LAST UPDATED: DECEMBER 15th, 2006
I WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE THIS POST WITH RESULTS SO IT WILL BE EASIER FOR PEOPLE TO ACCESS THE INFOMATION IN THIS THREAD

Since I started building my projector I really didn't want to use a HID light source for 4 reasons:

A. Heavy ballast
B. UV radiation
C. Heat
D. Expensive (in my area at least lol)

So, I have been searching for some viable alternatives. In this thread I'll keep everyone posted on the results of my experiments with various light sources. Here is what I've tried so far:

1. 500W Halogen worklight
=================
STATUS: Abandoned

After plugging this light in and holding a thermometer in front of it for 1 minute I quickly threw it back into its box and returned it. The thermometer maxed out very quickly. The light got way too hot - there is no way my cooling set up could save my LCD from being BBQ'd.

2. Array of CFLs
===========
STATUS: Abandoned

Current Findings:
--------------------
Array Design 1: 5x4 array of bulbs, Tips facing the LCD (only 12 sockets were filled):
The projected image was not bright enough and space did not permit a suitably sized reflector for each bulb.
When I find a reflector design that allows the entire screen to be illuminated with fewer bulbs (have to reduce # because of space restriction) I will try this design again.


Array Design 2: Two rows with the bulbs sides facing the LCD (see diagram):
The bulbs were arranged base to base on the back panel of the box as shown in the diagram below (not all bulbs shown). The circles shown in the diagram were other bulbs used to fill lighting gaps.

This array design produced an image that might (remember, no guarantee lol) be watchable in an extremely dark room and with a really good screen. Unfortunately I don't have a really good screen so I'm not sure how this would actually turn out. You can forget about watching anything if there is ambient light.

While the light produced by the CFLs is bright, it is just not focussed enough at the LCD. My 6v flashlight produces an image (partial image) that is much brighter than the results with the CFLs because all of its light is directed through the LCD.

UPDATE - SEPT 18th - I tried a single 26W CFL in a lamp with a white reflector and it produced an image which is equally as bright or even brighter than the image produced with an array of 12 CFLs. There is simply too much light being wasted with the array which has no reflector for each bulb. I've already spent $52 on developing the array so I may abandon it and move onto the mr16 design. Array development is now on hold.

UPDATE - SEPT 20th - I've decided not to abandon the array of CFLs however I am going to explore a different bulb arrangement in addition to making some changes to the reflective surface of the box. I will post some sketches of the bulb arrangements I have tried and the ones I will try in the future.

3. HB1 Halogen Car Headlight
===================
STATUS: Abandoned - HB1s Emit UV radiation. The headlight housing was discolored to a yellowish color.

I haven't removed the front of the headlight housing yet but I did find that with it the lights lit a very small portion of the LCD very brightly. I did try the bulb by itself without the headlight housing but then I found out there is no UV filter on the bulb so I stopped messing with it for now lol. I am planning to try the bulb with its reflector sometime in the near future.

4. Floodlight
========
STATUS: Abandoned

I saw that someone tried a 100W floodlight in the forum so I decided to try it out for laughs to see what it would do. I installed it, flipped the on switch and barely saw anything on the wall. LOL forget this. It gets much too hot anyways.

5. MR16 Bulb(s) / JDR Bulb(s)
========
STATUS: Current Best

I recently got a 20W halogen desk lamp and I noticed that it was very bright so I decided to throw it in the projector for fun and see what would happen. It produced a much brighter image than what was achieved with the CFLs and at a much lower temperature. Unfortunately the light was too focussed and it didn't illuminate the entire LCD (I'm using a 15"). If only there was a bulb that could illuminate a larger area of the screen....I'm thinking of removing the rear fresnel and trying an array of these MR16 bulbs......

