How Much

[akabryanhall]

How much can one expect their power bill to jump up after adding metal halides?

 

[butts182]

I think there are way too many variables, size of house, time of year, location, # of bulbs, etc.) that come into play with this question to supply an easy answer. I can tell you that I have never noticed a difference in my elec. bill between LEDs, MH, and T5. I live in S.FL. in a 750 s.f. apt. on the top floor, and i keep the ac set bet. 73 at night and 76 daytime.

 

[CJO]

It's a fairly easy calculation.. How many watts are the metal halides? What is your light cycle? What do you pay per kilowatt hour?

CJ

 

[mdb_talon]

It's a fairly easy calculation.. How many watts are the metal halides? What is your light cycle? What do you pay per kilowatt hour?

CJ

Agree that part of the calculation is easy.

The hard part comes in if the halides cause you your chiller to run more frequently. Or if you did not have a chiller do you have to buy one and then how often is it running. Other variables like how much heat is it adding to air temperature is it causing the AC to run more frequently?

 

[Just Clownin Around]

i dont run a chiller but am sure it causes the ac to run more. i chalk it up to enjoying my tank and dont worry about it. but a rough estimate is 250w usually use 300w of elec, 400 watters usually burn about 440. typical 6 bulb t5 not overdriven is just the bulb wattage x bulbs plus about another 30 watts to power it all. my diy 12 led tank would cost me ~36w or roughly 3 w per led run at half power

 

[caudill187]

I haven't noticed a huge $ difference with halides....$20/$30 per month for halides on my 120?

 

[m and m]

If it is a 250W i would say 40 ish a month pending light cycle.