Growing Tip:
What is a Sun Circle? (circular light mover)
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What is a sun circle?
Contributed by :Harlequin
Made by American Hydroponics, it is a 360 degree rotating
light balancer. It will rotate a single lamp or lamps and
even of mixed wattage and type over a crop profile in
continuous fashion without flex getting tangled. The
advantage it gives is a more even profile coupled with
greater efficiency of the lights used. They come in three
colors and three styles.
Yellow.
Purple.
Green.
As said, they come in three styles and they are the 1LRS
(One Light Rotating System), the 2LRS (Two Light Rotating
System) and finally the 3LRS (Three Light Rotating System).
For the sake of this document, the discussion will be on a
purple 3LRS.
Avoid the green model as it has a light weight yet weak
chassis and can break away from the ceiling mount. I know
this from experience. Chose the yellow or purple models as
they can truly take the weight of low bays which means
remote bays will be a cinch. I have used the yellow 2LRS
and yellow 3LRS as well as the purple 3LRS with
satisfaction. Although heavier to handle, the solid
construction makes all the difference. It is vital that a
sun circle has inherent structural integrity as lamps and a
sun circle crashing down onto a crop below would be a
disaster. The purple 3LRS is rated at 9kg (20lb) per arm
load bearing.
It is equally elevated that it is mounted to a ceiling
with sufficient load bearing. Check the joist or frame with
a few chin-ups. If it can take that, then a sun circle will
be safe to mount. Always over engineer in the construction
of a grow room.
This document will also outline how to wire a sun circle,
what a sun circle consists of as in components, their
maintenance as well as ceiling mounting.
If considering the purchase of a sun circle, it will consist
of the sun circle, a set of bull arms with extention arms,
including low bay bracket mounts and cord with pulleys for
the lamps. It will be expected that you use flex from your
HID systems to set the sun circle up. That's easy as this
document will detail.
Note:The cord and pulleys that come with a sun circle are
ridiculous. Far safer and easier to use chain with dog
collar clips. You won't get electrocuted as one should
always wear rubber soled shoes in a grow room. It is after
all a plant workshop and not a fun parlor.
Note:sun circles do not come with male and female plugs for
your hats. You must buy a pair of female and male plugs for
each hat you wish to use with your sun circle. I will
discuss this shortly.
Note:The extension arms that come with the bull arms have
not been employed as I like to keep my light concentrated
so the crop is full of solid bud. The extension arms simply
slot into the bull arms and increase the over all arm
stretch by double. Depending on model, sun circle arms can
come in box aluminum or box galvanized steel. The ones
shown in this document are aluminum.
Photograph showing clearance of a 3LRS sun circle on a
ceiling grow room exhaust with bull arms pointing down. If
one has a low ceiling without ceiling exhaust encumbrance,
the bull arms can be positioned facing up, giving extra
height on the hats to garden below. In either configuration
of bull arm use, always make sure you secure bull arms
firmly with the screws provided in the bull arm
mounts.
Please note that all styles of sun circle will have
different mounting plates so the holes on the plates will
not correspond to the ceiling mount alignment you might
have from another model. If so, then make a plate that will
accommodate varied styles by lining up the plate at the
hydroponics shop. This will give one the advantage of
borrowing a sun circle from the hydroponics shop of
purchase, if and when you have a problem with your
sun circle for prompt garden installation and bearing you
have good will with the hydroponics folks. You will note in
this picture that there's holes in this aluminum plate to
accommodate three styles of sun circle. So make the ceiling
mount with two plates. One set permanently to the ceiling
that holds the fasting bolts and the other you can take to
the shop for easy measurements.
In this picture, the sun circle is fully wired and flex
attached. Short of being ceiling mounted, bull arms
attached and connected off to hats/ballasts and with the
power on, it is fully operational as can be seen in this
photograph.
Please note, that the sun circle is actually upside down, as
the ceiling mounting plate is sitting on a tiled floor --
so imagine that the tiled floor is a ceiling. You can see
the black cord that brings power to the the sun circle
motor. Note the three flex cords on the junction box
located near the ceiling mounting plate for the HID
ballasts and the three flex female plugged lines from the
other junction house for the hats.
