Before you buy lights!!!

S

sir rance alot

Active Member
The only thing that matters is AMPERAGE NOT WATTAGE. Learning the hard way, I purchased three 150w hps lights w/ballasts. Each 150w light ballast draws 3.2 amps.
To get true wattage used you must multiply: Amps x Volts = Watts

So with 3 of these I was drawing 9.6 amps (times) 120 volts = 1152 watts.
Thats what you will get billed for by your electric company.

For the same amount of electricity you can have: Two 400w HPS lights (7.8 amps total), Four cfl 5000k lights (1.3 amps total), One 60cfm exhaust fan (0.5 amps)

Light output for the three 150's = 45000 lumens. Light output for the two 400's and the cfls combined = 102,000 lumens.

I dont have to tell you how much more bud you will produce with that kind of lumen increase.

My poor little crop would be twice the size if it wasnt for the newbie mistake I made: Started growing the plants before doing the research.
 
timsatx1

timsatx1

Well-Known Member
"Started growing the plants before doing the research. "
sorry about your mistake. good thing you caught it though.
 
Night Claptoman

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
you have a pretty bad ballast if it takes so much power AFTER it fires up the light.
HID needs a starter, which takes a LOT of energy to operate, but only work for a few seconds.

the A rated on the ballast indicates the highest A it could consume so the electician will know if the fuse for the room will hold under the highest amperage that could be consumed.


check it out.
 
smallclosetgrowr

smallclosetgrowr

Well-Known Member
rance alot im confused are u saying that the electricity cost for a 150hps is the same as 2x400 hps ?
im also looking at buying a 150hps next week so i wanna know if its worth it ,should i thru out 250watts of cfls for a 150hps ?
 
Andreyy

Andreyy

Well-Known Member
smallclosetgrowr said:
rance alot im confused are u saying that the electricity cost for a 150hps is the same as 2x400 hps ?
im also looking at buying a 150hps next week so i wanna know if its worth it ,should i thru out 250watts of cfls for a 150hps ?
Click to expand...
no mate, look "For the same amount of electricity you can have: Two 400w HPS lights (7.8 amps total), Four cfl 5000k lights (1.3 amps total), One 60cfm exhaust fan (0.5 amps)" He`s saying that all that equals 3 150W HPS light. 3 hps = 9.6 amps, the rest, added up equals 9.6 amps as well and all in all is a better option to take
 
Andreyy

Andreyy

Well-Known Member
sir rance alot said:
The only thing that matters is AMPERAGE NOT WATTAGE. Learning the hard way, I purchased three 150w hps lights w/ballasts. Each 150w light ballast draws 3.2 amps.
To get true wattage used you must multiply: Amps x Volts = Watts

So with 3 of these I was drawing 9.6 amps (times) 120 volts = 1152 watts.
Thats what you will get billed for by your electric company.

For the same amount of electricity you can have: Two 400w HPS lights (7.8 amps total), Four cfl 5000k lights (1.3 amps total), One 60cfm exhaust fan (0.5 amps)

Light output for the three 150's = 45000 lumens. Light output for the two 400's and the cfls combined = 102,000 lumens.

I dont have to tell you how much more bud you will produce with that kind of lumen increase.

My poor little crop would be twice the size if it wasnt for the newbie mistake I made: Started growing the plants before doing the research.
Click to expand...
Great thread mate, well done, maybe it could even be stickied somewhere :leaf:
 
laserbrn

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Andreyy said:
Great thread mate, well done, maybe it could even be stickied somewhere :leaf:
Click to expand...

I don't know that it's THAT great. There's no way you found ballasts somewhere that are THAT inefficient. Go find a kw/ph meter to hookup to your grow equipment. That will tell you the truth. I got mine for like $30.00 and I use it to determine the most efficient setup. It will record how many KWH your entire grow used over periods of time.

there's no way those 150's draw that amperage all along, I agree that it's only during lamp ignition.
 
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