Hi Guys,

Thanks for the welcome Ian. Be interested to hear how that globe goes!

Well. I got final approval from the "Minister of Finance" to go ahead with my PJ last night so I'm madly needing to source components.

I'm having trouble understanding exactly what is needed in terms of lighting.

Griff, you mentioned getting a "400w Metal Hailed Hi Bay light fitting with a clear globe".

Will the ballast etc then be usable for an Eye BT28 if I get one from Lamps? I think I'd like to stick to components that I know are providing results for the time being and experiment later after my box is complete. Also, if I can buy the light fitting without a globe I assume I'd be better off, as I could then buy the bt28 separately? God knows what the globe in it would be. More than likely it wouldn't be suitable?

I'm off now to order my lense kit and norpro.

Please let me know if anyone else has found any "good deals" with regard to local components.

Cheers,
Arkay.

The lamp ian is getting is 135v.
The new EYE lamp that is refered to in the guide is 120v.

You must have the right ballast.

I have an ATCO ballast. They make 3 different ones.
OGB400-100 = 125-135v
OGH400-100 = 120v (I have this one)
OGS400-100 = 100v

Hope this is of some help.

Squirrel,

Thanks for the post. I'm obviously getting myself confused due to too much reading. I thought the BT28 globe was rated for anything up to 240v.

My head is all screwed up from all this US to Australia conversions. Inches to mm, 120v or 240v etc etc....

So. If I ordered the eye from lamps and bought a (OGH400-100 = 120v) locally it would all run off 240v ok? I take the ballast voltage refers to it's output voltage for the globe, not to the input voltage? Otherwise you'd need a step down transformer in order to run your 120v ballast?

Cheers,
The not overly knowledgeale about power and lighting - Arkay.

Hi Ian,

Just wondering if you'd stipped your CMV yet. Looks like a good monitor to buy provided it's projector friendly.

I'm also curious. You already have your lcd so maybe that is my answer, but I'm wondering just how you knew what the width of your box needed to be. Is it enough to take the panel dimensions (as stated on the lcd box) and add a little for aluminium surrounds to get the required width of your box? Or is it better to strip it down first, measure the panel, measure your intended surrounds and then work out the width required. I wanted to order my tempered glass but without knowing my exact width I can't see it is a good idea. Can you let me know how you calculated the width/height. The length seems to be the only thing that is easy to calc given the focal lengths of the lenses but even then you need to consider distance of the bulb from rear of enclosure, space required to mount a reflector, do you want your ballast to the side or behind the reflector and how much play do you need for focus adjustment. On top of that there's the distances required between each the fresnels and the lcd (including play for keystone adjustment). Seems to me that there is a fair bit of guess work required to determine the most efficient size of the box. I've also read that a longer box may be required if we get into using the focus lens currently being investigated.

Seems each day I read I come up with more questions.

The brain is racing trying to come up with ways of making fine tuning adjustements of all components before finally comitting them into place. Gonna be a bunch of fun.

Am very interested to hear peoples ideas and the finer detail about how things are being done. Probably should've posted this out in the main forum but as I know all us Aussies are just starting it'll be interesting to hear the progress.

Enough for today.

Can't wait to get all my parts.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Hi Arkay
I've built the box to spec as per the Lumenlab plans. The 15" monitor I have is the same physical screen except with different specifications, same as Brain used. i.e. viewing area of 15" diagonal 12" wide by 9" high.
The Lumenlab lens are approximately the same size. All glass around the same size. I haven’t stripped the monitor yet as I'm still waiting on a few parts.
Lamps bring on the bowl
I thought it would be safer to keep the monitor in one piece until the last of the parts arrive, rather than having it lying around.
You know dogs ,cats, kids etc.
If I go for the zoom lens, I would do a box in a box front section to increase the vocal length. But for now my projector will be fixed set up model, so I really don't need to go down that path.
All the measurements are in the plans and I have faith.

The lamp needs to match the ballast output voltage, and the ballast input has to match the mains voltage. I our case, 240V 50Hz.

A site like this comes in handy when your reading the plans.
http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm

The bowl/reflector is 3.5" high or 88.9mm using the calculator.
And the lamp is 90mm dia half of which lives in the reflector.
All the other measurements are in the plans.

