So on another rainy morning where my dopamine receptors starving for progress on this project after thinking about it so much I googled solar simulators.

My first findings were commercial grade and they run in the 10's of thousands of dollars - so that's not happening.

But YouTube is great for DIYers and I found this great video series that shares the results of tackling the same problem for solar panel testing.

So, long story short, this baby is now on the way from Bezos: https://www.amazon.com/MARS-HYDRO-Spectrum-Hydroponic-Greenhouse/dp/B07VL8FZS1

At 15"x7" and change it should be able to cover two of my 6"x7" units sufficient for A/B testing, even if it isn't a perfect match for the real sun.

I'll let y'all know how it goes!