I have had a working LL projector since ~July of last year. I love it and use it at least eight to twelve hours a week!

Well Saturday night I was watching a movie and all of a sudden the picture went black :angry: . I figured it was the bulb so I turned it off and let it cool overnight. I tried it again in the morning because I'm from Pittsburgh and had planned to watch to Super Bowl on it later in the day. Well when I turned it on, the ballast is now making a loud hum and the light flickers like it's going to start but doesn't. After it flickers it turns off and doesn't come on, but the humming sounds remains.

I'm wondering if I'm screwed and need to buy another ballast? I haven't tried another bulb, but I'm curious if anyone else who's had a working projector has experienced this same problem. I really don't want to spend another $100 + shipping on a new ballast.

IF anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciate them.

THANKS!!!

I had the same issue with my original S400D/eballest combination.

I solved it by changing the bulb..... It has now been working fine for 6 months....

Look at it this way, buy the new Pulse stirke bulb for LL and you get 30% brightness increase...

Possible cause found here

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8349

I remembered that I had one of the Venture bulbs lying around. I had bought it a while ago because I'm projecting about 10 feet from my wall and so I have a very large image. Well it was a bit dim with the Ushio, but it didn't bother me too much. At any rate, I put it in last night and that solved all the problems. Apparently my bulb had just had enough.

As a side note, the Venture bulb seems to be brighter, but it is definitely more yellow than my Ushio, which had a more green tint to it. I'm happy enough with it though.

I'll have to read up on the new Pulse Strike bulbs. They sound promising, but at almost $100 apiece, it kind of defeats the purpose of building your own low cost projector, especially considering the biggest argument for it is the low cost of the bulbs!

Anyway, thanks to everyone that offered help.

I thought the Pulse Strikes were abot $68 shipped ?