Can the fuzz catch a 400w lamp?

DirtyCanuck said:

Digital meters can. Old school can't. If you are really worried look up a usage calculator online. You will see that an electric water heater or base heater will use 4-10x the electricity of a 400w being left on 24/7.

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Digital meters can what? i got a digital meter in my house, but they still need the readings.

Does the electricity company have individual cables running to each house connecting directly to their meter, or do they do it more efficiently and use one bigger wire and then split it further down the line when its needed to be.

Seriously from their office how can they monitor your electricity usage,

DocGreen said:

Our electricity bill already sucks because of a hot tub, but makes a nice dodge from the power co. Its thinking about that damn heat sig. that keeps me up at night.

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Put the hot tub ABOVE the grow room if possible... That will fix the heat signature problem

Thanks again for the help folks, I appreciate it. I still think I will stick with the 250W, and supplement with CFL as necessary. Regarding the power bill, it is my understanding that they take an estimated average use, but I wont swear to it.

On a side note, I live in a new house with decent insulation. However just to help me sleep better at night, I am going to invest in the block IR insulation to line the walls with.

I never make a move without thinking of security first. Hopefully that will keep me under the radar *knock on wood*

Thanks again for putting up with my OCD lol

no no and no no bust off a 400 w light seriously. if you get popped youve done everything horribly wrong in other ways. lol stoner folklore come on thats absurd really...

Just for the record, I am seriously a little bit on the OCD side, and I have a hard time with worrying about things. *hince the weed*

Money is not a serious concern for the wife and I so I was wondering what everyones thoughts on T5, T8, T12 would be? Would that really be better than 250W?

I know 400W would be better, but I live in close to an airport. The thought of haveing a panic attack every time a chopper flew over does not sound like a fun way to live lol.

Thanks again for all the help folks

DocGreen said:

Sounds a little more sane than our state. We had a 100% legit Hemp clothing store in town that got raided 3 times a year, and her business was as legal as butter on toast! She ended up having to close shop because the local LEO harassed her out of town. The cops where I live Barny Fife, back wood idiots!

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The crazyness of power hungry American officials always makes me laugh. 400 Watts you'll be fine if your real paranoid about the electricity stop using the hot tub. But really if you keep quite you'll be fine.

Specifically I am talking about something like this...

http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=SSG104

It cranks out 44,000 lum, while the 250W puts out 33,000*ish*

Its expensive as hell I know, and I also know that a 400W would be better.

Besides the paranoia factor, heat is a major issue and the wife has forbade me from doing any marijuana related construction lol

if your that paranoid over 400 watts dont grow. seriously 400 watts is a non issue if the cops show up it is for other reasons lol.

endogrowa said:

Anything over a 10 degree temp difference between your grow room and the rest of your house will cause an IR camera to shift to a different color on the monitor and can be added to a list for future fly-overs. You can have your lights on during the day if you live in a warmer area and you will never have a problem with IR copper choppers.

PS - NO WARRANT NEEDED TO FLY OVER YOUR HOUSE AND SCAN IT! YOU OWN THE GROUND AND YOU HAVE YOUR RIGHTS ON THE GROUND BUT YOU HAVE NO SAY IN WHAT GOES OVER YOUR HOUSE SO BE CAREFUL.

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Actually it is against the law to scan your house without a warrant. However they can scan any shed or building in your backyard that isn't connected to your "dwelling." With this being said, when have you ever met a cop that follows the rules. They might scan every house and set up surveillance on suspicious homes to gather enough evidence to obtain a warrant. FLIR is a very expensive piece of technology that every city cant afford. If you are worried about it just pump your heat in the attic, never straight outside. during the summer my attic gets over 100 and it will be extremely hard or impossible to pick up any extra heat. I have personally worked with FLIF (not law enforcement) to gather a census on wildlife. They are amazing but they are not some super machine that can go through walls like many people think. Actually it is useless if there are a lot of trees with thick canopy (for airborne use not hand held unit). I will try to find my pics on my computer when I get home. I have several pics of deer that are pretty cool

sippi said:

Actually it is against the law to scan your house without a warrant. However they can scan any shed or building in your backyard that isn't connected to your "dwelling." With this being said, when have you ever met a cop that follows the rules. They might scan every house and set up surveillance on suspicious homes to gather enough evidence to obtain a warrant. FLIR is a very expensive piece of technology that every city cant afford. If you are worried about it just pump your heat in the attic, never straight outside. during the summer my attic gets over 100 and it will be extremely hard or impossible to pick up any extra heat. I have personally worked with FLIF (not law enforcement) to gather a census on wildlife. They are amazing but they are not some super machine that can go through walls like many people think. Actually it is useless if there are a lot of trees with thick canopy (for airborne use not hand held unit). I will try to find my pics on my computer when I get home. I have several pics of deer that are pretty cool

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Found a nice vid that explains FLIR *Barry Cooper*

http://www.thememoirs.org/technology/flir-technology-description

After seeing this, I feel TONS better! BTW, I showed the wife the $500 T5 and she shit a brick so I suppose I am back to HID.

Thanks again

Where in the world are you finding $500 T5HO arrays? I spent maybe 250 for my 432w T5HO array from HTG.

400w is nothing. Most average computers nowdays use about that much power, monitor/speakers/accessories not included. Mine uses 700w not including 32" monitor and other stuff.

Don't worry. Just make sure your house is properly insulated and pipe any heat that you can out through a carbon-filtered dryer vent or into the attic as suggested.

KaliKitsune said:

Where in the world are you finding $500 T5HO arrays? I spent maybe 250 for my 432w T5HO array from HTG.

