Hello everyone! My name is Dan and I've been absorbing information from this site for quite some time now. I finally took the plunge a few months ago when I ordered a Hass style box from Tescorp. The box is wonderfull! Thank you Tescorp! I didn't have the money to buy everything so I bought something that would force me to eventually buy everthing. If I had the box sitting there reminding me to save my money, then I would eventually have a projector.

I ordered everything else a couple weeks ago thanks to my roommate who fronted all the money. I finally paid him back today.

Here is my parts list and the cost as of right now.

Monitor - CMV 522a: $185.30
Enclosure - Hass Box by Tescorp: $150
Reflector - LL Pro Reflector: $14.99
Lamp - LL Pulse-Strike T15: $59.99
Ballast - LL 120V 400w eBallast: $99.99
Mogul - LL Mogul Base HID Socket: $9.99
Triplet - LL S15 Projection Triplet: $29.99
Fresnels - LL S15 Fresnel Lenses: $34.99
LL Shipping: $18.70

LL 120V Wiring Kit: $24.99
LL AC Adaptor: $9.99
2x Evercool 92mm Fan: $16.98
2x Fan Vibration Dampener: $2.75
PT-6 Thermostat: $16.97
MISC Home Depot/ACE Hardware Bill: $100.48

Total: $776.10

Over the past couple weeks I've assembled most of the components. I work 60 hours a week so I don't have a lot of spare time. The LCD stripping was uneventfull, I was nervous at first but became comfortable handling the LCD panel within a few minutes.

I attempted the AG removal using the soak method, but after a few hours I aborted because the water was running over the side. I want to try again but I am still not sure what the best way to contain the water is.

The first night I wired the lamp up and was very happy to the sun in my living room. That thing is bright! I was worried because I noticed that the shadows it cast were flickering. I thought this might correct when the bulb was mounted vertically. It still does it though and that worries me. I think it may be that the bulb is not mounted correctly.

As you can see in the picture, the knob on the lamp is facing the front of the projector and the bar is facing the rear. Is this correct or does it even matter?

When i put everything together I saw something quite incredible at first. Everything seemed to be working great. I had a picture on the wall! I wish I had taken a picture of that first time.

I noticed something terribly wrong and that wonderfull feeling was gone. On the far right side of the screen was some distortion, which you can see here.


I think I broke something in my LCD! When I first turned on my projector the LCD panel was in backwards. I switched it right away. My roommates and I swear that the distortion was on the start menu side of the screen that first night. Now it is on the other side. So either it switched sides, or we just remember incorrectly and because of that brief time when the panel was in backwards.

I am waiting for my TESCORP box to come in but he is installing everything except the LCD. I am using a Westinghouse LCM 15v5 just slightly less than yours. Read everything you can before removing the antiglare but dont get too comfortable just use patience. As for the water, i gently propped my LCD and controll board up on one end using a paper towel. then used paper towel soak method. this made sure extra water went away from the electronics. Dont put too much of an incline...just enough to keep water away. My first attempt was with a Dell e153fp. I should have soaked for 12 hours not 4 to 8 and tried a corner at a time. Good Luck

As you can see in that picture, everything is setup pretty good thanks to Tescorp and is beautifull box. The edges are dim and I think it's supposed to be brighter. I think the overall brightness is due to:

Bulb positioning being off by small amount?
Reflector not set correctly (anyone know how to set these things? I can't tell if it's working)
The light not hitting the triplet correctly.

here is a picture of the reflector

and here is the triplet. Light is missing it on the edges, how can I fix this?

Thanks capt. Video. I haven't heard of that incline method but it's brilliant. I will try that later on.

Vertical bars of distortion are a sign of torn or damaged FFCs. Check to see if any of your FFCs are torn. Perhaps they have just begun to peel off of the panel. If this is the case then you may be able to successfully re-attach them via pressure, but your chances of success are slim.

Sorry to be so grim! I wish you the best of luck.

Nick

Last night I was trying to fix the torn FFC on my LCD. No luck. I did manage to fry my control board though. I plugged everything in to see if I had fixed the FFC, but my LCD wouldn't turn on. Seconds later I was horrified to smell burning electronics. I unplugged everything, nothing had been connected wrong. I connected everything again and now it turns on, but does not recognize any signal from my laptop.

I don't feel terrible about this since I had to replace it anyway. I think I will buy a 15" HDTV this time instead. By going with the TV I can skip the TVbox9. I plan on using my projector for movies and video games so a HDTV will work out better I think. I'm going to surf the web now and see if I can find a good panel.

I picked up a thermostat and thermometer from Home Depot today. The thermometer link isn't Home Depot because they don't have it listed on their site. I'm gonna wire the thermostat in right now.

I took my piece of lexan out and I don't remember which side is the treated side. Does anyone know how you can tell? Does it even matter?

Fan controller works awesome! Kicks in at about 85F (right next to the lamp) which is about 5 minutes after the lamp comes on. It turns off at about 71F. Fans are running for about 3 minutes after the lamp turns off. This is perfect because the projector will be mounted in the basement where it is cool. I might have to adjust it if it is ever mounted someplace where the room temperature is greater then 71F.

be patient with the LCD you pick. really think through your setup and how far it will be from the controls. remember you have to run all the cables to the projector so layout everything and decide what you will really use. I learned sometimes you spend more money upfront to save on the entire project. My lcd has a 15 pin d-sub from the Nextvision n6. I only have to run one line to the projector but the n6 cost about $122 shipped. you can pay that for long cables.

My concern is with the video quality that the tuner will produce. I'm not really sure how everything works but from what I understand there is a lot happening to make that image into VGA. Will the quality from a DVD player or XBox 360 look as good run through a N6 as it would if I just used a LCD TV?

Couldnt say as I dont have all the parts. I was told it didnt reduce the quality of the inputs and in some instances it upgraded them. I dont think i will be playing games on mine but my kids may. I may look into it though in a few weeks if I get everything together. In the meantime if you beat me to the punch and get one hooked up let me know. BTW the other upscaling systems I was looking at instead of the Nextvision n6 were either cheaper or a heck of a lot more expensive....like $800 and up

have you fixed you light distribution yet. it looks like your bulb or your fresnels might not be centered

I tried moving the fresnels but no luck. I can center the light but it still is on the edges of the PVC.

I've been very busy so I haven't had time to post any updates. The batteries in my camera died too. I got a lot done these past couple days so stay tuned!