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Ophanim
The Molecule'sSpirit



Registered: 10/01/07
Posts: 1,002
Last seen: 5 years, 9 months
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Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage
#7759576 - 12/14/07 06:34 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I've heard a lot of things about light dangers: Drawing attention from spiking electricity usage, drawing attention from heat sensors, etc.
Now for someone who'd like to grow a good number of cacti and a number of other plants, is there any established "limit" one should abide by, as far as total wattage, number of lights, etc? I am of course only interested in growing legal things, but I wouldn't want there to be any... confusion.
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Overclock22
Here, There andBack Again



Registered: 09/19/07
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Loc: NY
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: Ophanim]
#7759686 - 12/14/07 07:01 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Police have access to records like power usage and the like but they wont tap into them unless there is something else that tips them off. Just don't have crazy light coming from basement windows or something that would normally tip someone off and you should be fine.
-------------------- He did not laugh as his eyes stopped in awareness of the earth around him. His face was like a law of nature-a thing one could not question, alter or implore. It had high cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks; gray eyes, cold and steady; a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint. If you wake up at a different time in a different place, can you wake up a different person? Cf. A.C. Doyle "I'll rise above this, you can't keep me down, for I am Divine, and I know it all too well."
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: Ophanim]
#7759687 - 12/14/07 07:01 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Well I'll ignore the application,as I don't know anything about it, but lighting usually comes into play after suspicioun is drawn upon you allready- unless you have visible high-intensity light or some other visual clue.
The thing is there is no reason a utility company couldn't rat you out for any reason whatsoever, so just stay under a reasonable limit.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no reason law enfrocment needs a warrant or whatnot to use information obtained from a utility unless there was an illegal search. SO just play it safe
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Ophanim
The Molecule'sSpirit



Registered: 10/01/07
Posts: 1,002
Last seen: 5 years, 9 months
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: johnm214]
#7759882 - 12/14/07 07:41 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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So would a single 1000 watt be likely to draw too much attention? Or for a personal closet grow would 400 watts do the trick?
Let's assume this is a personal grow. The individual has no interest at all in selling (or even sharing, since sharing means people knowing). The individual would like to grow a decent number of plants, probably one of each. Salvia, some herb(s), MHRB or similar DMT container, maybe Kraton and Morning Glory. The only real concern is the cacti since a decent amount of them ends up being like 30 cacti...
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: Ophanim]
#7759951 - 12/14/07 08:03 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I don't think the wattage of the bulb is what you need to worry about, its your overall household useage.
That said, I doubt you have anything to worry about as far as the electricity, but I'm not knowledgable about these things, and what a utility company would or wouldn't find suspicious
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: Ophanim]
#7764682 - 12/16/07 03:08 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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> So would a single 1000 watt be likely to draw too much attention?
They look at trends over a long period of time and compare to other homes in the area. Adding a 1000 watt light increases your power consumption by 24000 watt hours per day. In comparison, adding a new television would add around 1500 watt hours per day (with around ten hours of usage). As you can see, it is difficult to justify such a large increase in power usage.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: Seuss]
#7768173 - 12/17/07 01:39 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Check out this story and application for a warrant.
The sum total of evidence that got an innocent family (innocent in the sense they don't grow, not in the sense they were minding their own buisness- though that too) raided was:
1. High energy bill 2. They put their trash out the day it was to be picked up, not the night before (I'm serious, read the application) 3. A drug dog sniffed the garage and alerted (which I'm sure can be rigged, a dog alerted on my car before too, hadn't had anyone that smoked pot in it, and I hadn't smoked or used detectable drugs, they found nothing but were dicks about it)
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0330044pot1.html
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ninfan77
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: johnm214]
#7768383 - 12/17/07 06:27 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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For one, thats California where they have a hard on for indoor grow ops.
Secondly page 3, line 18, "source of information" that then prompted them to pull the electric records.
That source could be a snitch, a pissed off neighbor, lots of things. The rest of that warrant affadavit is the narcotics officer touting his training and explaining how indoor grow ops typically work. Nothing else in there proved anything about the homeowners guilt.
It's sad that all one has to do is call in a "tip", the agent does some very precursory investigation, writes a long winded affadavit about how experienced he and the drug dog are, then bam. Knock down doors.
The power usage didnt turn them in, the "source of information" told to another officer did.
Hell, i use over 3,000 kwh a month doing nothing but my day to day stuff. And yes, i put my trash out the day of pickup, why? because animals and hobos like to rummage through it.
So in conclusion, THE ELECTRIC USAGE DIDNT SPUR THE WARRANT, THE "SOURCE" DID.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Legal Lighting safety: Heat & Electricity usage [Re: ninfan77]
#7768401 - 12/17/07 06:46 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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While we can't know what motivated the application, we do know what led to the issuance of the warrant, and that was not the anonymous tip- at least per the controlling law.
Hearsay is proper in the application for a warrant in California, when its a factual, not conclusory, allegation, where it has sufficient factual content demonstrate how the hearsay witness knew the allegation to be true, and where sufficient information is provided where the court can determine if the testimony is true.
As there was no evidence put forth as to who the source was, or how they knew marijuana was growing, the court couldn't have relied upon this statement.
It also doesn't appear that this statement was put forth as evidence by the officer, and was instead a predicate for the investigation culminating in the application.
While the court could have relied upon anything in its though process, the law only allows it to rely upon the evidence properly presented, which consists of what I outlined in my prior post, not the alleged source (which is surely bullshit given the scant details- maybe a utility worker, maybe some unconstitutional sweep of the house w/ a IR detector).
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