# 1000 Watt & Light Mover?



## SofaKingLost (Nov 20, 2008)

i have a 1000watt light and i wanna cover as much area as possible.... i was thinking of getting a 6 foot light mover and wanted to cover 10 feet back and forth by itself errr if i could get a longer light mover and cover more area? i'm just wondering if i need to get a couple of 250watt to luminate the sides when they don't have the 1000watt on it.


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## holmes (Nov 20, 2008)

hate to burst your bubble, but even 6 ft is pushing it. go for 4' rail and 5' coverage
do your research and youll find this is about right


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## SofaKingLost (Nov 20, 2008)

what if i got those 250 watt lights for both sides well the 1000 watt runs between the two?


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## smokeandfly (Nov 20, 2008)

depends how good u want the sides to grow.


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## smokeandfly (Nov 20, 2008)

a 1000watt is good for 1.5 meters sq now each time it hits the sides u will get half of that so around 2.5 feet then the other side is 2.5 feet so 5 feet plus 6 equals 11 there ya go


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## holmes (Nov 21, 2008)

> a 1000watt is good for 1.5 meters sq now each time it hits the sides u will get half of that so around 2.5 feet then the other side is 2.5 feet so 5 feet plus 6 equals 11 there ya go


this is bs, im not going to check if his numbers are right, but to think you can cover 11 feet with one 1000 is dreaming.

so you want to move it 9 feet, and have 250 watters on the corners. dunno it may or may not work well. 
but honestly i would rather put two 1000's on maybe an 8'-9' track

just consider that this plant loves light, and that the light mover's real benefit is to give you light in the shaded areas as it passes by. Small gains in your grow area are all that should be expected. Ed Rosenthal isnt crazy bout em, most growers think that they can double their space with it.


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## SofaKingLost (Nov 21, 2008)

ive been doing alot of reading on this subject and i think the only loss is longer time the plants take to flower. but when u think about it 2 extra weeks is well worth 50% more product. and i dont know why they would make light movers if it couldnt even double your area atleast. if anybody has used one and can proove this wrong please do.


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## The Son of Man (Nov 21, 2008)

light movers work good with rectangular patterns. 5' wide and 8' long. The center 6' yield stays about the same--sometimes a little less than just using a stationary light, but you are able to grow two extra feet with descent results with the light 2.5" closer to the plants. End result--a little more bud, their worth the 200-300 bucks.


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## GrowTech (Nov 21, 2008)

I have a 1000w light on a 6' mover and can speak from personal experience and not just random malarkey... A 6' rail is just fine... any more than that and you will be pushing your luck.

It brings my light from one side of the 4x8 tray to the other...


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## holmes (Nov 21, 2008)

grow tech, before i responded i wanted to see your setup, the only grow journal that mentioned you using a light mover is the 32 perpetual one, and at this moment your still vegging the mommies.
i glanced at it quickly and i think this is your first run with it, correct me if im wrong.
also on one of the post you mention that it increases grow length by 1.5, a 1000 at 4' on a light mover is 6'.
your last post said you have a 4x8 flood table.
im 100% you can grow plants this way, but please tell us if this is true. That the buds on the ends will be lighter,....overall buds will be lighter (compared to multiple stationary lights),....if each plant is receiving less total light then quality should decrease.

Now i should say that ive never used one, but ive read several posts on different grow sites from light mover users, and the negative reviews outweighed the positive. i remember one comment went like "i got an increase in yeild, but not very much, overall i didnt find it was worth the trouble"

i would like to read and see all on what you got on movers, because i would surely copy if it works well. if the 32 grow journal is what you got, then ill be following.
thanks


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## timmmy2021 (Nov 21, 2008)

i have a 1000w on a 4' mover i got most my info growtech. he's smarter then me.... and has a lot of good info.


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## smokeandfly (Nov 21, 2008)

holmes dont say that what i say is bs mate reason you didnt check my figures could be because your to dumb as i said in earlyer post it depends how much you want the sides to grow they would still grow but pretty bad with a light mover it means you can get it closer to plants people grow with cfls pretty sure you can grow with these. best way to do this would be with 2 1000 watts but what would be the point of moving them since they cover 10 feet anyway.


