" What’s the running cost of LED Grow light | Herbal House NZ

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Cost of running a LED Grow light

When growing plants indoors, even if it’s just a small space, there are plenty of running costs to consider. Between lights, filters and fans, monthly power bills can quickly rise as soon as you start your growing journey.

The major consumer of energy is going to be your grow lights, so use our LED grow light cost calculator below to give yourself the heads up about how much your monthly bills might be.

How much power do LED grow lights use? 

The good news is that LED lights are incredibly efficient in terms of energy consumption. And, as more and more development and technology arise, manufacturers are on a constant drive to push efficiency more and more.

When measuring the cost of LED grow lights, it’s really based on how many lights you need to cover the grow space, and how long they’ll be running for. (Remember: If you’re using a number of grow lights, make sure to double check that your power circuit can actually handle the power draw!) If you need a large number of lights to cover your space, unsurprisingly, the bills are going to also show a large number...

Cost of LED grow lights 

When comparing grow lights, you might be tempted to look at the wattages for each. But in actual fact, a 400w HPS isn’t the same as a 400w LED. Another trick to remember is to look at the actual wattage of your light, rather than just going off what the manufacturer says.

You’ll often find that LED lighting totally outperforms other types of grow light with the same wattage.

Calculating led grow light cost per month

You can use our grow light calculator below to understand more about how your specific grow lights will cost to run. But here’s a general equation to use:

Total kilowatts x cost per kilowatt hour x hours per day x 30 day

So, if you wanted to know how much does a 100w LED grow light use when used for 12 hours a day, the calculation would look similar to this:

0.1 x $0.29 x 12 x 30 = $10.44/month

How to reduce LED grow light cost per month 

If you’re still stressed about the running costs of your grow lights, there are a few things you can do to reduce the cost. One idea would be to switch up when you’re running your grow lights. There are certain times of day in which electricity costs more or less than other times. And it’s usually midday when electricity costs are at their lowest. Running your grow lights during this period could potentially reduce your monthly fees.

You should now have a bit of a better idea as to how much your LED grow light costs per month. Of course, it will still depend on the time of day you’re running them, how many lights you need and the electricity rate in your area.