Have Fun

And as we say down here.....
NO WORRIES MATE

Absolutly spot on dude.
Just remember that part number is for ATCO brand

Hi Ian/Squirrel,

Thanks for the feedback. Just got off the phone to my Brother at L&H, he's getting prices for me on the Sylvania Lighting M400/U/BT28 and control gear. It is spot on the same size as the US BT28 but I've just checked the specs and found that the mean lumens of the Sylvania is roughly 5000 LESS than the EYE version. From what I have read the EYE is horizontal burn only, the Sylvania is Universal.

Don't wanna burst any bubbles but it could be that the 5000 lumens will be missed after that initial burn in? Mind you, by the time you factor the percentage loss from the glass(es), fresnels, lcd and triplet it'll probably only work out to a few lumens less output?

Cheers,
Arkay.

This one is except its a POM base
#644430
http://www.sla.net.au/products/lamps/pdf/MH/MHlamps15.pdf
Ian

Hmmm. Wonder what a POM base is....

It is closer though, mean lumens 27000 vs 30000 on the EYE. Colour temp is higher too (4200) vs 4000 on the universal mount..

Bloody confusing all this lighting. Be nice if Eye just sold the same bloody bulb here...

Cheers,
Arkay.

I'm just checking with Lamps
He has the bowl ready to send. I might get him to throw in a Eye BT28.
See what he says
Ian

Ian,

Are you on icq during the day. Would be nice to chat their rather than by forum post.
My number is 77463814 if you are.

I just ordered a norpro from Lamps today too. Maybe we should group order them to one place or the other and post em on. Might save on the shipping.

You'll need a 120v output from the ballast to use the BT28. The downside to that is that we'll always be stuck buying our bulbs from the States. Not that we'll go through that many.

When my brother rings back I'll check and see if he knows of any other small form factor bulbs with the higher mean lumens. Maybe we can find other alternatives. Of course, I'm not going to be able to beat the "cost" or free price that I can get from L&H

Get on icq if you can!

-Arkay.

Yes yes yes........Lets get a group buy going.

I'm in.

Heya Squirrel,

Think we might have missed the boat on a group buy. I've already ordered a norpro.
Ian has ordered a norpro and a BT28. I'm still chasing down L&H for suitable lighting cause it will be WAY cheaper that way for me. I think it'd be too confusing for Lamps if we tried to roll it all together now.

In fact I might just go with the less lumen bulb and see what it's like given I can probably get it for next to nothing (if I can't find something better). If it doesn't work then I'll ship back the ballast etc and get the 120v version and order a bulb from Lamps later on.

Still, after all this messing about hopefully we've made it easier for the next new Aussies that come along.

Cheers,
Arkay.

P.S. Anyone found a suitable 240v fan?

Hay guys havent been on here for a while but good to see you have found the globe. Just pulled out an old flood light today and it had the 400w MH stubbie lamp in it. So here are some pictures of it as i think this is the one your talking about.

GRIFF

And the top end

Yes Griff I dream about lamps that look like that
And where did you go for the replacement lamp Griff.

Just for interests sake here is what EYE in Aus have to say about the closest thing I could find to a BT28....

Further to your request for complete technical specification of the
MT400SX/HOR lamp, the following is the techical data we have for the lamp
we offer in Austrlia:

Bulb Designation: T55 (Note Not BT28)
Lamp Base: E40
Max Overal Length: 285mm
Light Centre Length: 175mm
Diameter: 55mm
Burning Position: Horizontal, plus or minus 15 degrees.

Initial Lumen Output: 39,000 lumens
Mean Lumens @ 10hrs/Start 30,800 lumens
CRI: 65
Colour Temperature: 4200 K

Average Rated Life: 15000 hours on Standard Reactor Ignitor Gear
We expect that if used on Constant Wattage Gear
(ANSI M59) the average rated life will rise to 20000 hours.

Supply Voltage: 240 V.


This lamp is not one we keep as a stock item in Australia. These lamps are
shipped from overseas to order, please contact our Victoria Sales office on
(03) xxxx xxxx for price and lead times.

