Awesome, thanks for verifying @anon35207245. I’ve got the strips mounted and did some solder testing. Apparently it’s nothing like plumbing lol. I did some testing on scraps and it appears even my sloppy solders are working. I’m about to start soldering the bridges on the light but thought I’d share some pics in case you see anything that should be dealt with before going ahead.
Looking good.
The next trick comes with hanging it, so you want the power cables to the panel fixed to the back of the plate so they don’t pull on the end of the strip and pull it off the panel (been there) and that’s where 1" wide sticky pads for ty-raps come in. Don’t worry, it’s not going to be warm enough to damage the cable but you MUST make sure there’s no tension or pull on cables. Then when you hang with the string, you can set it so it’s in a cross from corner to corner or even make sure it crosses the strip every few inches, anything to help the glue on the tape failing and things coming loose.
A tip is to drop a little solder on the contacts first and THEN solder the wires on as too much heat will loosen off the first led after the connection and if that happens you lose that inch of strip (did it twice, managed to replace one led but have no idea where the other went) but if you have bits you cut off then you just cut the bad bit out and solder in a new bit, but only that inch, you don’t have to replace the whole strip.
At my "flat hand width plus half an inch, a level a plant is happy with, I was pulling almost 45K lux with the old panel at 137W. At the same distance, at 116W, it’s almost 70K, a slight difference.
As I say, a quick blob of solder on the connections on the strip, then “tin” the ends of the bridges after twisting the ends of the flexible cable so they are tight and solid. When you get the soldering iron out then, it just needs a quick dab to melt both sets of solder together so you get a neater connection and you don’t put enough heat in to melt the connections at the first led. It takes patience, and if you don’t have small long-nosed pliers then buy a cheap set for 2 or 3 bucks because the heat travelling down the cable bridge can get a bit high for even my asbestos tipped fingers (naughty words are common when I do things like this, mainly because I try to do things with a red hot soldering iron in one hand), that small expenditure saves you so much grief.
Ultimately remember. Half the strip per channel from the driver, I cut off the connections at the end so I can’t go that few inches over the 5m.
Patience is a virtue, please take your time doing this as you do have all the time in the world, try to rush an I can guarantee you will FUBAR it. Double check EVERY connection, follow the “route” the way you have connected it to make sure you haven’t gone “+ to-” at some point, bottom line is DO NOT RUSH as I have more knowledge than you but it still took me over 2 hours to make sure everything was done right first time. That extra time spent WILL save you time if you have to figure out why things don’t work so taking it easy is the best idea.
And, in all honesty, I see your soldering. By the time you’ve done over 50 connections, it’s going to improve.
And you don’t need an expensive soldering setup. I’ve used an 80w soldering gun which hardly has the smallest tip, I’ve got another soldering iron that cost 8 bucks which I got the file out and made the tip as big as a shovel, in soldering terms, smaller. But now I have my Aldi soldering station that cost 15 euros and has adjustable temperature and everything, so we ain’t talking huge costs here.
Anything else you need to know, like find some thin wood to put under the ends of the strip to support them as you solder the cables on as they are in the air so something solid under there will help, just ask.
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Slow and steady for sure! I expect I’ll do it over a couple sessions so I don’t tire and lose focus 
I’m not sure what you mean here…
“Ultimately remember. Half the strip per channel from the driver, I cut off the connections at the end so I can’t go that few inches over the 5m.”
You got 10m of strip, yes?
You cannot run more than 5m in one run so you take a roll, cut it to the lengths you need, and then snip off the “last” connections in that “line” so you can’t bugger up and take it over the 5m.
Remember the “6 P’s”… “Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”. Don’t rush, THINK first, take your time, understand what you are doing, and that means the chances of getting it right first time increases significantly compared to thinking something is easy and you just go “hash, crash and bash” and then start diving in when it doesn’t work and end up making it worse.
These few minutes to think about HOW you do something can actually save a considerable time compared to trying to wing it, and you know that makes sense.
By the way, what solder are you using?
If you aren’t, then get some “electronic”, 60% selenium and 40% lead. That is also important as too much lead in the solder means quick melting but no guarantee the connection is what you want, you need the right stuff.
Ain’t expensive, but a huge difference in results.
Yes, I got the 2 rolls of 5m warm white that you linked for me. I’m using electrical lead free silver bearing rosin core solder.
Ok, 5 m per run which leaves 2 sets of wires to be powered, do they just connect to each other and then the power supply?
Connect a cable of the length you need between each output of the driver and connect that to the strip. Best to have power going in at the sides, personally,.than in the middle of the panel. Depending on where you decide is the “start” decides on whether you use the “tails” on the strip or solder the cable directly to the strip.
So one cable from one output to one half of the strip, another cable from the second output to the other half of the strip.
Ok, good to know! Is the driver the power supply? And it has two outputs?
Yes, two outputs, both marked V+ and V-.
Mains side is L,.N and earth. The power supply/driver MUST be earthed, you cannot use a 2 core cable.
That’s good news, thanks. I have the lights all wired up and working (tested with a 9v battery), just waiting on the power supply and things will be rockin!
Ok, we have liftoff! With your help @anon35207245 I was able to get one together, thanks a bunch
Everything seems to be ok, although the lights do get fairly warm which surprised me with led. Hopefully it’s normal because I could use a few degrees in the tent anyway 
The light is muuuuuuuuuch brighter than the pic would have you believe 
I use my driver remote from the light, less heat stress on the driver. Personal choice
Update: the metal plate is very hot, too hot for more than a glancing touch. The power supply is cool other than where it’s contact with the metal warmed it up. I’ve pulled it off and ran remote wires to keep the power supply cool (makes sense, thanks), the plate is still very hot - is that normal?
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Any idea how hot is very hot? Can you get some sort of a temp reading?
Hmmm, I’m not sure I have the means. Do you have any suggestions of a way to get a temp?
I use thermocouple attached to my multimeter, do you have one? I’ve never tried with a high temp thermometer, but your probably looking at somewhere between 50-85c for case temp max on most leds. That works out to be like 122-185f. Your sink them will be lower than the Tc, how much depends on your thermal conductivity. Most of my eb strip builds Tc is within 3-5c of sink temp with thermal transfer tape.
Do you have Tc or Tj ratings for your leds? You can probably throw a clip on fan blowing over top of your plate and call it good. But you may not need to do anything at all. All depends on what actual temps are and ratings on particular leds.
Well, the plate is meant to get hot, it’s why I have air blowing over it, that’s the heat transferring from the LED’s as it is supposed to. And remember that we hoomins can feel things being too hot to touch from 100°F, or over 35°C, with over 50°C giving you a slight physical burn. So you holding your hand against it compared to me and my asbestos-tipped fingers (I used to be an electrician, hot lamps in hands are common) will be different, but the temps are likely to be much lower than you think.
Only way to know for sure is to get either a temperature reading or see what the voltage out of the power supply is as an overvoltage will mean more heat.
Ok, it sounds to me like I was just spooked a bit with it me being a rook and all. I didn’t have a fan over it but I’ve since hung a 6” that is getting nice air flow across the top. I’ll let it run and see if I can get my hands on an infrared thermometer to get a temp reading
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