These are LEDs that are used in a T8 fixture. You just rewire the
ballast slightly and they work (or so it's said). No panels.
They grow area per raft will be 55"L x 45"W and around 20-25"T of wiggle room for the
lights/plants, which works out to 16.25sq ft. Lettuce will occupy the top raft and kale for the other two rafts. Kale also grows taller so it will have more height in that area. I already got the PPM/EC/CF and preferred pH figured out for the different varieties.
The fixture is 48"L x 5.5"W. They will be spaced 7" apart w/ 7" of space @ the end.
If using 1,500 lumens per sq ft, it comes out to 18,300 lumens w/ fluorescents & 13,800 w/ LEDs (24,375 lumens needed). I guess that's how it's measured out.
The numbers don't make since. Seems many sources have different numbers and for the most part, seems like they're being pulled out of someones ass w/ no reasoning behind it. Ive seen grows use much less. If worse comes to worse, I can always use less grow space and tighten fixture gaping.
The interior top/bottom/sides/+raft base will also be wrapped in mylar which should hopefully help with maximizing light.
The numbers I ran above show the LEDs to be on par with the fluorescents in terms of costs for the first year, and dropping to around 31% in energy costs the following years. That's not real word though numbers though, just something to go by. Not 100% sure how efficient the brand I'm getting is, as they're from overseas.
If using wattage per sq ft,
led-25w per sq ft would put it @ 406.25w required. The LEDs only total to 132w (22w/6
bulbs). Which means I would need 274w/12 more bulbs ($121.92) and around $90 more in light fixture money.
The only thing that peaked my interest to the LEDs was being curious if I could get away with using less lumens for my particular situation. Since that particular LED could fit the fixture I was looking at, it was the cheapest of the LEDs and the
fluorescent was the cheapest of the fluorescent.
If factoring lumens or wattage per sq foot, then LEDs will never win as you're always going to need to match wattage or lumens regardless of bulb type. The only thing it seems LED has over fluorescent is lumens per wattage and bulb life (quality control issues don't factor in), which my above options put it to around 104 lumen per watt for the LED and 95 lumen per watt for the fluorescent. So @ the end of the day that's not much cost savings to do cartwheels over.
For my particular setup size. I couldn't get away w/ using a MH in my setup as I only will have 20-25"T of room per raft. I should had mentioned this earlier, but the rafts stack on top of each other. The whole setup will be around 59"L x 48"W x 80-90"T and will house 3 rafts.
MH is the best bet, but I wish they made longer bulbs as I have some ground to cover. Plus they're only around $8 which is absolutely nuts.
Thanks for the informative feedback. Maybe I'm over complicating stuff.