Power Consumption / Light Cost

motul123 said:

My 4X1000 watt lights on 18 hours a day cost me $200.00 a month extra

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Canada? Cause my bill with 4 and an ac adds 800 a month in Cali

Not sure if this question has been answered or not....how do I avoid the spikes in my electrical bill? The jump in total consumption each month? I'm thinking of using a generator during certain hours along with knowing how much total wattage i'm using.

Electric company came to my home a few years ago and was wondering why my usage jumped so much installed a reef tank that burned 2400 watts with lights and pumps asked them if they would like to come in to see it and they declined never seen them again but just that raised concerns to have them come out and snoop around.

milkchoca said:

Not sure if this question has been answered or not....how do I avoid the spikes in my electrical bill? The jump in total consumption each month? I'm thinking of using a generator during certain hours along with knowing how much total wattage i'm using.

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when u mean spikes do u mean every time u grow? u can try being more consistent when growing, like having separate rooms for veggin and flowering.

is it true if you just pay your bill your straight?? unless its like 2k a month

i pay 1400 monthly bill and have no problem. I also explained my 800 gallon saltwater fish tank with calcium reactor, 4 x400 m/h, 1/4 h/p sump pump which returns my water from the refugium bac to the main tank,but not before it goes threw my 1 h/p chiller to keep my reef tank at optimum temp. and my quantine tank in my garage. if they dont like that one you can always go with the recording studio in your garage.

Hi iv'e tried every where wanting to know average/maximum electric consumption in UK? as i want to use around 5 x 600 hps lights plus fans, ac etc. as i am a noob don't to arouse suspicions they will all be in a 2 bed terraced house.

bump.......

POWER USAGE:
[FONT=Futura Std Condensed Light,Futura Std Condensed Light][FONT=Futura Std Condensed Light,Futura Std Condensed Light]On average, a light system will increase your electricity cost from $8 to $20 per month—the exact amount depends on the size of the system and the number of hours operated. Make sure your grow room’s power circuit can handle the power draw. For safety reasons, do not exceed 75% of the rated ability of the fuse/breaker (for example: use no more than 15 amps on a 20 amp circuit). To calculate your cost, multiply the bulb wattage X hours of operation and divide by 1000. This figure is the number of kilowatt hours of electricity consumed. (Example: a 400 watt bulb running for 18 hours will use 7.2 kilowatt hours). Check your power bill for the cost of each kilowatt hour. Then multiply the number of kilowatt hours by the cost of a kilowatt hour (K/hr) to arrive at the cost per month to run the light in your area.
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The kill a watt meters are awesome you know exactly how much a given device or appliance is costing you per day/week/month/year also how much current its drawing fantastic.

my bill is 475 for 2 months (summer) with 2000w HPS, ~150 watts of Flouros 2 inline fans and a window AC

POWER USAGE

"It takes money to make money." If your a grower, you say this every month when the bill comes. Same goes for the cash you shell out for soil, nutes, equipment , even "helping hands". Our last power bill was $1600.

that dude is a cop i know him

I made a grow calculator if anyone want to use it https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/569662-cost-value-grow-mmj-calculator.html

Nice write up thanks for the info.

Does any one know about the most 600 watters u can use on a regular house breaker box I'm in SoCal and rent so building a designated box is out of the question I've heard 4 is the most anybody else heard that?

Nice write up

here are some pics of my Warlock Grow week 5th of flower almost there! ya, mmmmm Good!

doubletake said:

Does any one know about the most 600 watters u can use on a regular house breaker box I'm in SoCal and rent so building a designated box is out of the question I've heard 4 is the most anybody else heard that?

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Don't understand the question completely. If you mean the whole breaker box, that's 200 amps in most modern houses which if fully redirected to 110 volt use would support 20,000 watts. ((200 X 110)*0.9) Basically thirty-three 600 watters.

Your apartment probably has 60 to 100 amps though.

If what you mean is a typical lighting/receptacle circuit hooked to a single circuit breaker, that would be 15 amps. At 110 volts that would support 1485 watts, or basically two 600 watt bulbs.

doubletake said:

Does any one know about the most 600 watters u can use on a regular house breaker box I'm in SoCal and rent so building a designated box is out of the question I've heard 4 is the most anybody else heard that?

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if you have a 200amp panel on your house, you have to look outside to see what size transformer your drawing from..., then you can do a "flip", with no more lights than the Transforer is... for instance... a 15Kw transformer is standard... so assuming that your house is the only house serviced by that transformer (and it's prob not) , you could do 15 1000w lights, at a time, or 30 lights total... or 25 600w lights on at a time, for a total of 50... you'd move to a 11hr flowering period to leave 1 hour off between the flip... to let the transformer cool....

at 1.5-1.7x the transformer you take the risk of it overheating on a hot day... at 1.8-2x the transformer will blow, the fire department and police will show up...

if your neighbors are on the same transformer, asume they may be using at least 35% of that transformer at all times... if you know they're growing... assume 75%

now if your trying to figure out how many lights can be on a standard 15a breaker.... I think Truncheon answered that...