has anyone used a light mover?

Discussion in 'Advanced Growing Techniques' started by jiggaboojones, Apr 10, 2010.

  1. i am interested in weather or not these are a good idea for me anyone ever use one or know someone who has?
     
  2. I have a friend who uses one in his veg room with a 600w light and it seems to work pretty well. I asked if you could change the length that it moves and he said it's pretty simple. Just some tabs that you move in the motor or something like that.
     
  3. thanx , i have looked at the design n they are pretty basic , i just didnt know how productive they are . not many use them it seems. thanx again for the reply.
    i wonder what does your friend use to flower if you dont mind me askin?
     
  4. from what ive gathered most people i see say if you have a room big enough to use light movers.. you have a room big enough to setup multiple ballasts....


    and they suggest using 2-4 600w lamps in a row vs 1 1000w or 600w on a mover because when it moves down to the other end of the room your getting barely any light on beginning side.. there supposed to make plants grow equally as tall but i dont know... having 2 - 600w with a little bit of over lap in light sounds more beneficial to me then one side not getting like for 15+ min if it only moves every hour thats an hour of time they arent getting good light

    just my $0.02
     
  5. hey thanx for the change , $ ,;)
    its a good point i have been trying to figure how to save on heat and wattage. this is why i want to try to just use one light . also i have heard some of the movers have a 5 min cycle so the plants will only be without llight for this time .
     
  6. yeah guess it all depends what power cost in your area... i pay 0.059 per kwh so about $0.06 per 1000w each hour... so for me it would be easy to have 2 600w a 6 inch fan (about another 150w) and ducting leading to garage or outside somewhere so it would be maybe $0.09 an hour...* 18= about $1.62 a day extra on my bill and * 12 = $1.08. i really wouldnt mind paying $50 a month extra or $32.
     
  7. A bigger pro for a light mover is lower heats, closer lights. I can do a 3'*3' off of a 400w, keeping the light 10" away, or with a light mover, I can do a 3'*5' keeping the light 6" away. small differences, but that light is ALMOST twice as close, and the room is ALMOST twice as big. I should REALLY have a 600w in there, but a 400w two-way is what I have, so I just stuck a couple CFL on each end to even out the light and add a bit more oomph.

    The damn thing costs a fortune though. I would have been much happier buying a second 400w two-way to put in there, almost the same price....

    Also, if you plan on mounting it to the ceiling joists of a basement..... it kinda vibrates the flooring on the 1st floor enough for ME to notice it (probably noone who isn't listening for it, but.....)
     
  8. He uses 4 1000watters to flower. So, the light mover helps keep his electricity down.

    I do think a light mover would only be beneficial under certain circumstances. A room too big for one light, but kinda small for 2. Would be perfect for a light mover. The plants on one side would still be getting some light when the mover is on the other side. Of course keeping the light closer to the plants and not having to worry about burning tops is also a plus. Also reducing the amount of shadows and improving light penetration is it's key feature.
     
  9. #10 jiggaboojones, Apr 11, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 11, 2010
    yeah i was think of lining up my plants in a row 2 or thr3 wide for a undetermined length . using a 600 watt cooltube to cover 10 -15 plants or so . this way i can access them easy instead of square footage inside a tent would make a hastle moven everything around .

    heat is a mojor issue due to cost of ventilation and wattage . i dont want to spend all my extra wattage on fans . i would like to use the wattage mostly for effective efficiant lighting. SMELL IS A BIG HASSLE ALSO i have to address this proper as well so the more room i can free up from heat n wattage the better. i have a tall boy carbon filter frm htg and it is workin ok but i feel it could be better. the movers i see are about 300$ which isnt bad considering all i have spent already . if with one mover if i can eliminate 2-3 other appliances would prove to be beneficial.imo
    thanx for the comments real good stuff to think about .
     
  10. i wonder as you thin out your light if growth will slow up? or harvest take longer? will yield be as big? very interesting! let us know plz if you try it. thanking u
     

  11. I know we have had beef, but I don't hold a grudge. I hope you don't either. Especially not over some silly internet bullshit dealing with, of all things, weed.

    I use light movers in one of my flowering rooms, and aside from the hassle of routing wires and ducting to deal with the movement of the lights, they do exactly what they say.

    The room I use them in is 11X11 feet, and I have four 1000W lights on three rails in that space. The center rail has two lights, and the left and right rails have one light each. The rails are six feet long.

    If you can do it, use light movers.
     
  12. i apreciate the comment .it is always good to have first hand input.
    its all good if we stay civalized we should get along fine . so you have expanded a little and moved the op into the garage? or did you get like a warehouse for the mmj? btw are the rails noisy ? do they sound like a garage door opener or a smotth hum like a fan?
     
  13. i use a light mover and i do think they are good for a short rail. moving the light is not recommended usually by most master gardeners but i like to keep my 1000w in the midle of my 600s always moving on 3.5 feet. extending my 4x4 space that 1000w would cover to about a 4X6 constant open. i can cover a good 16X4-5 with that and two 600s. it helps spread that light a little better as well as helps penetrate most places that would be shadowed by towering nugs or other growth standing still. like i said light movers are constantly moving and the improvement is slight but worth it if you want to cover an extra few feet and eliminate some shadows. good luck,Peace, MACKD9:smoking:
     
  14. straight to the point , good shit . its exactly what i am lookin at to use this for .
     
  15. Glad my input could help. another tip, also i bought four magnetic clamps and four t5s , mounted them on each side of the hood to spread that light an extra foot and only using an extra 110watts.
    my space for flower is a 16X6 room and my two 600s are spread thru 8''XXXL Magnum hoods. i think my light spread is better now than it was with my three 1000 watters. with that mover and using 600s i can have the hoods closer to my tops for way better penetration and heat dispersion. that means no light burn:D. good luck with your set up. Mack:smoking:
     
  16. #17 jiggaboojones, Apr 13, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 13, 2010

    hell ya thanx , mack . i'll be rockin the 600 watt cooltube for now . but thats bangin info. i have already checked up on the magnet hooks for the singles . i might look into the hood too when i get the mover .hey not to pester ya but how do you deal with your temps ? i have a 435 cfm n some 100 cfm s also a window unit ac .but i'm tryin to figure the most stable and least expensive.if you can drop somethin with this would be helpfull... late.
     
  17. I have a 7 foot by 1.5ft closet because I live in a 2BR2bath apartment. So I use the whole length of a 6ft light track and it works great. My first grow (without track) was very uneven, and I had plants that were super tall and some that were super bushy. Obviously because of uneven light. Now that im on my second grow with the light track added, my plants look very even and much much better quality than my last plants. hope this helped. added a picture of my current blue dream harvest to give you an idea. Peace!
     

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  18. looks great . thanx for the reply
     

  19. Yeah, we are expanding as our client base grows. The contractor is just finishing up the new rooms, and he brought out a bunch of info on free standing greenhouses. Ultimately, I'm going to move everything into a purpose built grow structure of some kind.

    Anyhow, as far as noise goes, the movers I use are silent. I'm using the Light Rail Intellidrive 3.5. I might go up to the 5.0 for the bigger rooms, but I've had no problems with the 3.5.

    There are other linear movers that use a chain to move the lights, and I imagine they are louder than the version I use. They only use 5 watts, so power consumption is not an issue.

    The only difficulty I've run into is using six inch ducting to air cool the lights. It is just a pain in the ass to figure out how to mount the ducting and allow for movement. I'm going to have a professional heating/cooling dude come out to see if we can clean up the duct work a bit.
     

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