HPS vs LED

Spliffy Twojoints said:
I used to run heavy duty wiring (like for a stove or dryer) to a switching box dedicated to my flower room JUST because of HPS power draw!
As you mentioned, most houses in North America have 15 A per line and one 1000 W HPS doesn’t leave room for much else to run on the circuit (not sure about UK or Europe).
Since switching to LED, I can just plug in the wall and not worry about it. I’m sure I have enough power left over to run a small heater if required, maybe not 1000 W but many have switches so you can do half power.
Also, it will depend on how powerful your LED is.
Click to expand...


Using that example, a 1000w appliance would be an 8.3amp load on a 110v 15a supply, so you could only have another 800watts of apliances on that supply.

in the Uk, it's 240v, typicaly supplied by mains on a 32amp breaker... so you could have appliances totaling a max of 7500w.

Which seems a lot, but in my kitchen, my microwave and kettle if both switched on at the same time totals a 4200w load...
 
futurebanjo said:
Using that example, a 1000w appliance would be an 8.3amp load on a 110v 15a supply, so you could only have another 800watts of apliances on that supply.

in the Uk, it's 240v, typicaly supplied by mains on a 32amp breaker... so you could have appliances totaling a max of 7500w.

Which seems a lot, but in my kitchen, my microwave and kettle if both switched on at the same time totals a 4200w load...
Click to expand...

Exactly, that’s why I suggest a space heater with multiple settings. Most of our standard space heaters are 1000 to 1500 W and often have a halfway setting of 500 to 750 W.
Catch is, that’s pushing the circuit to its max because when HPS fires up there’s a spike that pushes the draw closer to 12 Amps. If the heater is on (even at low amperage setting) at the same time as the HPS startup spike, it can trip the breaker.

I was an avid HPS grower and completely anti-LED for years. Now the grow quality of LEDs is comparable to the HPS with enough difference in the power draw to make them safer to run on a standard circuit, as well as no control box or other additional wiring required. That’s a big bonus for most people who are not capable enough or allowed to rewire their living space. Currently running a 700 W LED straight from the wall with fans too.

In the summer the HPS presents a heat issue for me because it’s hot here in Ontario anyway. I have not run the LEDs in the summer yet. In the winter I divert the heat from the HPS into the house which definitely reduces the heating bill

When I was running up to 4 HPS (1000W) I brought the heavy wiring to a control box which has 8 outlets. 240 V in and 240 V out, and its breaker is 40 A. I only run the lights through the control box, the fans are plugged into the standard wall outlets.

We have power brought to the house as 220-240 V which is then broken down to 110-120 V (@15A) for most outlets. Electric ovens, clothes dryers, whole home air conditioners and some furnaces remain on 240 V.
We do have 20 A running in more modern kitchen outlets just because of all the high draw appliances. I think we may be switching to 20 A on all circuits now, but I’m not 100% sure. Maybe a sparky can chime in?

As far as the UK, are you in a really old house with only 32 A breaker or is that just the kitchen circuit? I asked because I was under the impression British homes also got at least 60 A service. Many, many years ago 60 was the standard here, then it changed to 100 and more recently it’s up to 200 A.

For anyone in the UK following and confused with my numbers, it’s a simple conversion.
A 1000 W HPS actually draws about 9 A on 110-120 V. The same 1000 W HPS draws about 4.5 A on 220-240 V.
Double the volts, half the Amps.
 
Spliffy Twojoints said:
Exactly, that’s why I suggest a space heater with multiple settings. Most of our standard space heaters are 1000 to 1500 W and often have a halfway setting of 500 to 750 W.
Catch is, that’s pushing the circuit to its max because when HPS fires up there’s a spike that pushes the draw closer to 12 Amps. If the heater is on (even at low amperage setting) at the same time as the HPS startup spike, it can trip the breaker.

I was an avid HPS grower and completely anti-LED for years. Now the grow quality of LEDs is comparable to the HPS with enough difference in the power draw to make them safer to run on a standard circuit, as well as no control box or other additional wiring required. That’s a big bonus for most people who are not capable enough or allowed to rewire their living space. Currently running a 700 W LED straight from the wall with fans too.

In the summer the HPS presents a heat issue for me because it’s hot here in Ontario anyway. I have not run the LEDs in the summer yet. In the winter I divert the heat from the HPS into the house which definitely reduces the heating bill

When I was running up to 4 HPS (1000W) I brought the heavy wiring to a control box which has 8 outlets. 240 V in and 240 V out, and its breaker is 40 A. I only run the lights through the control box, the fans are plugged into the standard wall outlets.

