Going schizo here. Thinking about biting the bullet and actually buying a grow light instead of making another panel, but since my budget will be severely limited choices are limited too.
So the minefield has been entered, looking on Fleabay, Amazon, AliE and so forth, and some of the price differences for what looks like the same model are shocking, never mind the lack of data on actual power draw and ridiculous notions like having to turn off the fitting every 5 hours to let it cool down and prolong life!
And, of course, living in Euroland means a US distributer is out the window as import duties have to be considered, so that leaves EU distribution where, frankly, profiteering is the order of the day for many. Unless I win the lottery tonight a QB will be over budget, and you don't want to know what the costs of strips would be. So that limits options further, even though only one or two plants will be the order of the day and diy is possible, but I know I can get better than my B.S. Johnson panels for around the same 140w of power draw each panel uses.
But it's sorting the wheat from the chaff, especially as warranties will go out the window as I carve sides out to improve cooling (a point I think I raised before about why so many lights burn out so quickly, they never get cleaned out and dust build up compromises cooling, so carving things open allows for more passive airflow and easier cleaning), that's the problem when wanting to keep around the €100 mark.
A pigging nightmare, my head's spinning, and people wonder why I like Valium...