This is a thread showing a definite good route for lighting your projector.

It has a diagram for wiring noobs.

Ok, here's my lighting setup:

MT400SX from EYE Iwasaki,

MH400 Ballast,

Capacitor,

ZH6S Ignitor all from lampig.com,

Normal household flex from anywhere (B&Q, Wickes, your old stereo)

5amp fuse,

household plug,

Crimper tool,

Eyelets (both borrowed from my mate)

15amp connector strips (for the joins. Bought 15 amp so two wires can fit through)




I have drawn a diagram to illustrate how I've wired my kit. If you use the same stuff as me, then you will see how easy it is.

The ballast has to be wired into the '240V' block, and out of the opposite '0V' block.

The ignitor is dead simple, 'B' for ballast, 'N' for neutral, 'LP' for live pin.

Both my capacitor and the lamp base could be wired either way. The capacitor is a non-polarized AC capacitor, so there's no risk of an explosion. Just as long as you put the wire in seperate blocks

On the e40 lamp base, I looped the wires and wrapped it around the screws, then screwed them in to make contact. I had run out of eyelets. This is a fine method, if you do it neatly. Again, either way is fine.

The only thing I have changed is my wire, I bought some of the good thick stuff (non-stranded) with red live, yellow earth, blue neutral and a spare bare copper wire.

I used the connector strips to join the wires. Initially I just used electrical tape to cover the bare copper.

I will take a picture of my rig when I remember.

Any questions just PM me or post here, I'll help if anyone needs it

That diagram:

Here are some pics of the lamp.

It's an MT400SX/HOR,
400 Watt,
39,000 lumens,
135V,
3.25A

It's m.o.l (maximum overall length) is 285mm/11.5"

the l.c.l is 175mm/7 7/8" (distance from lamp base to center of lamp arc)

...

...

Nice Plans is the background.... lol

Yeah, look familiar?

Here is how it looks now it's mounted in my enclosure. Excuse the back-to-front rear panel, I moved it around so I could play around with my ikea without it hitting the fan

Although it doesn't look it in this pic, the lamp is dead center. Everything is to the nearest mm when I checked, thankfully

The e4o base protrudes about 12mm out of the enclosure wall. I can live with that.

I used a 50mm hole-cutter bit, and sanded it by hand for about an hour. The base is 52mm diameter.

And here is a pic I took of my wiring before adding the connector blocks.

The wires running off the top left corner are wired to my lamp base.

I imagine you are going to have the ballast and all outside the box? or inside and run the leads to the mogal to the outside right nest to the socket.

Yep, I have a new lid you see, see I'm gonna cut up the old one to make a chamber underneath my enclosure, wich will act as a leg as well, to give it more elevation. It will be about 2 thirds the length of the original enclosure floor, which is great because I don't have a table the enclosure can sit on without at least 5" hanging over. All my ballast and wiring will go in there, and all my grounding will run into there.

I'll do a very quick photoshop side-view of what I mean...

Looking at it again, the chamber will be a lot less high than that (maybe half as high) but the length is just about right.

I think 5" is just heigh enough for the ballast. and lay the cap down.

Might as well bring it forward enough to mount controllor boards and the LCD controls on the side of it. That will take care of the tipping forward also.

Yeah it will be 5-6".

I have two holes drilled already for the handle that was on the lid. I can use these to run the wires from the lamp base into the chamber. Perfect

I can house the fan PS and panel PS in here too, I have loads of space horizontally.

yea, should work fine just adds a little weight and size thats all. but then again its kinda heave anyway so whats another 2-3 lbs.

How about adding a flat foot that extends beyond the bottom section to prevent tipping forward?
You could add a flip out front section, or hinge the entire lower section to allow tilting the projector?

Believe me the ballast at the rear will not let it tip forward not even if you pushed down on the front with reasonable force. i can set mine more that 1/2 way off of table and will not tilt, and mine is 15"x15" sq. and about 24" tall.

Its a nice idea Rorshach, thanks.

I hope to one day intergrate my enclosure into a media unit anyway. I can get hold of tons of that wood for free luckily, so I could make a nice silver center to house my pc, dvds, xbox etc. I can't seem to find a decent futon-bunk for the overhead idea, so this is plan b

I could use a single mending plate on the back attached to the table to make sure there's no tipping for the time being.

This is what I will do with my 5 pieces of 20X30cm aluminium when it arrives.

I have shielded the parts of the wood that are exposed by spraying the wood with flat black heatshield paint (good to 475 degrees C). In fact, I have done the entire insides with this stuff, front and back

Light leakage from the fan will still be an issue. What a shame there weren't 6 in a pack...I may leave the flashing off the inside of the lid and use the extra alu to make a louvre for the fan.

Any ideas welcome.

Won't the Norpro block most of the light from reaching the fan anyway?

