⌛ 110/120 volt appliances bring lower bills.

I've always wondered about 110v and 220v and if there is a savings going to 110v. Here is a fairly good explanation: Watts Cheaper 110 or 220 Volts

How much will I save on my electric bill if I run my lights on 220 volts?

A quick answer: Probably nothing.

This is a common misunderstanding about how electricity works and how the power companies charge you for it. The point often noted for the money saving argument is that the amperage is half as much when running grow lights on 220 volts instead of 110 volts. This is true but the utility company doesn’t charge you for amperage, they charge you for wattage. They bill you in kilowatt-hour units. A kilowatt-hour is 1000 watts of usage for one hour or approximately equals a 1000 watt light running for one hour. There’s a nice formula for this: Wattage / Voltage = Amperage. If we plug in the numbers for a 1000 watt sodium grow light, you can see that although the voltage and amperage can change, the wattage always stays the same.

1000 Sodium Grow Light
On 110 Volts: 1100W / 110V = 10A - On 220 Volts: 1100W / 220V = 5A
Note that a 1000 watt sodium ballast draws 1100 watts.

Right about now is when I get the question "well why do they make stuff to run on 220 volts then?" Usually large machines and appliances that draw lots of power run on 220 volts (or more) mainly because of the size wire you would need to use to run them on 110 volts would be very large. The gauge and length of the wire will determine the maximum amperage it will handle before it melts! On a 220 volt circuit, the load is split between two 110 volt wires. This allows you to run smaller wire. This brings us to the "probably" part of the answer. There is another factor, it’s the voltage drop or the voltage lost when the power travels down the wire. The lower the resistance on the wire, the less the voltage drop. If you are running one or two lights in a typical home with the breaker box a short distance away, the efficiency lost due to voltage drop may not be significant enough to justify rewiring your grow room for 220 volts.

 

In the case of "rated" amps. This is stated on the item at a given voltage. A general rule of thumb used (by most electrical engineers) is for a decrease of 5% of the nameplate rated voltage, the amp draw goes up 6.5 to 7%
And another general rule is that a 220 vac motor will stop working and/or burn the windings at 180 volts and below.
In my case, I have used many 440 volt motors (single phase) on applications that only have power supply of 400 vac (such as Singapore) with no adverse effects. I did discover that for longevity and rated ampcapity, it was better to use a 220vac motor and a step-down transformer to 220vac

 

"Grow room"

Whats up with that Lukester? :D

 

I don't know about here.....but we all know what a "grow room" in the US means. AND, a 1000 watt sodium grow light....... Hummmmm
Lolololol

 

And to answer Lukester question about why do we run large items on 220vac, it is because of the amps being half that of a 110vac unit and the needed wiring etc. That's why it is very hard to find an air con unit (in the US) that is 110-120vac over 2.5 tons (30,000 BTU) and even those are hard to find. Most 110-120vac unit stop at 1.5-2 tons of refrigeration (18,000-24,000 BTU).

 

Im surprised that i saved because i thought it would all equalize as in keeping the equation balanced,I run solar panels and convert that from 12 volt battery bank into 110 volt power and i do the equation there changing my volts and amps relative to the watts..the common rule is divide your watts by ten to get you amperage change per each multiplication by ten of your volts but then i found out that the exacting conversion is more like an 8 by or somewhere around there per each 10 fold increase as in 12 volt x 10 =120 volt therefore the associated amps should change inversly by ten but the true case is lesser in new designs,,I used to run digitally ballasted HPS grow lights(i refuse to get into the agriculture details)which did the 1000 watt rating but at a lesser energy strain than the old fashioned hotter/noisier ballast boxes,energy is bled off in noisiness and heat and if a design factors those things out then you begin to see the old equation shift to balance,the trusty old equations are a base line rationing system according to rough hewn models,new electronics are doing things that cause the equation to adjust....I also think that my transformer here is 500 watts of 220 volt rating so when i draw 110 v i get a 1000 watt rate,so if the power company is measuring only watts used by the kilo per hour then i see it possible that my savings this month are due to a loophole in the whole multi facetedness of energy...Theres a lot of info put here,i'm glad i will consider it alll and go factor the watts and amp ratings of all my appliances 110 and 220 to compare the difference in over all power they use..

 

So I wonder if the step down from 440 to 220 being better overall would go as far as stepping further down to 120 being even better?just a thought..I had a digital video game player that plugged into 220 or 120 without converter and showed no problem,my cell phone charger does the same i use it here and abroad with no transformer hassle but they both are drawing current and stepping it down to constant low voltage regardless of 220 or 110 draw??I wonder..

 

I don't think you have 440vac available (incoming), and if by some chance that you do, it is most likely 440vac - 3 phase power, which is heavy commercial or industrial power supply ( like to manufacturing plants).
It is very seldom that 440vac is run to a residential neighborhood.

 

Nothing i have or here tells me why the money values on my Noreco bill is the same when clearly I'm using more time and devices at home.So i go with the advise from my solarpanel and batteries/honda generator repair man in USA who say i should go with 12v(10) x 8 amps/8 =120 volts x 1 amp =120 watts so when steping up all the way to 240 i see watts being lost through out the process,but it goes on to show that in step down processes that the 1/8 fraction inverts to yield wattage gains> also when doing the 120 to 240 conversion the equation part for 1/8 doubles to yield 1.6 ,1.6 is the golden means or factor dubbed so for its occurence throughout nature and why be surprised to see it in this energy flow model? when push comes to shove its the equation that has to give to the reality of nature and energy..It shows 1.6 in relativity in the dimensions of squares and other shapes disected out of squares and in shapes with curves such as galaxies and hurricanes/typhoons and even eddies in the water or in wind gust cause its relative to the movement of energy that creates these shapes..so this equation/ model sings well with my bill enigma and the theory of relativity..Also I was advised that depending on the electrical system that 1/8 was seen varying as much as to 1/5 to 1/8.....I saved money and pondered why and learned something too its win win so far...thanks all..X-mas fun to you all..

 

I think you've been into the foliage in Lukesters grow room