solar powered grow room

[Bluff]

Anyone ever set solar panels to supplement the electrical cost of indoor grow rooms? Thinking a some 200watt panels would work nicely however, initial cost would be high..

 

[Ms.Fox]

^ Yes, initial cost would be astronomic. It's doable though.

 

[Bluff]

could for under 5 grand i bet with the right people..

 

[Retired One]

Just filled the entire south facing roof with panels to power my grow room under construction, and I can tell you it was a damn site more than any five grand, and that was without the tracking system installed.

 

[Bluff]

i believe you about cost, however the size of the system matters. Any tech specs to share, would love to how it transfers the light from the panel to a electrical panel..

 

[CharlieMopps]

Do you have a river/stream near your house. I always wondered how much it would cost to config an alternator to run off a shaft and paddles dipped in a section of stream with good flow. How much power do you think a person could generate from a windmill turned upside-down in a creek?

 

[Weed420]

A good alternator would put out 1200 watts, so you would probably need more than one, plus the storage batteries and inverter. Find an old gas generator that has a burned out motor. Then it already has the invertoe plus more watts.

 

[TorturedSoul]

a windmill turned upside-down in a creek?

You mean a water-wheel, like the mills of old used? Yeah, there are people generating electricity this way.

Here is a .PDF that tells how you can construct such a thing. It might provide you with some useful general information.

https://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/hydroelectric-generator.pdf

A google search of electrical generation "water wheel" watts brought me 4,740 results. A search through back issues of Mother Earth News would almost certainly give you an article or three about doing this kind of thing.

 

[sfhaze]

I believe in LED grow lights - like the ones from Haight Solid State. They are a lot lower power so the solar panels could be smaller and lower cost.