Welcome to my plog! I am 17 years old, and am looking forward to begining the adventures of a projector.



The parts I have already are:

Westinghouse 15 inch LCM-15V5 monitor
Standard 15 inch lens kit
Ushio SD400 bulb
S51 ballast
Pro reflector
2 SFF21D S-Flex fans

Monitor - $80
lens kit - $65
ushio bulb - $40
ballast - $80
pro reflector - $15
fans - $30

Total so far: $310

I'm selling my old tv to my dad for $200, so I'm getting quite a good deal assuming I don't break anything.

Dimensions of enclosure: 26" by 15" by 14"

I'm going to mount the bulb vertically with a light-box built out of an old computer case.

A great stripping guide for the Westinghouse 15 inch LCM-15V5 monitor can be found here

Pics of my stripped monitor:

Okay updating the plog. My pops and I went to home depot, got some materials for the box, some black high-heat spray paint. Today I found an old computer case type thing for my light-box.

Alright, we're making progress. My dad and I cut the boards to size and the new dimensions of my enclosure are 26" by 17" by 14" internally. We needed the extra width due to the light box mounted vertically and the non-electronic ballast mounted on the side. We used a spider saw-my dad called it that-to cut the pc case to the dimensions of 5" by 7.5" (the back) by 13." Check out the pictures.


Question: I know nothing about wiring. Even the "helpful wiring diagrams" in the reference section are way beyond me. I have an S51 ballast with an ushio SD400 bulb. I would like to wire in 2 PC fans and a switch to turn it on and off. I have no idea in the world what wires to buy or what colors mean what. Is there a helpful guide anywhere or someone who has done this and has pictures? Or should I just go harass the home depot guys?

Thanks a ton
Erock

Congrats on your build! Good luck with it!
I am building a similar simple horiz build to start off with as well

as far as your question goes (wiring) i found the diagram on this post by deathray to be particularly helpful, even though i don't have much electrical experience (see post #10):

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...WIRING+DIAGRAM#

just match up the wires

BTW, where did you get your ballast?

I got my ballast at atlanta lights. 80 dollars, non-electronic. Not really a super deal, but I wanted to get started.

Thanks a ton for the diagram
Erock

i ended up gettin mine from 1000bulbs.com for my pulsestrike t15 for ~ 40$

good luck!

Okay here are some pictures of my ballast, lamp ignitor, and dry type capacitator.

Okay, so like I stated earlier, wiring is going to be the most difficult part for me, so a few dumb questoins:

1. What type of wire should I use to do the wiring? Is there a certain gauge or type I should use?

2. Do I just connect the ground connectors all to one wire cap or is there a special way to ground it?

Thanks

Hey alright I got the lamp working, and I have NO wiring experience whatsoever. 8 trips to Home Depot. If anybody could answer the wiring questions I posted above that would be sweet. I have one more quick question about my fuse (see picture). Can I just tie the wires on the little holes on the ends of the fuse mounter or is it dangerous to have exposed wires like that? You're supposed to solder it, but I don't know how and don't want to.

Thanks for the help
Erock

Just an update on where I found my wiring parts to save others the pain and remorse of making multiple trips to various home improvement centers.

Standard plug - home depot
Fuse and fuse holder - radio shack
DPST switch - Home depot - packaging is red - tricky to find
Attic fan - Lowes

Besides the standard plug, the other three items are fairly specific to their locations. I couldn't find a good attic fan at Home Depot and both Home Depot and Lowes had fuses, but neither had fuse holders so I would recommend Radio Shack. The only DPST switch I found was at Home Depot.

I hope this saves other people some time

Erock

First off congrats on a good start and with the help of your pops you migh tbe up and running pretty soon. Just make sure you take care of that lcd resist the temptation to test it out too many times it's very fraigle so making a holder for it should be up there on your list.

