Grow Lights - cheapest

user54321 · Post by **user54321** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 06:53 am

Boner wrote:
Neldo wrote:If you're growing alot it's pretty much a requirement that you get your electricity hooked upto the mains, not your own meter. Power companies do pass info about power useage onto the authorities if it's deemed "suspicious"...
I really hope you aren't suggesting people steal the leccy as thats the easiest way to get caught, an increase in electricity is easy as getting a tumble dryer, they eat the stuff as do electric heaters.

My grow recently cost about £5 a month on average, that was a 125 watt cfl, a 250 watt hps, 2 fans and an extraction/filter system.

I did say if you were growing big Boner

*cough* you aint...

and in that case, no it's not as simple as just having a heavy burning electrical appliance.

I wasn't referring to the size of grow you have, merely passing on some knowledge of how to avoid detection on a big grow which I'm sure somebody will find helpful...

I'm not condoning any of these practices, I'm just aware of them and adding to the topic, of course

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 08:21 am

Boner wrote: I really hope you aren't suggesting people steal the leccy as thats the easiest way to get caught, an increase in electricity is easy as getting a tumble dryer, they eat the stuff as do electric heaters.

My grow recently cost about £5 a month on average, that was a 125 watt cfl, a 250 watt hps, 2 fans and an extraction/filter system.

Wow man thats cheap r u sure? dont u mean a £5 a week?
is it a 250w magnetic or digital, are the 2 fans circulating fans? Is the extractor a 100mm RVK?
sorry to ask but it seems so cheap as my m8 runs 1x600 Digital Lumatek, 2x125w CFLs, 2 air circulators, RVK100 intake and a RVK150 output.
this costs him around £16 a week.
He covers the cost of course with what he yields but i am poor so cant afford this setups running costs.
But yours i could stretch to easily.
Nice1 let us know

Boner · Post by **Boner** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 10:48 am

Yes Kermit £5 a month (I'll confirm 100% once I've spoken to the Mrs as she sorts the bills out) both of the fans are oscillators but I didn't have them moving as the grow isn't big enough to worry about that, the extraction is the 100mm rvk one as well as far as the hps is concerned I haven't a clue but I'd guess magnetic.

Neldo, stealing electric no matter how much is the easiest way to get caught, near enough every grow I've read about getting busted was down to them doing just that.

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 01:02 pm

Boner wrote:Yes Kermit £5 a month (I'll confirm 100% once I've spoken to the Mrs as she sorts the bills out) both of the fans are oscillators but I didn't have them moving as the grow isn't big enough to worry about that, the extraction is the 100mm rvk one as well as far as the hps is concerned I haven't a clue but I'd guess magnetic.

Neldo, stealing electric no matter how much is the easiest way to get caught, near enough every grow I've read about getting busted was down to them doing just that.

I am off to the local shop right now m8.

Thats spot on at that price you cant moan.

I will let you know how i got on later.

Cheers Boner

echc1 · Post by **echc1** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 04:01 pm

stealing electric and huge heat signature are the most common ways of being caught....after those its smell.......i recommend the 200 watt envirolites (supposed to be the same output as a 600 watt for light but run cool enough to touch no prob....i use them to grow enough to be very sorted for stash....no supply worries,no contamination.....costs the same as an ounce for each grow...electric is expensive being on a card meter so low energy is the way for me!!! before anyone says...yes i do get plenty of goood quality smoke,a lot better than the shit thats around this part o the uk!!!!!

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 05:30 pm

echc1 wrote:stealing electric and huge heat signature are the most common ways of being caught....after those its smell.......i recommend the 200 watt envirolites (supposed to be the same output as a 600 watt for light but run cool enough to touch no prob....i use them to grow enough to be very sorted for stash....no supply worries,no contamination.....costs the same as an ounce for each grow...electric is expensive being on a card meter so low energy is the way for me!!! before anyone says...yes i do get plenty of goood quality smoke,a lot better than the shit thats around this part o the uk!!!!!