Getting to the point where I'm just going to sit in my lounge with a Dolphin torch and an lcd shortly!

-Arkay

That is the big 11" lamp. It is a horizontal lamp meaning you can't position it as you should; unless you have a large enclosure. The lamp's length requires it to be mounted diagonally.

Hi Brain,

Thanks for that. Don't worry I'm not ordering it... Just that I figured people will go looking on Eye's Aussie website, find that lamp (which sounds like the right one), and possibly buy it. They don't give all the specs in their pdf which is why I wrote and asked for them all.

Lighting is proving to be a big problem in Australia. I've just sent email to Lamps. I'm buying a bt28 from him. I'll get the ballast locally.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Dito

And that makes three

Good news at last. Looks like I've just secured myself a benq 567s for $325 AUD ($225 USD). Still has 2 years on warantee.

According to the compatibility list this ones a goer. Now if I can just find some strip down guides for it. It's not the v2 which is detailed here.

Bout time something went right.

Looking good for coming in under $700 ($486 USD).

If I don't I might be living in the garage with the projector Could be ok though. Big garage, beer fridge, sink.. Could always build a DIY loo

Cheers,
Arkay.

I've ordered the lens kit, but I'll hold off on the lighting in case you guys come up with a comparable solution using all local parts.

I'm trying to source either a CMV (Polyview) CT522D or a Benq FP567s Ver2.
Best price (new) on both is around $490.

I also like the specs and price of the Viewsonic VE510B ($459) but it's unknown as regards stripping.

Hiya ScottK,

Be wary of CMV522D, I know someone who cracked open a CMV522A yesterday and it has an ffc problem. Not the usual one either. The actual control panel hangs from an ffc which makes mounting it anywhere but on the underside of the projector a problem.

As for prices I'd hunt about a bit more.

www.computerdirect.com.au in Melbourne sell the Benq 567v2 for $465 brand new.

They also told me about a different brand, a Mozo 15". It's manufactured in the same factory as the Benq and has the same specs... If you want to try yout luck on the ffc side you might want to get one. Only $410 new.

[Edit] I asked computer direct if they know if the Mozo 15" has the same boards as the benq, they say they don't know. Just that it is the same Panel. Made by Fujisu apparently. [Edit]

Squirrel is our resident ffc man and ffc issues seem to be becoming much less of a problem.

Alternately you can hang out for something on Ebay. I just got a 567s for $325 yesterday.

The CMV CT529a has been stripped and proven to have no ffc issues now too. Might be worth investigating. (Search for it in the forums).

Cheers,
Arkay.

Good on ya arkay. Finally we can see a lighter side.

Pardon the punn.

Scott you'll be lucky to beat those prices. They are only about $15-$20 above cost.

Woops,

I was quoting the Benq FP547

Sorry.

Alright, I shall hunt around further.

Should I be concerned about a few stuck pixels, projected to the length of Fyberoptix's throw (screen size 3 by 1.7m) ?

I could have bought a Samsung 152T cheaply in an online auction, but there was a warning of the possibility of dead pixels, so I backed out.

I'd say it would depend on where they are on the screen. Check with some of the others as someone may have had this already and can tell you how bad it will look projected.
Also depends on color if its green it may get on your nerves but white or black may be ok for the majority of shows.

Good luck........

Also depends on your own tastes. If you can live with a dead pixel and can (and want to) get a monitor cheaper because it has one then go for it.

Personally I hate that sort of thing. My laptop has a red pixel stuck on at the bottom of the screen... It's un-noticeable when a window is over it. But when the background is black it sits there.... Looking at me.... Wanting me to try and scratch it out..... :angry:

In terms of noticability well... Look at it like this.

The dimension of a 15" panel are 12" x 9" or 305mm x 229mm in metric. There are 1024 x 768 pixels on these panels.

therefore:

Width 305mm/1024 pixels = 0.29 mm per pixel horizontal
Height 229mm/768 pixels = 0.29 mm per pixel veritcle

Which is why they are rated as 0.29 pixel pitch.

