er doing some math here the current pfo light uses 25 lights per bank and 3w leds so 75w per bank. now thats 150w for two versus a single 250mh. (in PFO's testing)
for a 48 inch tank thats 300w as bean said, versus 500w. so should be right.
bean im not sure your math is right on the 400w due to the numbers being talked about wrongly (not by you the pfo lighting is supposed to replace 400w mh, not be 400w itself as i understand it)
the new leds for the 400w replacement are 4.5w and since its covering another 6 inches lets give each light 40 bulbs per strip to replace 400w mh. (i think it will be less as its 4 x5 long and so i think it'll be another 10 - 15 again very rough guesstimate)
40x 4.5 = 180w x4 = 720w so you save 60w
for safety and alot of margin lets say the banks are 50 bulbs per area, thats 225w per bank. (still think its prolly closer to 35-40 due to the size front to back but just to be safe lets assume,
so 800w mh (2x400) versus thats 900w PFO if they stick to 4 banks at 50 lights (thats the absolute almost impossibility no reason to rate them that high ever.
i still think itll be 2 banks of 50 at 550w or maybe 4 of 40 a 720w. either way your saving a bit in power. Until we know how many lights are in each array for sure (are they using 2 bigger arrays or 4 smaller etc etc, i can only guesstimate.
before this renews again into a whos and whats, im not discussing the power to your house costs at all, until ppl post their actual KWH rates.
i still agree with beans rates there as far as what it "should" cost. that being said my town uses AEP, which is now charging us an additional 25% hike, but its not updated on the maps because they hiked the rate first then are going and asking for approval. if they do not get approval they refund the extra rate, but for now im paying .12 i think atm, ill have to check the next bill to be sure.
either way, regardless of the actual power savings, there is inherently quite a bit that while not truely scientific is good enough for anyone to agree on. ill state them with numbers if anyone wants to debate them
the lighting doesnt heat the tank as much. people have posted less felt heat, less actual tank heat, less chiller usage and the need to plug in heaters. that last one is important.
1. the less water heat. LEDS dont put out nearly the radient heat for the same distance as MH bulbs etc, due to the way the LED is made. while there is alot of heat, the LED itself is or can be cool to the touch (not sure on the luxeons because i dont have them here to play with, so take this as a general led statement.)
2. less usage of the chiller. as many people forget, a chiller pulls heat out of the water, and dumps it into the air. now if your chiller and your tank is in the same room, the heat is literally helping to raise your tank temp, as the water in the tank naturally settles to the ambient temp if left to cool(maybe within a degree or so) one reason why good venting (like Hahn has) can severely lower your bills even with MH hen also with the chiller not using power there is savings, this carries over to your house AC as well, it works less to remove heat from the chillers and lights where there is less to remove.
3 HOWEVER, if you have to plug in a water heater that is using 200w of power to keep your tank temp stable, you are actually creating the same problem as with the chiller in the room but in reverse. the heater is raising the tank temp using power, and the room is being cooled and trying to cool the water as well. your better off lessening the tank temp, or raising your A/c to run at the same temp as the tank, or isolate the tank in a room so that you can do this. otherwise to be honest your not saving nearly the power by the numbers that you think.
also as these posts have been made, the northern hemispere has been cooling off considerably compared to the summertime when this thread was started. so a better way of analyzing power is using a killa watt meter and or comparing the bills for the same months from each year (provided you dont change the tank equip at all).
I think the PFO setup is a great idea, I was at IMAC 06, i got to play with it, and talk to PFO as well as some of the larger names in the biz. I went as part of the WWM group , so dont take this as saying the PFO isnt a good idea or anything, im only analyzing "real" power usage as roughly as we can estimate.
) you pay $3.85 per day in lighting and cooling. That comes out to $115 a month.
And I'll be watching for your post.
