While going through a hydro mag I came across the Light Rail 3.5 and just found a website for it... http://www.lightrail3.com/lightrail.php Basically it moves the light back and forwards...genius me thinks...It says it can increase your effective growing area about 30% - 60%. Ok...60% increase is welcome but it sounds a bit much. I am thinking of buying a grow tent, 4' * 4' * 6' and was wondering if anyone had any experience with this bit of apparatus. Would it be too much for a 4' * 4' grow room? If not I might go for the 8' * 4' grow tent, but I can only really go for 1 600W light as I don't want to increase the risk of getting caught due to too much energy consumption. Would it work to have 1 600W light (maybe a couple of fluoros for shits'n'giggles) on an 8 ft light rail?
I assume the tent is 4x4 squre and 6 tall the light rail for that is 6 feet. I dont know if the rail can be cut shorter some can some cant. unless you live in BC I would not be concerned with power consumption. I own a cabinet shop with alot of high power equipment like 5 hp motors for table saws and stuff like that plus i had to 2 1000 and a 600 running there. i have had 600 dollar elec bills and in 10 years never had a problem. power consumption is only looked at if leo is trying to build evidence for a warrant. In which case you are already fucked. So get the 4x8 and slap 2 1000w in it. my 2 cents
Yes one of the tents is 4 * 4 but once you see the 4 * 4 your eyes wonder to the 8 * 4 and thank fuck that is the biggest size they have or I would end up buying a 12 * 4 Yes, the rails seem to be minimum 6ft so I would have to go for the bigger tent...oh well! I am not sure about puttin in 2 1000W...though I would love to, my concern is that I don't want a massive spike in my elec bill. Maybe a 1000W on a rail would cut it. Then again, the cost of a rail would offset an additional 1000W.
Been thinking about a plan for a light rail DIY. I will think some more and get back to ya. We may be able to make one pretty cheap, and run it on almost any voltage you'd like.
I have also been thinkiking on how to build a light rail. that would be a kick ass diy. Denial lights are pretty cheap even 1000 go htg supply they are out of pittsburg. they have the cheapest light ever. check out there electronic ballsts 200 bucks for 600w electronic ballast and hood. they also have 1000 ballast kits for 100. then make a cooltube diy. a 1000w hps for like 200-250 including shipping. the guy who owns htg is cool to sent me a bunch of free stuff to. unless i had a digital meter on my house i would not worry about spikes either if its analog wheel the power company cant tell where the spike came from. My uncle is a big wig at the local elec comp and we have had many in depth conversations about this. The only way you can get busted by elec comp is if you steal it. and doing that i would be more worried about vaporizing myself than jail time(very dangerous). running 2 1000 raised my bill like 100-150 a month or something not to bad.
OK. So I did a little research. Not complete Plans (pretty close), but anyone with decent engineering skills, some time to source the parts, and time to build it, could do this for under $75 by just looking at this sketch and list of major parts (I located all of these parts with ease on the net so it's not too hard to find em) Good luck to anyone that tries it. I would love to see it done. I'd do it, but I have no need for it, and my money is reserved for what I need for my setup right now.
Hehe...nice work there Don Piano. Some kick ass McGuyver skills there. The light rail seems like a really interesting piece of kit. They sell factory refurbs for $150 so only a $75 difference on building one. I say "only" but in reality that is for people who don't have the skills. If you are able to build one then go for it. One thing that the Light Rail seems to have that the sketch does not, is some sort of timer mechanism to regulate the speed of it. Or does it automatically reverse once it hits the end of the rail and speed is calculated by the rpm on it. Anyway, because of the risk involved in a self made light rail seizing up (I would class myself with medium style engineering skills) I would be inclined to go for a ready made one. If the thing collapses then I am putting all my plants at risk and increasing a fire risk, so weighing up cost and risk I would say buy one rather than build one. I spent last night pricing up my new grow room, and going for a 8 * 4 is a bit too expensive. Rather than going for a light rail and a 1000W I would be inclined to go for 3 600W as I feel it will give better coverage. 3 of them means 3 digital ballasts and so on, making the whole project a bit expensive. I think I will go for the 4 * 4 and use a 600W. On a different note I have read that some places do not stock a ballast for the 1000W because of safety concerns. Interesting side thought. Well, I have an analogue meter so it is quite interesting that it is easier for me to get away with it. See how my second grow goes and then possibly upgrade the size of the tent.
Yes the reverse is built into the stops on the end, the motor pushes the assm, into a stop and it pushes the black button on the side to flip the dpdt switch. Self reversing. Actually, I don't think that it collapsing would be a problem, and the motors i found have thermal protection, rated for continuious use, and run at 4rpm (should be plenty slow) I wish I needed this, So I could build one and show it. Basically what I did was figure out the inner workings of a store bought light rail, and sourced parts.
hydro farm makes a 100 dollar light rail. http://cgi.ebay.com/LIGHT-TRACK-RAI...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247 I had it but i preferred the one that is able to pause at both ends and put in certain stops.. O and if its a 4x4, just put a 1000 over the top w/o a mover. You will get some amazing results. Your bill will not spike too much.