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## holmes (Nov 21, 2008)

smokeandfly, you told the guy that he could cover 11' no problem with a single 1000, that is absolute bullshit, you might aswell cover it all with fluorescents. 
yes, you did say "it depends how good you want the sides to grow", but wtf does that mean to someone who really wants to hear you say that you can cover 50sq.ft with a single light. your posts were breif and uninformative. sorry if i insulted you, but at the first read, it seemed to me that you were just typing bs.

i too want to learn more about the limits of light movers, but from all that i have gathered from other users, it just isnt what its cut out to be.


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## panhead (Nov 21, 2008)

SofaKingLost said:


> ive been doing alot of reading on this subject and i think the only loss is longer time the plants take to flower. but when u think about it 2 extra weeks is well worth 50% more product. and i dont know why they would make light movers if it couldnt even double your area atleast. if anybody has used one and can proove this wrong please do.


Im running both 6ft movers as well as 4ft movers,i personally have never been able to double floor space or yeild,the main benifits with movers are that you can get the big lights close as fuk,much closer than normal,the other benifit is max penetration to all areas of the grow,i'd estimate that after adding the movers i increased yeild about 10% to 15%,that in itself is quite a feat.

Double floor space is never gonna happen,it's sales hype,still a 15% increase in yeild is well worth the $100 a mover costs.


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## holmes (Nov 22, 2008)

> i have a 1000w on a 4' mover i got most my info growtech. he's smarter then me.... and has a lot of good info


i think the 4' mover is more appropriate, and im not questioning growtech's skill, hes a senior member with a hella more experience, im just asking questions.

thanks panhead, youve got the old chain driven movers, and i beleive they are slower than the newer models. My point is, do you think the 6' with a somewhat faster mover produces good quality bud. Also, do you cover 6' of grow space, or 8'


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## BombOnly (Nov 22, 2008)

A friend of mine has 2 lights on short rails. They go back and forth like a foot each way width wise rather than length. He said the main thing he noticed was better density on outer trees nugs and he didnt burn any plants when he switched to the movers. I'm a newb at the whole growing part, but that is real feed back from someone who has grown with movers.

Please this is just feedback and not my opinion. Hate somebody else if your hatin'


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## panhead (Nov 22, 2008)

holmes said:


> i think the 4' mover is more appropriate, and im not questioning growtech's skill, hes a senior member with a hella more experience, im just asking questions.
> 
> thanks panhead, youve got the old chain driven movers, and i beleive they are slower than the newer models. My point is, do you think the 6' with a somewhat faster mover produces good quality bud. Also, do you cover 6' of grow space, or 8'


The speed of the mover is irrelevant,it dont matter how fast the mover makes it's pass,it's the duration of maximum light penetration that matters,max light will be the same no matter how fast the mover goes,you can speed up the mover to 10 x the normal speed & your still only going to get x number of hours of max penetration,no matter the speed.

Salesmen print out all kinds of shit about the new style movers & how the adjustable speed makes a big difference,i cant see how,its simple math to figure out max penetration hours at any speed,at the end of the light cycle all plants will recieve the same amount of hours no matter the speed. 

I cover 9 ft of length with the movers in that pic,a single 1,000 hps dead center & on each side runs a 600 hps,all three movers run to where the three lights are at oposite ends of the grow at the same time so all areas are well light.

I also have a single mover set up that was running a 6ft mover with another 1,000 hps ,the plants on the outside get half the amount of light no matter mover speed,i rotated plants daily to compensate for this but still noticed stretching,after the harvest i replaced the 6ft with a 4ft mover & corrected any stretching,i also got bud density back up.

With a single 1,000 watter i'd reccomend a 4ft mover.


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## holmes (Nov 22, 2008)

thankk you panhead


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## SofaKingLost (Nov 22, 2008)

so with my 1000watt hps without buying any new lights what is the maximum area i can cover with a light mover and without any stretching done to my plants. i still havent bought the light mover but i'm pretty set on it so far.


