[Vern Equinox]

Hi everyone.

Just a head's-up on the E-conolight 150s; I fell into the cheap-price trap like so many of you (I bought four of these pigs), but do you guys know to light the 150 watt bulb, the E-conolight 150 watt ballast kit (Caster or Castor is the brand name) uses Over 350 Watts!!! Kinda blows the savings in the first month of operation. Any low-wattage HPS that doesn't have a seperate capacitor (two main parts instead of three; ballast,capacitor, and ignitor), you can count on being power hogs. This includes most "security" lights you rewire to remote the ballast.

A better option is to get a 150 w Venture ballast kit ( www.businesslights.com has good prices; just $12 more) that uses only 166 watts to light the 150. Power Factor is @ 90%.

https://www.businesslights.com/produc...products_id=45

[sugabear_II]

Hi Vern Equinox,

I posted on this in the OG days and I will explain again here;

The 350 watts you talk about is the total through put of the lamp - it still however only uses the same amount of wattage.

Think of it this way... each lamp is like a closed loop circuit...

when a lamp and ballast have a low power factor they pull more electricity through the ciruit - a portion of this is used to light the lamp - some of it is returned (not used) through the plug back to the line.

when a lamp and ballast has a high power factor the amount of energy returned (not used) is less and less power is pulled out of the wall.

Basically what the capacitator does is store and regulate charge allowing the lamp to only draw what it uses.

The power factor is the ratio of power drawn to power used.

Your power company charges you for how much you use, not how much you draw.

so in no way will your power bill be equivalent to running a 350 watt lamp as you imply.

Your power bill will be the roughly the same with either 150 lamp.

It should however be noted that the power company does have the ability to see the overall power factor of your ciruit and if you were to have as you do 3 or more of these plugged in it could be noticiable to them. The original author made this point and basically said that if you ran a single 150 it shouldn't be a concern but if you were planning on stringing together multiple 150's, 100's, or smaller lamps it should be looked at.

incidentally if you wire your lamps to the same plug you only need a single capacitor between the line and the first ballast to increase the power factor of all the lamps.

That all being said the Venture is probably a better lamp and I would pick it over the econo-light given the choice. Thanks for the link!

-suga

[sugabear_II]

Here's a link for a 250 watt digital lumatek ballast - was on e-bay for $169 with the shielded power cord - I know this is a bit more than the $79 you'd pay for a magnetic one at e-conolight - but it's probably word it

https://cgi.ebay.com/250W-MH-HPS-Luma...QQcmdZViewItem

This auction has ended but I may inquire to see if they have any more for auction or sale.

-suga

[ickster]

Do these earn me membership?? 3 X 150w

[Vern Equinox]

Thanks so much for setting me straight, Sugabear_II; I've never felt so good being wrong. Also, thanks for taking the extra time for the detail of your answer, as it helped a lot. I do have some questions, though.

1) You mentioned the power company has the ability to note the PF of the circuit; is this disparity they notice fairly indicative of grow ops, or would it just be something that generates a line trouble call? If I split the lights two each on different circuit breakers, would that spread the disparity out, or are the readings for the House/Units service as a whole? (I realize you may not know all this stuff, but if you do and can share, GREAT!)

2) I had never even considered wiring two lamps together on the same plug, but it could definitely simplify things, especially later with timers, etc. Now if I get a seperate capacitor (the ballasts have an integrated capacitor...internal) and wire it inline before the first ballast/capacitor, will I have any issues due to the other integrated capacitors still being wired up? Basic Schematic??

I'm with you on the Ventures; I'm actually going to upgrade to Venture 200w next run (4-250s would be a bit too much heat for my cabinet, without cool tubes), but at least the electric won't be that bad with these Es. Also, it probably should be noted; E-conolights ballasts are non-returnable, even if unopened/unused (as best as I could gather).

So. I guess, if you guys'll have me, I'll be a member of the 150w club for at least one grow (thanks to the Czechs, but that's for my nest post!).