UPDATE - SEPT 26th - I have set up a lighting system using 3 bulbs (one 20W MR16 and two 35W JDRs). I am using the rear fresnel so I had to place the bulbs that were off center at odd angles so they would illuminate the corners of the projected image. I think I will end up using 5 bulbs in all and I may up the wattage to 50W for a boost in brightness (altough I don't think I will be needing it). I will post a picture of the light source when I get a chance. I am now able to watch dark scenes in movies without any problems

UPDATE - DEC 15th - Been quite a while since the last update. Anyways, I decided to go with a single 35W JDR Halogen bulb. This bulb alone produced a brighter image than the array of CFLs. I would have liked to use a 20W GE Constant Color but it didn't illuminate the entire screen. Too bad because it's light is much whiter and the projection image is a little brighter than the 35W JDRs. At this point I have stopped all experiments with other light sources and am sticking to the MR16/JDR route. I hope to get a hold of a 100W JDR soon - will be even nicer than the 35W. The price range for these bulbs is less than $10 (for two 35W bulbs). The 100W won't be much more. I was able to find a 50W for $1 but it had no UV shielding so I didn't use it.

If anyone else has tried other light sources feel free to post your results.

Did you consider a 410w FXL OHP halogen lamp?

They have a built-in elliptical type reflector that appears to also be a "cold mirror", meaning it reflects light but allows infrared heat to pass through. This is a good thing, because it keeps less heat from making its way to your LCD. You will need a good cooling system though.

But they've worked for some people on smaller projectors. I plan to try one on a 15" panel with a 317mm rear fresnel - to allow the light cone to expand more.

I had to buy a special lamp holder and diode for an OHP. But it was all pretty cheap - about $20 as I recall.

I was thinking of trying an OHP lamp but I didn't know where to get the lamp socket or if there was any special wiring. When you try yours, post your results here and I'll add it to the list I started making - giving you credit of course.

Here's some links:

FXL lamps:

http://store.cousinsvideo.com/fxl.html?source=GAWd
http://www.bulbamerica.com/products/4100
http://www.projectorlampcenter.com/Product...uctCode=FXL%2D5
http://www.bulbconnection.com/ViewItem/bcr...c/FXL/item.html

Socket/lamp holder:
http://www.bulbman.com/index.php?main_page...oducts_id=12318

Diode: (9000 diode/rectifier)
http://www.mbelectronics.com/view.aspx?id=53

I have all these parts and they appear to work well together. But I haven't finished building the rest of the PJ around them to see how they will work with a 15" LCD. I know that I will need at least a 317mm FL rear fresnel.

Note that the lamp has a low color temp. but a 100 CRI rating. The diode is necessary because of the goofy 82V lamp voltage. Without the diode you will quickly burn it up.

My first PJ had a light engine straight out of a 3M 9550 OHP - it used a 36v 400w EVD lamp with a mirrored spherical reflector and precondenser lens. And it gave me far better results than anything I achieved with a traditional 400w Metal-Halide T15 lamp, eballast, and IKEA reflector. Twice the lumens as I recall.

Here's a photo:
Click to view attachment

You can see it uses a transformer to drop down from 120 to 36V. But it works extremely well. Tearing apart an OHP is a safe bet for many. The 3M 9800 uses the same light engine but with an electronic ballast and produces even more lumens.

Hey dajyn: Glad to see your back and active again in the forums.

I'd like to ask you about these bulbs. I notice that the OHP I have burns out these bulbs fast after prolonged use. I assume because they are rated only 50 hours to at most 200 like the FXL-5. My question is if you add the diode will this increase the expectancy further past these bulbs rated life or just maintain it to it's expected duration? I'd like to use these but after calculating the cost for each and how often I had to change it out within the OHP came to 16 times the cost compared to a standard Metal Halide street bulb which averages 15000 to 20000 hours.

Hi SIM - I believe the diode must already be in your OHP or else the lamps would immediately burn up, since they'd be seeing about 50% more voltage than they are designed for.

You can't beat the MH lamps for lowest cost over time. And they are more efficient and powerful by themselves.

But you do have to be O.K. with their UV output. Your LCD is probably fine. It's the unfiltered light leaking out of the projector you need to be concerned about with MH.

But since you're still around and hopefully in pretty good health, even after all the experimenting you've done, I assume you are protecting yourself well enough or have natural "resistance" to UV light. Not everybody does...

Did you ever happen to try the mirrored box enclosure idea for the fluorescents? Couldn't hurt, the light is diffuse already.



I had an idea using MR16 bulbs you might be interested in. I posted it on the Multiple Light Source Theory thread. Here it is again for your consideration.......
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

......I know that there are beam combiners, but they are made to combine three different wavelengths (or colors) of light, like in a commercial LCD projector. Ooh, Ooh, ooh, I have an idea, hang on a sec.........

