Growlights aboard?

[Jenwil]

I have a dilemma that I hope the more experienced and knowledgeable here can advise me with please.

I wish to run a 200 watt grow light for a small grow tent for chillies, I need this to be on for 12 hours per day.

I know I can grow in spring and summer outside but I need an all year around solution and a grow environment I can have complete control over.

I will also need to run a small extractor fan to produce air flow that will use around 40 watts.

My thinking is do I have a separate battery setup for this hobby so it does not subtract from my main every day living resources?

Then there is a generator option, do I go for an engine bay mounted generator with its own muffler and exhaust so I can use red diesel and avoid the numerous petrol problems.

Will this generate as much noise and vibration as the engine meaning I may as well run the engine?

im wondering how long I would have to run the engine for to generate the required power.

If this is the case I don't want to be sat in a boat with the engine running for 12 hours lol!

So then this takes me to a suitcase generator perhaps running from lpg.

With enough solar panels would solar be feasible for these power demands in winter I'm wondering.

Now I know some of you will probably think just go and buy the bloody chillies but please bare in mind this is a passion and a hobby of mine so I wish to find a solution.

The grow light is a compact fluorescent self ballasted light.

If I take this amount of power from a battery bank of say four batteries I am wondering how I put back enough charge without having a screaming generator.

As you can see my head is spinning 

 

[Chewbacka]

9 minutes ago, Jenwil said:

I have a dilemma that I hope the more experienced and knowledgeable here can advise me with please.

I wish to run a 200 watt grow light for a small grow tent for chillies, I need this to be on for 12 hours per day.

........................................................................

If I take this amount of power from a battery bank of say four batteries I am wondering how I put back enough charge without having a screaming generator.

As you can see my head is spinning 

 

I wonder if it is the "chilies" in your growing farm that makes your head spin....................................

Edited December 16, 2017 by Chewbacka

[David Mack]

200W from your 12V batteries is a current of about 18 amps, so over 12 hours will draw 216 amp hours. To supply that without taking your batteries below 50% will require 4 110 AH batteries, and the fan and your domestic requirements are additional to that.

Unless you have a landline, I would say this is completely impractical in winter.

[Chewbacka]

More seriously, and assuming your grow light is only mains powered, then you will need an inverter that also consumes (give or take) 20W, so your load for 12 hours is 200W (light) + 40W (fan) + 20W (inverter) so 260W which is 21.7A which is running for 12 hours, so 260Ah, which is a lot.  You will not get this from solar.

To run this lot would require about 600Ah of batteries with a recharge time of more than 12 hours per day which is probably not feasible.  You would be better running this of a small suitcase genny and not an inverter & batteries, but then I would not leave the gennie running unattended, so that is also going to be a problem for you.  Added - and a problem for those around you if the generator is running 12 hours per day.

In conclusion it's shore power or Sainsburys for your chillies - assuming Sainsbury's sells the right sort of chillies.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Chewbacka

[Nickhlx]

Our 7.5 kWp solar array is producing around 1 to 2 kWh per day at the moment on cloudy days, so you would need a massive ~15 kWp array, and correctly orientated, which is obviously a non starter...

Winter solar produces little power !

I too think its a landline or Sainsburys... 

If you were on a fast flowing river though......    :-)

 

Nick

 

Edited December 16, 2017 by Nickhlx
Punctuation

[1st ade]

46 minutes ago, Jenwil said:

The grow light is a compact fluorescent self ballasted light

Would LED's produce the same illumination for less than 200W consumed?

[WotEver]

18 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

Would LED's produce the same illumination for less than 200W consumed?

It appears that there are, but I’ve no idea what wattage would be equivalent to a 200W fluorescent. 

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-20W-30W-LEDs-Chips-12V-36V-Hydroponic-Aquarium-grow-light-SMD-COB-High-Power/272381866282?hash=item3f6b39712a:m:m_Hro3HTzCBoQz1B_whbgag

40W fan uses around 3.2A so over 12 hours that would be 38Ah which is perfectly feasible. 

[Jess--]

led is a possible solution, I recently changed my aquarium lighting and the vegetation went ballistic as a result.

you may be able to replace the 40w mains fan with a 12v fan with similar flow rates but check how much air pressure they can pull / push, if your chilli's are anything like some grown by a friend there is likely to be a charcoal filter in-line

[David Schweizer]

You can buy chillies in most supermarkets

 

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplayView?catalogId=10123&langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=O%2BkUVqD%2FWAsrZ6PS0fRLzG4Z2CYajtJsdNqJA1Hp1NhvRmMRG1cjYSpFiVccm7htdcp99tivhdOIaENjB8bSwKfwz29%2BwDTg9PGJ6EFBWYiCj4CRzyqQf%2FDXq7RENQN0ZU%2FsFJbTYl0uv2yYAF0A%2F1sLsUKLm3KEX9fhbRPMphSpCq69yueY1LnbDylQCq5VoKT%2BL0tVy9AC3H7GUfph9A%3D%3D#langId=44&storeId=10151&catalogId=10123&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&pageSize=36&orderBy=RELEVANCE&searchTerm=chillies&beginIndex=0&categoryFacetId1=

Edited December 16, 2017 by David Schweizer

[dmr]

24 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

You can buy chillies in most supermarkets

 

You can, buts its a hobby. Instead of boating we could all stay at home and watch boating programs on the Tellybox

............Dave

[Tony Brooks]

That is if he really is growing chillies. I suspect it may well be something rather less legal - and that charcoal filter would be an asset!

