What is a good setting for the LightRail light mover time delay? And, do all LightRail light movers have that grow equipment feature? LightRail light movers are unique in that they all do have the 0-60 second adjustable time delay. And, without that grow light system option, we would have very uneven growth and bloom. And, that makes sense if we think how our grow light system moves along the light mover rail.
Gualala Robotics manufactures all LightRail products to have that time delay feature
Without the light mover time delay, our indoor grow lights would spend most of their time somewhere along the middle. In other words, very little indoor plant light time would be spent on either end of our light mover rail. So, what this would do for our grow room setup is we would have much bigger plants along the middle and much shorter plants on the end. And, our grow light setup would have the same uneven results when it came to indoor growing system yield numbers. So to counter this grow light system conundrum, Gualala Robotics manufactures all LightRail products to have that very important grow equipment light mover time delay feature. That includes LightRail 3.5 Kits, LightRail 4.0 Kits and LightRail 4.20 Kits.
For about a 3 foot run, 20-30 seconds is perfect for the time delay
For the setting of the light mover time delay, it’s best to start in the middle of the dial. So, with a 0-60 second option, a half turn on the time delay dial will be at 30 seconds. Grow light systems vary and travel distance varies, so we are only at the starting point for our indoor grow setup. Of course, we can then time the amount of time any section of indoor plant light interacts with each section of the canopy. But, we can also know that as a grow light system rule, if we move our indoor grow lights three feet from switch stop stopper to switch stop stopper, then 20-30 seconds is perfect for the time delay.
Larger LED Grow Lights are the Exception
The exception is the larger oversized LED grow light. They can have a much shorter time delay of 0-15 seconds. The reason for this is they are massive enough that they are naturally spending more time on the ends and so do not need to supplement the ends of each run with more light time. Aim for an even canopy and you can increase the pause time for each end of each run, or you can decrease that. You can determine this over time.
A 3 foot run lights up the entire rail length
For more traditional grow lights, moving a grow light three feet, or about one meter, means we are likely lighting up the full 2-meter rail area. That’s because the indoor grow light goes past the stopper setting by half the length of that indoor grow light. And the same is true when the indoor grow light of the grow light system reaches the other side. In other words, three feet of travel distance is ideal for most indoor grow lights.
Your eye will tell you
In addition, your eye will tell you how you are doing with the grow room setup. And, that’s for coverage with our indoor plant light interaction on the canopy. And, it’s the case for how the plants are doing in our indoor grow system, including how evenly they are growing over time. So, if the end plants are not keeping up, we can increase the light mover time delay to give them a little more grow light system time. And conversely, if the end plants are doing better than the middle plants in our indoor grow room setup, we can decrease the light mover time delay just a little.
Other variables that might affect the light mover time delay setting
There are other variables that might affect how long we set the light mover time delay. Those include how powerful our indoor grow lights are and how close we have the indoor grow lights to the canopy. Of course, when we move our grow light systems, we can get closer to that canopy for maximum PAR and perfectly dialed in Ppfd numbers. That’s an example of Inverse Square Law where indoor plant light decreases geometrically the farther away it is positioned from the object it is lighting. So, at five feet above the canopy, it is only at half strength. But, we know that light equals yield in the indoor grow room setup. That means a strong, powerful grow light system with a high PAR reading at the canopy will give us stellar results.
Bravely fire in our lights for maximum PAR right to the canopy
And, LightRail light movers are the vehicle that allows us to get away with bravely firing in our grow lamps without the fear of hot spots and zoned light overkill. But, when it comes to the light mover time delay, a very long pause with a powerful grow lamp, could it be too much intensity for that pause time? For a 20-30 second delay that is recommended with the typical 3-foot travel distance, this is a non-issue. And, that’s because that is not long enough to do harm. If, however, our grow room setup and grow equipment setup dictated a longer pause with a powerful grow lamp, then we would perhaps want to get the grow light system lifted up just a matter of inches to compensate for that longer time delay setting.
The adjustable time delay is another reason the LightRail brand stands out
The LightRail light mover time delay setting is hugely important and is just one more feature that makes the LightRail brand stand out. And, the ideal grow equipment setting for that time delay is most likely 20-30 seconds and that’s with a 3-foot travel distance, stopper to stopper. Plus, your eye will tell you how we are doing overtime for the indoor grow room setup. For any slight indoor grow system changes we make over time, we can include small time delay changes if we see the need. LightRail light movers give us those options.
Whether in a greenhouse or grow room, and whether for indoor farming or cannabis cultivation, LightRail light movers are the perfect solution. And, the 0-60 second time delay is a part of that overall grow light system package.