DIY Programmable Light Mover

Good morning rollers!
Today I've made a light mover from VEX kit parts and basic stamp controller.
And wanna show off
You can duplicate same setup using parts bought off ebay
Design is simple:
Dolly rides on 2 wheels along the rail (lowes bought, aluminum L-shaped, positioned like this: \/ )
Light hangs with hooks on bottom bracket

Continuous servo (3) drives one wheel 3 inches every 1 hr;
Controller (4) powers up the servo 3
When one of the sensors 1 or 2 triggers (dolly hits the stopper) controller reverses direction, and it goes over and over again

It runs off 9v power supply, battery is used for ease of handling while making.

2Do: moist-proof and mount controller board

So, i've got a question: what is the best schedule to move the light?
I have a 2' by 4' garden covered with one 400W MH/HPS
Let me know what you think

Pretty cool man... The light should be moved from one side, stop for a couple of minutes, and then move back to the other side. Of course that's just how I keep my light mover... I don't really think it matters too much.

I guess i will program it to move 6 runs from side to side over 18hr light cycle

Cool beans!

(but the life expectancy of the 'toy' servos isn't much.)

And that reminds me, I have a VEX set sitting around. Never really used it.

And stamps? I like them!! Kinda pricey though. For the price of 5 stamps you can have a compiler for PICs and the pics start at $1.50 I love them 8pin jobbers hanging on a rs-485 network.

cant you just splice into a 9 volt dc adapter or charger and hook it up to where the battery goes into? thats what i use for my pc fans. no worrys about battery life if you hve a long cord hung out of the way

Yeah, i got 7.5v supply to the controller, i used battery just to move it around while testing.

I chose stamp just because i had it laying around, and it's really easy to program. I also have arduino decimilia board, but thats overkill

what did the whole setup run minus the rails from lowes? im really interested in getting a light mover but i dont really wanna pay to order one in.. or have the paper trail...

thezurn said:

what did the whole setup run minus the rails from lowes? im really interested in getting a light mover but i dont really wanna pay to order one in.. or have the paper trail...

Click to expand...

sorry ... this thread has a bit of dust in it? look at date...lol. It's all good though ...we all have done it before!
But who knows maybe someone will chime in to help you with that question?...you could start new thread if you wanted, and welcome to riu

I'm interested in this light controller too. Would love some how to do instructions.

i like! keep thinking up more!

View attachment 2104709View attachment 2104710View attachment 2104711View attachment 2104712[h=3]Oscillating fan with leverage gives me 11'' for free and my one month old girls love how cheap i am! any? just ask.[/h]

^nice idea,does the fan have trouble moving it.