Given a 3m (3000mm) wide screen is roughly a factor of 10 larger than the original panel the "dead" pixel on your projected image is now going to be 2.9mm in width.

Sitting back 13 feet ( 3962mm) I'm guessing a 2.9mm wide dead pixel isn't going to worry you that much.

Obviously I have nothing more interesting to do at work today than to work out figures on my calculator.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Damn... Thought my 17" tft at work had developed a dead pixel too. But I was able to wipe it off ...dust... phew.

G'Day ScottK
Yes ...... you don't have to speak about me in the third person
It was me..... there I said it.
I'm the one with the CMV 522A.
But all is not lost, Squirrel recons we have the technology to fix it.
I will post some pictures of the monitor strip down soon
Ian

Ian,

Cool. Squirrel to the rescue once more Hope you get that cmv522a fixed real soon. Maybe by then we may have light to shine at it

-Arkay.

arkay,


Hehehe.............

Ian,

We'll get you going no wuckus....



joe2000chevy seems to have the hardest one to extend. If you have seen his prob it makes ours look like a piece of (...........)(Insert your own expletive). His connectors are not the same as ours, but then again. Where there's a will ..................

I'm going to order the small EYE lamp and a Norpro (with ring?) from lamps.

I reckon the AverMedia AVerTV Box5 ($139) is good enough for us. I nearly bought a refirb N4 from the US, but with shipping and the wire transfer cost, I'd
be paying the same as the cost of a new one here!

So Squirrel, have you found us a cheaper ballast than the ATCO unit?

Better still can anyone gaurantee us the Atco 240v input ballast with 120v output will run the American EYE bt28 ok?

I had a look at Osrams site last night and found a nice E40 400w HID double ended lamp with 35000 lumens and nice and small. Only problem is it didn't have prices or lamp life...

I will research it further though cause the double ended lamps look perfect for our projectors.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Spot on, arkay. lamps is holding up my order until he can confirm whether his 60hz lamp is ok for us.

Why don't we just settle for the Sylvania version of the original lamp? (#645250, $108). The lumens is up there with the small EYE.

Ordered 6mm tempered glass, $60 in 2 weeks. I bought standard 2mm glass to sandwich the fresnels.

The size of the original lamp was too big to be successfully used with the norpro. That's why everyone's going for the BT28/Norpro option.
Also the BT28 can be mounted horizontally (better for the projection), in the original spec size box. The original lamp had to be mounted diagonally.

Hope EYE get back to Lamps with that info soon.

-Arkay.

Guys,

Take a look at this. Might be suitable for us?

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1008

Cheers,
Arkay.

When I ordered my Ballast I faxed the spec sheet from 1000bulbs to the guys at the shop. Apparently they then passed this on to the people at ATCO and they said the ballast I ended up buying will be fine.

If they are wrong, I will make it their problem.

arkay, those lamps look ok, the first one is sold on the DIY Builders Group site and has much a better colour rendering figure over the 4000K lamps. But what about the mean lumens?

A quick search shows the prices to be at least $100 to $130. Possibly more if not bought in quantity.

My pick is still the Sylvania MS400/HOR/BT28 (part # 644430) with a reflector if we can't use lamp's EYE.

The Lamp hunt continues.


Well. I'm down to a few options now.

A. The American BT28 with Atco ballast. (Untested, but should work).
B. The Sylvania MS400/HOR/BT28 (part # 644430) (Mean lumens 27000).
C. HQI-TS 400W/D FC2 12X1 (Dual ended) (Great CRI, mean lumens unknown.)
D. The Philips 400 Watt HID (Waiting on specs for this one).

Option C is possibly very pricey as well. One more day of searching and I'm ordering.. Can't wait any longer!! I'll post the mean lumens on it and the price when I can find out. I do like the idea of a double ender though. Dunno why. They just look nice

-Arkay.

PJ update: Panel arrived (using it right now, perfect!). Lenses arrived. Box built.

Still need glass and lighting....

Just watched some Fifth Element on the panel... Man, this thing kicks arse.!

Got an update on the HQI-TS 400W/D FC2 12X1 (Dual ended) today.

