Electricity usage 220W PC vs 175 MH

[Duce]

I am wondering which will use more electricity for the same lighting period
220W of PC (All-Glass brand)
or 175W MH (Magnetic Core & Ballast)
This is for 4' fish only tank.
Thanks

 

[flameangel88]

Watt for watt I would say 220w consumes more energy.

 

[Donjc]

Watts are watts bud. You get charged per kilowatt so every 1,000 watts per hour

 

[fishdoc11]

For a fish only tank I would go with coverage and coraline growth and PC's would win there over just one halide. As far as energy consumption watts are watts........
chris

 

[Duce]

What I understand is that electronic ballast are more energy efficient. It will take more than 175W to lit a 175W MH blub for a Magnetic Ballast - 30% more electricity? Whereas an Electronic Ballast is more efficient, more closer to the acutal bulb rating.
As I mentioned what I heard could be wrong...

 

[vishboy]

I would think that it would be less han 30% more, but I haven't really researched the topic.

 

[Reefugee]

What you need to do is look at the ballast. Don't assume that a 175 watt electronic MH ballast uses the same amount of engergy as a 175 watt magnetic ballast. Both are design to fire the same wattage bulb, but they may use different energy.

Take a look at each ballast. There should be a amp rating on it. Multiple the amp by volt, that will give you wattage. So on my IceCap 250 watt electronic ballast, the label says that it uses 2.35 amps. I measured my voltage at 120V, that would give me 2.35A x 120V = 282 watts. So in my case, I am using up about 30 watts just for the ballast.

With that said - a 220 watts PC will still use more power than a 175 watt MH - unless you find a super inefficient MH ballast.

Minh

 

[Reefugee]

PS - if you want to actually calculate KW usage, check out the following thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=655859

 

[vishboy]

But you wouldn't want to use only one 175watt MH over a 4' tank. You would need two to get the same coverage as the PCs.

 

[Ti]

higher wattage takes more, unles it somehow draws less than rated