OK, here it is.
Beam combiners (dichroic prisms) are made to merge the red, green and blue light from the three mini lcds in a commercial projector into one perfect beam that goes to the projection lens and then onto the screen, right?. The surfaces inside the prism are specially coated for each color so that each color goes where it is supposed to. Click to view attachment
Suppose we put a red lamp where the red lcd goes, a green lamp where the green lcd goes, and a blue lamp where the blue lcd goes? That should make a beam of white light come out of the prism that is composed of just the red, green and blue wavelengths that the LCD's need to produce an image.

I also looked for colored lamps that would work for this and I think that I might have found them. They are made by Ushio. (GE used to make "Dichro-color" lamps, but I can't find any available online.) Anyway, the Ushio bulbs are called "Popstar" Ushio Popstar Lamps Website
and they produce the colors through dichroic coatings. I think that since the lamp color is made with a dichroic coating and the beam combiner works because of dichroic coatings it should be a perfect match and we'll get all of the light from the lamps through the beam combiner prism.

No worries about the correct CRI or color temperature. And the spec sheet on the Ushio webpage says they have a "cool beam", wouldn't have to worry about heat either. And UV protection! I'm getting dizzy......

Cost? A broken LCD projector from Ebay would cost about $50 shipped, there's the prism. The Popstar bulbs cost about $9 each. I don't know if the bulbs require a special fixture or ballast or what. Could someone help me out there? I think that they are halogen bulbs. I don't know diddly about halogens.

Looking forward to ideas, corrections, information, etcetera.
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I thought the idea looked promising from the information on the spec sheet, and from the work that Elken is doing with a small arc 150 watt ceramic bulb. I might be totally off, but it looked interesting.

Tgreenwood

I think that's a fascinating idea, tgreenwood...

I wonder if you would even need the red, green, blue lamps. Would it possibly still work well with regular full spectrum lamps?

The light entering the prism would not be collimated - parallel rays - instead it would be spreading out in a cone, which is what you would need to illuminate an LCD panel. But would the prism interfere with the light cone, I wonder?...maybe not.

The 410w FXL lamps are about the same size and put out a lot of lumens - due to their efficient elliptical dichroic reflectors. Combining three of them together would create one power light engine...

what could you use in place of the prism? I have been thinking of using a couple of the philips cdm150/942 lights(as in elkens thread on ceramics) .....

hmmm...what parts do we have to work with?

Let's see...we have:

- mirrors
- lenses
- fresnels
- reflectors
- polarizers

anything else???...

How does one transform a lamp into a prism?

sigh...everybodys a smart a** ... its too early for me to be making sense
what I meant was what could one use in place of the prism in tgreenwoods drawing, mirrors?
and dajyn.... how big is the bulb in the 410w halogen? is it a sealed unit? having never seen one, do you think its possible to cut the base out and insert one of elkens cdm bulbs? would be a cheap elliptical refelctor if you could....

the're tiny: http://www.bulbconnection.com/ViewItem/bcr...c/FXL/item.html

The reflector O.D. is about 2". The bulb itself is less than 1/2" diameter.

It's all made out of glass, so I don't know how easily you can modify them or even if the CDM would fit inside. The reflector is designed for a very, very small lamp filament.

I thought your question was a good one...I hope he was only teasing.

There must be a way to combine multiple light sources using optical components. Perhaps a prism is the best way, but it might not be the only way...

the cdm is 20mm diameter.. and the reflectorized version has an elliptical ref. diameter of 95 mm so the fxl probably is too small..... know of any slightly larger halogens? I was envisioning cutting the reflector at the point where it joins the actual elliptical part and extarcting the old bulb assembly, leaving an elliptical with a hole hopefully big enough to insert the new bulb ...
edit: hey have you got any burned out fxl or similar bulbs we could play with?

I've just got two brand new ones. But they're cheap: http://store.cousinsvideo.com/fxl.html?source=GAWd

However, I do think there are larger halogens with similar reflector designs out there...

But I was thinking of another idea for the FXL's:

What if you bunched 4-5 of them together (perhaps use lower wattage ENX lamps) to form a light ball of sorts?