What do you yield off a 200w enviro?

echc1 · Post by **echc1** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 06:00 pm

dunno but look in the outdoor seeds thread and you'll see.....the big tub was filled plus 2 x the large lock top storage jars....or as i put it...at least 4 months worth.....and i smoke a lot at home...between 4 and 10 kingsize joints/day at least 5 will be pure the rest will have about 10% tobacco and all rolled FAT...not weak smoke either....tested on a load o stoner bikers with great results...they fell over heeheehee i don't do weight as thats just moving towards the dealing side in my eyes .....and yes i do hold a job down too....only sleep 5 hours/day though..damn sativa

Boner · Post by **Boner** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 06:03 pm

I was always told the yield is based on 1 gram per watt of light, not sure if this applies to CFL's or not but they do have very good lumens, I'm away for a week next week but my next grow will be vegged under a 200 watt cfl and flowered under a 250 watt hps & a 125 watt cfl, if I can get close to 350 grams off the grow I'll be more than happy.

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 06:06 pm

echc1 wrote:dunno but look in the outdoor seeds thread and you'll see.....the big tub was filled plus 2 x the large lock top storage jars....or as i put it...at least 4 months worth.....and i smoke a lot at home...between 4 and 10 kingsize joints/day at least 5 will be pure the rest will have about 10% tobacco and all rolled FAT...not weak smoke either....tested on a load o stoner bikers with great results...they fell over heeheehee i don't do weight as thats just moving towards the dealing side in my eyes .....and yes i do hold a job down too....only sleep 5 hours/day though..damn sativa

Soz have do do it in weight. I smoke an oz a week and have decided to copy my m8s setup of 600w HPS and 2x125w Red enviros which will give me 30wks supply approx from 1 grow. I worked the cost out to around £20 a month. So 8wks bloom (Got clones comming 2 nite) will cost me £40 and i will get around 30oz deffo worth it.
pics in 8 wks

Nice1

echc1 · Post by **echc1** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 06:10 pm

it should be a happy harvest for ya.....enjoy and remember that patience reaps rewards...........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......my 3 1/2 footers have 1 more week of veggin then 12 weeks of flowering....so happy christmas for me hopefully 2 trainwreck and 2 brainstorm all girls...if i smoke the 2 types together will that give a brainwreck effect? lol

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 06:11 pm

echc1 wrote:it should be a happy harvest for ya.....enjoy and remember that patience reaps rewards...........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......my 3 1/2 footers have 1 more week of veggin then 12 weeks of flowering....so happy christmas for me hopefully 2 trainwreck and 2 brainstorm all girls...if i smoke the 2 types together will that give a brainwreck effect? lol

Luckily my veg has been done for me by my friend so its straight into bloom.

Brainwreck thats interesting

user54321 · Post by **user54321** » Thu 11th Sep 2008 09:03 pm

Both the sparks I know beg to differ with regards to using mains electricity. I checked earlier with one of them (to make sure I wasn't just spouting) and he was saying it's not monitored in the same way, you do need to make sure you know your average use over the course of a full year and remove the widgit/jimmy to allow the clock to move round however many points you would have used. It goes by the meter, so if somebody decided to convert their garage into a sea of green, they would need to make sure their meter was at what it should be (there/thereabouts) for the quarter period. He knows of one grow that's been running this way for a couple of years. Somebody's doing something wrong, surely? Who knows... all I know for certain is if they could read your meter from HQ they wouldn't pay a man to come round your house to check your meterage 4 times a year.

I can only pass on that info, I'm not a spark myself but I have confidence in this boy knowing his job, it's been his trade for 20 years and he's helped a few people I know get their shit sorted, he knows a fair bit about growing too, not just the leccy side of things, so helps convert rooms/garages for growing (at a price

)

He said it would be a different story if you're using a full on giant warehouse for growing, or even a larger than average garage, is that the type of grows you mean you've read about, Boner? 'cause this dude was adamant that for a large "home" grow, you should get a widgit to stop the clock. Oh, and make sure you know your yearly meterage at 4 intervals before you start

He could be wrong but he's got alot more experience than I do when it comes to this so I just believed him...

echc1 · Post by **echc1** » Fri 12th Sep 2008 12:27 am

i just get energy concious when the lights are running....shut down things i don't really use....unplug the gamesystems phone chargers when not in use...as they use power and get warm even when not charging...simple things like that to even the amount used out so nothing unusual noticed

user54321 · Post by **user54321** » Fri 12th Sep 2008 12:50 am

Yeah Ech, again though, I'm talking about a large scale grow - a converted garage or a large dining room type thing. Something that requires more energy use than you could explain basically...

echc1 · Post by **echc1** » Fri 12th Sep 2008 12:53 am

i realise you mean commercial size...my ref was for the avreage joe doing some personal....i'm not quite crazy enough to monkey with mains elastictrickery