Vincerama2
Supporting Member
I run my lights usually from 12 noon to about 1AM. This was because my old electrical metering sort of made sense then. However, I switched many years ago tot he PG&E EV-A plan for electric car charging that moves cheap power to the mornings.
The EVA rates are
12AM-3PM = 24 cents/kw
3-4PM = 45 c/kw
4-9PM = 56 c/kw
9PM-12AM = 45 c/kw
So you can see there is a clear advantage to running lights earlier.
I'm using LEDs with a white channel and a blue channel. Currently I start the lights gently. There are three fixtures and I simulate a sort of sunrise by turning on the right fixture as blue. Then a half hour later the middle light blue turns on and the right light has both blue and white, then a half hour after the left light is blue and the other two are both. then all lights are one and in the evening I reverse this. I did this mainly to not shock my fish, which all died off two years or so ago, so no reason to keep it going, I think I can just turn on all blues, then add the whites a half hour later.
Now I'm thinking 7AM->3pm all whites OR both, then switch to blues for the rest of the evening, since stuff looks better under just blues anyway and shut them off around 10 or 11 pm.
I'm just thinking out loud and wondering how you guys manage your lights with TOU power metering. And I am doing this due to the shock of having a $561 PG&E bill last month.
V
The EVA rates are
12AM-3PM = 24 cents/kw
3-4PM = 45 c/kw
4-9PM = 56 c/kw
9PM-12AM = 45 c/kw
So you can see there is a clear advantage to running lights earlier.
I'm using LEDs with a white channel and a blue channel. Currently I start the lights gently. There are three fixtures and I simulate a sort of sunrise by turning on the right fixture as blue. Then a half hour later the middle light blue turns on and the right light has both blue and white, then a half hour after the left light is blue and the other two are both. then all lights are one and in the evening I reverse this. I did this mainly to not shock my fish, which all died off two years or so ago, so no reason to keep it going, I think I can just turn on all blues, then add the whites a half hour later.
Now I'm thinking 7AM->3pm all whites OR both, then switch to blues for the rest of the evening, since stuff looks better under just blues anyway and shut them off around 10 or 11 pm.
I'm just thinking out loud and wondering how you guys manage your lights with TOU power metering. And I am doing this due to the shock of having a $561 PG&E bill last month.
V