These little OHP lamps are designed for a 330mm fresnel, I believe - give or take. But what if you placed this "light ball" behind a 220mm fresnel? Aside from the obvious danger of burning it up, or burning out the lamps so closely packed together - the concern would be whether the light would blend together enough or you'd end up with several hot spots.

yeah, but even at 6$(or 12$ for 2 ata time) you run into the cost issue...to hit even 1000 hours you're talking 120-240.... you can get the elliptical reflector version of the cdm150 for about 200$ with a 6,000 hour life... though I don't know how the lumens would compare... now if we could find some burned out ones and retrofit them with the non-ref cdm at 50$ ....well....

Was it you that told me about the light tunnel concept? I haven't tried it with mirrors yet but I did cover the entire light source area with some aluminum tape - Not as reflective as mirrors but it did make a difference.

I have some aluminum tape also and was thinking about covering all the surfaces in the rear half of my projector. Wasn't sure if the adhesive would withstand the heat...

But it will be interesting to see if it helps or hurts with a "point source" light engine...

Well I was making some progress with an mr16 desk lamp i was experimenting with when it toppled over and the reflector on the bulb shattered :angry: I will try to get a replacement tomorrow. I managed to get about 50-60% of the screen showing on the wall WITH a significant amount ambient light from open windows (sun coming in)- this is a HUGE improvement over the results I have been getting with the CFLs. Originally, the mr16 was projecting an image showing only about 25% of the screen but with some changes to the projector design I got a lot more showing.

Here are the design changes I had to make:

LAYOUT:

MR16--->Page magnifier--->LL Fresnel--->LCD--->Projection lens

There was about 10 inches between the page magnifier (grooves facing foward) and the LL fresnel (grooves also foward) - The projector enclosure has to be made longer. You are probably wondering why I put the page magnifier - I just happened to try it there and it made a brighter image so I left it there. I was about to put the other LL fresnel in front of the LCD when the lamp took a tumble. LOL Oh well. I hope to have more results in a day or 2.

I have a 3m 9550 projector. I was thinking of either taking this light engine and dropping it into a standard LL projector (with two 317mm fresnels). Also I have toyed with using the reflecor and precondensor with the CDM short arc bulb. How is lumen output, and how is color reproduction with the light enine unmodified? The only thing keeping me from doing a straight transplant is the short bulb life. They make a longer life bulb but the color is even lower. Linky = http://www.bulbconnection.com/ViewItem/bcr...LX%29/item.html

Thanks

Color reproduction was excellent to my eyes. I no longer have that PJ - gave it to my brother's family last Christmas. I took some Lux readings in the past, but I never wrote anything down. I'll have to try to remeasure it again next time I'm over there late at night - after putting a new bulb in.

My lumens readings will also be very dependent on my particular LCD and lens - from the 3M 9550.

What I do recall is getting much better brightness from the 3M light engine than what I was using previously - a 400W MH T15 & eballast & IKEA reflector w/220 fresnel. In fact, I think it may have even been twice as much, demonstrating just how much light is lost without a good reflector/condenser setup.

The short bulb life looks bad on paper. But even 50 hours is about 20 movies worth. It looks as if that longer-life bulb sacrifices a little bit in initial brightness. But perhaps over time the average light output is just as good.

The main reason I went with the halogen was due to concerns about UV light leakage with my brother's kids around. But I'm glad I did - I liked the results very much.

Sorry Puni15er. Total thread hijack.

Great.

Thats all I need to justify dismantling the projector. What was the focal length on the collminating fresnel you used. I was thinking of using the 317mm for both fresnel in my PJ and the standard lens. I have not been looking forward to dropping $200 on a ballast and bulb so I guess, I'll give this route a try!

-Kevin

PS Pun15er, keep looking into different light sources!

No prob about the hijack lol. Btw I'm The_Punisher - Pun15er is someone else

Yes, sorry Punisher.

I ended up using 317mm fresnels for both the front and back. I originally tried the 220mm, but that didn't allow the light cone to spread out far enough. It worked great with the 317mm, which is probably close to what the light engine was designed for. The lamp assembly gets mounted closer than 317mm however, due to the shortening effect of the precondenser.

I don't recommend using the varifocal lens from the 9550, even though it may be tempting. I found it to be a little too small for a 15" LCD panel to get uniform focus and my PJ has serious pincushioning problems as well.

But that little 3M "light engine" is sweet. It will be interesting to see if you get good results or not with yours...