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## panhead (Nov 22, 2008)

SofaKingLost said:


> so with my 1000watt hps without buying any new lights what is the maximum area i can cover with a light mover and without any stretching done to my plants. i still havent bought the light mover but i'm pretty set on it so far.


I wouldnt go any larger than a 6 ft x 5 ft area using a 4 ft mover,you wont experience any stretching,what you get is increased penetration more over than increased grow area,short story is that movers equal denser & larger secondary bud's.


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## smokeandfly (Nov 23, 2008)

thanks for the appolagy holmes dont realy like being told that im talking shit when i take my time to calculate stuff but all good now. sofaking pretty sure u could get ur area u wanted with the 2 lights on the sides.


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## LegalizeCannabisHemp (Apr 28, 2009)

panhead said:


> The speed of the mover is irrelevant,it dont matter how fast the mover makes it's pass,it's the duration of maximum light penetration that matters,max light will be the same no matter how fast the mover goes,you can speed up the mover to 10 x the normal speed & your still only going to get x number of hours of max penetration,no matter the speed.
> 
> Salesmen print out all kinds of shit about the new style movers & how the adjustable speed makes a big difference,i cant see how,its simple math to figure out max penetration hours at any speed,at the end of the light cycle all plants will recieve the same amount of hours no matter the speed.
> 
> ...


first off i have never used a light mover.. obviously I have some interest in it or else I wouldnt be reading this thread ...now correct me if im wrong, and no offence..

lets say you have a 8 foot light mover..we will call the far left side of the mover side one,
the middle 2,
and the far right 3.

so if the light starts off at 1, then passes on to two, then onto side three, the first by pass all the plants receive the same amount of light right..? 
now once it starts coming back from side 3, its going to stop on side 2(middle)( this will be the second time it touching on that area, as it continues its path, it will return back to side one( giving side 1 light for the second time), thus moving on back to side 2( side 2 has received light 3 times where as side 1 has received it twice, and side three has only received light once so far...


here is a better way to give an example.. most time when you smoke in a group of three people, everyone sit around a circle, takes a puff, and passes it..everyone gets one hit each(or 3 how many ever is custom where you live) .. now lets say the three people instead of sitting in a circle sat down on the couch to watch tv.. guy 1 hits the joint, passes it to the middle man, who hits it, then the guy on the end of the couch hits it, now for the rotation to stay proper, the guy on one end of the couch would have to pass it to the guy on the other end of the couch.. if you had it back to the middle man.. he is getting double tokes...

same theory with a light mover....

I guess what would be a great design for a light mover would be one that slows down a bit on the ends, and speeds up through the center...so maybe the guys with the sales pitches arnt totally full of bullshit panhead..just like 5/8ths full of bullshit.. hahaha

hope that helps 

and please correct me if im wrong..


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## LegalizeCannabisHemp (May 3, 2009)

bump, bump, thats the sound of the speakers.. would anyone agree?


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## Dirtfree (May 12, 2009)

Newer light movers stop on each end so they recieve the same amount of light. 

So using your number system
starting at 1-sits there for a pre-set time
passes over2
goes to position 3-sits there for pre set time.

That way all the plants recieve the same amount of light. Make sense?
I have a 600w over a 4x6 flood table. The buds are the same over the entire table. I havent finished with my first harvest but definitly think it was worth the money!


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## Dirtfree (May 12, 2009)

Oh one more question foe you guys without movers, how far are your lights from your tops?? Lets say you have a 1000w two feet away- so now your 100,000 lumens is now what like 1/10 of what it was. 
My light is 3" away from my plants, that means my inital 90,000 lumens from 600w are ALL going to my plants! 

They say you get what you pay for. Not you guys with your lights a foot or two from your plants. Just food for thought....


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## Mcgician (May 12, 2009)

Dirtfree said:


> Oh one more question foe you guys without movers, how far are your lights from your tops?? Lets say you have a 1000w two feet away- so now your 100,000 lumens is now what like 1/10 of what it was.
> My light is 3" away from my plants, that means my inital 90,000 lumens from 600w are ALL going to my plants!
> 
> They say you get what you pay for. Not you guys with your lights a foot or two from your plants. Just food for thought....


