Lowering the Lights

This weekend's project was to lower the lights from the lightmover/ceiling to increase the lux/fc value at the orchid canopy. As you can see in the first picture, the lights are pretty close to the ceiling, and actually higher than they were placed last year.


















I installed some chains that allow me to vary the distance each light may hang from its lightmover. The lower the lights hang, less area is illuminated, so I'm trying to find a compromise setting for this season. The maximum length will place the lights directly on top of the Cym canopy. While this achieves over 10,000 lux, the area illuminated is quite small.














At the above length, the lights are about 18 inches closer to the canopy than they were last year. (The calculation/measurement also includes the distance due to raising the plants off the floor with the palettes--another feature I did not have last year.) According to the light meter, the maximum lux per light at canopy level is now about 7,500 lux. Because this is an improvement over last year, I expect that the orchids will be fine. However, with light meter in hand, I must admit that I'm already thinking of improved lighting designs for next year, e.g. putting two lights onto each lightmover (four lights total).

Note: Although the photos indicate that the lights move synchronously, they are, in fact, asynchronous. The light on the left is set to pause at each end of the rail for about 17 seconds. The light on the right is set to pause for about 19 seconds. The lights take about 90 seconds to traverse the rail length.