The first problem I found was when I put the powersupply in, the ac cord was really long so instead of taking time to cut and splice it I just wound it in a circle and it rested on the eballast. The screen would flicker badly (this wasn't an everyday problem) and I couldn't figure out what caused it. I happen to move the ac cable one day while it was flickering and laid it on top of the pj and it improved the picture. Then I noticed whenever I touched the ac cord (held it) the signal would stop jerking. So after I moved all the power cords as far away from the eballast as possible the jerkyness of the lcd stopped. So that part was fixed. I also had to fold the wires and put a zip tie on them where they plugged into the back of the pj.

My second problem
I used a fan controller which had 3 temperature sensors. I ran one under the freshnel to monitor the air temp from the lcd then I had one placed at the air inlet for the fan and one in front of the lcd to monitor heat from my powersupply. (up front next to lens)
My lcd would start flicker-tearing from time to time while watching. Sometimes it got reallly bad. I tried several things with no avail. After fixing the above problem I noticed a tearing ever so slightly every 1 to 10 minutes apart. The sensor going across the in front of the lcd to the other side of the box was the culprit.
While watching a movie today I started trouble shooting and while searching in the front moving wires to see if a loose connection might be causing it the screen started tearing again. I was at my wits end so I just unplugged the temperature sensors and bam imediate stopping of all tearing. I watched a complete movie with absolutely no visible signs of any distortion whatsoever.

I came here to post my problem fix hopefully to help other LL'rs . CS

For TV interference 99.99% cure.

I used this electrical shielding tape. A little expensive to use so little.
http://www.foxelectricsupply.com/content/p...&qsProductNo=24










It only took about 2.5 feet to wrap the output side of the ballast all the way.
I had severe tv interference on two of my direct tv tv's. I had to change the channel output to 4 instead of channel 3 whiched helped at the time. Now I switched it back to channel 3 and no interference is noticeable at all.

I attached the wire to the grounding nut on the LL eballast.

I get such bad interference off the eballast my FM radio goes flakey.

I dont know whats going on inside that black box, so i switched to a standard transformer.

Maybe you should try the above fix and put your eballast back into service. I'd say it would fix it even though I didn't try my FM radio. If I knew before I completed fixing the tv issue I would've seen if the eballast affected my radio.

I am going to get eBallast for my project but I surpised your getting that much interference from it.

Are you grounding the eballast housing/case by using a wire with gnd and attaching gnd wire to the mounting screw on the eBallast housing?


Bill

Bill the eballast is grounded properly. It's directly tied to the ground wiring in my home. I was surprised too from the interference but it seems others have had the same problem. I hope that they try this method. It worked great for me.

ps.my direct tv box was in another room with no wires running near the pj. The box was about 18 feet away ,straight as a crow flys. The eballast it seems only interferes with the lower tv channels. The direct tv box uses channel 3 or 4. So I had interference all the time but less noticable on channel 4.

After I put the shielding around my wires. My Ushio bulb now fires the first time every time. I haven't removed the shielding to see if it was the "fix" that corrected my bulb firing. My bulb used to take such a long time to start. Sometimes as high as 15 minutes. I had taken all my connections loose to see if they were connected properly and they were. I also removed the bulb and checked for arcing and nothing there. So I had just given up and settled down to just letting it start whenever.

The very first time after the shielding fix the bulb started on first strike and it still has since the fix.
I am not sure if this was the problem with the bulb not starting but the shielding may be your cure. I want to remove the shielding to see if the bulb will not strike the first time but a little scared to do so. I am so happy the bulb fires on first strike but my curiosity may get me yet, plus it would settle the ensuing question:

"Did that shielding fix the bulb strike problem or was it something else?"

It may be the output interference of the eballast. My bulb base is located near the output end of the ballast.

If other LL'rs have their setup this way is your bulb not striking?
If other LL'rs have NO problems with their bulb striking is your bulb base on your output end?

If they have that tape at home depot i am gonna give it a try this evening. I am having similar problems with the bulb.

Be sure to post result!

I would like to know how it worked for you.


Thank you
Bill

Unfortunately they did not have it. Could I possibly make my own out of an old screen? Maybe some aluminum foil?

Cold Steel was so kind as to send me a piece to try out. So far it hasn't helped but I'm ot sure how strong my connections were. Cold Steel, just to clarify, you wrapped both output wires together from the ballast output, all the way to the mogul?

I started at the mogul base fairly close and wrapped the black and the white leads together and wrapped those leads to the ballast. It was only on one side of the ballast. The output side. The wire went through the wood and I couldn't wrap it there.
Then I put a wire terminal on the end and then attached the terminal to the ground on the ballast.
The wire twist on caps were completely covered.

Did it help with the interference? Or did you have that on the lower tv channels.

I haven't been able to test it enough yet. Going to a hockey game tonight but will tet tomorrow. Once again thanks for the tape!

I had a lot of interference issues with the eballast as well. After about 10 seconds my LCD would start flickering white lines like crazy all over. I repositioned it, seperated it from every other cable and component near it to the best I could. I also added ferrite cores to the power lines to little effect. In the end it's working now though. I might try that shielding tape though. Could help!

Just a quick update. I bought another eBallast after shorting out my first. I am using the interference tape Cold Steel sent me and both bulbs (s400dd and t15 PS) have fired up on the first try everytime. (3 for s400dd and 2 for PS). Not sure if this is due to the new ballast, interference tape or a combo of both, but i'm a happy camper. :

Hey happy camper , great, I'm not for sure if the tape done the trick but something sure helped mine when I put it on. My bulb has taken more than one fire since I put the tape on. It hasn't taken more than 3 that I'm aware of. Most of the time it fires up the first time. Like a 90% rating.
I turned off my light and then I had something else to watch. So I turned it back on straight after turning it off and it didn't fire for about 10 minutes. I guess it has to cool down to strike , kinda like the lights in the schools gymnasium.

Miklopolis you could take the tape off and try it then you'd know for sure. I would but I'm chicken.
I'll have mine off in a few days anyway so i'll test it then.CS

[b][size=7]CAUTION using shielding tape!!

a word of caution if your still using the shielding tape.

I found an arc causing some misfiring of the bulb at the connection where I used the twist on caps. When the eballast fired the bulb it arced where the shielding went around the caps connection. Take the shielding off and tape it up good with electrical tape and then put your shielding back on.