power consumption of clf's vs hps?

I hate to beat this issue to death but as much as i've looked around i can't find a good answer.....

would 6 42watt cfl's use more or less power then one 150watt hps bulb?

both setups would put out approx. the same number of lumens (apprx 15,000) but I can't find a good answer on which setup would use more power (preferably in amps).

i did some math in my head and figured out that the cfl setup would draw about 2 amps....using the rated wattage (42watts). however on a cfl i have in my house now (a 30w) the bulb states it uses .5 amps (much higher then the rated wattage would apply)...by estimating how much my cfl would draw using this number i get around 4-5 amps....

I guess my REAL question would be....how many amps does a 150 hps take to operate?

and while i'm at it i might as well ask.....for a 2 plant setup which would be more efficient and/or have a better light distribution for the two plants.

LightFusion said:

i did some math in my head and figured out that the cfl setup would draw about 2 amps....using the rated wattage (42watts).

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2 amps for 6 42w? I think you might need to check ur math again :X

LightFusion said:

however on a cfl i have in my house now (a 30w) the bulb states it uses .5 amps

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Some bulbs perform better then others.

6 23W use ~2Ah. I'd say they use about 4-5Ah (probly around 4.3 or so)

As for how much amperage a 150W HPS lamp uses. Well it depends on various things. Different ballasts will have different efficiencies. The hotter the ballast gets, the more power it will draw. Is it a digital or coil ballast?

Someone said that the econo 150W uses 4amps. However I'm not sure if thats correct. To determine amps you divide watts with volts (150W/120V) which would give you 1.25... However that would be with 100% efficiency and thats not gonna happen.

Anyone have a Kill-A-Watt laying around? :X


As for whats better...
HPS.

as a electrican when we map out a house for light circuts we amx out at 12 amps on a 15 amp circut. meaning we can run 12 100watt bulbs at once to achieve this 12 amp max...so lets say you have the 6 42 watt cfls, and at start up you are at max when it draws that energy. 252 watts is to consume right around 2.67 amps and at its lowest peak around 3 hours of being on it only draws around 1.98 amps do the energy it saves inside the cfl it self....thatguyoverthere is right about the ballast being used....I only use cfls and for 2 to 4 plants i use 9 cfls at all different angels during veg and 10 to 12 during flowering to get all around the plants..

6 42cfl would use a lot more power 150 vs 252 wattage is wattage it doesn't matter if it is cfl or hid

smppro said:

6 42cfl would use a lot more power 150 vs 252 wattage is wattage it doesn't matter if it is cfl or hid

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yes, watts are watts

A watt is a watt is a watt. On your power bill it doesn't bill you in amps, you are billed in kilowatt hours.

The amps only matter when you are concerned about your breakers. Your breakers will blow if you have too many amps running, not too many watts. This is why a lot of big time growers use 240volt. It uses half the amps so you can run twice as much stuff. But your power consumption is not lowered because as stated before, you are billed on watts used, not amps.

you pay for total power used. so using an hps light using way more total power then those 42watt cfls. use ohms law to find wattage, voltage and res.

amps are also used in finding wire size. witch is so importian. people dont understand you cant use normal ext cords to run a 1000watt lamp and a portable ac with water pumps. you need atleast 14 awg wite for 15amps. 12awg for 20amps and 10 for 30amps. if you can find a 240 volt light you would be in luck because if you raise the voltage, you lower the amps, in turn lowering watts used and you power bill..

Easy question. 6x42=252 watts. It doesn't take a math wiz to figure out that 150 is less than 252, its 2nd grade math here, even a 2 year old could probably grasp this concept. Now I think what you were really asking was "Are HPS lights more efficient than CFL"? well the answer to that is pretty simple also. a quick google gives me a average lumen output of 2800 per 42 watt CFL so.....2800x6=16,800 total lumens. now lets look at how many lumens a 150 watt HPS puts out....13,000 lumens. so we can now determine efficiencies with this information. first we just have to divide total lumens by wattage used to give how many lumens per watt used. here goes.....16,800/252= about 67 lumens/watt of power for 42 w CFL. now lets look at HPS 13,000/150=87 lumens /watt. pretty easy math to figure out that for each watt used HPS will give you about 20 more lumens than CFL

Cut and dried case here. HPS is much more efficient than CFL, its not even close.

alright...thanks for the help... i think i'm going to go for the hps when i get the the flowering stage for better efficiency, as for the veg i think i'm gona stick with the cfl's since i don't need as many when the plant is smaller

randy0025 said:

amps are also used in finding wire size. witch is so importian. people dont understand you cant use normal ext cords to run a 1000watt lamp and a portable ac with water pumps. you need atleast 14 awg wite for 15amps. 12awg for 20amps and 10 for 30amps. if you can find a 240 volt light you would be in luck because if you raise the voltage, you lower the amps, in turn lowering watts used and you power bill..

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Running 240v will not lower your power bill. Your 1000watt light with 240v is using 1000watts. Your 1000watt light on 120v is still using 1000watts. This means it costs the same to run. Here is a quote from HTGsupply.com

120 volt or 240 volt, am I saving electricity?
This is the biggest myth in the indoor gardening world. There is absolutely no energy savings by using 240 volts instead of 120 volts. Remember back to your high school science class, you learned something called "Ohm's Law", that states P = I * E. In this equation, P = Power (watts), I = current (Amps), E = Voltage. To demonstrate, a typical 400 watt HPS lighting system is rated at 3.8 Amps at 120 volts or 1.9 Amps at 240 volts. (This information can be found on the electrical label found on your lighting system's ballast unit). Therefore the energy used for the 400w HPS light for the different voltages is: 120v = 3.8 Amps x 120 volts = 456 watts 240v = 1.9 Amps x 240 volts = 456 watts While there is no energy savings associated with using 240 volts, there is an advantage for indoor gardens that are utilizing many lights. Basically you can operate twice the amount of lighting systems on a 240 volt circuit than you can on a 120 volt circuit.

Also, most ballast kits that you buy are multi tap ballasts. Mine is setup to run on 4 different voltages. And the pre built ones are available in 120 or 240 voltages.

ThatGuyOverThere said:

6 23W use ~2Ah. I'd say they use about 4-5Ah (probly around 4.3 or so)

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Ah? Its not a battery. We don't need to know Amp-hours. Its a draw not a supply

As for how much amperage a 150W HPS lamp uses. Well it depends on various things. Different ballasts will have different efficiencies. The hotter the ballast gets, the more power it will draw. Is it a digital or coil ballast?

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What???? As it gets hotter it draws more? LOL

Someone said that the econo 150W uses 4amps. However I'm not sure if thats correct. To determine amps you divide watts with volts (150W/120V) which would give you 1.25... However that would be with 100% efficiency and thats not gonna happen.

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For the bulb, it will be damn close to 100%. But the ballast isn't included in that equation. Add about 10% for a ballast for a given HID bulb

Anyone have a Kill-A-Watt laying around? :X

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yes.

As for whats better...
HPS.

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Yup.

yes lightfusion.. stay with the cfl's,if you have the right type and have them in the right places , they will do just fine for veg........i like the 42 watters..and then i have a 250hps hydrofarm for flower.worked fucken perfect

sweet deal...that's pretty much what i was thinking about doing if i can get a good airflow designed into my setup. thanks for the input