Does anyone use a moving light system?

I have a small 5x10 foot veg room. I'm thinking about setting up a 1000w mh up on a track to save electricity, lower heat, and not overload my fuse. I'm going to plug it in a reg 110 outlet.

Is is this a good idea? Is it as good or close as two lights? Also, are they loud?

thanks in advance!

Its not as good as two lights. Movers don't make much noise. Great for veg imo but not ideal for flower.

SnapsProvolone said:

Its not as good as two lights. Movers don't make much noise. Great for veg imo but not ideal for flower.

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i just want it for veg. How much will it add to my veg time? Is it 75% efficient, 80%, 90%? Will it add one week, two...?

two 600s on a lightrail is how I'd run that size room. veg thru flower.
Of course mix the spectrum as you like.

I use a light mover in a 5x7 flower-room. I actually have both a 400w MH and a 600w HPS moving together on my light-rail.

I've had up to 11 adult plants under these lights and even the ones stuffed in the corners showed no sign of light deficiencies.

I have the lights about 6" above the plants, sometimes even closer (they're sealed easycool6 fixtures) and no heat issues at all. I highly recommend this set up. If you click on any of my signature links and click to the last pages you'll see the plants I grow under a light-mover.

What a light mover does is to provide light to otherwise shaded or partially obscured leaves. Used in conjunction with a good strong circulation fan(s) it will help to maximize the light you have giving more vigorous growth. What you are looking at is incremental improvement just like when providing additional CO2. IMHO anything you do to improve your environment is a good thing and a light mover will help.

Hi Kanivers,
In a long room like you have...I feel they work great. I've personally used both the linear and the rotational type. Here are some advantages I copied from an ad...they seem pretty valid...
JD

• The light can be placed closer to the plants without generating plant killing heat
• The light’s area of coverage is increased
• Provides a much greater variety of light angles to each plant
• Light will more frequently reach foliage at the bottom of the plant which may have been shielded by higher foliage
• Movement of the light will result in a decrease in the amount of light that each plant will receive
• A timed hesitation at the end of each travel will prevent the middle plants growing faster because they received twice the light overhead as did the end plants
• The timed hesitation will result in a level growing area
  Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium lamps can be mixed on the light mover as desired.

So do you think one 1000w mh is good enough? This is just a veg room.

K,
You have to do the math. I personally use a 30% efficiency factor (which I got from a manufacturers web site). I think you could cover the middle 8' but if you cram the whole space full...might be a little sparse. I'm figuring 30 watt/sq foot.
JD

For maximum efficiency...cram all the plants in the center and limit light mover movement. Then, as they grow, spread them out and lengthen the movement.
JD

Sure....1,000 watts is fine for up to 10 plants....maybe 11 depending on how big they are. I wouldn't stop using the light or the mover for 12/12 as its virtues really shine as the plants get bigger.

Kanivers said:

I have a small 5x10 foot veg room. I'm thinking about setting up a 1000w mh up on a track to save electricity, lower heat, and not overload my fuse. I'm going to plug it in a reg 110 outlet.

Is is this a good idea? Is it as good or close as two lights? Also, are they loud?

thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

I have used the Light Rail III in a narrow space. It worked well for the application, but I only used it for 3' of travel. It doesn't make enough noise to worry about, practically silent. At the moment, I have no need for a mover but would certainly use it again if I did. I believe it is most useful if your plants are in a fixed position and cannot be moved or rotated.

In your case, it would probably work best to shuttle a 600w or 1000w over approx. a 5' - 6' travel. The rails are about 3' long each and connect together.

I've decided to go with three 8 bulb T5's. I have one already for my cloner so two more will be around the same price as two more light set ups or one light and a rail set up. This will give me 1200w and still cut down on my heat and electricity issues. Thanks everyone for their advice!

Kanivers said:

Also, are they loud?

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They're not loud, BUT, if you were to mount them directly on a ceiling where somebody else lives upstairs, it could be quite noticeable. Let's say they're lying on their floor, they'll hear a long grrrrrrrrrrr, a pause and then a <chunk> followed by another cycle. It might cause questions. You can pad it by mounting heavy felt under the rail. It will tone it down but still be noticeable. It's not bad, but if you put it under somebody's bedroom and your lights are on at night, it could sound real loud.

Actually, it goes

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, chunk, pause..... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr, chunk, pause.......

dbkick said:

two 600s on a lightrail is how I'd run that size room. veg thru flower.
Of course mix the spectrum as you like.

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I totally agree about using two lights rather than one. Ideally 600s. If you cant do that, 2-400s traveling a foot or two would probably still be better than a 1000 traveling a long way. From my experience, light movers really pay off when they are moving in order to even out light coverage/decrease hot spots rather than increasing the area a light can cover. Seems like a single light traveling that far would leave some plants almost dark at times. That's not what you want.

Get a splitter for your 1000w ballast and power 2 x 600w lights at slightly below maximum....?

I'm a newbie but I have an incredible urge to try a light rail.

I nearly bought a Sun Systems light cycle mover.

I found out that with the circular motion you cannot vent the reflectors.
With a rail the ducting has a wire run through it, to ensure that it can only sag so far.

A combination of moving light and ventilated reflectors would allow the distance from the plants to be reduced to a tiny amount.

The moving track is a good idea! I used a stationary track with two lights and recently switched to a LightRail and my yields are so much better! Its better since the light moves and the light gets to more of the leaves and since your light would be moving hot spots are eliminated so you could run your light closer that way you get a more efficient use of your wattage.