As for your fuse well obviously it works from your pics but I hope you at least have some electrical tape covering it for now just so the exposed wires don't bump againts anything. The wire end clips is a good solution to your problem they should be able to just slide right onto the ends of your fuse holder. If you properly plan out the layout of your wires in your pj it should be okay afterall you won't be tinkering inside of whiles it's on or pluged in right . Don't electrical burns are not fun at all.

Good luck with the rest of your pj and where did you get your westinghouse from?


DM

Hey thanks for the comments. I got my westinghouse on eBay, but on ecost.com they were relatively cheap too so you might want to try there. The antiglare-removal worked great, and I only soaked it for about 8 hours.

Ok, I was on vacation for a week but I'm back and ready to finish this sucker. First, here is my box with the lightgate installed.



I have everything I need to do the wiring, but I have 2 questions:

1. Which way do the fans go, with the writing facing out I assume? (see picture)

2. How do you open the attic fan thermostat from Lowes? (see picture)






Thanks!

every fan I have come across with blow air towards the support beams which interrupt the airflow, aka towards the wires, aka in the pic with the fans, they would be blowing up in to the air, sucking from the floor.

All computer fans have little markings on the side that show which
way they blow air. Little teensy arrows, usually in either the exact
middle of a side or the corner.

if the fans do not have arrows showing the airflow direction, power them up for a sec to see which way the fan blows and just remember it

"for a sex"

Almost all fans blow out towards the label.. that's why it's on that side, a bit of free advertising when it's mounted !


Are you mounting the bulb vertically or horizontally ?

There's a few instances on here where a 'wandering arc' has been noticed when mounting vertically, resulting in a flickering....

Hey thanks for the comments guys! I'm still having trouble with this thermostat. I got it open, but I don't know where the sensor is, or how I can mount it so it monitors the temperature of the LCD screen. See the picture.

Thanks
Erock

Yeah I'm still looking to try to figure out where the sensor is on that fan controller, or if I just have to put the entire thermostat near my lcd screen.

Thanks
Erock

If you use the wiring instructions in the guide, when you first start your PJ, the main switch will power the ballast/lamp AND turn on the cooling fans simultaneously. The fans should always run when the lamp is lit. This attic thermostat is intended to keep your cooling fans running after the lamp is turned off in order to remove heat from the projector (a "cool down" circuit). It is not intended to monitor the temperature of the LCD.

Typically, PJ builders use indoor/outdoor thermostats with the sensor placed at the "top" of the LCD to monitor the temperature, but not control it. With the standard design, you should mount this attic thermostat somewhere behind your light engine (e.g., between the fans). Also, protect against electric shock and keep the cover on the thermostat if possible. The standard wiring setup has "hot" power to this thermostat whenever the PJ is plugged in (that way the fans can run when the lamp is off). If your not fully confident, I recommend finding someone who's knowledgable about 110V wiring and to check it before you go operational. It's easy to get zapped with these set-ups.

The guide shows how to maintain adequate cooling for your LCD; the objective is to keep a constant "wall" of air washing over the LCD, fresnels, lamp, and then "out".

Thanks a ton. I really appreciate that explanation

The sensor is right under the dial control. Its a bi-metal affairs. I removed the whole thing so that all you have left is a dial control. Use the screw to mount it somewhere easy to get to and you should be all set.

Are you planning on putting an apeture plate on the front of your gate?

haha.. proofreading is your friend

Hey no vulgar humor in my plog!! Haha!

Hey so I got a transformer on eBay and I can't tell which wire is positive or negative. Here is the back of the transformer:



Here is the wire, one side has a wide stripe on it and the other side has writing:



If anybody can tell me which wire is positive and which wire is negative that would be awesome!

Thanks

Too much variations in power supplies to say definitively which wire is positive/negative. Suggest you invest $20 in a basic multimeter. You can test DC voltage polarity, continuity etc. and be sure of the wiring. If you can borrow a multimeter, place the setting to DCV, strip the two wires and connect one to the red lead, one to black. If it reads "12V" the red is positive; if it reads "-12V", red is negative.

