HOW SHOULD I PROJECT LIGHT INTO A ROUND AREA?

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
Yes its a light spinner... moving the plants like you said sounds like a better idea to me.... Id do some sketches 1st before constructing. I'd just put all the lights squared in the center
I've been thinking about this sucker for a long time. It just sounds easier to me to power-up a Lazy Susan than it would be to build a light mover (I would never buy one 'cause I'm too cheap - but that's another story).
 

Diabolical666

Well-Known Member
Me either....no worries Im a cheap ass too. I lol at the money ppl dish out for tents and kits. I have 8 lights total and only paid full price for one of them, everything else is DIY built tents, garage sale or thrift store fans, trades etc All though I do spend good coin on nutes and soil, only the best for my babies;)
 

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
If the light is in the center, and the lazy Susan is moving the whole base that the plants are on, then the plant's orientation to the light will never change even as the lazy Susan rotates.
About the "center light" I mentioned in "Plan B". The center light would be "off-set" a little, just enough to allow the light-to-plant orientation to change as the Lazy Susan rotates. See post #9.

Am I missing something here? Is each plant on a lazy Susan?
One Lazy Susan, mutiple plants.

Personally will 4ft diameter to work with I'd drop a couple bulbs dead center, one on top of the other, and that's it. Grown the plants up the walls. Check out the vert section.
I know that in Vert growing, you want to drop the light right in the center; with the plants closely surrounding the light. But in this scenario the "center" is about 24" from the perimeter; that's just too far (according to my understanding of "The Inverse Square Law".
 

xx0numb0xx

Active Member
If you line up the lights @ 7.8", 15.6", 31.3", and 39.1", then this is what it would look like:
Inverse Square Law2.jpg
I adjusted the brightness so that there's no "clipping" so you can actually see areas that are brighter than the center points of the lights. The numbers I chose were if you were to divide the diameter into sixths and place a light at each point of division except for the middle one. Seeing this, I believe you'd wanna have the lights more on the outside than the inside of the circle unless you don't mind if the middle gets extra light.

How about this? Set up a central gear that doesn't rotate and have four rotating circles on top of the main rotating circle. Each of the smaller circles would have a gear connected to the central gear. As these circles orbit the central gear, each circle would also rotate about its own axis.
 

Diabolical666

Well-Known Member
I dont see the point of spinning each plant as well...wouldnt they still get light from every angle spinning all together?
 

xx0numb0xx

Active Member
I dont see the point of spinning each plant as well...wouldnt they still get light from every angle spinning all together?
Not if there's a concentration of light in the center or on the outside ring. With only one rotating mass, one side of the plants will always be facing the center, and the other side will always be facing the outside. They would lean in the direction that has stronger light. Same would happen if you had a circle of light, except some plants would stand straight, some would lean radially outward, and some would lean radially inward, but they would all be trying to get closer to that circle of light.

EDIT: Imagine if you sat on a rotating table and faced the center. As you rotated around, you would never stop facing the center unless you yourself rotated to face in some other direction.
 
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GrowUrOwnDank

Well-Known Member
Not if there's a concentration of light in the center or on the outside ring. With only one rotating mass, one side of the plants will always be facing the center, and the other side will always be facing the outside. They would lean in the direction that has stronger light. Same would happen if you had a circle of light, except some plants would stand straight, some would lean radially outward, and some would lean radially inward, but they would all be trying to get closer to that circle of light.
Hmm. So I guess it makes no sense in having the light spinner turning one way and the lazy Susan the other.

Do plants get dizzy? Could this stuff hermy our sensitive babies? It's just not natural. Has anyone ever tried a strobe light like at the titty club?
 

a senile fungus

Well-Known Member
What makes the most sense is for the OP to drop the lights barebulb into the center and then vscrog up the sides.

It would turn 12ft² into around 50ft² (2pi*r time the 4ft of height I'm assuming) of canopy being within around 20inches of the lightbulb, not to mention they'd be hit with more than one light source because it'd be one bulb on top of the other...

Just a thought. Here's a pic.

1423699432545.jpg
 

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
Me either....no worries Im a cheap ass too. I lol at the money ppl dish out for tents and kits. I have 8 lights total and only paid full price for one of them, everything else is DIY built tents, garage sale or thrift store fans, trades etc All though I do spend good coin on nutes and soil, only the best for my babies;)
I hear that!
 

a senile fungus

Well-Known Member
As to your worrying about the light being too far, it won't be. 24inches is exactly the distance from wall to center. Account for maybe 4inches of light bulb makes it 22inches. Now you have 22inches to fit plants in there. That's not that much space once they start to grow. I figure about 8inches or so of plant thickness from the far wall if you're training them back, which leaves around 14inches from your leaves to the light. The plants are growing in between the walls of the cylinder and the bulbs.

I grow with two 315w CMH in a 4x8 tent on a light mover that only moves the bulbs about a foot up and down. I'd MUCH rather have two points of light per 4x4 area in my grow room.

Hope that helps!
 

GrowUrOwnDank

Well-Known Member
Me either....no worries Im a cheap ass too. I lol at the money ppl dish out for tents and kits. I have 8 lights total and only paid full price for one of them, everything else is DIY built tents, garage sale or thrift store fans, trades etc All though I do spend good coin on nutes and soil, only the best for my babies;)
Payin full price just means ya GETTIN PAID YO! :bigjoint:

 

GrowUrOwnDank

Well-Known Member
I'm with you on this one. I think it's easier to "evenly distribute" the light than it is to make each plant rotate individually.
Well it wasn't a "terrible" theory. Then I thought about opening the doors and the branches of different plants being all tangled and twist tied together and pots laid on their sides and dirt all over the place.

So maybe it was a bad idea. My bad.
 

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
Hmm. So I guess it makes no sense in having the light spinner turning one way and the lazy Susan the other.

Do plants get dizzy? Could this stuff hermy our sensitive babies? It's just not natural. Has anyone ever tried a strobe light like at the titty club?
Well, the Lazy Susan would be turning really slow (I'm talking about minutes per revolution, not RPM), I can make it go as slow as I want - that shouldn't be a problem.

Do plants get dizzy? LOL, I thought about that very same thing.
 

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
What makes the most sense is for the OP to drop the lights barebulb into the center and then vscrog up the sides.

It would turn 12ft² into around 50ft² (2pi*r time the 4ft of height I'm assuming) of canopy being within around 20inches of the lightbulb, not to mention they'd be hit with more than one light source because it'd be one bulb on top of the other...

Just a thought. Here's a pic.

View attachment 3349399
This project is taking on a life of it's own - it's turning into Frankenstien. But seriousely, 12 sq. ft. is plenty enough for little old me!
 

T.H.Cammo

Well-Known Member
When I started this thread, last night, I was worried that nobody was going to respond. I guess it was just a "Left Coast" thing (last night for me was "Zero Dark Thirty" for everybody else). Once the sun came up on the East Coast, the ideas started pouring in. Thanks to everyone!

Anyone else?
 
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