Generator Question

[StrikeitRich]

I would like to run up to 4 1000 watt lights, but probably only two to start out. If i where to get say a 4000 watt 15hp gasoline generator would i be able to run my magnetic balasts (SG) convertable 1000 watters efficiently? Say under 20 bucks for a 12 Hr Period?

Just sick of paying Consumers all my money. 7 cents a KWh is killin me!

Peace,
S i R

 

[CereaLED]

ballasts draw over what they are rated... each 1Kw draws more like 1100-1200 and would not run on your generator IMO.. Will continuously pop your breaker on your generator.

you pay 7 cents a watt? that is 70$ a kilowatt hour. You must have something figured out wrong there...

 

[StrikeitRich]

7 cents a Kwatt Hr srry my opps.

K but could i run 2 1000 watt magnetic balasts on say a 4000 watt generator?
And what average cost would that be.

Ill be more specific. My energy bill is 600$ a month for 1 light. so if i break that down its 20$ a day. so if getting a generator will allow me to run more than one light for less i want to do that, but i dont want to buy a generator and spend that money only to find out im in the same boat spending 600 a month on gasoline and still paying some electric bill. U follow??

Peace,
S i R

 

[CereaLED]

Yes you could run 2 lights on that generator.

My electric rate is .11$ a kW and that is pretty low. .07$ is very cheap across the nation

Running one 1000 watt light 24 hours is 24kW... multiply by .07$ and you get 1.68$ a day
multiply by 4 lights and you get 6.72$ a day... or 201$ a month.... you must be getting charged a higher rate or your meter is severely messed up

Generators around 5 kW... decent ones... (briggs and stratton or honda) burn about a gallon an hour. So your looking at 12 gallons a day assuming you are flowering with them. So about 45$ a day.

IMO diesel is the only way to go if you want to run it long term and constantly.

 

[oglovinlife18]

natrual gas whisperwatts but they are like 10g;s

 

[StrikeitRich]

My electric rate is .11$ a kW and that is pretty low. .07$ is very cheap across the nation

Running one 1000 watt light 24 hours is 24kW... multiply by .07$ and you get 1.68$ a day
multiply by 4 lights and you get 6.72$ a day... or 201$ a month.... you must be getting charged a higher rate or your meter is severely messed up

constantly.

My meter must be FUzzED then. listen this is what im running 1 1000 watt balast and 1 6X4foot T5 balast, 1 2foot floro(warm), 1 9 inch box fan, 1 osillation fan, 1 6inch Hydrofarm inline ventilation fan, and 3 small desk fans.
Also i got Central air. I live in the home with my wife and kid, and we are not running the electric up, quite the contrary. Does that seem right? at .07$ Kwh?

Does that add up to a bill being exactly 549 dollars.

Also i get the first 600 Kwh at a lower rate than the .07$ too, let me check my bill... and ill get back to u all on the actual wattage that i used.... And lets find out if someone Fuzzed me here, cause i cannot have this crap.

It shows me using 3278 Kwh So what I'm getting charged 0.16$ Kwh????

 

[hiboy]

over 500 bucks is way high.
especially what ur running
h

 

[mal]

Something is Wrong

Your bill shouldn't be that high, needs some looking into



mal

 

[wobbly goblin]

have to agree with hiboy
you are paying 2x3 times what you are using

fwiw

 

[StrikeitRich]

Damn if i got screwed by an electric compony on this ill be eatin cake for a min with free electric. lol. Reason i say this is ive been growing here for a min and bills always been bout 300 and i could afford that so i never really looked into it, but then i got this bill and i had to start to dig befor i hand that kind of cash around.. U dig?

bill is for like i said earlier like 3200 Kwh and my bill is 549 dollars no past dew or nothing. that is for one month.. So what ive been getting charged 0.16$ KwH....?????

Something is fishy

How am i even using that much Juice????

How easy is it for a neighbor to get a long cord and steal electricity???? What should i look for if that seems like the case?? is it possible that my AC is kicking that much?

I talked to my buddy up by Grand Rapids. He has over 14000 watts plus T5s and fans and he pays round 800 a month.....??? somehting is wrong here.

I'll get at the bullies in the morning i tried to call them and they open at 7 am.



Peace,
S i R

 

[hiboy]

have your meter changed to a digital one, or a remote one when they check it out.
tell them ur building a dog run if its behind a gate. its nice to keep them off your property. they can read it from the road
h

 

[CereaLED]

How big is your house and what size ac?
I have a 3400sq ft house, 4 ton ac and 2000w going. I paid 350$ last month which is about 80$ more than normal just from ac. But what you pay is ridiculous I think
. Like stated above, maybe you can get a digital box or the remote kind that they can disable if too much power consumption in your area, they usually offer that at a lower rate than you normally pay.