If anyone else is thinking of buying a 3M 9550 OHP to tear apart, I suggest also considering the 9800, which uses the same light engine, but instead has an electronic ballast to produce even higher output - at the expense of an already very short lamp life.

The 9550 EVD lamp is only 3/4" in diameter. So someone might be able to replace it with a small profile HID lamp (less than 1" dia) to get even more lumens out of it.

Everyone can feel free to post alternative lighting related questions/research in this thread - I don't mind. I was actually trying to created one which would provide as much info as possible for people experimenting with different light sources.

Check the original post - The CFL array information has been updated.

I've decided not to abandon the array project - I will eventually rearrange the 1st post so it only includes results.

Added two diagrams to the 1st post.

Have you tried 2x LOA fluoro's ?
Found a few DIY PJ makers used these..have a search at diyaudio.com for LOA.

See Pic

Hey thanks for the suggestion - I did some searching and found that these lights have the same light spectrum as MH lights. Since I am trying to avoid using a light source that outputs UV radiation I don't think I will try these lights. Also, a couple people on diyaudio.com said they don't work well for projectors.

What about a Xeon headlight from something like a BMW or Mercedes?
I have no idea what temerature range they are in, but I know that
they blind the hell out me on the road.

ok

MR 16 Array idea:

Can you get MR16 lamps with a 5 degree spread ? this would mean almost all light should be usable by the LCD..

However I believe that only the low 20watt MR16 have the narrow beam..so how many lumens does a 20watt MR16 chuck out...200lumens ?
and how many MR16 would you need in an array to cover a 15 inch LCD ...30 ?

If 30 it's not cheap...would 200 lumens per lamp cut it...even with an array your gonna have gaps between the lamps....uneven lighting..maybe maybe not if the light is spreading at 5 degrees..it might cover the gaps.

30x20watt=600watts

Sorry if it sounds like a brain dump ..it is

Having trouble with the FXL lamp - getting even illumination or enough spread to illuminate the corners - for a 15" LCD.

Running out of room inside my PJ to move the lamp further back. Then might need longer FL rear fresnel (than 317mm).

Probably would work with a 500mm fresnel. But that's another 7-8" in length...ouch.

Unusual brightness streaks emanating from the center of the screen - with no LCD - much like a star or spokes on a wheel. Never seen that before - perhaps the FXL lamp/reflector or the fresnels???....

Edit: Thinking now that the streaks are due to the "seams" in the FXL reflector between each row/column of facets. How this is considered acceptable in a reflector design, I don't know. But the requirements for an OHP may be much less and they could be using a diffuser plate as well. The LCD should mute these streaks somewhat, but I believe they will still be noticeable on a dark screen. That and the severe vignetting would seem to rule out this lamp for a large LCD PJ.

Therefore I can only recommend the halogen light engines found in 3M 9550/9800 OHP's.

Narrow beam is exactly what I don't want. I picked up 3 halogen bulbs with 40 degree beams to do some tests (one 20W GE Constant Color MR16 and two 35W GE JDRs) and there is no way I'd need anywhere near 30 bulbs in the array. I am working on a way to use 5 along with the rear fresnel and believe it or not it DOES work. The hardest part is going to be making a fixture to hold all the lights at the proper angles. If I were to remove the rear fresnel and do an array I would need at most 10 - 15 bulbs - I would not be putting them right beside each other because one bulb illuminates enough so that gaps can be left. As for price - $1 a bulb is not problem for me LOL

I kinda wish I had used a smaller LCD - one 20W MR16 would have been enough for use in my basement.

Oh and btw, the 20W GE Constant Color MR16s blow the 35W GE JDRs away! Brighter and whiter light.

Good luck with it.
The narrow beam idea was so you dont need a rear fresnel (5 degrees meaning all rays could be used by the LCD, most efficient) but then one lamp would would not give much cover, not much bigger than it's reflector diameter hence the need for many.

Then in any case your gonna use a rear fres so that does not matter a hoot !

..looking forward to your results

Updated 1st post - the MR16s/JDRs are looking very promising - they completely blow away the CFL set up I had before. Since the MR16s/JDRs are much better than the CFLs, I am once again considering abandoning CFL testing. To me it seems like a waste of time now because I have no intention of using CFLs in my projector since it is highly unlikely they will ever be able to create a better projection than the halogens. I'll post some pictures of the halogen set up when I have some more time.

sounds like the fresnels are misaligned with each other(the centers that is), move them further apart should solve that, if it is the fresnels, I get that starburst all the time if they are too close, even when the centers are aligned as close as possible, generally an inch or so apart should do it)

Yep, that fixed it.

