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| Power Supply |
Optimal coverage and energy, when used on planting beds, requires the use of bars mounted side by side and end to
end. With each bar 6.35cm wide and 53.34cm long, this layout puts bars on 7.62cm centers with ends touching. The
bars have a DC power connector on each end that allows power to flow through the bar for connection to another bar.
The limit on this "chaining" is 4 bars in a series.
There are a wide variety of power supplies available for use in chaining. For simple setups, you can just swap out the
wall plug supplies for a single large supply without any additional cost. For larger setups, Light Earth Design can
provide large supplies that will power many strings of 4 bars easily. Most of these power supplies will work on both
120vac and 240vac. When operated on 240vac, the cost of operation drops about 40% over the same setup running on
120vac.
Light Earth Design supplies commercial power supplies for larger setups. Our best value unit is 960 watts, which is about
100 LGM5 bars. It's light weight and electronic. Power supplies are available in either shelf mount or DIN mount.
Keep in mind that when powering bars for commercial use, it is recommended that a maximum of 4 bars be used per
power drop. The use of automotive or high-voltage cable type 00 is recommended also. We do not supply this cable
because it is always less expensive for the grower to purchase it locally from an electrical supply house. The "Aluminum
Multi Conductor Parallel & Tee Tap Connectors" pictured below are recommended for tapping into the buss
cables. (positive or negative).
Commercial growers "should" use 3-phase power. The commercial power supplies we feature are 92% efficient,
compared to only 80% for single-phase type units. Efficiency relates to how much energy is lost during the convert from
AC to DC, something which most commercial growers are sensitive to. Ideally, one should run our products on
photovoltaic or wind power, as our products are the only plant growing option for operating off the grid. More options are
available if you would like to run "off the grid" using solar/battery setups.
For larger commercial setups requiring 1000 or more bars you have the option of special bar to bar cables as well as
engineering drawings needed to show bar mounting and power drops.
| The Power Supply |
