I love learning about all of this stuff, thank you very much for your time!
I have plenty of height so that's not an issue.
So what exactly is a light engine? I was under the impression it replaced drivers, but I guess I was wrong.
Why not series over parallel if parallel has those issues?
As far as heatsinks, I can make sure they're cooled properly. Will get a pin fins. If I'm aiming for efficiency, how many 1818s should I get, and what should I drive them at? Also heatsinks, what thermal resistance would I need at the recommended amps?
Cost will be much higher for the "accessories" if I go for many 1212s I think.
Light engine here would be a unit thats ready to be connected to the driver, connections and heatsinks etc all mounted and setup. For doing that work you would need soldering station, a fixed drillpress (is that what its called) all the cables, holder, optics etc: a lot of stuff. Also factor in the possibility that you mess up the soldering a ruin a chip. The 1818 and 1825 are really good value, i looked around and not found anything much cheaper, with quality and easy setup.
Running in paralell/series: paralell for flexibility, just adding cobs for better spread and efficiency. You would still have the same watts going thru your system, just adding efficiency as you add cobs. The risk of all of them dying on you is near 0 if you use tge light engine as the heatsink should handle the extra heat, should handle up to 200watts. Also when manufacturers recommend not running in paralell its more down to achieving even ligjt intensity as cobs can vary slightly in voltage.
Series: more expensive drivers and you dont get the same possibility to add cobs as u go on, you need to think this is my final setup. I went for series anyway, as thats what made sense at the time and for the space (laaaarge). Not sure if i regret it now, maybe when i get my second space, which is different, i would go that way.
Pin heatsinks: great, especially if they are going to have your ventilation on it. Makes a 2 in 1. But you need to do soldering yourself unless theres solderless holders available.
If you wanna do bars from heatsinkusa for example go for at least 10mm base.
My advice: 4 1818 light engines in paralell on 2 hlg185 48A, dimmable, and when you have the dough, upgrade to 8.
Fits your first budget and will light the space fine. And also let you upgrade to 8 cobs for more efficiency in the future, for 200 and a bit. You get something nice and no hassle to setup for only marginally more cost than total diy.
If you google rollitup grow northern photon 180 theres a couple of threads/grows with a very similar light as 2 of these light engines, only in 1825 instead of 1818, but at less wattage per cob.
Check all these details with cobby first as id rather rely on him than me