How efficient are LEDS, really?

[reefkush]

I have been debating on switching my halides to leds because of the reported power savings of many on threads that I have seen. These people claim that they saved 20 dollars a month up to 60 dollars a month by switching to LEDS.

I saw that I can save 60 bucks a month on my electric bill I was ecstatic. I paid 180 last month so it would bring it down to almost 100. Just recently I have found a reef calculator online and have found that to run my 3x250 watt halides it costs me 10 bucks a month running them for 7 hours a day. So something didn't add up, either these people are just working for led manufacturers or they just run 1000 watt lights 12 hours a day. Even if I bought the cheapest led fixtures from China which are the evolution leds, they would cost 600 for 3 fixtures. So that would take 6 years just to pay them off.

The other thing is what about in the winter time? Most people use halides for extra heat during the winter, so wouldn't the leds just cause the heater to kick in every few minutes making the energy saved on the light useless and lost by running the aquarium heaters a lot more?

 

[thewire]

I don't know where those people get their number, but you must factor in these:

1) you save $XX x 3 bulbs yearly replacement
2) less evaporation due to less heat
3) less heat = cooler house = less fan or ac
4) plus if build correctly, it last longer


So, yes I think you do save a lot more than just comparing apple to apple

 

[T Diddy]

I don't know where those people get their number, but you must factor in these:

1) you save $XX x 3 bulbs yearly replacement
2) less evaporation due to less heat
3) less heat = cooler house = less fan or ac
4) plus if build correctly, it last longer


So, yes I think you do save a lot more than just comparing apple to apple

...don't forget the chiller (for those that currently use/need them)

 

[spamreefnew]

the bulb replacement issue is what sold me on led's but i do notice that my electric and air conditioning loads are slightly lower to

 

[dlp211]

1) no bulb replacements
2) unless you are paying 7 cents a kWh, your math is wrong
3) Metal Hallides generating heat are not as efficient at making heat as heaters so while you will have to make this up, there is a more efficient method to do this.
4) no chiller
5) less water evap

 

[sanchoy]

So put your money where your wallet is.

How much do you actually save per month? not what a friend of a friend online told you?

 

[ludiNano]

In certain areas of the country the cost per kw is a lot more here in Iowa(ex) its .08 per and other areas its much much higher.

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

In certain areas of the country the cost per kw is a lot more here in Iowa(ex) its .08 per and other areas its much much higher.

ditto, the cost per kW is the key here. I have on peak and off peak billing, so with me it would take a very long time to break even. I will move on to LED's soon, but not because it will save me money, i will do it because it gives me something to tinker with. Personally the biggest upside is the savings in bulb cost, but not in money, in livestock. My critters are never happy when i change bulbs. The led's would keep em happy for 100,000 hours or so

I don't have the heat issues living at 9000' above sea level, but if i had to run a chiller, thats a significant cost, unless once again, your paying like .06 /kWh

If i where paying california rates for power, LED all the way. If i live in kansas, i would think twice.

 

[Anthony.Luciano]

i live in nyc so the charge is .10 per kwh
my annual saving in about $400 because of no light replacements
432 watts compared to the 1200 watt metal halide/t5 fixture
no heat transfer from the lights to the tank so my chiller never turns on i dont even have it connected.
so its really worth it plus with dimmable drivers you can change the color of the tank whenever you want instead of having to get a different color bulb and experiment with like $50 metal halide and t5 bulbs you can change the color without spending a dime.

 

[Roblox84]

ditto, the cost per kW is the key here. I have on peak and off peak billing, so with me it would take a very long time to break even. I will move on to LED's soon, but not because it will save me money, i will do it because it gives me something to tinker with. Personally the biggest upside is the savings in bulb cost, but not in money, in livestock. My critters are never happy when i change bulbs. The led's would keep em happy for 100,000 hours or so

I don't have the heat issues living at 9000' above sea level, but if i had to run a chiller, thats a significant cost, unless once again, your paying like .06 /kWh

If i where paying california rates for power, LED all the way. If i live in kansas, i would think twice.

Yeah same with me here. I pay 6.59 cents per kwh and leds aren't worth it, technically. I will change to leds just to have something to tinker with. The "i will save this much money per month" is mostly an excuse to buy another gadget for the hobby. I mean really, most people will buy expensive led units and 3 years later upgrade to another unit actually costing money in the long run instead of saving money.

 

[Anthony.Luciano]

well its not really an "excuse" it depends how big the tank is. my old lights were 1200 watts and now i have to keep my 432 watt leds on like 50% the whole day so thats 216 watts of lighting on my tank and i can grow anything in the tank because of how strong they are. so if you have a big tank they will save you hundreds but if you have a small tank you will probably upgrade by the year they even start to save you money, or maybe not because of bulb replacements and small led fixtures are cheap anyway

Yeah same with me here. I pay 6.59 cents per kwh and leds aren't worth it, technically. I will change to leds just to have something to tinker with. The "i will save this much money per month" is mostly an excuse to buy another gadget for the hobby. I mean really, most people will buy expensive led units and 3 years later upgrade to another unit actually costing money in the long run instead of saving money.

