hello everyone. new here with my first post and technical question. i read lots about all the different lighting types and their usages. ive seen many configurations and setups. ive also read about the importance of light leakage and their effects. what has me curious is what are the effects of frequent power outages from the utility grid while in the veg cycle or flower cycle. back up power is available but from the time when the power goes out until the back up power is supplied could be from minutes to hours. how does one deal with that if its a frequent occurance?
Power interruptions
- Thread starter mickles
- Start date
Truth Seeker
New Member
First, Welcome to 
Depending on the frequency and duration of the outages, it may or may not be a problem.
To better understand how outages may affect your crop, you need to know how the light schedules work and how they relate to the flower/veg periods.
First, many people seem to think that light is the determining factor for flower or veg, it is exactly the opposite; it is the dark hours that trigger the flowering phase.
I explain.
The plant produces a hormone (can't remember the name) during dark hours, this hormone is responsible for triggering flowering. This hormone is destroyed upon exposure to light so when you have the plant under 18/6 then the hormone doesn't have enough time to build up and trigger flowering. When you switch to 12/12 then the hormone does have enough time to build up and trigger flowering.
So, a power outage during lights on at the flowering phase is not dangerous in that it will not revert back to veg, however the longer the plant stays in the dark the less it will grow. So with frequent power outages your plant won't grow as good as it would with a constant light source. Other issues you may face because of the outages are stress for the plant, which may lead to stunted growth, also it may turn into a hermie and ruin everything.
A power outage during lights on for the veg phase has more serious consequences in that if the plant experiences 12 hours or more of darkness it will start to flower, if the lights come back to normal then it will revert back to veg, it may do this several times depending on how frequent and long the outages actually are. This will result in extreme stress for the plant and it may turn into a hermie or get seriously stunted growth.
How you deal with power outages, if a power gen is out of the question (they are expensive, noisy, and pollute) the I'd suggest getting some emergency lights. Those that are constantly plugged in and when the power goes off they come on instantly.
These lights won't provide the same quality light that you need but it'll be more than enough to keep the plant into a regular light schedule.
The plant won't receive as much useful light as it needs to develop properly but at least she won't experience stress due to constant outages and you'll be able to stay on schedule and without light related problems.
Hope this helps.
Good luck and happy growing!!
Depending on the frequency and duration of the outages, it may or may not be a problem.
To better understand how outages may affect your crop, you need to know how the light schedules work and how they relate to the flower/veg periods.
First, many people seem to think that light is the determining factor for flower or veg, it is exactly the opposite; it is the dark hours that trigger the flowering phase.
I explain.
The plant produces a hormone (can't remember the name) during dark hours, this hormone is responsible for triggering flowering. This hormone is destroyed upon exposure to light so when you have the plant under 18/6 then the hormone doesn't have enough time to build up and trigger flowering. When you switch to 12/12 then the hormone does have enough time to build up and trigger flowering.
So, a power outage during lights on at the flowering phase is not dangerous in that it will not revert back to veg, however the longer the plant stays in the dark the less it will grow. So with frequent power outages your plant won't grow as good as it would with a constant light source. Other issues you may face because of the outages are stress for the plant, which may lead to stunted growth, also it may turn into a hermie and ruin everything.
A power outage during lights on for the veg phase has more serious consequences in that if the plant experiences 12 hours or more of darkness it will start to flower, if the lights come back to normal then it will revert back to veg, it may do this several times depending on how frequent and long the outages actually are. This will result in extreme stress for the plant and it may turn into a hermie or get seriously stunted growth.
How you deal with power outages, if a power gen is out of the question (they are expensive, noisy, and pollute) the I'd suggest getting some emergency lights. Those that are constantly plugged in and when the power goes off they come on instantly.
These lights won't provide the same quality light that you need but it'll be more than enough to keep the plant into a regular light schedule.
The plant won't receive as much useful light as it needs to develop properly but at least she won't experience stress due to constant outages and you'll be able to stay on schedule and without light related problems.
Hope this helps.
Good luck and happy growing!!
power cuts are bad.
dark periods promise the plant its time to flower, then light takes the promise back. this is like gas lantern routine but without control.
short power cuts can damage equipment. ballasts like 15 minutes to settle after they lose power before you turn them back on.
CFLs do not mind power cuts, works perfect in combination with solar powered lights, but only during veg as solar lights coming on in your deliberate dark period is bad too.
solutions are either a generator or an uninterruptable power supply.