Just because you're running your lights close to the tops doesn't mean they're getting more light. What they're getting is momentary intensity. If you were to back the distance off a little bit, more light would spread off to the sides, (areas that wouldn't be getting much light at all) and in the end, it'd probably just result in a wash. The benefits of using light movers are these:

1. You CAN control intensity and overall coverage to your liking given each growers needs.

2. If you have more than one light, the fact that they move side to side can make for easier accessability in the grow room.

3. They make managing heat stress slightly easier because they don't camp out over one particular set of plants and fry the crap out of them as much as a stationary one would.

The drawbacks:

1. Obviously, cost. Even though they're not that costly, they can sometimes stretch some people's pocketbooks.

2. It's one more thing you have to plug into a socket, run on a timer, draw more amperage, and pay more electricity for.

3. Running air cooled hoods (especially more than one) with a light mover is far more a pain in the ass.

Not sure where this one fits, but cola size may shrink, but overall harvest weight is increased slightly. 

In the end, any grow room setup is a game of compromises. This is just one of those.


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## Merlin11 (May 28, 2009)

I have a light mover with 1000 HPS and it seems to me that buds get fluffer if you let it move much more then about 3 feet. Iam hoping to set up a 600watt on one end and have the 1000 watt on the other so when one light is on one end of the track the other light will be in the middle and Ill have them move no more then three feet. I hope this will give me about six feet of good coverage with no loss of bud density. Ill put my tall girls (white widow haze) on the end with the 1000 watt and the short girls (mazars) under the 600. What do you think?


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## noone88 (May 29, 2009)

From my limited experience and heavy research, it all comes down to wattage per square foot. 1000 watts is probably too much for a 4x4 tray, but too little for a 4x8 tray. For a 4x8 tray, 2000 (2x1000) watts is overkill, but 1200 (2x600) watts seem to work well with 1800 (3x600) not worth the extra electricity cost.

My setup is a 1000 watt over a 4x6 tray, The light only moves back and forth over a 30-34 inch section of the rail. This allows me to maintain light intensity in the middle of the tray, which has my strongest plants, while also giving some light to the edges, which contain my weaker plants. If you can stack your trays all in-line, then you have very good overlapping coverage.


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## wonderblunder (Oct 8, 2009)

I have a 1000w and a 6' mover. How far should it be from the tops? THe hood is not air cooled at this time. I have an AC and right now stationary, the light is about 2 feet from the canopy with no problem. Im ready to get this moving
How far should the light be from the canopy?
I only have 6 plants under it but they are bushes, and about to need the mover to get any bushier. THaks for your help. Check out the grow in my sig if you have any advice


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## reeferMaster (Oct 8, 2009)

when u learn 2 use the rail it will work for u it moves really slow it takes 20 mins for it 2 go from one side 2 the other, most applications will need 2 lights on one mover or 2 side by side, the thing is depending on your growing style is the light is moveing away from your plants , unlike stationary where u get full sun lite at all times, the rail creates uformity growth thats even, as they get get bigger they will most likly need full sunlight, i was thinking a recycling timer of one min on 5 min off would work perfect for rails maybe 3 on 4 off? i would imagine u can get better heat periods and longer light intensity periods with these timmers from my experience i think the light moves preety fast , a umbrela hood would create the best light spread, also just a thought those adjusta wings reflectors can hold another soket for 2 400s or 2 600s for a 1200 watt fixuture thats like 180,000 lumins


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## wonderblunder (Oct 9, 2009)

mine takes about 11 minutes to go from one side to the other, About 21 minutes or so from one side to the other and back


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## reeferMaster (Oct 10, 2009)

either way our sun doesent go back and forth al day repeatedly if u have a hot room and air cooled they work quite well hook the exsaust 2 you lite and then hook carbon scrubber 2 other side, that way ur exuast is always take ing air from different parts of the room and cooling the light and smell proofng the air all in one. good luck, fyi ive been growing indoor al summer with a little tent , it goes filter , fan,duct, light,duct then out of the room the filter makes the lens stay clean and i can cool my room at the same time while smell proofing it. good luck!!


