either way, you will need to connect in parallel to have individual control, and parallel will likely end up smoking the power supply unless you closely monitor power levels.
Av8tor1, what do you mean here? I can't see how parallel connection will cause the problem with the CC driver. As long as the forward voltage (Vf) is within the constant current range of the driver, it works. This kind of cheap COB usually have the forward voltage of 36-38V. So-called "100W" LED indicates the maximum capacity. Under-driving the LED is the way to go for the efficiency, most of the time we drive the LED at much lower power.
Also, you do want to match the driver with LEDs so that the LED load is close to the maximum capacity of the CC driver. The AC/DC conversion efficiency suffers if you don't load the driver. Some of the modern CC drivers can have 94% efficiency, but this is when you are driving at the maximum capacity.
Millipede, there are two way to go. Method 1. A driver is around 3A CC driver with around 36V max. Then you want to connect the 4x 100W COB LEDs in parallel. Each COB will get the current of about 750mA (there could be some variation due to slight difference in the forward voltage). If one parallel circuit dies for some reason, each will be getting 1000mA now. So this could end up overdriving the LEDs, but in this case, even 3 of them dies, the remaing 1 COB will get 3A, which is within its capacity (so it's safe).
Method 2: To avoid the problem of overdriving, people prefer to use serial connection. Then you want to get a low current driver (with high max voltage). For example,
Meanwell LPC-100-700 is an example (700mA, 72-143V). You have to check the Vf of the COB at 700 mA is within 36V, though.
I started out with this type of Chinese COB LEDs, but it is a false economy. It is very inefficient compared with modern COB LEDs (Cree CXB, Bridgelux Vero etc). For a given amount of light (you can run CXB or Vero at a lower wattage than the cheap COB), Cree/Vero becomes cheaper than the cheap 100W COB in 1 year or so (after considering the cost of electricity). Check my post #15 for the comparison in this thread:
cheap DIY LED - Page 2 - Slippertalk Orchid Forum- The best slipper orchid forum for paph, phrag and other lady slipper orchid discussion!
At that time, I didn't have a PAR meter, so it is using fc, but I did make comparison with a PAR meter more recently.