IF this is true then why are the 3w LEDs considered better than the 1W LEDs that are better again than the smaller again LEDs?
Theres a law somewhere that states that the light intensity halves over a distance of X. So at distance of X it is half of what was produced, at 2x its a 1/4 and at 3x its 1/8, etc.
Thats why a 600w one source HPS travels longer distances with an effective intensity than LEDs, even if there are 600w worth of tiny ones.
My limited simpleton knowledge calls false on this sorry. This is why i would be more interested in a single 80w LED than a mass of tiny 1/4w LEDS that add up to 80w.
I see the difference in the light source output like this.
If you want to get a tan from sunlight it doesn't matter if you are on the rooftop of a tall building
or down on street level, the distance between the two is insignificant compared to the distance to
the Sun and the output coming from it.
So you got a trillion billion mega watts coming from far away. (it has to be or everything would get burned)
But a solarium can give you the same tan using only 1Kw, but you have to be close to it,
and if you move just a short distance away from it it totally looses it's power to give you a tan.
So we got a choice of using a single high power point source far way
or using many smaller ones very close by, the plant can't tell the difference
if the light is coming either.
What's is wrong with these 14 watt panels with 5mm LED's is that they are not complete full
of LED's shoulder to shoulder like the 500 led flashlight.
Using 1 and 3 watt LEDs make sense compared to using thousands of 5mm witch require a big pcb's and manual labor.
optics lenses like a looking glass also illustrates the difference, the more you focus the beam the hotter it gets, but the coverage area is also shrinking.
So in the vegetative phase we want 120° lens optics so the lamp can get close to the plants and 60° lenses during flowing when the plant is tall
and there is a long way to the bottom leads and buds.
Non of the lamps we are buying are great for a start to finish run, getting two kinds of optics make sense like cold and warm CFL bulbs
for each phase. They either put out to much in the beginning, and waisting energy or have to little in the end.
I think using different kinds of lights and switching them on as the growth goes along is preferred.
It's visible in my closet right now, the 4 young girls have outgrown the 120W led lamp in width
and it's time to either raise the lamp to cover all the leafs, but then the intensity will drop to below that of Sunshine.
so more lamp is needed, if I want to keep vegging with Sunshine levels of light.
When the plants gets tall then it's time for the 60° optics for the penetration to the bottom.
