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DIY Light mover???

P

perp

Member
Was wondering if any of the sages on IC had any good ideas for building a DIY light mover?

Light Rail and Jupiter products are £150-£175 a pop:yoinks:. The rail on its own is £19, so £130-£155 for a motor? Call me a tight arse, but surely it must be possible to build something with a small electric motor, etc for a lot less?

Have had a hunt around and can get low rev hobby motors for as little as a couple of quid.

Any budding engineers on here?

Peace and stay green:joint:
 
Sam the Caveman

Sam the Caveman

Good'n Greasy
Veteran
I've been brainstorming this for a few weeks now. My situation requires the bulb to be moved under the reflector, so the bulb has to be at a specific distance below the reflector requiring a short and compact light mover. The ceiling of the grow room is shaped like a reflector.

Small gearmotors can be bought for cheap, but they are not really the quality I'm looking for. It seems they are made for intermitted use and not continuous. You would also need some sort of relay switch to tell the motor when to stop and for how long on both ends of the rail. These should be somehow built into the mover detecting and mechanical indicator on the rail vs. having an electronic indicator at both ends wired to the mover creating constant lengthening and shortening of wires. The mover will need a power source, so there will be one wire constantly lengthening and shortening.

I've seen systems like this used in hundreds of applications, but I don't know where to get the electronics or what they are called.
 
D

datura_kid

Member
is there a specific reason why it has to be motor moved? i have 2 rails from thin steel cable with rubber coating (the laundry drying wire) which goes through chains that hold reflectors...so i just move the chain by hand and it doesnt slide by itself because its on the rubber coating...its simple and works just fine...and i also don't see a reason for frequent moving of lights in one grow, just set it up and leave it like that...
 
DocLeaf

DocLeaf

procreationist
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Have you tried hamster wheels on pulleys ? lol

Seriously , rails help distribute light over a longer area and work well over a scrog :yes: You could make your own,, from technic lego ,, lol
Otherwise the motor will cost,, maybe check Maplins. Otherwise go to the local shop and haggle the price down,, or buy one 2nd hand :D

The trip switch that reverses the motor is the fiddly part
 
P

perp

Member
Docleaf-Had the kids doing shifts on the treadmill the last few weeks:D.

I think you are right about trip switch. Am I right in thinking that it just needs to reverse the polarity on the motor to reverse its direction?
 
ItsAllOver

ItsAllOver

Devil's Advocate
I think so. I'm actually pretty excited about it. Wasn't thinking about it till now, but it seems it's pretty much out there to replicate, which is nice to have sometimes for DIY projects! lol

It looks like cheapo wiper motors are available on eBay.
The only thing will be ensuring that the bearings that your carriages ran on were smooth, and the track, etc. would be strong enough to bear the weight. It won't be that much, though. I'm thinking two wiper motors might be necessary to move what we're trying to move, but that might not be true...
Post your project as it goes on, I'll be back in here with mine later...
 
J

JefersonAirplan

Member
I designed this light mover for you. You have to operate it by hand though, and it costs about $5 to build. The red circles are eye style hooks, find somewhere/anchor the rope after you are done adjusting the light.

:woohoo:



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I

itsus

go get a baby swing. you know the kind you wind up. just take the legs off and hook your light up where the swing would sit. bolt the fucker to the ceiling and your set. two cranks will move her for about an hour.:joint:
 
Quazi

Quazi

Member
I recall reading more than once about people aiming a decent fan at their lights to gently rock them back and forth to spread the light over a larger space. Not the same as a light mover, but a cheap alternative if you're in a bind and just looking to squeeze a bit more coverage out of your hood.

-Q :rasta:
 
P

perp

Member
Itsallover- Will do fella. It seems like we have DIY everything else on this site.
About time the omnipotent ICmag had a DIY light mover to add to the collection.
 
ItsAllOver

ItsAllOver

Devil's Advocate
I have found a windshield wiper motor online - Jeep Wrangler TJ 97-05 - it has a support structure/guiding rail built into the wiper ass'y. (I won't be buying just a motor) Can you post a few pictures of the mover that you buy? I'd be very interested to get an idea of what's going on.

Thx man. Peace!
 
ItsAllOver

ItsAllOver

Devil's Advocate
Hey man!
Thanks for taking the pictures!
Is that black protrusion a switch in the first picture, right hand side (coming out the middle of the black box)?
It just runs til some kind of block, which flips the switch and sends it back, etc? That's a neat little system, if so. Pretty damned easy to DIY I would think... That type of system allows you really any length of travel, assuming you work out cable travel.
I was thinking wiper blades, but now I'm thinking it might be better for a couple reasons to go the switch/motor setup route. Just gotta figure out the rail system...
 
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