Most of it, yes. But due to the large size of the lamp, a lot of the outer jacket will still be outside the bowl.

The alu is not essential - a have no components in the rear end of my enclosure (only a few wires which I intend to frame in some U-shaped alu angle) and also I've painted the whole insides with heat proof paint (ala moose)

However I might as well use it still. I wonder if I have enough coming to make a lightbox...

Let me get my measurements out...

I was just curious what material your box is mada out of?

It's MDF with a silver treatment. I got it because it will blend in with the rest of my A/V stuff, my TV, DVD etc. Looks really nice

Eyebath, looks like you won't have to worry about heat problems in the main chamber housing your lenses and panel - is this the main reason you're doing the second box underneath?
What's your progress thus far, any new pictures?
Thanks.

Hi,

Yeah I have since built the chamber. It is an excellent addition. It affords me lots of space, helps cooling tremendously (nothing in front of the fan), gives the projector a smaller footprint, and gives me the essential elevation I needed.

The only thing I need to do is permanently mount my lighting in the chamber. At the moment I have it all laid out on another table with my PC.

I will add some pics later.

As promised, here are pics of how she is looking now:

Excuse the masking tape and the wires, needs a lot of tidying

I have incorporated a slidable front for focusing, but I don't need it yet.

Here is where I am watching it, for the time being

Screen is 4:3, 8' diagonal. Waiting for some black velvet to arrive for the frame.

Excuse the naked PC..

Results coming soon. I just need to install this beauty then I'll post them

Hi Eyebath

I'm a 'First time poster, but long time lurker' and I just wanted to say that your posts in this thread and the UK Discussion thread have been really useful to me in identifying sources for parts.

I have been awaiting some pics of your projector and it looks pretty good so far - well done! I'd really like to see some more internal pics showing the position/mounting of the Norpro and Aluminium flashing and your methods used for mounting the Glass/Fresnels and LCD (I'm planning to buy a CT529A). The keystoning mechanism is also of great interest to me if you incorporated one.

I have a few questions I am hoping you can help me with if you don't mind:

1. Could you post the exact dimensions of your enclosure (and the thickness of your MDF) and by how much you would suggest increasing the width to allow for the lamp holder to be fully mounted inside.

2. I'd also like the dimension of your Glass if possible. I'm still a little unsure about how you leave space under the lamp-side fresnel and glass to let air under without letting too much light under.

3. I have a Norpro on order and was wondering a couple of things:
i) Do you think having the bulb protrude on both sides will result in too much light loss?
ii) Did you use a Dremmel to cut the bowl and if so, what cutting attachment did you use and what depth did you cut it to?

Sorry for all the questions but I really don't want to mess this up as the Mrs thinks I'm nuts and that "it won't work" and "It will look an eyesore in the lounge"
I have to prove her wrong

Thanks for any further advice you can offer.

Slippa

Slippa asked:


The only part of the lamp that matters is the "arc" which is the point source of light and it is at the center of the norpro reflector.

Eyebath,
Your PJ is looking good. I can't wait to see your results.

thanks Kjudki - I suspected as much but wasn't sure.

Looking great Steve.

Thanks brain

Thanks kjudki, hopefully you'll see it soon

Okay I have my norpro on a wooden stand. I'm not sure I have got it perfectly placed yet

I'll start my projector thread anyway and let you guys judge.

Hi Slippa,

Welcome, I was a lurker too for a while lol.

The answers to your questions sir:

1. Exactly the same as the one in the guide, but 29.5" long. Thickness 18mm. In hindsight I would have made the length 30.5" to give the full range of focus.

2. I used strips of 20mm thick wood on either side of the inside of my projector, and raised my measurements for the pj lens, lamp and fresnels etc. by 2cm. It gave me a great cooling circuit 'cos my fan is a bit of a beast. Light is not a problem, the rays will not hit the fresnel directly if if the glass is at the same level height-wise. Imagine a line from the lamp arc, this will illustrate my point.

3. I used a 'dremel-alike' rotary tool I bought from eBay for £10 with attachments. I used some small cut-off wheels that came with the product, took a while. I would recommend using the real thing, unless you have 7 hours to spare . The notches are 7cm wide by 3cm deep.

I hope that helps. Any problems ask away, but I'm away all next week.

Because of this I have to pack now (if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done!) but I will post some pics of my internals on my projector thread when I return.

Thanks Eyebath

I'll do some calculations this weekend and no doubt have some more questions for you.

thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Slippa

Interested to see more pics of ur PJ its been about a month now...

Coolmatt,

Check this out....

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1111

I am interested in the wiring of the lamp. As I understand it the parts needed to run the lamp are (aside from cooling and switching):

1) Ballast - which is a transformer, i.e. primary winding and a secondary winding
2) A capacitor
3) An igniter - does this automatically come with the M59 ballast? What does the igniter do? Is it purchased separately?