A closer look at the sun circle and again without the
attached bull arms. It's actually the other side of the
sun circle not seen in the first photograph. For the sake of
ease to photograph, the sun circle is again upside down with
the ceiling mounting plate resting on a kitchen sink. Note
the two junction houses, electric motor, brush points,
ceiling mount plate, bull arm mounts with securing screws
and flex for lamps and ballasts which lead off from the two
junction houses. I will discuss these shortly.
A close look at a junction house with junction housing
plate removed. This junction house is the one that takes
the flex from the ballasts. It is identical in wiring to
the junction house that takes the flex to the hats.
It is a good idea to write in indelible pen at each flex
entry point what station it is. In the case of this 3LRS,
there's three stations per junction house. Not only will
this make it make it easier in the wiring of the sun circle,
it will ensure that the two junction houses are identical
in all regards.
Ensure that the flex is held secure with the sun circle
junction house clamps as seen in the photograph. You want
no wires inside junction caps coming lose from flex being
pulled due to insecure hold as that can cause short
circuit. I will discuss wiring shortly.
The sun circle with ceiling mounting plate removed exposing
the interior mechanics in relation to the external electric
motor.
Note:Because a sun circle has to be taken down so you can
inspect and lubricate the inner workings, you must set the
sun circle up in your grow with intention that it will come
down in an ongoing basis. So think carefully on how you
will ceiling mount it. It may seem silly to say, but do not
for example, set it so the nuts to the mounting bolts can
only be accessed from the crawl space of a roof. Always
have the nuts on the bolts facing downwards to the grow
below.
A closer view of the internal mechanics.
It's simply a drive shaft from the motor to a central cog
which in turn rotates the central core. It is advisable
every twelve months to take the sun circle down and remove
the ceiling mounting plate and grease the drive shaft and
the central cog. This can be seen in the photograph with an
evident blue residue of fresh grease. Ordinary automotive
grease is sufficient.
Note:When in operation, do not force the sun circle. Doing
so can cause misalignment of the drive shaft to the central
cog which will result in the sun circle not rotating.
In this sun circle shown, one garden rotation happens every
4 minutes and 20 seconds, so a little patience is needed if
a hat happens to be in the way when inspecting a
plant.
A view of the sun circle motor.
Note:It needs an oiling every month and you can see the
oil well on the side of the motor. Sewing machine oil is
sufficient. Just a few drops is all that's needed.
A look at the brushes of the sun circle. Note:Some people
refer to brushes as bushes. Simple to remove with a flat
head screwdriver from the brush points.
A closer look at the brushes.
Being that the rectangular prism is copper it will wear out
before the central core will and this is intentional in
design so the sun circle has a long working life. Brushes
are cheap but a worn core equals a dead sun circle. However,
it is advisable to inspect the brushes along with your once
every twelve months check. Give the brushes a light sanding
on contact end if dirty from carbon. This will ensure that
there's adequate contact so circuit is effected.
If ballasts are in working order as well as lamps and you
note lamps failing to charge or failing to fully charge and
your sun circle wiring is correct, it may be poor contact
with a brush.
When needing to inspect a sun circle or taking down a
sun circle, you must switch off all HID's with allowance to
five minutes discharge time for the HID capacitors. That
will not only insure a sound working life of the
capacitors, it will prevent potential electrocution. Then
pull the HID plugs from the wall as well as the sun circle
motor plug. Now it is safe to inspect the brushes. A
sun circle with i.e. 3000w of HID is not a toy and it can
deliver a lethal electrocution. Treat all use of a
sun circle with care. If the brushes appear in working
order, then you will need to take down the sun circle and
inspect the junction houses for possible lose wires. If all
appears normal and you know for a fact that your ballasts
and lamps are in working order, you will have to take the
sun circle back to where you bought it for service. Only a
qualified electrician should service a sun circle.
Wiring Guide -- picture showing an open and wired junction
house with earth junction cap removed.
Once having purchased a sun circle, you have two choices.
You allow the shop to wire your sun circle or you do it
yourself if you have no problems with some basic DIY sparky
work (electrical work). Doing it yourself brings several
advantages.
* It can save you some money by not shelling to a
hydroponics store technician.
* You can get on with your project immediately.
* You will become familiar with how the sun circle
operates.
* You will be confident to attend to minor trouble shooting
yourself.