We have power brought to the house as 220-240 V which is then broken down to 110-120 V (@15A) for most outlets. Electric ovens, clothes dryers, whole home air conditioners and some furnaces remain on 240 V.
We do have 20 A running in more modern kitchen outlets just because of all the high draw appliances. I think we may be switching to 20 A on all circuits now, but I’m not 100% sure. Maybe a sparky can chime in?

As far as the UK, are you in a really old house with only 32 A breaker or is that just the kitchen circuit? I asked because I was under the impression British homes also got at least 60 A service. Many, many years ago 60 was the standard here, then it changed to 100 and more recently it’s up to 200 A.

For anyone in the UK following and confused with my numbers, it’s a simple conversion.
A 1000 W HPS actually draws about 9 A on 110-120 V. The same 1000 W HPS draws about 4.5 A on 220-240 V.
Double the volts, half the Amps.
Click to expand...

Sorry if I confused things...

So in the UK, a fairly standard configuration is the main fuse box will be on a 100a breaker, that's the main breaker for the whole house.

Underneath/downstream of that you'll typicaly have a few smaller breakers @32a or 20a.
Typically one 32a breaker for the kitchen, a 20a one for all the other downsatirs wall sockets, and another 20a one for all the upstairs wall sockets.

Then for the lighting circuits you'll typically have a breaker for the upstairs lights, and another one for the downstairs lights, each rated as 6a, as lights sholdnt be using much power.

EDIT, like this, for example:

1.jpg
 
Last edited:
futurebanjo said:
Sorry if I confused things...

So in the UK, a fairly standard configuration is the main fuse box will be on a 100a breaker, that's the main breaker for the whole house.

Underneath/downstream of that you'll typicaly have a few smaller breakers @32a or 20a.
Typically one 32a breaker for the kitchen, a 20a one for all the other downsatirs wall sockets, and another 20a one for all the upstairs wall sockets.

Then for the lighting circuits you'll typically have a breaker for the upstairs lights, and another one for the downstairs lights, each rated as 6a, as lights sholdnt be using much power.

EDIT, like this, for example:

View attachment 5455904
Click to expand...

Your breakdown and the picture helps a lot, thanks.
I am a general contractor (I believe I would be called a builder over there ) but not a licensed electrician. As a result of working on many houses over the years I have seen many configurations but don’t pretend to know all of the electrical building codes.

Our setup is basically the same, 100 A or 200 A on the mains with a massive breaker, then split across multiple smaller breakers. The smaller breakers generally start at 15 A and usually go up by fives or tens, ie 20 A then 30,40, etc., that’s another reason the 32 threw me.

Wall receptacles and lights are often on the same breaker. This allows room by room control but the downside is if a breaker goes in the room because of a plug, there’s no light either. Pretty sure that’s changing now to keep the lights separate from the plugs. It may not be required by code, but it is allowed by code. I have seen it a couple times and prefer that technique of separating power from lights.

Anyway, I am greatly appreciating the plug and play with the LEDs. Lower utility bills means a lot nowadays as well.
 
I live where it gets stupid cold in winter -20 for weekssss a smarter man would shit down the rooms BUT then what would I do! I would rather spend power money on lights than electric heaters in winter I run HPS/MH & CMH to take advantage of there higher heat byproduct and in the summer I run leds.. still need some milk barn heaters for lights out during flowering in winter and have run CO2 and dehumy but have not been running them in awhile pretty much just grow for my personal use nowadays I am in no hurry anymore legalization took the “mad money” out of much else than that I sure did enjoy the 70s-2000s though… but there maybe a change in near future one ding dong representative put a bill in to limit flower THC to 15mg if that passes it’s game on again but hoping it fails
 
HPS bulbs have a spike in the IR spectrum, as mentioned earlier. This spectrum warms the leaf temperature to help plants metabolize. Unfortunately, i cannot find the HPS chart that shows the IR spike.

This is a link to a supplemental led bar with both ~850nm and ~400nm LED. I ran these strips along with the Emerson strip with great success in 2019. I got 20oz. of prime bud and about 2oz. of popcorn. That was in a 4x4. The 840-870nm allows you to run the room cooler at ~75°F. No need for a heater.

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