running cost of grow light

Adrian Brattle

running cost of grow light

Post by Adrian Brattle »

Many people view grow lights of having high running cast.
well ive been using the 50w UFO grow Light like the one below for a while. It equivalent to 150 to 200W. When i plugged it into a meter it showed 37w. It costed £95.

I use it to grow cool sensitive seedling indoors.

Its on 8 hours a day. My electricity suppliers is Scottish hydro electric at 11.4p per kWh

This is how it works out:

37w multiply by 8 hours multiply by 90 days = 26.64Kwh

26.64kwh multiply by 11.4p = £3.04

£3.04p is not much for 8 hours a day over a 90 days billing.

How many other people on this forum has been using a grow light and how do they find them?
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Last edited by Adrian Brattle on Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.
musa_monkey

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by musa_monkey »

I use 20w or 30w power saving 6400k bulbs. Fairly cheap to buy on ebay and very cheap to run. Been using them for a few years now, they work great for me.
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Dave Brown
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Re: running cost of grow light

Post by Dave Brown »

I looked into Led lights last year and was all for them, but £95 for a light that will illuminate one seed tray is a non starter. The further away you have the light the less effective it is. I was looking to light a green house and the cost ran into £thousands :roll:

I am looking to get 6400K flourescent now as that is a usable level of light. By fluke my son bought a 6400K bulb for his table light. I borrowed this last winter and had beautiful growth on my Begonia luxurians icon_thumright

Pic of the 9w lamp illuminating the house plants and Begonia lux. It also was like a bit of sunlight on the wall, and made me feel much happier. I don't suffer from SAD, but did feel much happier with the 'Daylight' bulb on.... it made it feel like spring was just around the corner, even though it wasn't.
2011-01-28 18-07-42 Indoor plants.jpg
Plants looked really happy, and the Begonia was the best it had looked for months, and in midwinter icon_thumright
2011-01-28 18-06-28 Begionia luxurians.jpg
I'm getting a 20W spiral Daylight 6400k bulb to put in the table lamp for this winter, and am currently researching 5ft tubes for the polytunnel, and the conservatory :wink:
Best regards
Dave
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GoggleboxUK

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by GoggleboxUK »

That light is identical to one I've got. After seeing how perky your begonia looked I reckon I'll be following suit there Dave.

If it serves no other purpose than keeping me and my Roebelleni happy over winter then that will do for me.

;)
Adrian Brattle

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by Adrian Brattle »

Dave Brown wrote:I looked into Led lights last year and was all for them, but £95 for a light that will illuminate one seed tray is a non starter. The further away you have the light the less effective it is. I was looking to light a green house and the cost ran into £thousands :roll:

I am looking to get 6400K flourescent now as that is a usable level of light. By fluke my son bought a 6400K bulb for his table light. I borrowed this last winter and had beautiful growth on my Begonia luxurians icon_thumright

Pic of the 9w lamp illuminating the house plants and Begonia lux. It also was like a bit of sunlight on the wall, and made me feel much happier. I don't suffer from SAD, but did feel much happier with the 'Daylight' bulb on.... it made it feel like spring was just around the corner, even though it wasn't.
The attachment 2011-01-28 18-07-42 Indoor plants.jpg is no longer available
Plants looked really happy, and the Begonia was the best it had looked for months, and in midwinter icon_thumright
The attachment 2011-01-28 18-06-28 Begionia luxurians.jpg is no longer available
I'm getting a 20W spiral Daylight 6400k bulb to put in the table lamp for this winter, and am currently researching 5ft tubes for the polytunnel, and the conservatory :wink:
Hi-Power 120W LED Triband Hydroponic Plant Grow Light. cost £167.99 on
http://www.carparts-sale.com/hipower-12 ... h8ntp279c6


This is the one for the green house. It covers a large area.

If uesd 8 hours a day, it should cost £9.84 over a 90 days billing.
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GoggleboxUK

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by GoggleboxUK »

That's an interesting read Adrian.

The thing that concerns me is that, despite all the technical information, it doesn't actually state how high to position the light and what area of floor space it covers.

It's all very well assuming it covers a full greenhouse because there's a picture of it hanging above a large open space but that could simply be clever marketing as the listing makes no claims on coverage.

What makes you think this one light would be suitable for a greenhouse?
musabasjoos

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by musabasjoos »

these seem rather expensive. After all aren’t they only blue and red LEDs, surely it would be cheaper to make your own?
GoggleboxUK

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by GoggleboxUK »

They also include white for full spectrum Musa but it's the specifically tailored light wavelength that makes them work more efficiently because they are geared up for the exact frequencies needed for photosynthesis.

