Crap, 324 watts input. I guess the LED driver efficiency is a bit less than
I was expecting. But 324 vs 1000 watts per fixture, I will take the 67.6%
power reduction any day.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 4:54 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [AFMUG] LED project
Made some significant progress on a high bay metal halide LED replacement
project today.
Can you tell which light is mine in the photo? If you look on the floor you
can see some labels we put down for a grid. I measured the LUX at each grid
point with metal halide and then with my LED.
If I integrate all the points on the grid, my LED is only 16 LUX lower but
at less than 30% of. The 300 watts is the max rating of my LED drivers. I
have not actually measured the input power yet, but I am pretty sure it will
be lower.
In an industrial setting you get hammered for your demand charges. The
highest power draw in a 15 minute window each month. I pay $14.62 per kW
demand. My warehouse burns 24kW just for the lights. So just turning on
the lights for 15 minutes one time in a month the bill is $350. Plus the
energy charge of $158/month for running them 8 hours a day.
This will take 16.8 kW off the demand which will save $245.62 each month.
Energy charges will be reduced $110 each month for a total savings of
$355.62/month if I convert all the fixtures. Not sure what it will cost me
to make each fixture but I might be able to sell them for that or a bit
more. Once done, if I turn this into a released product and someone
converts a warehouse like mind, the payback will be 12-18 months.
I am pretty jazzed. I have some heat issues. Right now I am using forced
air with muffin fans but we all know how reliable those things are. I hope
to have a heat pipe version working soon. No moving parts. Silent.
Then comes a dimmable version, a network version, motion sensor versions
etc. I can be pretty busy on this if I choose to do so. I am envisioning a
phone app where workers can turn on a light in the back corner if they need
it and either turn it off when they are done or it will time out after 30
minutes or some such thing. We can do time of day programs etc.
Best of all, my old metal halides are the type that take 15 minutes to come
back on if there is a power bump. These will be instant on.