400w is nothing. Most average computers nowdays use about that much power, monitor/speakers/accessories not included. Mine uses 700w not including 32" monitor and other stuff.

Don't worry. Just make sure your house is properly insulated and pipe any heat that you can out through a carbon-filtered dryer vent or into the attic as suggested.

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Thanks for the input, I am done worrying about this. I will go ahead and get a 400W/Cool tube and vent into the house.

Thanks for helping out a newb, and I will be sure to post pics of my first grow. I am looking at Kali Mist or some White Widow *yummy*

- Peace

P.S. the $500 T5 was at www.wormsway.com

bare with me on a thought. Doesn't the flir have to be used at night to read the heat sig? If that is the case then use the 400 watter for flowering during the daylight hrs only like 7am-7 pm. Use the cfl for veg. No heat sig at night cause the hps is off.

There are also wraps that are put around the hps to cool that show no heat sig from a flir. Never seen this discussed? Am I going in the right direction here?

Relaxed said:

bare with me on a thought. Doesn't the flir have to be used at night to read the heat sig? If that is the case then use the 400 watter for flowering during the daylight hrs only like 7am-7 pm. Use the cfl for veg. No heat sig at night cause the hps is off.

There are also wraps that are put around the hps to cool that show no heat sig from a flir. Never seen this discussed? Am I going in the right direction here?

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No, you can use FLIR during the daytime.

And it doesn't see heat signatures, it detects heat LEAKS. That is how it works. For examples:



This is a plate of cookies and a cup of fresh coffee.

The coffee registers as hot because of the radiant heat energy. The cookies were just fresh off of a cool-down rack. A warm body's IR signature is directly proportional to the temperature of the body. If we put an insulator around the mug, you would shield the heat signature and it would register blue, not white and red.

FLIR is a bit more difficult to use on buildings during the daytime unless it's a cloudy day and the ambient temp is about 70-75 degrees, but it still will work. If the inside of the building is warmer than the outside air, FLIR will detect the radiant heat leaks in a building and areas with poor insulation will show up warmer than the rest of the building.

DocGreen said:

Hey folks, I have been growing indoors under CFL for a little bit now, but I am thinking of upgrading to a 400w HID.

The only reason I went with CFL in the first place is because I am VERY VERY paranoid of cops. I live in a state where marijuana prosecution is serious biz, and the wife and I would go away for a long time if caught. I am aware that I am being overly parinoid, but I want to grow as safe as possible.

I know that HID is hotter and takes more juce to work, but is it enough to get the cops attention? I live in my own home with an attic, but no basement. Any thoughts or suggestions on ideal ways to keep a 400w grow as discrete as possible would be appreciated. Security is my #1 priority.

Thanks!

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Nah fuck no dude, you'll be fine. I mean even if the cops did roll by your place with a infra red or whatever heat detection technology there using, it could be anything.

I mean the heat source, how do they know its not your woodburner? or oven?

Personally I'd only start getting paranoid around the 4000W+ range, cause then you got other factors like power and smell etc.

KaliKitsune said:

If you are going to go with 250w range, I would suggest using T5HO lamps instead of an HPS or MH, but it's a little more expensive because of the multiple bulbs. However, the growth is quite nice vegetatively and switching to 2700 or 3000K bulbs for flowering does well. Plus you can add an aquarium UVB bulb to the array to increase the potency of your crop, as they make T5HO UVB lamps.

Over 250w, I would say go MH or HPS. 250w or under, go T5HO.

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Agreed, but truthfully I would never consider running fluros, or a 250 watt hid, I want a decent yield and dence nugs. If you and your wife smoke half as much as I do (which im sure you do) those lights arent going to keep up. My advise would be stop being so paronoid, The most likely way for you to get caught is you and your wife split, it gets ugly and she spills the beans, but then she would get in trouble to because she knew about it the whole time. Dont tell anybody, get a carbon filter, get a 600 watt hps, and sit back and watch the colas bulge. just my 2 cents

I'd personally be more worried about how the heat looked coming out of my house looked. I've seen flir photos of homes. You usually barely notice the grow room (especially if in a basement as it could be a water heater, furnace, or washer drier combo) . What really shows off that you are growing is how you pipe out your heat from your grow room. Do you just pipe it out of random hole, is it coming out of a clothes vent, a chimney...ect. How your heat escapes is a big indicator if you grow. I've read it's best to defuse the heat under the house or even in your basement out side of your grow area (those are the best options because the heat defuses either in the house or outside under it), next best are chimneys/clothes dryer vent (this too can be an indicator (who leaves their drier on all night or has a chimney on in the summer)...obviously the worst option is a random whole.

growdankbuds said:

Agreed, but truthfully I would never consider running fluros, or a 250 watt hid, I want a decent yield and dence nugs. If you and your wife smoke half as much as I do (which im sure you do) those lights arent going to keep up. My advise would be stop being so paronoid, The most likely way for you to get caught is you and your wife split, it gets ugly and she spills the beans, but then she would get in trouble to because she knew about it the whole time. Dont tell anybody, get a carbon filter, get a 600 watt hps, and sit back and watch the colas bulge. just my 2 cents

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I get great yield from my T5HO lamps, and the addition of a UVB bulb increases THC amounts. Don't need yield when the stuff you have knocks you on your ass in one hit.

yeah if you have your window open with your light above your plants. A 400 watt light uses nothing. On 24 hours a day it will run about $25 a month to run. Change 4 light bulbs in your house to 13 watt cfls and you ate most of the usage right there.

T5HO lamps, get great yield from my and the addition of a UVB bulb increases THC amounts. Don't need yield when the stuff you have knocks you on your ass in one hit.

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good point