light rail cord

I'm not the biggest fan of light rails. Some times they can have their use in veg....

Anyone have any crafty ideas on keeping the ballast/motor cords out of the way, when the light is moving almost the whole 8 ft track?

I'm thinking some elastic tether point in the center of range of motion. But it would have to be a really light duty bungee\elastic.

All the videos I see online the cables usually just droop all over the place. Not in my grow room.

Thanks,

- Jiji

cable ties

The cords are cable tied together

This does nothing for cable sag from 0 to full 8ft extension.

- Jiji

FYI- light rail is the product name, but its a "light mover" that moves.......figured everyone would know that

I never could get a good way to stop the droop & lived with in my mother room .

I just gave up & ducked & covered which isnt like me , my flower room is cord & ballast proper , no extension cords or any cords not affixed to ceilings or direct to rez , this droop drives me up the wall .

resinousflowers420 said:

cable ties

Click to expand...

Cable ties are a step backwards & restrict travel & throw the light out of whack , worst of all they create pulling force on the light , the cord & attachment points .

I tried bungee cords & they too restricted square hood travel & put stress on connection points , i was more worried about having a light crash with bungees & thought the dreaded droop a bit safer .

I just designed mine to loop minimally, the light mover is constantly moving and needs the slack.

Seems to work fine... I'm ocd about that kind of stuff.

panhead said:

I never could get a good way to stop the droop & lived with in my mother room .

I just gave up & ducked & covered which isnt like me , my flower room is cord & ballast proper , no extension cords or any cords not affixed to ceilings or direct to rez , this droop drives me up the wall .

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'm a big Zappa fan btw. If I ever meet up with you, I owe you a beer.

- Jiji

I would imagine the best way to do it, without putting any stress on the plug end, would be to firmly/tightly mount the cord to the ceiling in the center, just long enough to allow the light to move to the extreme ends. It will sag a little when the lights dead center, but that will depend on the distance from the ceiling (Pythagorean Theory). If its not firmly in place on the ceiling, it may slide back and forth. You could put in a eye hook and zip tie the cord tightly to the hook.

deadgro said:

I would imagine the best way to do it, without putting any stress on the plug end, would be to firmly/tightly mount the cord to the ceiling in the center, just long enough to allow the light to move to the extreme ends. It will sag a little when the lights dead center, but that will depend on the distance from the ceiling (Pythagorean Theory). If its not firmly in place on the ceiling, it may slide back and forth. You could put in a eye hook and zip tie the cord tightly to the hook.

Click to expand...

Well I never put stress on the plug ends. They are affixed by zip ties.

Good ole Pythagoras...kind of a weird dude, believed that when you farted part of your soul was leaving your body. But yeah, once upon I time I did land surveys, so I'm familiar.

Unfortunately, the ceiling height is 8ft. Solidly affixed to the light rail is a Gavita classic 1000 de with an apollo MH bulb....(I know I rip on competitors, but this is an experiment).

And since it is solidly affixed, tethering using a bungee etc. has to be pretty precise or its going to mess with the trolley (what holds the reflector.)

- Jiji

jijiandfarmgang said:

Thanks for the info. I'm a big Zappa fan btw. If I ever meet up with you, I owe you a beer.

- Jiji

Click to expand...

Im fortunate enough to have seen Frank with all 3 versions of The Mothers of Invention.as well as seeing him with his band twice .

Nowdays we've been heavily following Franks son Dweezils band Zappa Plays Zappa ,we got to see Napolean Murphy Brock on vocals on Dweezills 1st tour & it was exactly like seeing frank again .

At the start of the show Dweezil starts playing Black Napkins then a big screen drops & its frank playing the same licks in tandem with Dweezil from the MTV concert .

Wasnt a dry eye in the house ,.then seeing Dweezil cry his eyes out every time he plays Watermellon In Easter Hay gets everybody all choked up too .

Ive got a bunch of autographed Zappa stuff including a picture disc & the Shiek yer Booty album .

This pic is in my smoking lounge of Zappa Crappa .







Dweezil & Frank .

jijiandfarmgang said:

Well I never put stress on the plug ends. They are affixed by zip ties.

Good ole Pythagoras...kind of a weird dude, believed that when you farted part of your soul was leaving your body. But yeah, once upon I time I did land surveys, so I'm familiar.

Unfortunately, the ceiling height is 8ft. Solidly affixed to the light rail is a Gavita classic 1000 de with an apollo MH bulb....(I know I rip on competitors, but this is an experiment).

And since it is solidly affixed, tethering using a bungee etc. has to be pretty precise or its going to mess with the trolley (what holds the reflector.)

- Jiji

Click to expand...

I've not used a rail.. Is the cord connected from the light to a jack somewhere or from the light to one end of the rail?

can mod the idea to have a push rod connected to the first ring so not to let it get ran over by trolley

Here's how I had my vert light mover.

Sire Killem All said:

can mod the idea to have a push rod connected to the first ring so not to let it get ran over by trolley

Click to expand...

That's a great idea!