A DIY u.p.s can be made from car/truck battery chargers connected to lots of batteries connected to a 12vdc to 120/240ac inverter.
your grow room power is converted to 12v (if using 12v batteries (most abundant type in UK)) and then used to keep the batteries full. the batteries discharge into the inverter converting the electricity to the format your equipment uses (220-240 volts in UK).
if my maths is correct, 2 or more( in parallel not serial) 50+ amp 12v car batteries could run a kilowatt light for an hour
dark periods promise the plant its time to flower, then light takes the promise back. this is like gas lantern routine but without control.
short power cuts can damage equipment. ballasts like 15 minutes to settle after they lose power before you turn them back on.
CFLs do not mind power cuts, works perfect in combination with solar powered lights, but only during veg as solar lights coming on in your deliberate dark period is bad too.
solutions are either a generator or an uninterruptable power supply.
A DIY u.p.s can be made from car/truck battery chargers connected to lots of batteries connected to a 12vdc to 120/240ac inverter.
your grow room power is converted to 12v (if using 12v batteries (most abundant type in UK)) and then used to keep the batteries full. the batteries discharge into the inverter converting the electricity to the format your equipment uses (220-240 volts in UK).
if my maths is correct, 2 or more( in parallel not serial) 50+ amp 12v car batteries could run a kilowatt light for an hour
totemic
New Member
I'm surprised the smell factor has not come up in this thread.
Say there's an outage, and you've got several plants in full flower. Your carbon scrubber hasn't been scrubbing and venting for hours now.
Let's say you're in an apartment setting.. prepare to stink up the building baby! That part is a greater fear to me than stressing the plants.
Don't want the wrong people sniffin' at your door.
Say there's an outage, and you've got several plants in full flower. Your carbon scrubber hasn't been scrubbing and venting for hours now.
Let's say you're in an apartment setting.. prepare to stink up the building baby! That part is a greater fear to me than stressing the plants.
Don't want the wrong people sniffin' at your door.
Alienpus
Well-Known Member
I don't know how often you mean by frequent, lets say 3 hours a week. Odor and loss of heating would be your primary concerns, if applicable. An extra 3 hours dark once a week will not affect your flowering plants in any meaningful way. As for veg, your power outages would have to last for 6 hours before backup kicks in if you are 18/6 and be timed with the upcoming dark period be be able to trigger flowering. A few hours less veg growth a week would not be significant. If they last for more than 20 min HID ballasts will not be re-striking and would be fine also.
jonni2tokes
420 Member
do i just leave timer as ( 4 hr outage ) its 4 hrs behind now ? or change to 8pm to 8am that it was ? thanks jonathanFirst, Welcome to
Depending on the frequency and duration of the outages, it may or may not be a problem.
To better understand how outages may affect your crop, you need to know how the light schedules work and how they relate to the flower/veg periods.
First, many people seem to think that light is the determining factor for flower or veg, it is exactly the opposite; it is the dark hours that trigger the flowering phase.
I explain.
The plant produces a hormone (can't remember the name) during dark hours, this hormone is responsible for triggering flowering. This hormone is destroyed upon exposure to light so when you have the plant under 18/6 then the hormone doesn't have enough time to build up and trigger flowering. When you switch to 12/12 then the hormone does have enough time to build up and trigger flowering.
So, a power outage during lights on at the flowering phase is not dangerous in that it will not revert back to veg, however the longer the plant stays in the dark the less it will grow. So with frequent power outages your plant won't grow as good as it would with a constant light source. Other issues you may face because of the outages are stress for the plant, which may lead to stunted growth, also it may turn into a hermie and ruin everything.
A power outage during lights on for the veg phase has more serious consequences in that if the plant experiences 12 hours or more of darkness it will start to flower, if the lights come back to normal then it will revert back to veg, it may do this several times depending on how frequent and long the outages actually are. This will result in extreme stress for the plant and it may turn into a hermie or get seriously stunted growth.
How you deal with power outages, if a power gen is out of the question (they are expensive, noisy, and pollute) the I'd suggest getting some emergency lights. Those that are constantly plugged in and when the power goes off they come on instantly.
These lights won't provide the same quality light that you need but it'll be more than enough to keep the plant into a regular light schedule.
The plant won't receive as much useful light as it needs to develop properly but at least she won't experience stress due to constant outages and you'll be able to stay on schedule and without light related problems.
Hope this helps.
Good luck and happy growing!!
jonni2tokes
420 Member
First, Welcome to
Depending on the frequency and duration of the outages, it may or may not be a problem.
To better understand how outages may affect your crop, you need to know how the light schedules work and how they relate to the flower/veg periods.
First, many people seem to think that light is the determining factor for flower or veg, it is exactly the opposite; it is the dark hours that trigger the flowering phase.
I explain.