Sorry for keeping you guys waiting - haven't been able to work on this thing for the past few days

I dont know if anyone has tried this but I picked up a 12v 10,000,000 candle power searchlight from Lowes on clearance for $5.00 This thing is super super bright and the beam is focused nicely. There is a 2 lamp version that is even brighter. I dont have a PJ to test this on but it does look somewhat promissing and the heat factor is very very small.

I measured 150 ANSI lumens from my first PJ using the 3M 9550 OHP Halogen EVD light engine. It produces a surprisingly good picture using an old MAG 565 LCD (can't recommend otherwise due to FFC issue). On a 67" wide screen, the average was about 73 lux. So in a light controlled room with dark walls this produces a very acceptable picture - even on a 1.0 gain screen. But another 150 lumens would be nice to really add "punch" to the image and allow for larger screen sizes and more ambient light.

On a sidenote I also measured a full-on/full-off contrast ratio of 400:1 at the triplet, which matches the spec's of the LCD itself.

Starting to lose patience with this build lol. Just want to get it done so I can watch some stuff on the big screen - Hockey season is starting

Updated after a long time.

I, too, have been working on a CFL array light source and found it extremely lackluster, even with a mirror box. I've currently moved on to a single 100W MR16 setup. I think the small filament size will be beneficial, generating a higher ratio of light that is projected rather than lost, as compared to a wider filament, such as the 35mm one on the LL MH bulb. What started me thinking about point source size was the extensive discussion along the same lines in the (long!) post on ceramic (CDM) bulbs. Has anyone compared an MR16 or FXL setup to a CDM one? The benefit of CDM seems to be high color temperature and excellent CRI, but at the cost of more expensive bulbs and a ballast (and the venerable UV problem).

Well there are MR16 bulbs that have CRIs of 100.

Where did you get the base for a 100W MR16? I want to use one of those but I don't know where to get the base. I have a base that can only take 20W LOL.

It has a regular screw base (is that called a 'mogul' base?). I bought it at High Output, which is a local theatre lighting supply store in my area. The make is Ushio, and the number on the box is "JDR120V-100WL/W/E26".

Unforunately, it does not work well in my setup, which is a 17" LCD with a 13" focal length fresnel collector. Even though the lamp is "wide angle," it doesn't cover the full frame. I get a good 6" x 4" rectangle in the middle that is well lit at the center, but with significant fall off toward the edges, and no image outside the rectangle. On the plus side, it puts out a fair amount of light for 100W halogen and with very little heat, probably because of the dichroic reflector. I don't have any form of cooling, and my fresnel is barely even warm. Although, the base of the lamp gets very hot, as I found out when I burned myself trying to remove it too soon after turning it off.

Ah you are using a JDR just like me

i dont know if this is even possible, but has anyone looked into LEDs???
then, instead of having two fresnels you would only need one, the field one (assuming you packed the LEDs super tight together right behind the LCD)
cooling wouldn't be a problem
you wouldn't need a fan, because the heat generated is almost non existant.
instant turn on
no reflector, because the beam is already narrow.
now im gonna just try and calculate the cost and lumen power for a 15" 4:3 aspect ratio display with the LEDs mounted as tightly as possible.

so a 15" 4:3 LCD has dimensions of 9"x12"
the LEDs have a .197" diameter.
so i'll make it .25" to allow some space in between.
that comes out to...
1,728 LEDs!
and with the HIGHEST rated ones (that i could find on jameco.com)
have a brightness of 3700mcd (3.7 lumens)
that comes out to....
6,393.6 lumens!!!!!!

the only real drawback (and its a big one)
is cost.
those 1,728 LEDs would run you...
$3,646.08!!!!
plus shipping.. which im sure would be free...

so now the search can continue. i guess we'll have to wait for LED tech to improve.
there is also a company that specialises in high output LEDs i'll have to lok them up and see if it might be a more viable option.

well sorry to essentially waste your time..
but if it wasn't so damn expensive...
it would be the PERFECT lighting solution.

possibly worth a try on a diy setup

link to the thread with pics

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16984