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Tony Brooks said:

That is if he really is growing chillies. I suspect it may well be something rather less legal - and that charcoal filter would be an asset!

Ha ha agree, not heard an extractor fan needed for chillies, more for a more pungent 'herb'!

[Jenwil]

1 hour ago, Meanderingviking said:

Ha ha agree, not heard an extractor fan needed for chillies, more for a more pungent 'herb'!

If you are growing anything under lights there needs to be a regular exchange of air otherwise they die

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

That is if he really is growing chillies. I suspect it may well be something rather less legal - and that charcoal filter would be an asset!

"He" is a she darling;)

[Jenwil]

4 hours ago, Jess-- said:

led is a possible solution, I recently changed my aquarium lighting and the vegetation went ballistic as a result.

you may be able to replace the 40w mains fan with a 12v fan with similar flow rates but check how much air pressure they can pull / push, if your chilli's are anything like some grown by a friend there is likely to be a charcoal filter in-line

Yes led actually seems like an option I could look into

[Jenwil]

4 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

You can buy chillies in most supermarkets

 

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplayView?catalogId=10123&langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=O%2BkUVqD%2FWAsrZ6PS0fRLzG4Z2CYajtJsdNqJA1Hp1NhvRmMRG1cjYSpFiVccm7htdcp99tivhdOIaENjB8bSwKfwz29%2BwDTg9PGJ6EFBWYiCj4CRzyqQf%2FDXq7RENQN0ZU%2FsFJbTYl0uv2yYAF0A%2F1sLsUKLm3KEX9fhbRPMphSpCq69yueY1LnbDylQCq5VoKT%2BL0tVy9AC3H7GUfph9A%3D%3D#langId=44&storeId=10151&catalogId=10123&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&pageSize=36&orderBy=RELEVANCE&searchTerm=chillies&beginIndex=0&categoryFacetId1=

You don't know your chillies, supermarket chillies are tasteless and very nasty in comparison to my homegrown 

[Sea Dog]

Don't folk dry, pickle or otherwise preserve stuff they can only grow successfully in summer?

[Jenwil]

17 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Don't folk dry, pickle or otherwise preserve stuff they can only grow successfully in summer?

That is certainly one approach 

[MtB]

On 16/12/2017 at 21:09, Jenwil said:

You don't know your chillies, supermarket chillies are tasteless and very nasty in comparison to my homegrown 

 

I imagined that would be the case and was quite surprised by David's uncalled-for comment. I too find supermarket chillies tasteless with just varying (and unpredictable) degrees of heat, so I'm finding your hobby rather intriguing. 

What does a proper chilli taste of? And what do you cook with them? Is the lighting and fan necessary to make them grow at all or just to make them grow fast enough? What country's climate is being mimicked? Loads of questions spring to mind!

[Boat&Bikes]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Don't folk dry, pickle or otherwise preserve stuff they can only grow successfully in summer?

We, well my wife, dries our chillie seeds over winter. I,agree with jenwil about supermarket chillies. Pretty tasteless. I miss ours through the winter months.

Ian.

[dmr]

Some friends grew chillies as a hobby (heated conservatory) and after a few beers at a party they were throwing I ate half of one of them. You don't get chillies like that at the supermarket. This was almost 20 years ago and I have not forgotten.

..................Dave

[MtB]

Are you SURE they were 'friends'??? 

[dmr]

Hard to say really, they gave me the beer, they gave me the chilli, they told me I would regret eating it, what do you reckon?

...............Dave

[MtB]

On 17/12/2017 at 00:56, dmr said:

Hard to say really, they gave me the beer, they gave me the chilli, they told me I would regret eating it, what do you reckon?

...............Dave

 

I think it depends which way around those two events happened!

[Ratkatcher]

There is a website dedicated to LED growing, seems a bit more complex than one may have thought!

http://www.ledgrowlightshq.co.uk/

It seems that this site suggests only 18 hours of light a day - but that may be aimed at a different crop

I didn't get as far as finding out how much these products cost.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Ratkatcher
Further info

[Rickent]

According to google, chillies need considerable warmth to germinate but once growing can be grown in a greenhouse or conservatory . I can't find any mention of needing an extractor for ventilation.

Maybe someone with horticultural knowledge will tell me otherwise.