Are there economies of scale with LED?

With HID, one big light is almost always better than multiple smaller ones that sum up the the same wattage. There are 'economies of scale' with HID, and getting the right size from the beginning is an important decision.

As far as I can tell, this is not the case with LED. For example the budmaster lights seem to be various combinations of the same basic 45 watt cluster. More wattage is a matter of more LEDS, rather than a brighter bulb.

So is there any real disadvantage to using multiple small individual LED units rather than one large one?

The reason I ask is because I can see a number of pragmatic advantages to having multiple small units.

drcucumber said:

With HID, one big light is almost always better than multiple smaller ones that sum up the the same wattage. There are 'economies of scale' with HID, and getting the right size from the beginning is an important decision.

As far as I can tell, this is not the case with LED. For example the budmaster lights seem to be various combinations of the same basic 45 watt cluster. More wattage is a matter of more LEDS, rather than a brighter bulb.

So is there any real disadvantage to using multiple small individual LED units rather than one large one?

The reason I ask is because I can see a number of pragmatic advantages to having multiple small units.

Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree that one big HID is better than several lower wattage lamps.Perhaps in a vertical grow or Scrog box situation. 1000w HPS is great but you could have 2 x 600w with better spread. Light movers were designed for a reason.

One of the advantages of LED (and to some extent fluorescent / induction lamps) is the ability to spread your source of light to accommodate your growing space. Having a bunch of COBs or Monos crammed into a fixture in the centre of a grow space is counterintuitive to me. I think dividing your space into a square foot grid and making sure each square foot receives the same amount of photons is the key to success. Linear or "bar" fixtures do this quite well.

The economy of scale with LED has more to do with what current you chose to run them at. Lower current better efficiency but more COBs equals higher initial financial cost. Less COBs at higher current equals less upfront cost but slightly less efficiency.

Cheers,
Will

i'm talking lumens per watt really. 600w HPS is more lumens than even 3 x 250w

i think this was true when there were 1000s and 400s but the 600 was kind of a game changer as its about as efficient as a 1000 in lm/W, and you get much better coverage with multiple fixtures

LEDs are better because you can get ideal coverage more easily as the lamps are discreet. like if you need 1400W for your space, what do you do with HPS to get good coverage? LEDs are more scalable up until the point where you have say 4 or more HPS fixtures, then its basically the same in multi-fixture coverage, if that makes sense.

and what will said...

Yes, I do think COB's are scalable, but not as affordable when you try to stay under 50 or so watts per COB. My thinking is, larger grow space = larger COBs. 4 to 6 COBs over a standard 4'x8' tray, with each COB running between 200w and 320w.
Check my grow, I am now starting a test between 80cri and 95+cri.