light rail $200,
ebay 600 watt hps $160.
If plants dont need lots of light, why do people use 1000 watters in sted of small cfl's????
I guess i need to start unpluging all my lights, i was under the impresion that the light played a big factor in the growth of the plants. maybe run 150 watt cfl on a light rail in a 4x8 CO2 injected flower room, that would solve my heat problem from all those HID lights that give off too much light
$40 savings is your justification in going with more light?
lets say you go with 600's.
2x600 around here will cost me $830/yr in electricity costs.
1x600 on a rail. $420/yr, add in the 200 for a rail like you say. still saving $200 in the first year alone.
you cant even count yield loss into that, as I have not experienced any yield loss with my rail.
numbers fluctuate as i run many different strains, but my average yield has not changed.
light rails take some tuning to your grow, just as ever other change does.
as for hid over cfl. better spectrum from a single source(i hope you can understand what I mean by this), light penetration.