 

[StrikeitRich]

Consumers Energy In Michigan BLOWS BALLS

Yeah i wish bro, I'm in the sticks, and they dont got them. Available. Also i will say this again. Consumers Energy beeing State ran is regulated as such, therefore the only rate they give is given to everyone with no exceptions. They do have a rebate program like where if im a senior citizen or have a child in the home i can get like a 5 dollar credit, but that isnt much help. I'm calling them again today now that i got a second, and figuare this shit out.

Where im growing is a double wide trailer/Mobile Home, its no hole in the wall trailer or anything. so it isnt super inefficient. My AC unit is a central air unit that runs the whole house.

The thing which mostly confuses me is that im supposed to be getting charged .07$ a Kwh. So i used 3200KWh *.07 = 224 $ not 540?????????

So what is my rate then?


I hate the man and his electric compony.

Peace,
S i R

 

[Seamaiden]

I would like to run up to 4 1000 watt lights, but probably only two to start out. If i where to get say a 4000 watt 15hp gasoline generator would i be able to run my magnetic balasts (SG) convertable 1000 watters efficiently? Say under 20 bucks for a 12 Hr Period?

Just sick of paying Consumers all my money. 7 cents a KWh is killin me!

Peace,
S i R

I would go LP and I'd check out the unit Costco sells. IIRC it's about $2K for a unit that produces 6KW. Also, IIRC, the Costco package included the transfer switch.

Check it, and take your pick.

 

[StrikeitRich]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

K i spoke with consumers, and after being transfered around for a while. I finally got the number for the department that sets up ur peak on or off peak hours.

K my rate was .07$ Kwh for the first 600KwH then .16$ every Kwh after that for the months of July to September.

So now i set up this Peak on off thing, and my rate is this. 0.11$ Kwh during Peak on hours and its .06$ Kwh on non Peak hours. The only thing is i got to do this for a whole year so even in winter i need to watch this.

God im glad i got this shit worked out now.

WHy consumers didnt tell me that bullshit in the beginging i dont knwo.

Peace,
S i R

 

[StrikeitRich]

Ty for info. @ seamaiden

 

[hiboy]

Obviously run your equipment on the non peak hours, normally night time
h

 

[StrikeitRich]

Already doing that, been doing that, Its just when i bought this home. the old lady who lived here before me had some crazy ass rate set up. She obvioudly still only listened to the radio. lol.

Yeah i didnt know that i had to contact the electric compony and make them come out to my house and install a digital meter to start my peak hour rates.

I have my lights turn on then and off 12 Hrs later. I also only run AC when lights are on. So this should be worked out. The thing that angers me about Consumers is that they seen my bill steadily going up and didnt say hay by the way we got this Peak Rate Program u may be interested in. I had to hunt this information down and call like 5 different times and talk to 5 different people till i finally got someone to give me the number to the department that handles this stuff. Every other place ive been at already has this rateing Peak hours system on there bill automatically.

All in all its a 900$ dollar lesson. All things considered i got off cheap. Luckily i didnt go buck wild to begin and get like 4 lights that i now would owe well over a grand on.

I worked it out and for 5000Kwh for a month ill pay 300$ Dollars....Not like 1K$!

So in all im happy bout the trade off. Plus i learned a bunch about electric componies too.

Peace,
S i R

 

[f1ydave]

Your welcome.

As far as generators go, you would want a natural gas/propane powered. Gasoline is just too expensive and diesel is much more reliable and the generator will last much longer with this fuel. There are generators that take multiple types of fuel, look into stationary.

Next, like mentioned previously, a 1kw (magnatic) ballast runs 1150-1400 watts each depending on brand and efficiency. You need to compensate for that.

Next, you need a generator that powers x amount of watts RMS or continuous, most generators only advertise their peak power.

 

[StrikeitRich]

Your welcome.

As far as generators go, you would want a natural gas/propane powered. Gasoline is just too expensive and diesel is much more reliable and the generator will last much longer with this fuel. There are generators that take multiple types of fuel, look into stationary.

Next, like mentioned previously, a 1kw (magnatic) ballast runs 1150-1400 watts each depending on brand and efficiency. You need to compensate for that.

Next, you need a generator that powers x amount of watts RMS or continuous, most generators only advertise their peak power.

RMS? Peak power?

So if they advertise 4000 its more like 3K so I'd be able to run 2 1000 watt balasts on a 4K Generator..?

Hopefully now that i got this Kwh low rate tough hopefully ill only need to get the generator for times of power outage. It sucked about 2 weeks ago we got that horrible wind storm that knocked out power round here for almost a week.... Luckilly i was able to get through it without to many problems. I was only without power for 48 Hrs. But that was long enough for me to relize i need to get a secondary power source so i dont ruin a whole crop in thr future.

I'm trying to figuare out all my pitfalls, i cannot afford to have to many more 1000$ dollar mistakes this round.



Peace,
S i R