Another way to identify the wire is to test for continuity. Whatever wire corresponds to the "inside" of the connector plug is the positive wire.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=search

I just picked up a basic, but good, analog multimeter for 5 bucks at frys

Ok, well does anybody have a good guess? I really don't want to spend 20 bucks, and there isn't a Frys near me.

Thanks

Erock

Look at the label on your DC converter. It shows that the outer ring on the plug coming out of it is negative and the center ring is positive. If your dissect the plug carefully you can follow the wire to the center and outer rings of the plug.

-Kevin

Alright, wiring complete. Question-Is there a way I can make sure that my attic fan thermostat is working properly, because whenever I shut off the switch, the fans shut off too? I haven't really left it on long enough to get hot though.

Here are my plans for just the gravity keystone part of my split fresnel lcd sled design. Hopefully, just doing some fancy cutting with a saw and then maybe a file to make the little slots for the dowel. What do you guys think?

Erock, is your light box just a peice of metal in which helps to not lose much light, but mainly to absorb most of the heat from the bulb, so it doesn't get absorbed elsewhere like the lcd, frensels, wood.....wires etc?
Could I just look for any peice of metal shaped box if I were to use it, do these work really good? What about like aluminum foil sorta sheeting, does that help bounce light, but not absorb heat or something too?

Yeah the light box does a good job of keeping the heat off of the wood and wires. Plus it makes it easy to mount the reflector. The best way to make one is to go to an old computer recycling center and get the outside of an old computer case. There were hundreds of them sitting in the dumpster out back of the place I went to. Then I spray-painted with high-heat resistant paint from home depot. As far as bouncing light I'm not sure, as my projector is having brightness problems, but it definately absorbs heat.

Alright, thought I would update the world on how my projector is doing. The good news is that it is up and runnning. The bad news is that it is a little dim. I'm pretty sure it is because of a few factors:
1. It is hooked up to my old laptop, which has a terrible video card with no options at all and the normal laptop screen is a bit dim. I'm waiting for a longer vga cable.
2. The wall is not really that white. It seems a little darker to me, so I'm looking to get a screen.
3. Possibly the settings on the LCD screen itself are not good either.
4. I might not have everything lined up or the fresnels might need cleaning.

So I will be working on fixing all of these problems and getting it working 100%. In case anybody is interested here is my setup. Neither my dad nor I am very good with wood and all of our mounting methods are extremely simple.

Nice Erock. Very straight forward build.

I was going to ask what would stop your second fresnel from waving back and forth, then I saw the description "gravity keystone" a few posts back. Never heard of that. Does it work?

Also with your second fresnel, what to stop it from moving left to right?

As for your four point list, I 'm guessing your issue is a combination of 3 and 4.

Your pics show some centering lines which is good. Brightness is assisted by alignment along all three axes. If you can, get your hands on a laser level and align the center of the lamp arc, rear fresnel, LCD, front fresnel, and triplet. Then double check your distances between the arc and the rear fresnel and then the LCD and the triplet. I looks like you have a sled with some adjustability.

From the pictures, I'm concerned about how well your LCD is being cooled. I don't see any distinct airflow path or cool air inlet. It appears as though the fresnel/LCD sled is resting inside the box. The lamp puts forth some intense infra-red radiation and it's imperative that cool air from outside the box flows continuously over the LCD. If not, you risk overheating the LCD.

Hey long time no update, so I will be doing that right now. I was a little bit disappointed with the whole red dot issue (see here), but it really is not too big a deal, and I am prepared to get a new monitor if neccessary. Anyways, I am waiting for a screen and trying to figure out the VGA box stuff. I decided to paint the box, but I couldn't decide on a color, so I just got some black paint to paint the inside. I had a bunch left over so I painted the entire thing black. I am going to cut a hole for cooling in the top and cut the lexan to leave 1/2 inch for cooling very soon. When I put the wiring back in I did in a lot neater so check the pics.