Growing under the electricity radar? growing w/o making a bid dent in the bill?

themanwiththeplan said:

thank you for taking the time to find that for me. ill check it out after this post! thank you thank you thank you



thank you! you get what im saying. 150w is pretty under the radar because when i DO finally move in (start of the month) if i run the 150w from day one he's not gonna realize theres a grow going on...if i moved in and started a 1000w grow he's gonna know right off the bat. thats why im looking for power in a low watt system. ideally id get a 175-200w hps if they made them widely available. ive seen them but not often and usually they are pricey and bulbs can sometimes be hard to find for odd wattage like that.

thank you!

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Here's a Lumatec 250w dimmable for a good price: http://www.ehydroponics.com/lumatek-150watt-120-240v-hps-mh-ballast.html

DankShasta said:

Yeah people exaggerate costs. 1k hps is like 33 dollars a month for most of the country. A 600 is like $25ish (12/12s of course) .

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In my area ($.15/Kwh) it basically costs $100 a month to run a 1k 24/7. That's a nice easy number to use in a formula.

PSUAGRO. said:

You can't generalize power consumption without knowing your kilowatt/hr rate.......check his bill and then get back to us to figure out exactly what the added Watts is gonna cost you......oh and btw some of those crappy 150w hps magnetic draw over 3 amps! Due too shitty capacitor....

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I've never heard of any magnetic ballast that was only 50% efficient. 2amps I could see, but 3??

Yep over three saw it with my own eyes...its the sun systems 150w hps...very popular on Amazon and Ebay....their is a flaw in the way they wired it and shitty Chinese parts....a fuckingelectric hog

PJ Diaz said:

In my area ($.15/Kwh) it basically costs $100 a month to run a 1k 24/7. That's a nice easy number to use in a formula.

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You must be high per kwh. think I'm $.08, and when I was in Phoenix it was similar.

ya i thought tht was pricy

Deceiving your roommate is never a good idea...

honestly.... my 400 watt hps doesnt raise the bill to be noticable at all... if you are moving in with a roommate.. that can easily be explained with a computer desk top thats always on or a air conditioner

I suggest a 200w Solar Flare LED from California LightWorks. 5w emitters (driven at 4w each), 165w actual draw, built like a tank to last, $400.00.

I found the bad press that the Sun Systems 150w HPS light had gotten regarding its actual wattage draw to be questionable, so I hooked a couple of mine up to a Killawatt meter to see what they actually used. 160w after a few minutes of warm up, so not bad at all for about $100.00.

I do not feel that any LED light is stand alone comparable to HID at the moment and California LightWorks is even honest enough to call their light a Bloom "Booster". Couple one side by side with a 150 HPS, however, for a real draw of about 325w and the results are damn amazing. Either one alone can yield a couple ounces, together that number more than triples.


Hope this helps.

Clarification: I do feel that equal watts of HID or LED will yield similar weights, but at 4 or more times the purchase price for an equal wattage LED light. Used together, my experience is increased yields over either one by itself.

Keep in mind that my experience is relatively limited with LED's at this point and that I have only used the Solar Flare Bloom Booster LED lights. Others with more LED experience and/or different LED lights may have very different results.

Plantus Maximus said:

I suggest a 200w Solar Flare LED from California LightWorks. 5w emitters (driven at 4w each), 165w actual draw, built like a tank to last, $400.00.

I found the bad press that the Sun Systems 150w HPS light had gotten regarding its actual wattage draw to be questionable, so I hooked a couple of mine up to a Killawatt meter to see what they actually used. 160w after a few minutes of warm up, so not bad at all for about $100.00.

I do not feel that any LED light is stand alone comparable to HID at the moment and California LightWorks is even honest enough to call their light a Bloom "Booster". Couple one side by side with a 150 HPS, however, for a real draw of about 325w and the results are damn amazing. Either one alone can yield a couple ounces, together that number more than triples.


Hope this helps.

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thats sooo true. i went the led rout and discovered that the led true advantage was how little hps i can get away with......i get the results of a 400 for around 300 watts, there is a clear advantage.

Plantus Maximus said:

I suggest a 200w Solar Flare LED from California LightWorks. 5w emitters (driven at 4w each), 165w actual draw, built like a tank to last, $400.00.

I found the bad press that the Sun Systems 150w HPS light had gotten regarding its actual wattage draw to be questionable, so I hooked a couple of mine up to a Killawatt meter to see what they actually used. 160w after a few minutes of warm up, so not bad at all for about $100.00.

I do not feel that any LED light is stand alone comparable to HID at the moment and California LightWorks is even honest enough to call their light a Bloom "Booster". Couple one side by side with a 150 HPS, however, for a real draw of about 325w and the results are damn amazing. Either one alone can yield a couple ounces, together that number more than triples.


Hope this helps.

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Plantus Maximus said:

Clarification: I do feel that equal watts of HID or LED will yield similar weights, but at 4 or more times the purchase price for an equal wattage LED light. Used together, my experience is increased yields over either one by itself.

Keep in mind that my experience is relatively limited with LED's at this point and that I have only used the Solar Flare Bloom Booster LED lights. Others with more LED experience and/or different LED lights may have very different results.

