1h/1h for veg
- Thread starter DonnyDee
- Start date
No, because that's not how my billing works.
Jerking your lights off all day long won't save you a dime, sir.
Want to save money?
Upgrade your lights.
Are you trying to not arouse suspicion from your "roommate" by jacking the bill up?
I don't care how your billing works.
I've got quantum boards, what do you suggest can save money over that?
No, I live in a country where electricity is expensive.
Maybe those were details that shouldn't have been left out of the original post.
Maybe before you waste people's time and energy you give people the details they need in order to answer your question in the first place.
Playing fifty questions with you people is exausting.
It would seem to me to be pretty hard on the equipment to cycle that many times a day. Might chew into the operating life. Can't imagine it's any easier on the plants.
GreenLogician
Well-Known Member
That sounds like extreme hermy risk to me - I'd just dim to half the wattage if I wanted to half my bill
Do you have experience with modified light cycles?
Why would that cause herming during veg?
Doing that will not only bugger your lights faster thanks to the constant surges as they go on every hour, it will also cost you more thanks the the repeated surges in power use every hour.
Maybe not much more in cost on a daily basis, but take that over 3 months and you'll notice it.
No "might" about it, it will. Drastically.
If you run 24/0, cut that down to 18/6, the only way you'll cut the bill is to use less and constant switching on and off will not achieve that.
Or don't run all the boards if not necessary, no idea what you have but you may get the same result during veg using half of your panels as you would with everything on as you may have a load of "unused" light.
If you can't do that, rethink your plans completely so you don't need so much use.
Oh, don't forget that if you are running fans, heaters, etc, that the load there could easily outstrip what your lights use so fecking up your lights by turning them on and off constantly will not make a difference.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
You can check out the gaslantern routine: 12h on, 5.5 off, 1 on, 5.5 off. Theres loads of opinions on this varying between: it will f-up your plants for sure; to: it will make your plants show sex early and make the transition to flower faster. YMMV
1 on, 1 off sounds a bit daft; the plants need time to shift between day and night.
1 on, 1 off sounds a bit daft; the plants need time to shift between day and night.
Would there be enough time for any plant to start some meaningful photosynthesis in an hour?
I reckon he'd kill them, the plant wouldn't know what to do
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
In end-of-day treatment with far red light assumes it takes 2 hours to transit from awake to sleep in absence of a far red spectrum.
ANC
Well-Known Member
Plants don't go from light to dark cycles instantly. There are chemical messengers that build up or get used depending on the light exposure. This is not an instant procedure.
So your plants will spend a lot of time in this in-between zone, where it is neither respirating or transpirating.
So your plants will spend a lot of time in this in-between zone, where it is neither respirating or transpirating.
I'll report back any changes from running 1:1 - seems no one has attempted this. If 24:0 can work although not efficiently, I don't see why 1:1 won't work. There won't be enough time for the plants to shift into their sleeping cycle and produce ethylene, so I don't see gender expression being an issue until I actually flower the plants.
DesertPlants
Well-Known Member
Cannabis plants take about two hours to "go to sleep." One hour on and off will not give them enough time to spend any energy in either state. I would recommend not doing less than 12/12. Depending on your country, electricity is usually more expensive during the day when the demand is higher. I would run mine at night. Stressing your plants by never giving them enough time active or "sleeping" will make them go hermaphroditic on you. If you want to get more out of your cycles and you are going to run during the day, try to use as much sunlight as possible. Also, there is a burst required to start lights when you turn them on, so constantly turning them on and off, will actually user more power than just turning them on for 12 hours and turning them off for 12 hours.
Just to clarify before someone says it... the burst I was referring to, is mostly from the driver, not the actual lights.
Just to clarify before someone says it... the burst I was referring to, is mostly from the driver, not the actual lights.
You've been given various reasons for why this is a REALLY bad idea, but it's your plants you'll have wasted and it's your lights that you'll kill off prematurely.
You don't save shit by doing what you're planning as you'll use slightly more electricity compared to running 12/12 and you'll kill the lifetime of your lights. 30 years of being an electrician tells me I know more about these things than you do, but it's your choice.
As I say, if the cost is s bad then cut your grow size in half. Or, if you use electric heaters, get smaller and more efficient ones. You may get away with running your fan slower,if you have one, which will cut things a little. But a 1/1 will only lead to tears and dead lights.
Up to you, it's your loss, I wouldn't be telling you it's a bloody insane idea if it wasn't
The "burst", or surge, is not only related to the driver, every single led will take a surge too. Every surge takes some life out of every component, and claimed lifetimes only refer to when something is left on 24/7 in optimal temperatures, humidity, etc. Every time you switch a light on and off, no matter what kind they are, you knock some of that lifetime away.
The easiest way to show what I mean is to put two light bulbs in the same room, one on 24/7 and the other constantly switching on and off. I can assure you one will outlast the other. Guess which one dies first. Same applies to led, especially all the other electronic components involved from driver to onboard regulators, etc.
That's a lot of money lost to save eff all when the panels go pfffzzzt prematurely...