Solar and consumption?

A

Autofacade

Active Member
Good day guys.
So for my next venture I was hoping to get some info from people who have done similar set ups.
I'm going to try and set up an off grid as possible set up. So a garage / shed, whatever. Its going to be insulated and hold a 1.5x1.5 grow tent. The set up will consist of the following:

600w LED (lumatek zeus)
2x oscilating fans 70w combined
Extraction 154w
Heaters 250w (winter only hopefully)
Other bits and bobs to help along the way 200w

Thats the basics to the electrical build up. Im looking for what sort of solar panels I would need to run all of this above of course lights will be run 16hours or 12 hours but the rest will pretty much be consistently on.

Also real noob question. A 600w LED light is that drawing 600w?

Anyways im in the UK so wondering whats the best way around this.
Any advise will be great.
My last set up was double this and I was doing about £120 a month on electricity, painful to say the least!
 
707Patrick

707Patrick

Well-Known Member
How would we know what a light is drawing? Yes manufactures tend to put big number in the products name that doesn't have anything to do with watts. You're not going to need many watts on grow that size.. 1 plant I'm assuming.
 
BobThe420Builder

BobThe420Builder

Well-Known Member
Solar is not cheap, especially to run high driving stuffs

Looks like min 1000w of panels
So 10@ $100 ea
Misc stuff $100
Battery bank not sure, but let's say 6 @ $150

Easy over $2000 MINIMUM
 
Imcamping86

Imcamping86

Well-Known Member
To answer light question , just check manufacturer specs , it will list actual power draw . Don’t go off advertised . They list the amount of watts that THEY believe replaces a hps system . Example if you look on Amazon , at a wakyme1200 watt light , it really only draws 213 watts , but they say it replaces a 1000 watt hps ... when in reality it would give you a crap ton of larf......... just read the specs and make your decision from there. Good luck man.
 
A

Autofacade

Active Member
707Patrick said:
How would we know what a light is drawing? Yes manufactures tend to put big number in the products name that doesn't have anything to do with watts. You're not going to need many watts on grow that size.. 1 plant I'm assuming.
Click to expand...
Hi thanks for stopping by. I did put the model next to the description but I'm talking approx figures here or if someone has had experience with them. Or in general really.

But thanks either way :)
 
Imcamping86

Imcamping86

Well-Known Member
Autofacade said:
Good day guys.
So for my next venture I was hoping to get some info from people who have done similar set ups.
I'm going to try and set up an off grid as possible set up. So a garage / shed, whatever. Its going to be insulated and hold a 1.5x1.5 grow tent. The set up will consist of the following:

600w LED (lumatek zeus)
2x oscilating fans 70w combined
Extraction 154w
Heaters 250w (winter only hopefully)
Other bits and bobs to help along the way 200w

Thats the basics to the electrical build up. Im looking for what sort of solar panels I would need to run all of this above of course lights will be run 16hours or 12 hours but the rest will pretty much be consistently on.

Also real noob question. A 600w LED light is that drawing 600w?

Anyways im in the UK so wondering whats the best way around this.
Any advise will be great.
My last set up was double this and I was doing about £120 a month on electricity, painful to say the least!
Click to expand...
Thats a purdy light by the way lol what’s the cost , didn’t see that part ?
 
707Patrick

707Patrick

Well-Known Member
Autofacade said:
Hi thanks for stopping by. I did put the model next to the description but I'm talking approx figures here or if someone has had experience with them. Or in general really.

But thanks either way 600 what draw. Perfect light for a 5x5 space... Nice light for 4x4. You have a 1.5x1.5? It's a little on the big side for your grow.
Click to expand...
I does appear to be a 5
 
A

Autofacade

Active Member
Imcamping86 said:
To answer light question , just check manufacturer specs , it will list actual power draw . Don’t go off advertised . They list the amount of watts that THEY believe replaces a hps system . Example if you look on Amazon , at a wakyme1200 watt light , it really only draws 213 watts , but they say it replaces a 1000 watt hps ... when in reality it would give you a crap ton of larf......... just read the specs and make your decision from there. Good luck man.
Click to expand...
Hey mate thanks for stopping by.
It says it consumes 600w so I'm guessing that it is infact using the full 600w. I've just heard people saying before "its 600w but consumes 100 from the wall etc etc" which always confused me all good :).
 

Attachments

Imcamping86

Imcamping86

Well-Known Member
Autofacade said:
Hey mate thanks for stopping by.
It says it consumes 600w so I'm guessing that it is infact using the full 600w. I've just heard people saying before "its 600w but consumes 100 from the wall etc etc" which always confused me all good :).
Click to expand...
I looked on their page and it says actual draw is 600 for that light you mentioned ( lumatek)
 
A

Autofacade

Active Member
BobThe420Builder said:
Solar is not cheap, especially to run high driving stuffs

Looks like min 1000w of panels
So 10@ $100 ea
Misc stuff $100
Battery bank not sure, but let's say 6 @ $150

Easy over $2000 MINIMUM
Click to expand...
Oooosh ouch! Haha hmm maybe an investment later down the line. Atm I need to do the maths of my daily consumption then match it up to a panel that will cope. I guess.
 
A

Autofacade

Active Member
707Patrick said:
Inline infiniti 6inch exhaust fan only draws 35 watts
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That would certainly help! Im currently looking at an RVK L1 8" and it said to consume the 158w. I know its well over spec but last time I grew I got in a hole lot of shit and everything shut down. Lost all my gear and set up i mean I lost alot! Because the smell crept out. So hence the over kill.
 
dbz

dbz

Well-Known Member
250 watt heater? Thats a very low powered heater

If you want to power totally by solar you need a lot more watts in panels (depending on where you live) than your system draws to accomodate lack of efficiency, cloud albedo, darkness. Solar panels aren't completely efficient and you do not have peak light but x amount of hours per day. Sunrise and dawn are well lower. So you need probably4-5 times to accomodate this and charging enough batteries to last during times of darkness, not to mention storm systems. Then there is the conversion loss...I believe this would be a lot more expensive than you imagine if not just going for supplementation.

Btw you need way more than 1kw of panels. Like I said they aren't 100 percent efficient, even during peak efficiency you probably need a min of 1500 watts of panels probably 2k. Then you need enough additional power to charge batteries enough for 12-18 hours without light given storm conditions night and albedo. Maybe less if you live in a desert or long day area.
 
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Lordhooha

Lordhooha

Well-Known Member
Imcamping86 said:
To answer light question , just check manufacturer specs , it will list actual power draw . Don’t go off advertised . They list the amount of watts that THEY believe replaces a hps system . Example if you look on Amazon , at a wakyme1200 watt light , it really only draws 213 watts , but they say it replaces a 1000 watt hps ... when in reality it would give you a crap ton of larf......... just read the specs and make your decision from there. Good luck man.
Click to expand...
No lumatek actually are good lights they draw a bit over 600 watts got some as demos before. The new magnetic ones are pretty slick.
 
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