When you compare different lighting designs, make sure to compare apples with apples. This means taking 3 things into account:
- Verify the credibility of the performance claims that manufacturers make.
- Make sure that DIALux calculation software is used for the lighting design. This calculation software is provided by an independent company and commonly used in the horticulture market.
- Check which input parameters have been used for each lighting design. It is easy to tweak the input parameters and give the impression of more positive light level and uniformity within the lighting design. So which parameters are crucial?
The most important input parameters to check are:
- Has the right product been specified? Check if the exact product that you have selected for your project has been used in the lighting design, with the right light output (PPF in µmol/s) and spectrum (blue/red/white/far red/…).
- Have your specific design values been used, like the average light level at your crop (PPFD in µmol/m2/s) and the overall light uniformity?
- What are the standard settings? The height of the grow light and crop (free height), reflection factors, and the size and position of the area that is used in the uniformity calculation all have an impact on the average light level and overall uniformity achieved.