Poultry house power usage

[chickens and wheat]

I messed about with cheap dimmable leds, sold to me not so cheap, two lanes of dimmable one lane of non dim.

After many trips up ladder changing failed units I ripped all out and fitted proper dimmable tubes . Never looked back

If you are putting led units in flourescent boxes be aware they are much heavier and could damage the tube holders .

 

[chickens and wheat]

As i converted to led shed by shed in 2014, I used amp readings to calculate the savings , the cost to run 51 ft tubes and 40 2ft tubes dropped from £16/day to £6. (Maybe 12p/kw then). (I have found the old spreadsheet i used but i didnt label it well )
This is allowing for dimming as birds grow and the dark periods at night.
If you have 2ft tubes replace them first as they were much more energy inefficient
Amps on 2ft tube shed dropped from 20+ to 6ish at full power,. 4 amps at low dim I seem to remember
New tubes had been fitted in the 2 fts not long before the amp readings but the ballasts were all goosed and wastefull at 15years old

 

[chickens and wheat]

1 more thing, in 2013 i fitted a 8 ft led in farmhouse kitchen, as 8ft tubes became difficult to source. It so bright my young son walked and said 'dad you made it snow'
I turned the tube over light side up and its a very nice light now, and starts on the switch with no stutters and messing as tubes do
Still going well today

 

[Frodo]

Fairly sure they need to be dimmable, Our multi tier has dimmable fluorescents. I've always had a nightmare finding led bulbs that can be dimmed

How often do you actually use the dimmer?

 

[Daniel]

How often do you actually use the dimmer?

All the time, when the birds are young the tubes run at full brightness but with a ramp up and down at the start and end of the day. Then as they get older you run the lights at a lower brightness to try and help prevent feather pulling. I've been told that they don't pull the full 56w when dimmed, will have to investigate with a clamp meter in the morning.

 

[Only]

Our multitier has has 68 x 5ft fluorescent tubes in, the tubes are 58w and apparently the dimmer ballasts in each fitting use 13w.

71w x 68 fitting16 hours a day x 365 days a year = 21895kwh/year.

Our import rate has just jumped to 65p/unit so that’s £18300 a year just for lighting?!

Have you got your maths wrong here daniel