Wish I had an easy answer to that. If optics were sorted, it would be easy. 1825 @ 1050mA, 53W each. Crush it.
4 1825s for a total of 200V, 212W on an HLG-240H-C1050 or equivalent. 85% load might annoy some people, I don't mind running drivers cooler as long as they are in the efficiency sweet spot.
Alternatively, the 1818 @ 700ma like I did. 35W each, fits 4 cobs well on an HLG-120-C or 7 cobs on a 240H-C. 700ma is a good Meanwell match for the 52V versions.
Practical answer might be 1818 @ 1050mA, which @robincnn shows ahead of 3590 CD at 50W. It has holders and reflectors and you can do a 1:1 cob ratio, for literally half the cob price as Cree. We are still figuring out real current droop, "we" being robin and @BOBBY_G , so who knows.
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But!
It's a great question that really makes me learn answering it. The way the lineup is arranged you could replace one 1825 with two 1812s and have nearly identical perfomance across the board. Heat dissipation per area, efficiency, the whole nine. Then you have twice the spread, and twice the pain in the ass to build.
But I guess that's the really cool thing. 3x 1212 (432 die), 2x 1812(432 die), 1x 1825(450 die) are all roughly equivalent and cost the same to buy. It's a brilliant lineup. 1818 is a Goldilocks cob.
Sorry, I have a hard time not giving nuanced answers with lots of qualifiers. Maybe somebody else can help.
A more fun answer would be 1812s replacing Cree at a 2:1 ratio running at 500mA/25W each. Unfair? Maybe not when you can buy two 1812s for every CXB and still have money left over for you and your gal at In-N-out.
Anybody else?
do you know what efficiency of each of these cobs would be? so the 1825 @ 1050ma, 1818 @ 700ma, and the 1818 @ 1050ma?
do you mind explaining how you calculated said efficiency and point to any data sheets that were used. I barely wrap my head around the whole Cree COB and without supra's spreadsheets i don't think I ever would have, hence all the rudimentary questions.
like GM i'm interested in building a DIY led fixture that has similar to better PPFD values and efficiency to cree cobs but it would be nice to make a fixture for 30-40% cheaper