After that, i drilled some 1/2" holes on both sides of the aluminum for my grommets and worked them in. Then, i pulled the wires through the grommets from underneath and marked the red wires with red electrical tape. I made sure to put the two wires that came from the same driver together.
After that i stripped the other side of the wires and put the red into the + slots on the ideal holders with the matching wire from the same driver plugged into the other side of the holder. I did notice that they didn't lock the wires in as well as i had expected. I was able to tug a little bit and disconnect them, but on the instructions i read i was supposed to need a screwdriver. I checked a couple times and decided the amount of force to pull the wire out was too firm to happen just by moving around the fixture and feel safe as they are. I still have to move the wires and snug them up inside the case so they look better and tighter.
And that's it, this piece of shit mars hydro 100x3 has become an ass kicking cob led!!!
I turned it on and still have the lines and circles from looking at it too closely. The brightness is a huge difference from what was put out by those cheap ass 3w diodes it had before. I'm hoping to do some tests with temperatures during long periods of usage (18 hr continuously on) to know if anything else will need to be upgraded next.
A big thanks to everyone in the DIY LED forums here and elsewhere. Particularly i would like to thank everyone who commented along the way to help make the project a reality. Credit to
@Rahz for the 72v idea and helping even though he runs his own led company,
@Growmau5 for the whole Mars turd polishing idea,
@SupraSPL for his continuous contributions to the led forums,
@Atulip for all his help, and everyone else who freely shares all this information!