As I'm sure you know, all light has different parts of the spectrum and getting it exact is probably quite difficult with ordinary LED lights that you'd hang on a Christmas tree for example.
musabasjoos

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by musabasjoos »

GoggleboxUK wrote:They also include white for full spectrum Musa but it's the specifically tailored light wavelength that makes them work more efficiently because they are geared up for the exact frequencies needed for photosynthesis.

As I'm sure you know, all light has different parts of the spectrum and getting it exact is probably quite difficult with ordinary LED lights that you'd hang on a Christmas tree for example.
I understand where your coming from, but to be honest i would just have copied the layout on the real thing.
Adrian Brattle

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by Adrian Brattle »

GoggleboxUK wrote:That's an interesting read Adrian.

The thing that concerns me is that, despite all the technical information, it doesn't actually state how high to position the light and what area of floor space it covers.

It's all very well assuming it covers a full greenhouse because there's a picture of it hanging above a large open space but that could simply be clever marketing as the listing makes no claims on coverage.

What makes you think this one light would be suitable for a greenhouse?

120w is ideal for a household garden greenhouse. But for a industrial size greenhouse you'll need multiple 600w led grow lights coasting about £900 each.
Last edited by Adrian Brattle on Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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JoelR
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Re: running cost of grow light

Post by JoelR »

I currently use a 125w "envirolite" from Jungleseeds/gardens which I use for rearing mostly cacti & agaves. It works brilliantly but puts out a lot of heat (which I utilise) and is costly to run. LED technology has got to be the way to go but seems a bit pricey at the moment.
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Re: running cost of grow light

Post by Dave Brown »

120W is 120W regardless of what technology. it runs for just over 8hrs per unit and all produce heat.

This was gone into in a big, big, way a on a topic last year, and at the end of the day LED technology was so expensive that you would have to run it for 20 years to break even with flourescent. By which time it would need replacing. Also LED brilliance fades quite quickly so after a couple of years you are not getting the stated light from the diode. but as these are pure light colours you can't test them yourself.

Full spectrum LEDs are a waste on plants as only the red and blue light are required. Yellow and green range not being required at all.

When I saw the big industrial ones in use, the plant trays were on staging about 4 feet tall with the lights about 3 feet above them. Thjey wer not as shown in most marketing with the light at 7 feet above trays on the ground, so the coverage is much less.

As I said on my previous post I'm going with 64K daylight floureccent :wink:
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Dave
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GoggleboxUK

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Thought as much ;)

Dave, when you say you're going for 64k daylight florescent do you mean in bulb form or can you get this as, say, an 8ft tube?

I'm currently working out the electrics for my greenhouse build and I know you've already worked all the tech stuff and costings out to be cheapest and most effective.

Hope you don't mind me nicking all your research but it's valuable info.

;)
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Re: running cost of grow light

Post by Dave Brown »

GoggleboxUK wrote:Thought as much ;)

Dave, when you say you're going for 64k daylight florescent do you mean in bulb form or can you get this as, say, an 8ft tube?

I'm currently working out the electrics for my greenhouse build and I know you've already worked all the tech stuff and costings out to be cheapest and most effective.

Hope you don't mind me nicking all your research but it's valuable info.

;)
I am researching this at the moment as the waterproof fittings are more expensive than the bulbs/tubes. They do up to 6ft 70w daylight tubes, and up to 30w daylight ES an BS fitting bulbs. Then you get into 250w 64k grow bulbs but they enter a new price league.

I was looking HERE but need to cost if fully first. Try a google search of Daylight tubes/bulbs. The fittings are standard, but need to be the waterproof/outdoor type.
Best regards
Dave
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Adrian Brattle

Re: running cost of grow light

Post by Adrian Brattle »

Dave Brown wrote:120W is 120W regardless of what technology. it runs for just over 8hrs per unit and all produce heat.

This was gone into in a big, big, way a on a topic last year, and at the end of the day LED technology was so expensive that you would have to run it for 20 years to break even with flourescent. By which time it would need replacing. Also LED brilliance fades quite quickly so after a couple of years you are not getting the stated light from the diode. but as these are pure light colours you can't test them yourself.

Full spectrum LEDs are a waste on plants as only the red and blue light are required. Yellow and green range not being required at all.

When I saw the big industrial ones in use, the plant trays were on staging about 4 feet tall with the lights about 3 feet above them. Thjey wer not as shown in most marketing with the light at 7 feet above trays on the ground, so the coverage is much less.

As I said on my previous post I'm going with 64K daylight floureccent :wink:
The one which Ive got needs replacing after 50,000 hours worth of use.
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