* You will be able to cut the flex to exact lengths based
on what lengths are needed in your grow room -- a task not
easy to do when in a hydroponics shop. The less length in
flex from sun circle to ballasts and sun circle to hats the
better, as there's loss to resistance in circuit in
excessive flex.
If you do decide to wire it yourself, you must do so
correctly. One must ensure that all wiring to the two
junction houses is exact to both junction houses. Failure
to do so will cause a short circuit which could not only
damage the sun circle, it could damage the HID ballast and
lamp. A very costly mistake to make. Fortunately correct
wiring is a simple task of following exactly a chosen color
combination of the wires inside the junction houses.
Now it would be pointless showing each and every wiring
step of colored wires in sequence, as it would simply be a
series of photographs of confusing "electrical entrails".
So a text worded description is best.
The following example is how I wired this sun circle. In
this example, it is a 3LRS and in lesser armed sun circles,
there's simply less wiring to do. The only elevated issue,
other than ensuring all wiring to both junction houses is
identical, is that the earth (green wires) is all set to
the one junction cap. Green is always earth.
Note:All wiring is to be held by junction caps of approved
safety standard. The junction caps that came with this
sun circle were inferior and I replaced them immediately
with what you see, which meet ASA in Australia. This is
most elevated as wires coming lose from junction caps when
sun circle is in operation could cause a disastrous short
circuit.
When wiring, strip back 7.5 cm (3 inches) of outer flex
insulation and 1.5cm (2/3 of an inch) of inner core
insulation. It should come with your HID kits.
Note:If in the case of a 3LRS as this one is, you will
need 14 junction caps.
Lamp 1.
Blue wire to Black wire of sun circle.
Brown wire to Red wire of sun circle.
Lamp 2.
Blue wire to White and Blue stripe wire of sun circle.
Brown wire to White and Red stripe wire of sun circle.
Lamp 3.
Blue wire to Blue wire of sun circle.
Brown wire to White and Blue stripe wire of
sun circle.
All green wires joined to one junction cap.
The above is repeated again exactly in the second junction
house.
You could chose any other combination of colored wire to
colored wire, as long as both junction houses are identical
in wiring and again at risk of repeating, that all green
wires are always to one junction cap. It's also probable
that the colors that I've spoken of will vary, as they did
in my experience on 2LRS and 3LRS yellow models. No
problem, just make sure both junction houses are identical
to the color code you chose.
Looking at the photograph provided, you can see the green
earth is four wires in total with the junction cap taken
off to demonstrate. The fourth green wire is the sun circle
earth as the three green wires are from the three HID
flex.
Aside how the sun circle is ceiling mounted, it should also
be center of your grow footprint. The old 3,4,5 math will
do that. That is, 3 squared plus 4 squared equals 5
squared, which will give you a right angle so you can
footprint section a square from a rectangular room. Then
suspend a plumb bob at central point and you will know the
central floor point if needed i.e. to square out where the
reflectors of your grow will go.
Equally elevated is making sure that the sun circle is
level in mount. Simple tighten or loosen the bolt nuts on
the ceiling mount plate till level. You can if unsure,
inspect with a spirit level by laying it across the bull
arms. This will ensure that there's no strain placed on the
sun circle motor when system is in rotation.
Another view of the sun circle ceiling mounted and now
awaiting the hats to be attached. Use cup hooks to tie off
the ballast flex to ceiling and position the hat flex on
the bull arms.
As seen in the photograph, it is a wise idea when attaching
and wiring your flex to the sun circle to use female plugs
from the sun circle and male plugs from the hats. This
allows fast removal and setup of your hats. Often times
sun circles on display in hydroponics shops will not have
female and male plugs set on sun circle to hats. That's
perfectly fine for a shop display, not very practical for
growing operation.
I will repeat stating this elevated point. Always use
female plugs from the sun circle and male plugs from the
hats or risk electrocution by errant contact to active male
points. Use common sense.
Equally elevated.
If using a mixed lamp configuration of Metal Halide and
High Pressure Sodium and/or different wattages such as 400w
and 1000w, always mark clearly with an indelible pen on the
female plugs from the sun circle which are which. That way
you will avoid plugging in a hat to the wrong
ballast.
Final picture of a marijuana crop with sun circle and lamps
in action.
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Last cannabis grow log changed: 04:24 - Jul 12,
2011
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Answer © 2011 ECO GREEN
1264 "What is a sun circle? (circular light mover)"
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