Your circuit looks quite different from the one in the lamp wiring topic in the "Intelligent Video Projector Design - Protected forum - Buy the guide for access." forum:

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=716

Why is there no igniter shown in that circuit? Also, I would expect four leads to a ballast - two to supply the primary winding (except there might be several to tap for various primary voltages) and two to be the output from the secondary winding. But maybe this is an autotransformer in which the earth (ground) wire common to both supply and output?

Thank you for any help understanding the circuit,

Dwight

Hi Dwight,

Yes, my circuit is quite different, but the one you linked to though is for a r/c decay timer circuit, sorry if I'm stating the obvious.

There are 4 blocks on my ballast, one 230v, one 240v, one to tap out to the ignitor, and one unwired. One wire in and one wire out is only necessary in this case. My knowledge upon buying the lighting stuff was basic, and that was the wiring scheme provided for me from the manufacturers.

From my understanding, the ignitor is not essential but helps the lamp get up to speed a bit quicker. It was recommended to me by the seller of my ballast, and was only £4.

Hope that helps

OK thank you,

If you scroll down past the timer cct to Brain's May 2nd post you will see the cct I am referring to.

Ah yes, sorry about that, I see now.

Just ordered all the same bits for my lighting system as you Eyebath.

But im wondering the best way to include the fan and switches for the fan/lamp?

Also, would these switches work okay?

Best mains cable to use from here?

Could I also buy some of the above mains cable, and strip the wire out of it for use in my circuit for connecting everything together?

Finally the fan Im planning on using. But its rated at 12v not 120v as from the original wiring diagram. Would it work okay though?

I can't answer about the cable or switches, but the fan is a problem. It has a rated Air Flow of 40 CFM, you would want one with at least 90 CFM. Mine came in the post this morning £7.00+£2.00 p&p from Ebay. 120mm 12Vdc 90CFM

What brand is you fan gdk_foci - is it an Enermax? I bought an Enermax and was dissapointed at the noise produced by it. Apparently though it was just mine that was a dodgy one, they are usually quiet.

Can you let me know if the fan is any good? Have you got a link?

Thanks for the help gdk_foci, I will look out for antoher one

Couple of things Im not sure of still though.

1) I cant see where or how I attach the wires to the capacitor.

2) Am I right in thinking that on the ballast the side with the two red wires is the in 240v side, and the side with the one black wire is the out 0v side?

3) Which hole on the ballast is the 240v one, the top or the bottom one?

4) Im not sure how to include the fan in Eyebath's diagram.

5) Im not sure where to put the switches in Eyebath's diagram, so I can turn the fan and lamp on seperately, and leave the fan on to help to cool it when the pj is off.

6) Im still not sure what switches or mains cable to go for.

So Im very unsure

Eyebath, here is the link to another auction, same seller, same fan, same price. This guy must have loads of them. The brand is SUNON.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...item=6708199990

I haven't tried it yet, but as soon as I do, I'll let you know.

Gary

Thanks Gary, keep us posted

Well just tried out the SUNON fan, and I must say I was surprised at how low the noise level was for this size of fan. I have a little 60mm fan in the side of my computer and this 120mm fan wasn't any louder.

This fan both sucks and blows alot.

Thumbs up from me, a good buy

Can anyone help with those questions I have?

1) If its the same as the one I had, you just strip a bit off the end of the wires, and shove them in the holes and they grip very tightly automatically. I spent ages working this out trying to unscrew the top and stuff.

2 and 3) I think the left if the 230 and 240 input, and the black cable is the output to the ignitor, but I'm reluctant to give advise with wiring a coil ballast, as I blew 2 bulbs up when I tried, but if your in the uk, its 230V you want, not 240. I got a lot of help when I posted a wiring thread in the help forum from US members that probably don't look in this forum.

4 & 5) You want to just add the 2 switches as the first thing in on the live wire, I've modified it as to how the switches go in there in the pic below (assuming your using a 230V ac fan and not a dc one). In the thread where I was trying to sort my wiring out (http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1802&st=0), some people were disagreeing with eyebaths placement of the capacitor, but it does work for eyebath

6) Those switches seem ok to me, apart from they say they are toggle. Toggle is something that buttons are normally called, where you press them once to activate and then again to deactivate, but I’m not sure how the term relates to a switch. All of those cables you linked to at Maplins seemed to be 100 meters or more in length, and i'm guessing you have a plug significantly nearer than that to where your pj is going. You just want normal stranded 3 core 13 amp mains cable. I bought a 5 meter roll of it from b&q for <£5.

Hope that helps a bit, if your not sure about your wiring, I would recommend taking a picture and showing it on here to ask if its ok before you plug it in, could save you a few quid by not blowing up your stuff.