Power Consumption / Light Cost

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
Ouch! Numbers like those are exactly why I'm on a quest for better efficiency.

COB LED would pay for itself very quickly at those electric rates, I strongly recommend you look into them at your earliest convenience.
At 14 cents per KWH, HPS is still king from the overall cost standpoint. But at 32, it starts to go the other way. It's going to be another 10-20 years or so I think before LED gets refined enough and standardized enough to make the expense come down and put HPS out of business for good.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
At 14 cents per KWH, HPS is still king from the overall cost standpoint. But at 32, it starts to go the other way. It's going to be another 10-20 years or so I think before LED gets refined enough and standardized enough to make the expense come down and put HPS out of business for good.
Being in the industry I can tell you that COB LED makes a strong value proposition right now, even at 5 cents a kWh; the ONLY time HPS is cheaper is at initial purchase. From that moment on, COB LED is better, more efficient, etc.

And HPS is the target of pending legislation and lots of rebate programs through utilities; if you install more efficient lighting, they'll subsidize your purchase, very often to the tune of hundreds of dollars per fixture.

Then there's the quality improvement, which for some odd reason never comes up when comparing HPS to COB LED; I'm not exaggerating at all when I say people can tell the difference from across the room. Frost, terps, density and gpw all improve with the move to COB LED.

But hey, what do I know?
20160727_124001.jpg
 

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
The problem though is that most growers grow for themselves on the cheap a few plants at a time. You simply can't justify 10 times the cost for a 3 or 4 plant grow for personal use.

That's my point.
 

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
You need to bone up on the tech and quit spouting bullshit numbers. It isn't ten times the cost, it's only double- and that's coming down fast.
And it starts. Since you shelled out the money for it, it's the best so you get offended easily. How typical.

The average cob light that will replace a 600 watt HPS will run you in the neighborhood of 800 dollars for a good one. What's more, they have a life expectancy of 4 to 5 years for the most part. So by the time 8 or 10 years goes by, you've spent somewhere around 1600 to 2000 dollars on two cob lights while in that very same time spam you've spent around 120 to 200 dollars on bulbs for your HPS. So yes, it is 10 times the amount of investment.

Then of course the energy cost savings just isn't there. That same cob light will still suck up around 500 watts. 100 watts energy savings just isn't that much of a difference at all. In fact, in your case at 14 cents per KPH, the difference is only about 17%.

The cob would run you $37.80 per month on an 18 hour schedule, where the HPS would run $45.36. That's a total savings of only $7.56.

You simply would never, ever see any savings. Ever. You'd be outspending by far on replacing cob fixtures vs. HPS bulbs to the point your energy cost can't possibly ever make up the difference over the long haul.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
And it starts. Since you shelled out the money for it, it's the best so you get offended easily. How typical.

The average cob light that will replace a 600 watt HPS will run you in the neighborhood of 800 dollars for a good one. What's more, they have a life expectancy of 4 to 5 years for the most part. So by the time 8 or 10 years goes by, you've spent somewhere around 1600 to 2000 dollars on two cob lights while in that very same time spam you've spent around 120 to 200 dollars on bulbs for your HPS. So yes, it is 10 times the amount of investment.

Then of course the energy cost savings just isn't there. That same cob light will still suck up around 500 watts. 100 watts energy savings just isn't that much of a difference at all. In fact, in your case at 14 cents per KPH, the difference is only about 17%.

The cob would run you $37.80 per month on an 18 hour schedule, where the HPS would run $45.36. That's a total savings of only $7.56.

You simply would never, ever see any savings. Ever. You'd be outspending by far on replacing cob fixtures vs. HPS bulbs to the point your energy cost can't possibly ever make up the difference over the long haul.
COB LED lasts indefinitely, that is your first error.

Second error; thinking I'm married to the tech.

Third error; using blurple LED pricing.

Replacing HID once or twice a year costs 100-200 bucks EVERY year. No replacement cost for LED.

My 225W COB LED is a good replacement for a 600W HPS, so those numbers are wrong too.

You've totally forgotten to account for better efficiency, nevermind less HVAC cost.

Not only do you get higher gpw under COB LED, the quality is better, too. Did you account for that? Nooooo.

I'm not offended, you're just wrong.
 
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Nugachino

Well-Known Member
Heh. With the 300 odd bucks I spent on my lamp. I could've had a 4-600w hps. The thing is. I didn't want to have to deal with all that heat. And after reading about lifespans and efficiencies of led. I didn't care about the initial cost.

After all. I only wanted 1-2 plants at a time. I bought a 90w full spectrum horticulture light from Lighting Matters.
 

redzi

Well-Known Member
Who is making the best COB LED's ?

Do you have a link please ?

Thanks
For me its not about who makes the best ($1000 plus) but where you get the biggest bang for the buck, both in terms of lumens/watt and the light itself. I like my sativas so the cree cxb3590 6500K is for vegging, same maker but 3000K to 3500K for early flowering, and Lightimetunnel at Amazon for late flowering (about last 3 weeks). $89 gets you a 3 watt epistar X 100...so cheap I was able to put 4 inside a 2 by 4 foot area.
 

David Boggs

Well-Known Member
what is the average cost a month to run 6 thousand wat lights.i am new to indoor and was just woundering how much the electric bill would run higher for 6 lights a month just a ruff guess??ky..
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
what is the average cost a month to run 6 thousand wat lights.i am new to indoor and was just woundering how much the electric bill would run higher for 6 lights a month just a ruff guess??ky..
They pull 1.1kW each if they're on magnetic ballasts, a bit less if they're digital. Multiply times hours, 12 for bloom, times 30 days in a month. So think about 400kW per light per month x 6 lights = 2400kW, PLUS pumps, fans and oh ya you'll need HVAC, which in summer can easily pull more power than the lights do!

Totally PIOOMA rough guesstimate and assuming power costs .10/kWh is gonna be about $500 a month.
 

Poontanger

Well-Known Member
There has been much dissucion, & will still be for a long time, on lighting, is there an overall descission on what is the most efficent, for $$ spent..............we all consider , our lighting program to be efficent, (well most of us).........are we all falling into the trap, that this new product, is nuts guts...........interesting.......me im not sure!!

Poon
 
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