Light Rail

[OldmanMozz]

Lets say if someone found 2nd hand light rails, and lets say the light rails is 2 metres long, but you want to make the rails shorter, you have to get it cut shorter by a professional or can you do it your self? or the rails have some kind of adjustable thingy/swtich or whatever they are called to stop at certain distance to go back to other end of the rails?

the rails come 2 metre lenghts, u can butt together, cut in half yourself or use clamp on stoppers to travel distance required.

cheers Mozz

[Tom]

Buddy & Mozz, thanks for the info, looks as if I'll have the means to just about double my output, I'll set my second light to a 4' gap and see how it goes, be a couple of months before it's all operational though.

 

Urbanhog, You can cut them shorter without too much difficulty but the light changes direction when the switch that is mounted in the mover encounters a movable stop that you clamp onto the rail.

 

Buddy, how old is your mover and have you encountered any problems with it? Any maintenance tips?

 

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[Buddy]

I bought the light mover new last May 2001, I carefully drilled some holes so I could bolt a cross bar to it so my 3 lights would travel side by side instead of one ahead of the other.

 

I havent had any problems with it so far after about four months continuous use. Every now and then I had to clean the rail with a dry cloth to wipe off any dust dragged in by the fan.

 

Have it on the same circuit as your light timer so that when the lights go off the mover stops.

[Tom]

Thanks for the tips Buddy, I've decided that, as I haven't actually started the construction yet, I will re-design my new grow room around the light mover so I can stick with the in line lighting if I want.

 

The guy I got it from had used chains to hang it with, is this steady enough or have you come up with another alternative?

 

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[Buddy]

You'd be better off making sure your rail is firmly attached to the ceiling of your grow room if its going to be a permanent fixture, that way it will be easier to balance things.

 

It doesnt take much to put the mover out of balance with lights and cords hanging off it then it will lose traction and stop moving.

 

Once that is done, you can use chain to hang your lights from the mover. Light weight chain is fine, just bend up some stiff wire hooks out of coat hangers, wrap them around the rod connected to the mover unit and hang the chain from them.

 

That way, you have plenty of fine adjustment as the plants grow taller and you wont be continually trying to balance everything.

[Tom]

It doesnt take much to put the mover out of balance with lights and cords hanging off it then it will lose traction and stop moving.

Thanks for all the info Buddy, the power cords are some thing else I have to consider, how do you keep them out of the way but still flexible?

 

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[Buddy]

How do you keep them out of the way but still flexible?

I placed my ballasts at the same level as the mover on a shelf, a bit lower wouldnt matter. Then I fully extended the mover furtherest from the ballasts so I'd know how much chord would be needed, then I taped the chords here and there so they wouldnt foul anything while it was on the move.

 

Once you get everything set up, it's not hard to figure out but like I said before, its important that the rail is held firm, otherwise you will be going through a balancing act every time you raise the lights.