 250. but they 400 will produce bigger, better plants. you cant really have too much light. I go by the rule of thumb on 100 watts per plant. you can for sure grow with less, but you will get less. I say go big or go home eh?
 
billybob88

billybob88

Well-Known Member
I mean you can, just look around compare some peoples floro grow to a hps grow. no comparision. Id go with the 250 over the floro anyday. plus having a shitload of floros is a bitch cause you have to keep them like 2 inches from the plant, so your adjusting lights EVERY SINGLE DAY! no fun. can you get some pics of the setup? maybe I can offer some more input on it then. If you havent check out my last grow, The billbob scrog. page 54 has some good pics.
 
Corbat420

Corbat420

Well-Known Member
billybob88 said:
not necessarily. you can use a 400 if you vent the cabinet right. shit u could put as 1000 if you could keep the heat down. Look at it like this. The sun produces 10,000 lumens per sq foot. you have roughly 4.5 sq feet. so you will need about 45,000 lumens in that area to match the sun's output. a 250 hps produces 30,500 lumens (6,777 per sq ft). then 400 produces 55,000 lumens(12,222 lumens per sq ft). more light=more bud IMO.
Click to expand...
remember, he said:
My Flowering room is about 18 inches front to back, 33 inches wide, and 6.5 feet tall. It is enclosed with no option of ventilation besides occasionally opening the door. I need to keep it as quiet as possible!!!
***Can a HPS setup be quiet?***
Click to expand...
there is NO VENTING. in my personal opinion, you cant use a HPS because of the amount of heat produced. in my 5x4x10 flowering chamber 1x1000w HPS on 12/12 produces 28-32 degrees C (on) and 24-25 (off). with the ammount of heat produced, no venting would kill the plants, and maybe you and your house.......

unless you can properly vent it, dont use a HPS, go with the larger CFL (they put out 200W growbulbs http://sunblasterlighting.com/cfl200watt.html

you could get away with 250wHPS, but i would personaly go with 3x 200w sunblasters, they make little sound, no heat, and there the same light spectrum as a HPS bulb 6500K
 
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xesvuli420

Well-Known Member
Corbat420 said:
remember, he said:

there is NO VENTING. in my personal opinion, you cant use a HPS because of the amount of heat produced. in my 5x4x10 flowering chamber 1x1000w HPS on 12/12 produces 28-32 degrees C (on) and 24-25 (off). with the ammount of heat produced, no venting would kill the plants, and maybe you and your house.......

unless you can properly vent it, dont use a HPS, go with the larger CFL (they put out 200W growbulbshttp://sunblasterlighting.com/cfl200watt.html

you could get away with 250wHPS, but i would personaly go with 3x 200w sunblasters, they make little sound, no heat, and there the same light spectrum as a HPS bulb 6500K
Click to expand...
So you gain 3-6 degrees? i assume your vented?


What would I be better off using for maximum flowring...
CFL, (how many)
HPS, (250w)
regular fluorescents tubes (I have a spare)
3 Sunblasters (I have to look into)
Other
 
jrk152

jrk152

Well-Known Member
A HPS bulb is not 6500K, more like in the 2000s. 6500K light would look more bluish (like early mornings) while HPS is always a yellow/orange colour.

As for your dilemma xesvuli420, I'm currently running a closed closet grow around the same dimensions as yours with a 250w running 24/7 only a foot away from my plants (which are delicate seedlings btw, and are thriving). Ventilation consists only of one 20cm desk fan running 24/7 keeping temperatures between 78-85 (they usually drop a couple degrees when I open the closet to tend to them for a couple minutes at a time). I even have two 65w CFLs about an inch away from the seedlings in addition to the 250w lamp. I know there are posts in this thread advising against the use of a HPS in a small grow area like ours but so far my problems have been more with humidity (very low 20-30%) than with heat. Then again outdoor temps aren't too hot at around 50-75.

Unless you live in a particularily hot location, a 250w shouldn't be too hard to keep temps in check. 400w would be a different question.
 
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