i know i was nervouse about it for a while but if you make sure that your spike in energy usage is on the same basic schedule as everyone else E.G.330pm-330am. you will be ok .
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i know i was nervouse about it for a while but if you make sure that your spike in energy usage is on the same basic schedule as everyone else E.G.330pm-330am. you will be ok .
I would love to hear the pro's view on this thread. I've been reading around this site and see people running 4-1000watt here and 3-600watt there plus fans and all the other stuff. So how do they power all these lights and keep the pigs off there backs. This is a concern for everyone in the game... everone need big lights to grow thus taking alots of power. If we can hear feed back from people running lots of lights and are running safe the same can be applied to the small man. With that said i have a word on heat scopes, personal to me this seems like total bull sh*t. From personal experience i've seen 3 grow op on one block in BC and the smallest had 35 lights just for veg and flowering. Yah i know the media is dead-on when they say ever fourth house in BC has a grow op. Now if heat scopes could really screw us over. All they would have to do is just do a bunch of fly by or drive by and all there grow op worries would be over. While in BC last year i spoke to a cop that was apart of the op and he said that the only way they can find a grow op is from tips,rats or extremly large scale power use. I'm still in heaven when it comes to growing. But i still need to know about how things are for future plans. :rastasmoke: :thumbsup:
In July of 2001 in the United States the supreme court that thermal imaging devices to detect HID lighting was illegal. The pigs can;t do that shit so as I read in an Ed Rosenthal book,.. no sensible judge would issue a search warrant on the basis of electrical consumption alone,...but then again we do have the patriot act which kinda means the feds can do anything they want... yikes...Quote:
Originally Posted by JamaicanHerbMan
Go with generators though if you're paranoid about electricity usage. But enjoy refueling em all the time.
A police officer cannot obtain a warrant of any kind on just a high electric bill. They may use a high bill to start an investigation, drive by your place alot, check out your finances etc, but , and thats a big BUT, as long as youre squeeky clean than thats as far as the po-po will get. (They may pull you over and assk you stupid shit or even ring your door bell, NEVER let them in and dont let them peek over your shoulder)
The usual tip from the electric company is because they found proof of tampering. Even with the new digital meters, peak power/time is still the same. Call your company and ask them and try to time your usage when its off peak rated. Use cfl bulbs in all your house hold sockets, They absolutely save $$$.
Think of it this way, big grow opps USUALLY get popped from loose lips or stealing electricity. Pay your bill on time and youre fine. Peace
After reading around i've seen some people running lots of lights and say they use a PF equalizer to offset there power bill. But knowing about electronics i thought i'd put this device to the test.A few weeks ago i got PFC EnergyWise-1000 unit, a 1000watt magnetic ballast and a electronic ballast. I also got a few test equipment form a old buddy of mine. I hope this helps to shed some light on actually whats happening and when to apply a PFC -Power Factor Correction as it applies to us as growers.But lets start with alittle background, all discharge lamps, such as fluorescent , High Pressure Mercury Vapour , Sodium Lamps, Metal Halide Lamps, etc., require ballasts (chokes) or transformers for their operation. These devices are inductive in nature. When a discharge lamp is switched on, it draws apparent power from the mains. This apparent power (VA) has two components; one is the active power (W) actually being consumed by the lamp for illuminating it, and the other is the reactive power (VAr) feeding the electromagnetic circuit of the control gear. Basically all thats just said is that all PFC device does is give a divice the capability of soft start, and soft stop, among other things, saving on energy costs. However after testing the 1000watt magnetic ballast with the PF equalizer connected to the circuit there was only a 1% power saving on a 48hr run cycle. Being dissapointed at the result because i had high hopes on this, i got 6 more magnetic ballast and did a 12 hr run cycle hoping i'd see a 7% reduction in power usage after having the 7 ballast running to my suprise after doing the calculations over 20 times and getting outside help. I found out that higher inductive loads didnt affect the power reduction on the circuit. I tested the PFC with the electronic ballast and have a 19% power reduction over the magnetic. The funny party about this whole thing was after removing the PFC the saving was even more. I was now getting a 25% reduction in power usage on various tries. After looking at it ..i came to find out that the theory of the Power Factor Correction only holds true for older devices. Having one of these 10 years ago would have saved you alot but with today's technology its useless for efficency compared to a electronic ballast.All they do is give you are soft start and soft stop to aviod voltage spikes. Which the new electronic ballast have intergrated with 20 times more efficency. I hope this helps to save you guy on wasting your money on the so called PF equalizer. Go get a electronic ballast, you'll get more lumens and save way more on your power bill, so you'll have more for beer.:rastasmoke:
Jaimaicaman those electronic ballast actually save energy wow i would never of thought i run 2 1000 watt hps so what do u think my % of energy would be?
ALSO whats the differance between a electronic ballast and a digital ballast?
NB# I used a digital ballast NOT a electronic ballast as stated in my above post.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishman3811
Fishman they are not the same but they are very very similar actually the only different i actually saw when i looked at the circuit schematic was that the digital ballast has a voltage regulated microchip, apart from that they are exactly the same. The only advantage a Digital ballast have over a E-ballast is that if there is a failure or major distortion on your line it will correct it , while the E-ballast just wont light the bulb until the voltage meets the right parameters. So for growers the E-ballast is just as good as a digital ballast because a regular house line doesnt really have much distortions on the line. As for actual power comsumption saving i can safely say you'll save between 10-15% on power comsumption however these test were done with a Lumatek 1000watt digital ballast vs Magnectic ballast. All the circuits are made on the same principle but performance might vary. So i'm only stating for the brand i have tested. I also liked that the Lumatek 1000watt only used 240V, which makes it extremly safe agianst overloading a circuit. 240V uses half the amp a 120 would use making your room alot safer agianst electrical fires. hope this clears up the difference between digital ballasts and E-ballasts
Jaimaican thanks i kinda thought they were almost the same thing but wasnt too sure...Iguess they also make E ballasts for 120v also but ill have to look around the local hydro shops in my city if i can save 10-15% on my bill for the ballast usage i should save around 6 bucks which is good.My total electic bill is around 100-110 a month with 2x1000hps and a family of 4 but thats with gas heat also.peace bro
Digital ballast dropped our power usage by 30%. We are also using a time-of-use meter, which helps as we run out light during the non-peak hours.
Magnetic ballast are much less efficent than the digital units and it will take about 3-4 month to pay for the digital units verses the magetic units.
Then you save MONEY!!!!!! Wahoooooooo!!!!!:thumbsup: