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View Full Version : 110v/220v...power savings in switching to 220...?

gforce
05-28-2007, 05:29 AM
i have heard that switching a ballast from 110 to 220 can cut down on your power consumption... i have 2 ballast's now [both 110v] but plan to buy more as my room grows in scale... some ballasts are set up to be wired for both...some are not... some are higher quality than others, there are the new dig ballests...[many variables]

at the end of the day, if it saves me money for power AND lowers my profile at the utility... then whats not to like... i can sell the 2 ballast's i have [if they cannot be wired for 220] on line... i am guessing that the reason that most ballast's come wired for 110v is that most growers don't want to have to drag out the stove and the dryer to get started...

if that is all true, then can someone tell me what the amperage drop would be in switching a 1,000 watt ballast from 110v to 220v...? i am building my grow room from scratch and can run as much power as i need... the home itself has a 200 amp box....first post..... thank you..... j
Lungus
05-28-2007, 06:20 AM
No, watts are watts. If a bulb is a 1000W, it burns 1000W of power an hour it doesn't matter at what voltage the power is delivered to the ballast at. Remember, your power is charged in kilo-watts, volts and amps are just the speed and volume at which the power is delivered.
nuggdigger
05-28-2007, 06:58 AM
can someone tell me what the amperage drop would be in switching a 1,000 watt ballast from 110v to 220v...?


and i just put this post up..lol...http://www.cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=3667

Watts = Amps * Volts

Amps = Watts / Volts

lets do the math:)

amps = 1000watts / 110Volts = 9.0909 repeating

amps = 1000watts / 220Volts = 4.5454 repeating

This clearly appears to be a matter of 6 of one, half a dozen of the other

peace:peace:
gforce
05-28-2007, 07:38 AM
No, watts are watts. If a bulb is a 1000W, it burns 1000W of power an hour it doesn't matter at what voltage the power is delivered to the ballast at. Remember, your power is charged in kilo-watts, volts and amps are just the speed and volume at which the power is delivered.

...DAMMIT...
Parabola
05-29-2007, 12:32 AM
I thnk the confusion lies in the fact that you can put more lights on a 30 amp breaker using 220v than you can with a 120v circuit. the wattage is the same it's just that a 220v circuit has about half the amperage. I hope this doesn't confuse the issue but there must be some reason for the popular misconception that 220v circuits use less power.
nuggdigger
05-29-2007, 07:07 AM
Yes Parabola, great thought. The advantage of running on 220 volts is you can optimize amps. For example 30amps at 110 volts may run 3 1k, but take a 30amp x 220 volt dryer plug and you could run 6K of watts.

also lets remeber...
The "indicated" power consumption of your HID or flourescent bulbs is not the actual amount of power they consume. These lights suffer from what's called "Ballast Factor."

Ballast Factor is the amount of power drained by the ballast