diy light mover

JokerJay

Member
I use light rail 3.5 for hps and they have been great for the last 3 years. It was cheaper getting 4 light movers than another 24k mini split. I will be taking them down soon and the leds will go up.
Just out of pure curiosity, what kind of led lights have you bought to replace the hps?
 

qballizhere

Well-Known Member
Diy citizen clu048-1818 2 per driver elg-240-54-d2 48 cobs for the whole room ran @2.1a each maybe 2.2a
I run 4k hps now on light rails and when the room is done it will be 6k of led. That will replace 8k of hps. Then its time to upgrade the veg room.
 

qballizhere

Well-Known Member
Just out of pure curiosity, what kind of led lights have you bought to replace the hps?
The 4 kof lights and light rails and 1 600 watt hps in veg are on a 50 a breaker and I have 2 more 600 watt on a 20a breaker. I will be able to run all the veg led lights and flower off 1 50a breaker. With 10a to play with for a new pi based controller and run the uvb lights also
 

Cloudy.ore.gone

New Member
I use light rail 3.5 for hps and they have been great for the last 3 years. It was cheaper getting 4 light movers than another 24k mini split. I will be taking them down soon and the leds will go up.
Why not do a linear rail setup on an xy carriage a simple arduino could run it on stepper motors could be done cheap and pretty easily
 

qballizhere

Well-Known Member
Why not do a linear rail setup on an xy carriage a simple arduino could run it on stepper motors could be done cheap and pretty easily
At that time I didn't have the time to make a mover and it was a lot easier just to buy the rails.I needed to get the room up and running and not spend a few weeks trying to make light movers.
 

Mazer

Well-Known Member
I made one from a sliding shower door rail and my ocillating fan...I attached a dowel rod on my fan pointing forward, I then tied strings to the end of the rod and ran the strings thru eyelets screwed into the side walls and to the light hanging on the rail...the light moves 24 inches, 12 from center right and 12 from center left....works like a charm...cost me nothing, I had the fan, the rail and slider was from an old shower door...Snow White is gonna love this...

I only grow 1 plant at a time, but I noticed the dark side of the buds isnt as frosty as the light side so a light mover is in order...next harvest will tell the tale in 14-15 weeks...a buddy used a light rail 3.5 in a past grow and increased his yield by 80% over the previous crop, I dont have the room to grow more, just grow the 4x4 foot area with better buds...I can hardly wait...
any pictures?
 

Mazer

Well-Known Member
I tried to go the (H)Arduino way with a stepper motor, a threaded rod, etc using the exemple two of the following page.
http://www.schmalzhaus.com/EasyDriver/Examples/EasyDriverExamples.html
The bill of material comes up to more or less 25$ if you source your electronics online.
An yes I did say I tried as I have fried one of the component while soldering it and the project kinda drifted away. IF someone want's to give it a shot, I would gladly share the info I scrapped on the net with more pictures.
Peace
 

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
dude named mattso i think used a fan. he took fan off and light moves left to right like a circulating fan. but thats not really moving it much.
The dude grows show posted a vid of an oscillating fan with a single COB mounted in the middle. Fucking brilliant! Some people run quote a few of those wall mount oscillators. Imagine if each one was also an oscillating photon blaster! Im going to make this standard operating procedure.
 

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
I realize this is an old, dead, thread. But i thought I'd bring it back so I could have a shot at it! I once had the wise idea to DIY a light mover. Never quite figured it out - but I came up with a better idea. Screw the lights (let them remain stationary) move the plants instead! It was much easier to build a "Big Ass" Lazy Susan, so the plants move round and round (with the aid of a BBQ Rottisserie motor). You can make it turn at most any speed you want, just use a differant size drive wheel. I reccomend putting some kind of casters around the perimeter to support the Lazy Susan because it doesn't always stay balanced, but the casters allow it to keep rotating smoothly anyway.
 

Carlonso

New Member
the ocilating component from a fan sounds promising....I think you could use a string and pulley system to move light side to side...probably wont move as far as a lightrail(6' of horizontal movement)but sounds promising...

Have you ever noticed the trich production is highest facing the light??? I've seen light movers give a higher yield and potency in others grows...if you are groing for headstash, a light mover is a great addition...I am gonna try the fan idea in my small area...I think I'll hook a n eyelet to each side and a string to my fan, then ocilate it and see how much movement I can get...

:mrgreen:

dude named mattso i think used a fan. he took fan off and light moves left to right like a circulating fan. but thats not really moving it much.
Thanks for this idea. I rigged this up to move two mars hydros beside each other. I used a graphite shaft cut off a golf club to minimize weight and to increase the distance achieved by the motion. A piece of string on each end, one for each light and all hung upside down. Niice
 
Last edited:
Top