running cost of grow light
running cost of grow light
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?
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?
- Attachments
-
- imagesCA56KP5X.jpg (7.53 KiB) Viewed 6960 times
Last edited by Adrian Brattle on Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: running cost of grow light
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.
- Dave Brown
- Site Admin
- Posts: 19742
- Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
- Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
- Contact:
Re: running cost of grow light
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
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
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. Plants looked really happy, and the Begonia was the best it had looked for months, and in midwinter 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
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
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. Plants looked really happy, and the Begonia was the best it had looked for months, and in midwinter 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
Best regards
Dave
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Dave
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Re: running cost of grow light
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.
If it serves no other purpose than keeping me and my Roebelleni happy over winter then that will do for me.
Re: running cost of grow light
Hi-Power 120W LED Triband Hydroponic Plant Grow Light. cost £167.99 onDave 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
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
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. Plants looked really happy, and the Begonia was the best it had looked for months, and in midwinter 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
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.
- Attachments
-
- imagesCACV43HB.jpg (9.25 KiB) Viewed 6875 times
-
- g200_thumb.jpg (34.93 KiB) Viewed 6875 times
Re: running cost of grow light
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?
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?
Re: running cost of grow light
these seem rather expensive. After all aren’t they only blue and red LEDs, surely it would be cheaper to make your own?
Re: running cost of grow light
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.
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.
Re: running cost of grow light
I understand where your coming from, but to be honest i would just have copied the layout on the real thing.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.
Re: running cost of grow light
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.
Re: running cost of grow light
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.
- Dave Brown
- Site Admin
- Posts: 19742
- Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
- Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
- Contact:
Re: running cost of grow light
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
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
Best regards
Dave
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Dave
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Re: running cost of grow light
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.
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.
- Dave Brown
- Site Admin
- Posts: 19742
- Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
- Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
- Contact:
Re: running cost of grow light
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.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 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
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Dave
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Re: running cost of grow light
The one which Ive got needs replacing after 50,000 hours worth of use.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