Original post:DIY LED Grow Light Wire up and Testing -  Part I: The Plan

First off, I'm going to state that I can see several sources for error in my calculations, which are skewed toward higher efficiency.  I'm sure the distribution approaches a beautiful inverse F-Distribution.  I am ignoring efficiency loss in the conversion of power.  My cursory research indicates the the Switching Power Source is ~98% efficient and the the drivers are likely similar.  In the short term calculations it is a negligible effect thus is ignored for now.

Power Costs are variable depending on application.  I have created three sample scenarios that these lights may be used for given the legislative and regulatory changes happening in regards to cannabis cultivation for medical and recreational use in Canada.

The take away here is that this panel is ridiculously cheap to operate; you could easily power this from battery banked 12VDC solar array. The test panel was humming along at 350mA which is pretty miserly really.  The next step is the determination of the PAR.  That can only be done with the constructed unit under regular operating conditions as it is a measurement of the amount of energy capable of triggering the photosynthetic reaction.

Back of the napkin tells me that this is sufficient for 30 cm^2 or plant area.  We'll see soon!