Led Lower energy bill?

[Eternal]

I am thinking about switching to led's but need help convincing the wife. :angel:

So If people that have switched could say how much their energy bill has gone down, $20, $40 dare I hope for $100 that would be great.

Thanks in advance

 

[SaraB]

Not that this will help your cause, but some people forget the fact that their MH or T5's actually help heat their water when they are on so that the heaters don't run constantly. I know you are in CA and that might be a mute point, but just something to throw out there!

 

[Lenny]

Mine would go up! Because, I would use the old lights and start a frag tank:wink:

 

[thewackyreefer]

Not that this will help your cause, but some people forget the fact that their MH or T5's actually help heat their water when they are on so that the heaters don't run constantly. I know you are in CA and that might be a mute point, but just something to throw out there!

That was the case with my setup and I live in CA. Mine actually went up a little bit because I was running the heater more.

 

[AquaWorldPSC]

Depends on what LED system you use. Some run at 200+ watts but the plus would be not having to change bulbs for awhile.

 

[Eternal]

Thanks for the information guys. Guess it comes down to bulb changes, the fixture would have to last about 3 years to pay for itself then. I doubt the wife buys it :sad: lol.

 

[evilc66]

Throw in the environmental factor too. MH, T5, and PC bulbs all contain mercury, and shoud be recycled properly. LEDs don't have any volitile chemicals.

 

[wld1783]

On my 570 Gal I went from 25.2 Amps in lighting to 12.3 Amps Plus no bulb replacement. Its about a 2-5 year payback depending on all new or replacement of an existing fixture also whether or not you run a chiller.


Bil

 

[kthehun89]

For my Solana, I went from a 283w total MH/PC/LED combo to a pure 119w LED and my energy bill went from around 110 to 84 after the switch. Big jump for me!!!

Also factor in that I only run the whites for 5hrs, so the majority of the day only my blues are on.

Not saying that this jump was all because of the LED, but I like to think so.

 

[SWINGRRRR]

I have the exact amounts in a thread somewhere, but mine went down ~$40 a month. That plus several hundred dollars a year in bulb replacement (2X250MH+2 110W VHO's)

 

[Eternal]

I have the exact amounts in a thread somewhere, but mine went down ~$40 a month. That plus several hundred dollars a year in bulb replacement (2X250MH+2 110W VHO's)

That is what I wanted to hear, maybe there is a chance

 

[dhutcheson]

I agree the big savings is not going to be in electricity. It will be the cost of the bulb replacement

 

[Eternal]

So I did end up making the switch to evolution leds. My first power bill came and.... It was $100 less:bigsmile:.

I replaced over 800 watts in mh and vho with 240 watts of led, changed the heater from a hydor 400 watt to a jager 250 watt, and the chiller has not come on since the switch.

 

[Captain Nemo]

I am thinking from what I have heard, unless you have huge tank, you won't really see a big drop. Just my .02

 

[extremehobbyist]

my bill was 80$ less in my eye it will pay for its self in less than a years time so im more than happy

 

[extremehobbyist]

I am thinking from what I have heard, unless you have huge tank, you won't really see a big drop. Just my .02

not true i had a 29 biocube with a metal halide

 

[Captain Nemo]

I have a 250 mh over my 80 but I don't think I would see that big of a difference in my bill. I only run my lights for 6 hours a day though.

 

[acrotrdco]

It really depends on the number of equipments you're currently using.

For example, if you're currently using 2x 400w MH, with a 1/3 hp chiller (around 800w), assuming you're running them 10 hours a day, you'll be using about 16 kwh a day, 480 kwh a month or 5760 kwh a year - assuming it's $0.15 per kwh, that's $864 a year on your energy bill just to keep your tank lit and cool.

From my experience, a G2-160w can replace a 400w MH, and since the heat generated by LED is far less than that from MH, you'll probably don't need to use a chiller after making the swap, or at least let's assume you only need to turn it on 2 hours a day, down from 10 hours.

So it'll be 4.8 kwh a day, 144 kwh a month or 1728 kwh a year, that's $259.2 a year, a saving of up to $604.8. Keep in mind that if your local energy company charges you more than $0.15 per kwh, you'll be saving even more.

That's not including the cost of replacing MH bulbs every 6-9 months, since LED would easily last you 3+ years without replacing bulbs, that'll be additional saving of 8 to 12 MH bulbs over the span of 3 years.