lighting Motorized Lighting Rail

[SadisticPeppers]

One thing I'm looking into is to get a railing system for my compact fluorescent lamps. I read a bit about it, and how by moving the lamp along the railing back and forth over the course of a day, it simulates the sun moving through the sky, and convinces the plants to move accordingly. I've been looking it up, and a couple sites have a railing system with a motor that can move the lamp automatically during the day will run about $250 or so. I got the idea last month when I did some initial apartment hunting near where my parents live, and noticed that the garage in the place I really liked had a very high ceiling, high enough that I could easily mount it and would just need one CFL lamp to cover all the plants I have with plenty of light. That would (theoretically) cut down significantly on electricity, since then I'd only require one CFL for all my plants, instead of the 4 I was running previously for my plants.

I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience with these, and if so, if it's a good investment.

 

[queequeg152]

i dont understand. are you saying that because you are moving the light back and forth... to cover all the plants equally, then you would only need one light? is this one light like way brighter than your origional ones?

anyway, fwiw a light mover as far as i know is only good for evening out light distribution. say you have a stationary 1000w hps over a 4x4 area. the edges of this area will receive less light, and will tend to be less vigorous than the plants in the center.
if on the other hand you arranged the plants in a 5x3 rectangle and moved the light like 2 feet in either direction back and forth you would theoretically get an even canopy. note that (5x3) is roughly equal to (4x4).
its my understanding that light movers tend to be used only with cannabis for several reasons, cost being the main one.

you aren't going to get the same results with one light of the same wattage obviously. its also worth noting that the movers need a bunch of extra tracks that cost a grip if you want to move it like 6'.
i certainly wouldn't invest in one. 250 bucks will buy alot of electricity.

edit: another thing that occurred to me is that a moving light source would hit areas of the plant that are shaded by light directly overhead. so i guess lower parts of the plant would benefit from that.
on the other hand you could just move your plants yourself every couple of days.

 

[SadisticPeppers]

Sorry for the confusion quee. The motorized railings I'm looking at, all of them are roughly the same length as my DWC system. As it stands, I'd have to have 4 of the lights, one right next to the other end to end all in a row, whereas, I could just use the one single light moving back and forth over the day would do the same thing, and at about the same height above them that I have my lights currently. That make any more sense?

 

[scratchzilla]

Well if the light is constantly moving, there would be no heat buildup on the canopy, so theoretically you could move the bulbs a lots closer, increasing lumens available.

 

[WalkGood]

Do you grow all your plants inside or just the starts? The benefit I see about where we live is year round outdoor growth, heck I even start mine outside unless it’s too cold and in that case a window sill works fine for me.I mean no disrespect, I just hate paying extra electric bills when IMHO there's no need.

 

[PIC 1]

Seriously ? ......sorry , but the sun doesn't move. The earth rotates on axis. But even if you're trying to simulate such, not only the sun's intensity changes but the color temperature throughout the day but more so during the seasonal change.
A rail system may benefit the larger growroom where less light needs to cover a larger area....

 

[SadisticPeppers]

Do you grow all your plants inside or just the starts? The benefit I see about where we live is year round outdoor growth, heck I even start mine outside unless it’s too cold and in that case a window sill works fine for me.I mean no disrespect, I just hate paying extra electric bills when IMHO there's no need.

I hear ya. I'm doing my plants exclusively indoors, mainly due to an extreme lack of any outdoor growing space. Eventually if my folks let me take over their house, I'll be able to put my plants outdoors since there's no shortage of outside space to grow.

 

[chsy83]

Seriously ? ......sorry , but the sun doesn't move. The earth rotates on axis.

I know what you're saying, but . . . the sun moves around the center of the galaxy. And our galaxy moves, too. In fact, it is set to collide with Andromeda in . . . a long time. Anywho, I think the OP just meant as the sun moves across the sky from the plant's point of view Just as from an expanded POV (outside influence of earth's rotation) , the sun is stationary while earth revolves around it, while an even more expanded POV shows our solar system circling the drain that is the galactic bulge.

 

[nee]

Eventually if my folks let me take over their house, I'll be able to put my plants outdoors since there's no shortage of outside space to grow.

I'd just ask them if you can plant some in their garden and be done with it! I can't imagine they'd say no if there's no shortage of space, surely?

 

[SadisticPeppers]

I'd just ask them if you can plant some in their garden and be done with it! I can't imagine they'd say no if there's no shortage of space, surely?

That's the thing though... Currently, my parents are renting out that house and having never met the folks, I doubt they'd simply let me come over whenever to plant some of my peppers, even if I was the son of the house owners. Personally, I'd feel better about waiting to do anything there until if/when they have me take over the place.