[Vern Equinox]

I've only seen mention of these guys' unbelievable 150 watt tubular scrogs in one other thread here. What they've accomplished is nothing short of revolutionary (IMAO), routinely pulling 138g-143g (of Jack Herer as well; low yielding strain) from a single 150 grow (both soil and hydro) in their super-simple setup that used two ice barrell keg holders (like getting two small pond liners from the garden section of Home DePot) and the tube of chickenwire. Some of you old dawgs may noticed this design is like a poor-boy's Phototron...awesome!

After OG went down, I Googled tubular scrog or vertical scrog and came across these pics, and that's when everything changed. Within about 30 seconds I knew I was somehow incorporating this into a C24 cabinet, and that my first grow (start to finish) was going to be something special thanks to G_MAN and prenda.

Link to G_MAN's incredible grow:
https://grower.cz/forum/showthread.php?threadid=11193


Again, I haven't seen much of these guys mentioned here, and I thought it was long overdue.

[SourDog]

Originally Posted by overgrowin

Hey Pipedream,
I remember your thread from overgrow.
I recently bought the e-conolight 150 hps, gutted it and did a remote ballast
in a small cab, 2 square feet to be exact.

Temps stay about 5 degrees above room temps right now but I know
I'll have problems this summer with the current ventilation setup.
been working on the bake a round cool tube so I'll be ready for summer.

Looking forward to seein' some eye candy in here!

sounds about the same size ive been thinking about... 2.15ish...32inches tall... what kind of ventilation are you using?? is it 5 degrees higher with/without ventilation? do you use any special reflector(vented)?

i havent gotten my light, but cant stop thinking about getting an econ0 light for $35...



how many squarefeet do yall use with your 150w and what's your average yield??

i thought about using cfl's, but i got a 100cfm inline and im not excited about .33g per watt with cfl's..

Wassup Everybody? Nice looking nugs!
Long time lurker, first time poster, so here are some pics from my first go with a 150.

3 bagseed plants, 2 deemed Shishkaberry and 1 Berryhaze. Roughly .4 gpw.



Germed in tap water, sprouted in window, stretched under a 60w incandescent!




I picked the best few of what I had, took the tops and culled the rest. By the time those tops rooted, I had my wits about me, set up a closet, and started training. This is when all the countless hours of lurking here and OG start paying off.
The Berryhaze is the tall one, in case your interested.








Turning Buddha








First falls the Shishkaberry, fruity and sticky







The Berryhaze was dropped maybe a week behind the shish, with her spicy ass. Had a blue tint after curing.









Both had a very clear headie high. Very inspirational. Very sticky. Also, both seemed to be a little bit slow, wanting to flower forever. Both seemed to be low-odor strains. The Shishkaberry had a stronger cured flavor for sure.

I also have a C-25 going with CFLs on top, 150 down below. (2) 10 gallon DWC tubs. I gotta post pics of that later. Maybe in the C-13 thread??? What do you think Puta?!

Vern, thanks for putting up those pics man, I totally forgot about the v-scrog. Gotta try it sometime later this year. Looks perfect for the 150 heads, AND I already have chicken wire from my current scrog in the above closet. (post those pics later too)

[sugabear_II]

cool pics y'all

Vern - prenda used to post on the 150 club thread - his grows were very inspirational - I knew a few people who are trying the style he pioneered. If I knew Checz I'd go tell him to stop by here.

User Name those are some really nice pics the last macro is especially lovely - good job !

sourdog - I use my 150 in a 30" wide x 30" high x 15" deep cabinet - I use a dayton 134 CFM blower hooked to a professional store bought carbon can scrubber and have found the combination to be very good - my temps stay 'round 5 degrees over ambient always.

-suga

[ickster]

Vern,
You Should start a new thread with that circular scrog (?), my jaw dropped when I saw it. Way Cool!