Solder-free?

When people say Vero 29's are solder-free what do they mean by that? Is there no solder work at all?

They have molex connections, you can purchase connectors for about a buck fifty each. They also have solder pads, options.

Bonjour
No soldering at all..just make 2 holes in the hs cpu cooler and screw it...no need holders for Vero's!
If you want to give it a try start with a few Vero 10 (4 $ piece), cpu cooler 80mm (3/4 $) and 350mA cheap driver (3/4 $) TIM wires wago old phone charger and you have a small vegg light at around 40% efficiency which will give you a good idea of what cob are capable of...!
It will be cheap...prepare you for a bigger build...make you curious about what a 56% efficient can do while you already impress by a 40% one's...lol!
I really want to switch to full cob...I hope I could before next summer...I can't wait to sell all the hps mh ballast reflector I have...to buy cob driver hs...
I want to end with 600w in a 3.5*3.5 and 800w in the 4*4
But I will try 400w @700mA with 16 cob and 600w @700mA with 24 cob...40 cxb 3590...1860 $$$$!!!!!
But new cob will be available in few months...march I guess.. so we'll see!
Have a great day ★

Nice post so you think 9 Vero 18's will be enough for a 2x3 area?

There are also solderless holders for Cree COBs.

Just heads up with the Veros and the pico exmate connectors, they are only rated for 130 volt. I was originally planning on using them for my 6 V18 build but I didn't want to buy 2 drivers and didn't want to risk running over 170 volts through them since they are all( even those that say 18 awg) 28awg wire at the point that connects to the cob.

So if you do want to go solderless, just keep this in mind when planning your build and make sure you don't run more volts through them than they are rated for.

Probably best not to base the decision on soldering. When I first got into DIY I avoided soldering too. Once I tried it I discovered it's easy. There is a bit of practice involved in getting it to look good every time but anyone can managed to solder a connection on their first try.

Bonjour
9 V18 for a 2*3 yes but how hard do you want to run them...and what driver do you have in mind?
CU

I was gonna use a 3 or 4 of these.
http://www.ledsupply.com/led-drivers/meanwell-700ma-constant-current-led-driver?gclid=Cj0KEQiApruyBRCFqoDu1pbk9rkBEiQAF8EFdf6CpiZwiU2GtfclkkZcefYwNvWtsXoLI3oJoOVneqgaAkGD8P8HAQ

I could run 3 on one driver right? And as far as soldering goes I'll definitely get there I just wanna do this first.

One Vero off each of those drivers. Just solder, those pico's are dodgy, the solder pad just needs a touch with a hot iron and introduce wire, it really is Easy Peasy!

J-Icky said:

Just heads up with the Veros and the pico exmate connectors, they are only rated for 130 volt. I was originally planning on using them for my 6 V18 build but I didn't want to buy 2 drivers and didn't want to risk running over 170 volts through them since they are all( even those that say 18 awg) 28awg wire at the point that connects to the cob.

So if you do want to go solderless, just keep this in mind when planning your build and make sure you don't run more volts through them than they are rated for.

Click to expand...

Holy shit, this didn't occur to me . I switched from 6 drivers running 6 Ver 18 Gen1 using Molex connectors to 1 driver. Been running that way for at least 3 months now. Soooooo what's gonna/could happen? Wires aren't hot. Output seems OK, if anything they're running better now that I'm running a MW driver and not a 85% efficient mystery driver.

Mine's set up the same. 6V18 from a 215v driver in series. I can only see the total voltage running through all cobs but Supra seemed to think it's ok, they only draw their individual voltage from the wire at the cob attachment, nothing actaully draws 215V (?) I don't grasp this but mine has run for a full cycle through the molex connectors, no burn, no heat. I built a clone of this and just soldered the second one, should have done so with the first, heavy wire with no breaks or dodgy connectors.

Tazbud said:

it's ok, they only draw their individual voltage from the wire at the cob attachment, nothing actaully draws 215V (?) I don't grasp this but mine has run for a full cycle through the molex connectors, no burn, no heat.

Click to expand...

I was thinking that too but it's best to be sure, right.

Lol. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure.. It would make sense to me that if each is then drawing it's volatge there must be that much running through the wire but all does seem fine. Maybe @Supra or someone 'sure- er'??

For anyone building I would suggest again just try soldering.. the V18's are cheap but I made no mistakes and it was actually probably quicker and easier than fitting a connector and careful though to where those tiny wires route.