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i see. so just like a few yrs ago the technology is still lacking and switching to 100% LED wouldn't be a good idea?

have you grown a crop with just the 200w solar flare? or always used it with added hps or cfl?


its so hard to find someone who has grown with LED for a whole grow unassisted by hps/cfl. i dont wanna switch to led if i cant run it on its own...especially for the price it costs for an led light. Im still holding out hope...especially now since they have 5w LED setups. thats a lot better than the last time i checked into them (3w). so even the 5w ones still aren't good enough to outgrow their hps counterparts when compared watt for watt (ie. 150w LED > 150w HPS?)

i dont mean to sound like a cheapskate cuz im not. im 100% ok with blowing 400-500 on a 150w LED so long as it delivers at LEAST as good as a 150w hps in terms of yield and quality. i dont want small buds that have next to no trichs or potency. lol

man now u guys got me thinkin about adding a 90w UFO to compliment my 400w HPS..i only got 4 plants but i want monsters..does tht UFO put out any heat tht i wud have to worry about if im alrdy venting a 400w?

Find out your electricity tariff (KWh), it should be on your powerbill and it will tell you what a KW per hour costs. My tariff is 0.24 cents. Divide your lamps wattage by 1000 to get the KW. Times that by your tariff and you will have the hourly running cost of your light. My light is 400W so i divide that by 1000 and i get 0.4KW. Now i multiply the Kilowatts by my tariff 0.4x0.24= $0.096. $0.096 an hour, $1.15 a 12 hour day.

A 400W HPS costs me $32 a month to run so when i started i turned off my desktop computer permanently (it was using about 250W on average with a 650W PSU) and replaced my 100w bedroom light with an 8w cfl.

If you use a 150W PSU it isn't even going to be noticeable.

You are not gonna be able to hide the fact that you are growing it from your roomate. The dude lives there, he is going to know what is going on in his house no matter what. That being said, just pony up for 75% of the power bill and tell him to shut the fuck up.

Dont forget to take into account the added A/C that will be needed to cool the heat generated by the grow equipment.
The cost of power increased by adding a room mate is expected. But he may still become suspicious if the A/C
cycle goes fucked up.

themanwiththeplan said:

obviously CFL's wont cut it as they are half as efficient

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I think you are extremely misinformed. CFLs are slightly less efficient in the lumen/watt aspect, but in heat/energy consumption they prevail.

Fluorescents: 70-90 lumens/watt
Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt
High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt



also if I am not mistaken Lumens are measured at a 12" distance, and fluoros grow within 6-3" of the plant so even greater than that.My 2' 4 bulb 25 gets 85 lumens a watt @ 96 watts. I will be supplementing it with 2-5 more single tube t5s adding 4000-10000 more lumens.

LOL pay your bill get legal.. silly punks.

"Concealing" 150-300W a day shouldn't raise any alarms considering all of the electrical kit we use today.

If you have a bunch of electric kit on-hand (game system, TV, computer, monitor, cell phone charger, stereo, DVD player, electric razor / tooth brush etc...) what's to say that the 150W-300W you are burning isn't coming from all that?

IMO, I don't think you will have an electricity issue with such low wattage. However, I DO think you will have a "grow issue" with your room mate when they find out, and I have NO doubt that they WILL find out, or at least suspect your grow. Even if they are not sure, the suspicion will lead to friction, which will erode your relationship, and reduce your quality of life.

Good luck regardless.

go buy a minifridge at as cheap as you can find it... doesnt even have to work. Convert to grow box, BOOM, gives you an excuse to raise the power bill, as well as be secretive, just act like you dont like people going in your fridge, which shouldnt be a problem.

ECHydroceuticals said:

Deceiving your roommate is never a good idea...

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Yup. Not to mention that if it's his place you're showing a complete lack of respect for him.

That said, if you know how to grow maybe think about saving cash while you live there, and then get your own place where you can grow without room mates. Become a vendor to local collectives.

As for hiding electrical usage for a micro grow, you can tell a room mate (or parent, heh heh heh) that your computer has a 1000 watt power supply (very common in gaming rigs) due to your many hard drives and awesome video cards. You leave it on 24/7 because it's healthier for the hardware and you want to make sure he's aware in case he wants a few extra dollars for the bill. Password protect whatever computer you do have so he can't check out the specs. (Or lock your door) Enjoy your new 1000 watt ceiling.

CenCaliKush said:

I think you are extremely misinformed. CFLs are slightly less efficient in the lumen/watt aspect, but in heat/energy consumption they prevail.

Fluorescents: 70-90 lumens/watt
Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt
High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt

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I believe you may the one who is misinformed, so let's do some math using real numbers, shall we?

23 watt cfl = 1600 lumens = 69.56 lumens/watt
42 watt cfl = 2800 lumens = 66.66 lumens/watt

54 watt HO T5 = 5000 lumens = 92.59 lumens/watt

600 watt Digilux MH = 75,000 lumens = 125 lumens/watt

600 watt Digilux HPS = 95,000 lumens = 158.33 lumens/watt

Looks to me like the guy you corrected was dead on.

Also, they in fact do not prevail in the heat/energy consumption category. Where do you think all those "lost lumens" in cfls go?? Heat loss buddy, that's where. It's a myth that hps creates more heat watt for watt.