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

well its not really an "excuse" it depends how big the tank is. my old lights were 1200 watts and now i have to keep my 432 watt leds on like 50% the whole day so thats 216 watts of lighting on my tank and i can grow anything in the tank because of how strong they are. so if you have a big tank they will save you hundreds but if you have a small tank you will probably upgrade by the year they even start to save you money, or maybe not because of bulb replacements and small led fixtures are cheap anyway

im with you AJ, but i pay .04/kwH off peak so the cost savings to run is minimal for the upfront cost. that wont stop me from going full led because i want the controllability. I also like to build stuff so the DIY cree xpg build is coming up. i will probably never break even, but perhaps i will run my tank durning the on peak .10kWh time period

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

Yeah same with me here. I pay 6.59 cents per kwh and leds aren't worth it, technically. I will change to leds just to have something to tinker with. The "i will save this much money per month" is mostly an excuse to buy another gadget for the hobby. I mean really, most people will buy expensive led units and 3 years later upgrade to another unit actually costing money in the long run instead of saving money.

i cant sit still long enough for long time investments to pay off. By the time i have my 500 watt led array paid off i will have gone on to bigger and better things, or no things, or somethings.. who knows 15 years in this hobby and i have never had the same setup exactly set the same way for more then two years, especially lighting.

 

[Roblox84]

i cant sit still long enough for long time investments to pay off. By the time i have my 500 led array paid off i will have gone on to bigger and better things, or no things, or somethings.. who knows 15 years in this hobby and i have never had the same setup exactly set the same way for more then two years, especially lighting.

Yeah same here. My bulb change is coming up so I figured I will be paying almost 300 for 3 brand new radiums, why not just keep my halides for 6 more months and put that money towards a new diy led. Also, mainly because I am moving to s.carolina and I am scared about their summer heat and I want to keep the tank as cool as I can.

 

[ChuckLawson]

You can also save money on tank heating, if you heat the tank during dark periods to keep the temps from swinging. I used to run a 300 watt heater to keep the tank at 78, spiking to 82 with the MH on. With LEDs, tank stays at 74 (ambient room temp), goes up to 75 after 12 hours with the LEds on.

 

[rnscross]

:headwally: here is australia im paying 0.33 c/kW so LEDs save ALOT on electricity. Your electricity is extremely cheap comparitively... But then i look at coral prices and just :lolspin:

 

[jwoyshnar]

I posted this along time ago that if i switched to led it was something like 11 years for my return on investment. Bulb changes are not an issue for me as i got a superb deal on them so i bought enough for the next 5 years. I like to keep my tank at 78-79 so 2-300 watt heaters with led would basically negate any savings.

 

[frankpayne32]

I also did an in depth cost analysis of switching from MH/T5's to LED's. I pay $0.10/kWh and it costs me $19.34/month to run 704 watts of lighting. If I switched to LED's I would have to use at least (probably more) 72-3 watt LED's. I looked at either DIY an LED fixture and buying 3 Aquaillumination modules. I ran the cost projection out to three years because let's face it, by then most of us will be upgrading or changing the tank in some major way. Including factoring in electricity costs and bulb replacements. I would save $500 in three years if I DIY the fixture and I would LOSE $500 if I went with the Aquaillumination modules. I will probably switch to a DIY LED fixture one day but right now it doesn't seem quite worth it. I'm hoping that in one year's time the cost of LED supplies will have continued to drop and the benefit will be greater. On the other hand, if I didn't already own the MH/T5 fixtures then I would definitely go with LED's. But, in terms of replacing personally functional equipment I just don't quite think it's worth it for me yet. Oh, by the way, I do not run a chiller so that is not factored in. For those that do run one it might be more worthwhile. But, the vast majority of people don't need to run a chiller, they just think they do, but that's another argument altogether...

 

[chuckdallas]

I haven't done any detailed cost analyses like "frankpayne32" above, but what about the fact that LEDs have that AWESOME shimmer, like the sun and the moon do. I had T5s and they didn't do that. I don't think MHs do that, but I haven't had any, so I don't know. I love my LED pendants.

 

[frankpayne32]

I haven't done any detailed cost analyses like "frankpayne32" above, but what about the fact that LEDs have that AWESOME shimmer, like the sun and the moon do. I had T5s and they didn't do that. I don't think MHs do that, but I haven't had any, so I don't know. I love my LED pendants.

From the examples I have seen MH and LED's have comparable shimmer.