The plant produces a hormone (can't remember the name) during dark hours, this hormone is responsible for triggering flowering. This hormone is destroyed upon exposure to light so when you have the plant under 18/6 then the hormone doesn't have enough time to build up and trigger flowering. When you switch to 12/12 then the hormone does have enough time to build up and trigger flowering.
So, a power outage during lights on at the flowering phase is not dangerous in that it will not revert back to veg, however the longer the plant stays in the dark the less it will grow. So with frequent power outages your plant won't grow as good as it would with a constant light source. Other issues you may face because of the outages are stress for the plant, which may lead to stunted growth, also it may turn into a hermie and ruin everything.
A power outage during lights on for the veg phase has more serious consequences in that if the plant experiences 12 hours or more of darkness it will start to flower, if the lights come back to normal then it will revert back to veg, it may do this several times depending on how frequent and long the outages actually are. This will result in extreme stress for the plant and it may turn into a hermie or get seriously stunted growth.
How you deal with power outages, if a power gen is out of the question (they are expensive, noisy, and pollute) the I'd suggest getting some emergency lights. Those that are constantly plugged in and when the power goes off they come on instantly.
These lights won't provide the same quality light that you need but it'll be more than enough to keep the plant into a regular light schedule.
The plant won't receive as much useful light as it needs to develop properly but at least she won't experience stress due to constant outages and you'll be able to stay on schedule and without light related problems.
Hope this helps.
Good luck and happy growing!!
First, Welcome to
Depending on the frequency and duration of the outages, it may or may not be a problem.
To better understand how outages may affect your crop, you need to know how the light schedules work and how they relate to the flower/veg periods.
First, many people seem to think that light is the determining factor for flower or veg, it is exactly the opposite; it is the dark hours that trigger the flowering phase.
I explain.
The plant produces a hormone (can't remember the name) during dark hours, this hormone is responsible for triggering flowering. This hormone is destroyed upon exposure to light so when you have the plant under 18/6 then the hormone doesn't have enough time to build up and trigger flowering. When you switch to 12/12 then the hormone does have enough time to build up and trigger flowering.
So, a power outage during lights on at the flowering phase is not dangerous in that it will not revert back to veg, however the longer the plant stays in the dark the less it will grow. So with frequent power outages your plant won't grow as good as it would with a constant light source. Other issues you may face because of the outages are stress for the plant, which may lead to stunted growth, also it may turn into a hermie and ruin everything.
A power outage during lights on for the veg phase has more serious consequences in that if the plant experiences 12 hours or more of darkness it will start to flower, if the lights come back to normal then it will revert back to veg, it may do this several times depending on how frequent and long the outages actually are. This will result in extreme stress for the plant and it may turn into a hermie or get seriously stunted growth.
How you deal with power outages, if a power gen is out of the question (they are expensive, noisy, and pollute) the I'd suggest getting some emergency lights. Those that are constantly plugged in and when the power goes off they come on instantly.
These lights won't provide the same quality light that you need but it'll be more than enough to keep the plant into a regular light schedule.
The plant won't receive as much useful light as it needs to develop properly but at least she won't experience stress due to constant outages and you'll be able to stay on schedule and without light related problems.
Hope this helps.
Good luck and happy growing!!
I don’t think that guy is around anymore.
I just reset it back to the usual schedule, for personal convenience. Digital timers do this for you.
I just reset it back to the usual schedule, for personal convenience. Digital timers do this for you.
Fuzzy Duck
Well-Known Member
eR ARE people bored they have to dredge up 2013 posts.... ye typo at the beginning I see !
The latest forum upgrade is dredging them up for us, Fuzzy. Do you still use that perfect pipe? I’ve got one coming in the mail.
Fuzzy Duck
Well-Known Member
If in a remote area a generator should be ok.
So some sort of city etc some where... ?
Well that is a different ball game & it would depend on how often this happens as some parts of world do not have 24/7 electricity.
So some sort of city etc some where... ?
Well that is a different ball game & it would depend on how often this happens as some parts of world do not have 24/7 electricity.
Fuzzy Duck
Well-Known Member
On occasion I still use the perfect pipe, I'm still a little bit old school with pure herb combustion even tho I prefer to vape these days. I think that little pipe has it part to play & the story shall be told.
I have a couple of Perfect Pipes I hit from time to time.
I never noticed the date until you pointed it out. I have made that mistake in past, posts appear currant for some reason but are actually archived? I’ll have to be more careful.
Won one in the photo contest. I like little one or two hitter pipes. I think I’ll enjoy it. Till I break it...
.Though I had to pay $60 to get the free prize here so it would have been cheaper to just buy in Canada ha ha ha.