2 points of note. I spoke to Osram about this puppy and was told that the lamp life is 15000 hours. I was talking to some stupid woman who didn't appear to want to listen to me at all though. When I asked her about the mean lumens she told me that the 36000 quoted IS the mean lumens.. I didn't believe her.

I also got rough idea on pricing. They're not cheap. Bout $130 plus another $150 for control gear. I think I'm still going to go with it though, since I can buy at wholesale ( way less than trade ).

Also spoke to a glass company today and got my normal 2mm glass. Tempered will only take 2 days and only cost me about $28. Not a bad deal

Gonna go figure out how to mount these frenels now...

-Arkay.

So you can buy at wholesale? Would like to talk to you about the lamp...

Hello All,

Lucky Luke from Melbourne. Its good to see Aussies getting stuck into this project.
I just bought the plans and lenses, they should arrive in a while.
From what I have read so far is that we are struggling to get the lamp and the associated parts.
Has anyone been able to buy the lot from one supplier?
Is the tampered glass readily avaialble from a glazier?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I start this project.

Lucky Luke

Hi Lucky
Welcome to the forum
The majority of us are getting our lenses and the reflector from Lumenlab in the US. The lamps and running gear are available here but we are trying to match with the original specs some we can compare apples with apples.
The tempered glass is readily available from glaziers but we call it, toughened glass in this part of the world.
As far as one supplier for the lot.... no.
Hope this helps
Ian

Brainchild,

Send me a PM. I'm still waiting on pricing for these and hoping to get "better" confirmation on the mean lumens. Not sure how'd I'd go with quantity orders but I'm happy to find out.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Lucky, welcome to the forums. Keep us posted on any local information you can find! I'm in Melbourne too BTW and no, I haven't finished my projector yet

If you're looking for a decent price on a new benq 567sv2 check out www.computerdirect.com.au, they sell them for $463. Best I could find in Melbourne. I did stop looking though cause I got a 567s on ebay.

Hello,

Thanks to all for the warm welcome and advice.
I'm at the earliest stages.
I tried Beacon lighting for the lamp, still waiting on a response from them.
400W MH hard to come by in Australia.
Keep us informed of any group buy.
Once I get my lenses and LCD, a decision will be made on the lamp.
Though I prefer to buy domestic .

Luke

Hi there Luke.

Best prices I've found for suitable new LCD panels:

Adelaide:
CMV 1515 for $474 at www.officetechnology.com.au

Sydney:
CMV 1515 for $455 from www.diycomputers.com.au
CMV 522D for $490 from www.pcmarket.com.au
Viewsonic VE510B for $459 from www.cworld.com.au

Queensland:
Benq 576s Ver2 Purple for $455 from www.gamedude.com.au

Hello Scott,

Thanks, have you found any lcd monitors that will take the video directly
from a DVD player around the same price as the computer monitors?
From what I have seen the closest thing is an LCD TV, though very pricey.

Luke

Luke,

Assuming you're not interested in the 7" Lilliput-type in-car panels,
there are several options when you don't want to use a PC.

1. DVD player with VGA output.
eg. OMNI DV3300FA for $99 from www.i-tech.com.au
Digitrex GK4000 on www.digitrex.net

2. DVD player with DVI output.
eg. Marantz DV8400

3. Component video to VGA converter.

4. ViewSonic NextVision or AVerMedia AVerTV processors, which take
component, s-video, and outputs VGA (or higher), and have other neat features.


I will add to this as I find out more.

Guys,

Just found anice cheap thermal switch that could be used for our cooling circuits:

http://www.vorlac.com.au/catresults.cfm?se...&stock_no=26833

Closes at 60 degrees C and opens again at 45 degrees. So your fan will automatically be running almost from when you turn the box on and for a while after it is off... Then we'll only need a single power switch.

I'm assuming that anywhere inside the lightbox is never going to be cooler than 45 celcius with a 400watt lamp and a 250 degree ballast in there.

They also sell rocker switches you can use for mains power and a 43db 107CFM 240v fan which I think I might go for.

I might mount my fan inside the box and run a tube or something to the exteria, extracting from behind the ballast. This would make it virtually silent and block all the light if done correctly?

Cheers,
Arkay.