Metal Halide and your lighting bill

[n8ball2013]

how much of a jump would it be from a 130 watt pc fixture to a 150 or 250 watt pendant? Not trying to spend a fortune running my lighting and just want an upgrade. now if that upgrade is going to cost me more money every month than i may change my mind.

 

[kalied20]

I am running two 150 watt Mh's on my 90 and it was no much more than PC's....about 8 bucks a month for both. But Nashville electric is still reasonalby affordable. I am changing to 6 - T5 54 watts soon. I am only changing because of heating problems. I have a canopy and need less heat or more chiller. The Lighting change seemed better choice.

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by kalied20
I am running two 150 watt Mh's on my 90 and it was no much more than PC's....about 8 bucks a month for both. But Nashville electric is still reasonalby affordable. I am changing to 6 - T5 54 watts soon. I am only changing because of heating problems. I have a canopy and need less heat or more chiller. The Lighting change seemed better choice.
I have 300 watts of metal hallide. I've heard it raises the electricity bill $25 a month, but I've never checked my bill, and the girlfriend has never complained, so I dunno.

 

[morayeels]

I would go with a T-5 System. This is the cheapest way to go about $8.00 a mounth or less.

 

[jrthomas40]

if you are just going from pc at 130 to MH 150 then there shouldnt be much of a jump...maybe a few pennies a week only way your bill will be greatly affected is if you went from 130 watts total ---> 5 or 600

 

[jrthomas40]

i just got 2x 250wat hqi into my canopy but will have to rework the fixture because it is to hard to get the canopy off to feed and work on the tank...i will have to figure out how to chill my water soon

 

[dragonboy]

It really depends on how many hours you run them. I have 2 - 250 MH and ran some calculation its about only 25 dollars more for me a month but I only run my MH about 4 to 5 hours a day. I run mostly my VHO bulbs so it just depends on how much you run and how many watts your consuming. If I ever go any bigger with my tank I would get solar panels. But as for now its not that bad.

 

[fishy7]

I run 450 W of MH 8 hours/day and 390W of PC's 10 hours/day. This costs me roughly $30 extra a month. :thinking:

 

[hagfish]

Originally Posted by n8ball2013
how much of a jump would it be from a 130 watt pc fixture to a 150 or 250 watt pendant? Not trying to spend a fortune running my lighting and just want an upgrade. now if that upgrade is going to cost me more money every month than i may change my mind.
If you just go to the 150 pendant you are only talking about a 20 watt change. The watt is unaware what it is going into. A watt is a watt. This is barely even going to be noticable.
If you're like most people you probably waste more watts than that by leaving house lights and other electronics on when they are not needed.