!!!reduce light bill and energy?

[fsunoles]

This guy I went college was telling me to use a converter to reduce my energy cost on a grow. I really don't know anything abouth them.He said it was simple just plug it in to the wall. I just eanted some different information on the topic if anyone has ever heard of one or used on before thanks alot for the help.:)

[Shovelhandle]

no, I haven't heard of a device such as that. Sounds like bs to me. Any information on this unit?

Shov

[justaseed]

if a bulb uses 1kw of power i don't see how any device could just be plugged in to make it use less power without putting out less light. if it's a 240 instead of a 120 you will only use half the amps but it will still use 1kw so the cost will not be much less anyway. although i'm not an electrician.

[rottenfork]

tell him he is full of sh1t if that was the case every elec appliance would have one attatched signs in stores, free electric with this converter, chaos on the streets, world war 111 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stinkyattic]

It's called a flipflop relay.
Look it up at a hydro supply house.

[justaseed]

A FLIPFLOP RELAY!? does it actually decrease power consumptionm without decreasing light output? if so, how does it work?

[stinkyattic]

If you're running multiple lights/rooms, it pretty much evens out your power consumption so you don't get tell-tale 'surges' of energy use. And it is supposed to make the overall power consumption slightly lower.

Something I used to do before I had my wiring updated, and this is a good idea for fire-safety, was to have my lights on separate timers so that one would come on about a half hour before the other and there is never a time when 2 or more HIDs are charging up to ignite simultaneously.

[justaseed]

my grampa was one of the world's top electricians, he traveled to china, india, and all over europe and north america commissioning wire making machines that noone else could get running! so i think i will pay him a visit and ask about this flipflop relay. i still curious how it works.

[Stuper Star]

A flip-flop does one thing and one thing only...it runs the ballasts 24/7 but every 12hrs it switches the lamps it is powering in two separate rooms. If you run 8K, you pay for 8K. It doesn't matter if you run all 8K at once for 12hrs a day or you run 4K for 12hrs and the other 4K the other 12....you pay for 8K.

There is something called a Power Factor corrector on the market. For the small timers, it is pretty much a snake-oil pitch. You gotta be powering up huge before this thing MIGHT even reduce your bill, and even then...BS most often.

[Shovelhandle]

power factor correction is used to improve the power factor of inductive electrical loads (such as motors and to a much lesser degree, HID ballasts. It is done by adding capacitor banks to the circuit. The purpose is to save from getting charged a penalty from the utility company. This is for industrial usage only. Improving the PF will not appreciably lower your electric bill if your utility isn't charging this penalty.

Shovlehandle

[justaseed]

A flip-flop does one thing and one thing only...it runs the ballasts 24/7 but every 12hrs it switches the lamps it is powering in two separate rooms. If you run 8K, you pay for 8K. It doesn't matter if you run all 8K at once for 12hrs a day or you run 4K for 12hrs and the other 4K the other 12....you pay for 8K.

There is something called a Power Factor corrector on the market. For the small timers, it is pretty much a snake-oil pitch. You gotta be powering up huge before this thing MIGHT even reduce your bill, and even then...BS most often.


that makes more sense to me. i just could'nt see how you could use less power to get the same amount of light.

[CaliJay]

Check out tranobles 3lbs a light thread in Growroom setup if you want more info. He cliams 1/3 less $ on power. He gives some details on that thread...

[justaseed]

i have been watching that thread. he has his shit together! and if he's in the us he's got some balls to be documenting a grow of that size!