Grow lights and solar panels question.

So could you put solar panels in your grow room, let them get light from the grow lamps and use that energy to recycle into the grow lights... thus never ending power supply

well, its not gonna be "never ending" because the panels do not have 100% returns on light or solar energy. its more likely that you will have to reorganize your grow setup to match the lighting loss made by refracted light, although it might help(and be pretty arbitrary since you want most of the light reflected back at the plants and not absorbed by panels in order to have a truly productive grow room).

NO. as said above you dont get 100% back. you can probably cut your electic bill down a little bit but would have to run awhile to get the price of the solar panels back im sure.

now you could put enough solar panels on your ROOF to really cut down price or even run completely on solar power if you do it right.

solar panels on the your roof would be much more effective.

No. no and no.
You don't get something for nothing.
As stated above, you need to use sunlight.

VLRD.Kush said:

So could you put solar panels in your grow room, let them get light from the grow lamps and use that energy to recycle into the grow lights... thus never ending power supply

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It is a nice thought. But if forms under the general idea of perpetual motion. Or the even more broad concept of lossless Work. We can't even say super conductive magnets are lossless. Vast energy goes into maintaining the low local temp that provides local, only, losslessness.

It is all about the real Murphy's Law, the real prohibition in our Universe, Entropy. Energy efficiency can be seen as holding off Entropy with less and less energy. But, what you say has value. You need a 1000 w Solar panel you'd think to run a 1000 w light. But, not so simple. You first have to convert that to AC. Means a battery bank, also, besides the converter.

So, in this Universe if we want to dance, we pay. We lose something at every stage, the wire, the transformer, the panel. A 2000w panel? Is that worth the cost/benefit/risk?

Didn't think about having to reorganizing the plants so the light would hit the panels. Ehh just another stoned thought I figured would have some interesting feedback.

And yes putting them on the roof would be better, but I thought since you're already running the HID lights that it would be beneficial to get some of the lost energy back.

This brings me to another question, Could you run solar panels off of an HID light? Like if for some random reason you felt the need, would it have any return?

You smoke way too much. Why would you put energy into a solar panel? What is the point?

Idk man just wondering. Guess i'm an idiot for thinking about stuff

No, only an idiot will refuse to ask. We come here seeking knowledge.

cues said:

You smoke way too much. Why would you put energy into a solar panel? What is the point?

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And you, Sir, smoke way too less.

VLRD.Kush said:

Didn't think about having to reorganizing the plants so the light would hit the panels. Ehh just another stoned thought I figured would have some interesting feedback.

And yes putting them on the roof would be better, but I thought since you're already running the HID lights that it would be beneficial to get some of the lost energy back.

This brings me to another question, Could you run solar panels off of an HID light? Like if for some random reason you felt the need, would it have any return?

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Well, that concept would be like regenerative braking in a Prius. We know we can't get all of it back, but some of it back, is very good. The problem with ideas is they are not inventions. I'm working on an invention right now. When it comes off the paper, it is like a Battle Plan. It can't survive first contact with Reality.

If you invent this even on a small test scale, you have a proof of concept. From there you can measure the cost/benefit/risk. Or I can estimate it for you. Not a good way to go on such a small scale. The cost outwieghs the benefit. However, this shows YOU are doing the thinking. That's the best.

VLRD.Kush said:

So could you put solar panels in your grow room, let them get light from the grow lamps and use that energy to recycle into the grow lights... thus never ending power supply

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If you ran an array say, on your roof, 5x 300w panels, PV inverter & battery you could get a off-grid/stand alone system, each panel doing 48v, 300W, 6.25A at peak efficiency, you could run a g/r up to say 1000w - 1200w total draw. Not sure how much an install like that would set you back. you can do it in aus for about $6k. Not worth it yet IMHO.

That being said, ran across this article that shows developments are being made http://energy.gov/articles/going-solar-record-time-plug-and-play-pv has anyone installed a small solar array for their g/r?

high times magazine's video "Gro Like A Pro With Nico Escondido" tours you through a couple large off-grid solar powered indoor grows in northern california,, interesting stuff indeed, but they get their energy from the sun, and the light from their lamps gets reflected back into the plants, not absorbed by indoor photovoltaics... thats crazy as a soup sandwich.

reflective materials directing the light back into your plant's foliage is far more efficient than trying to eat your own waste to produce more energy.

No and here's why

1 - Solar panels never put out their max because over time they don't produce as much.
2 - Buying Solar panels is a waist. If you wanted best results your better off buying solar cells and wiring them to put out the right amount of volts and -20% of the total amount of amps a charge controller/inverter can handle.
3 - Not only do the solar panels lose power production over time but you lose power production because of the wires and the inverter/charge controller that has to be used by them.
4 - To get the best you would litterly have to buy enough solar cells to line the whole inside of your grow space to make it remotely produce enough to cover part of the power usage of the bulb and that also meens you wouldn't be aloud to run a reflector.

GODWORK said:

Hello< to who this does concern
I gift onto you...Indoor Solar DWC ...1plant, 1 scrog, 1 meter.

Watts= Amps * volts.
(1) 20w air pump
(2) 120w 4bulb T5's...*96w ea....*24w fluff
(1) 600w hps
(1) 120w 6" active air fan
(1) 10w digital ballast
(1) 1058w 9000btu port. A/C

17.50 Amps>>>18+/-....5hr@100 amp hours

The Solar System...Pure Sine Wave Function
(1) 2500w Pure Sine Wave Inverter
(4) 12v 100Amp Hour Deep Cycle Batteries
(1) 30Amp Charge regulator
(2) 180w 12v Solar Panels.....*will not fully charge batteries unless <12v
Total Retail Cost: $1500
Estimated Min. Purchase Price: $1000+/-

NOTE: With an MPPT charge controller...you will not lose extra solar panel power...the controller will adjust for the voltage difference.

IamIcon
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TGOD
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KushGang

/S/ TradeMark /S/
​

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You obviously didn't ready his question. I was asking if he can run the solar panels inside his grow area and use is grow lights to charge the battery and produce enough power to run things off of that 1 grow light.