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## newworldicon (Sep 27, 2010)

LegalizeCannabisHemp said:


> first off i have never used a light mover.. obviously I have some interest in it or else I wouldnt be reading this thread ...now correct me if im wrong, and no offence..
> 
> lets say you have a 8 foot light mover..we will call the far left side of the mover side one,
> the middle 2,
> ...


I recently started looking into light movers for a 8"x4" scrog of sorts hence why i'm looking at this thread. I have seen movers that offer a time lapse feature at the at either end of it's cycle, so yeah i think you were the first to point this out. I'll try to find the link but forgive me if I dont, I'm nicely baked right now. This time laspe is adjustable too.


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## keving9 (Sep 28, 2010)

I am thinking about getting a light mover as well, and am in a similar situation:

I have a 4x8 foot room and two thousand watts, which I have put through one cycle stationary and they did fine considering it was a rookie grow. I want to get the light mover with the extra light attachment, has anybody used two lights on their light rail, and was it worth it compared to two stationary thousand watts? also, i have air cooled lights, how did you modify your air system to deal with moving lights?


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## newworldicon (Sep 28, 2010)

keving9 said:


> I am thinking about getting a light mover as well, and am in a similar situation:
> 
> I have a 4x8 foot room and two thousand watts, which I have put through one cycle stationary and they did fine considering it was a rookie grow. I want to get the light mover with the extra light attachment, has anybody used two lights on their light rail, and was it worth it compared to two stationary thousand watts? also, i have air cooled lights, how did you modify your air system to deal with moving lights?


I'd like to see those questions answered too, it would help people out a lot!


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## groovedaddy (Sep 30, 2010)

Just from my own personal experience: grew 6 matanuska Thunderfuck in dwc with stationary 1000 watt had good results in 3x3 area. Then doubled plants and added light mover, got same results except better lower buds due to light mover hitting those lower branches on each pass. Remember you can set the light just a few inches away with a mover. You have to get a rail with adjustable delay at ends or you will get tall growth in middle. The amperage for the rail is hella less than the amperage for another 1000 watt light with comparable results. no brainer for me!


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## newworldicon (Sep 30, 2010)

groovedaddy said:


> Just from my own personal experience: grew 6 matanuska Thunderfuck in dwc with stationary 1000 watt had good results in 3x3 area. Then doubled plants and added light mover, got same results except better lower buds due to light mover hitting those lower branches on each pass. Remember you can set the light just a few inches away with a mover. You have to get a rail with adjustable delay at ends or you will get tall growth in middle. The amperage for the rail is hella less than the amperage for another 1000 watt light with comparable results. no brainer for me!


Thank you for your input Groovedaddy but I am confused as to why you would want to use a mover in a 3x3 area with a thousand watt bulb. Is the 3x3 a typo?


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## groovedaddy (Sep 30, 2010)

3x3 first grow was stationary, added the light rail, then went to 3x6 and another dwc on second grow and achieved same results. hope that makes more sense.


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## newworldicon (Oct 1, 2010)

Yes it does thanks, so you are saying you doubled your yield with the mover?


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## g0dl1ke (Oct 1, 2010)

If your using movers and want to cover large areas, your better to run 2 diff light movers and add another 1000w light to efficiently cover the area without leaving unlit areas. Personally, from what i have seen, light movers are not an effective means, more lights and sun circle light spinners are a better method, removes the need to rotate your pots ( depending the system ) as it rotates your lamps eliminating hot spots and lower branches/areas not recieving enough light increasing your yeilds, however, it depends on your commitment and budget to what you should and can do.


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## kingme (Oct 14, 2010)

i am thinking about getting a light mover AgraMover to be exact. What i dont understand is how far i have to be off the plants and do i still need to exhaust out of the light ? This is where im confused and really could use come clarification. thanks.


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