I have been enjoying my first build for less then a year without many tweaks so I got the bug and decided the wife and I need a bigger screen in the bedroom (currently tiny 9" CRT TV VHS player)

I had a bunch of parts left over from my first build so I figured if I can get some other cheap parts over a couple months I would be way into the WAF for a new build.

Here is a list of parts and prices:


1. Old VHS/DVD storage tower I was just about to toss out (free)
2. 7" Coby portable DVD player with bad backlight from Ebay ($20)
3. Fresnel lenses from OHP that got scratched (not in 7" area ) (free)
4. LL Triplet that came with lamp kit I purchased for first project (free?)
5. 120mm super quiet AC fan I got from garage sale (2 for $2)
6. 98mm pre-condensor from Electronics Goldmine ($13)
7. 32mm spherical mirror from Surplus Shed (2 for $8)
8. 100watt 6000K Xenon Lamp kit from bye bye money ($50)
9. OHP 45 deg triplet holder and mirror from SDUBB ($10)
10. Attic fan controller came with lamp kit purchased for first project (free?)
11. Metal from mATX power supply & 5.25 sled (scrap) (free)
12. cool heatsink from video card (free)

So far it looks like I have about $100 sunk into it.

Next some pics of the parts, not in perfect order.

The Xenon kit came as three seperate pieces, I had another thread about wiring it, here is the finished product.

Here is the tower after I had done a little work to it. I was acually cleaning out my shop to have more room to fit this project into a computer case and this was going out to the trash when I remembered someone else here (Thanks sdubb) built one out of a tower like this.
F the ATX case, too many mods to be made.

You can see my FS mirror that will be mounted 45 deg to the lens near the bottom (reflecting my hidious carpet in workroom)

Here is the stripped player mounted on 2 connected shelves with the cut down fresnels attached to the bottom, I am planning on starting with unsplit and maybe going to split later.

here is the new pre-condensor mounted on the top of the mATX PSU

and again

my tiny reflector with my tiny helper

LL triplet....and last of little helper

Don't really get why these pics don't each go in new posts.....but whatever.

I found this cool video card heatsink in my great big box o' spare computer shiz and drilled a hole to epoxy in my reflector. The lamp holder is temporary so Egon can withhold his safety tips.

Is the lamp kit from johnzo this one?

http://www.manhattanlcd.com/ProductDetails...roductCode=5001

Because the price is right.

And another

No, this is just one I made. From what I hear, the pre-condensor in johnzo's kit doesn't work well....don't really know the details.

Gotta get out of here (work, lol) will put some more pics on tonight.

Looking good! But I have to agree about the carpet.

Here is my mATX PSU lightbox, the 120mm fan is going to be right below it sucking air from the light cone area thru the ballast tunnel (yet to be fabbed)

board o' parts

close-up of AC fan specs...as luck has it, the plug I removed from the HID lamp fits right onto the fan terminals.

tower with fan installed, offset from center (5.25 sled has holes)

a little suggestion since i was a pioneer with that case look at post 61 http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...22294&st=50
you might want a mirror assembly from an OHP like I had. makes it so much easier plus i liked how on mine I put the triplet/mirror in the actual box and not on the highest shelf or the top that way it was kind of hidden. Just my .02 pennies

I have a couple FS mirrors to choose from (both taken from OHP) I am not sure which route I am going to take yet but I actually need the triplet/mirror to be on the very top of the unit because it's just barley going to clear the bedknob (at the foot of the bed) without keystoning.

ok, last one for a couple days

Okay Sub your couple of days are up now get back to work on this thing I am waiting to see this bad boy in action. No get going

::::crying face::::

I wish it were that easy, when spring comes in Michigan we are not allowed in our houses except to sleep and watch sports. My wife asked me to pull a rotten board off the deck last week and guess what......now I have torn off half the deck, creating a new sitting area and building a gazebo.

I get to see the projector (not wired up) sitting next to my bed (where I last tested) every day and I get a little sad.

Sub,



Can you give me the parts list and prices for your light kit
Thanks

Victor

I wish it were that easy, here is a thread I created that should answer a few questions....Johnzo might be willing to answer some more.

<nodding, grinning a little lopsided, and getting teary-eyed in commiseration>

Look at the bright side. At least you're allowed to sleep!!!

I just had a planned weekend of work altered entirely by a new set of marching orders: Dig up roughly 50 mature barberry bushes and transplant them into a new hedge about 200 feet away. If you've never had the pleasure of wrestling a barberry bush with a heavy root ball you're missing something worth missing.

Now move over Sub - I need more room to sit down in this "same boat" we're in.

The time is also drawing close in Alaska when projector work must give way to shed building. I feel your pain.

Group hug?

You folks still put the women in the menstrual shed? please send me detailed plans.

Oh how I wish that were true. Actually we're building the shed so that we can clear the garage. I then get to move my office out to the garage so that my girls can each have a separate room. I have toyed with the idea of just putting them out in the shed instead, but my wife isn't too keen on the idea. I'm heavily outnumbered. They all like the projector though, so I might be able to use that to my advantage.

I was in the very same boat (heavily outnumbered 4:1 (including the dog)) until the boy came....and now we run around shirtless peeing on everything that belongs to us.
They all like the projector though.

This summer the boy begins his pee training.

It will be easy since I will be Fence putting upping, lawn growing & shed building.
Unless it rains.

Then i'll be banished to the basement play room & "you're computer crap" room projects.

But, I have a sub-pump down there so we still have a place to pee.

This has just become my favorite thread due to its devolution into a sandbox. My kid can pee like 10+ feet while my 40+ year old bladder struggles for a third of that distance.

Somehow each outbuilding I erect quickly fills to capacity while all the other ones remain apparently just as full as before despite having been cleaned out into the new outbuilding. Defies conservation of matter.

One time during building our place my wife walks down into the basement only to find her grandfather peeing into the floor drain. I'll never forget that. She was shocked and I was like "Yeah . . . so? Why not? Makes perfect sense to me."

Then he proceeds to recite the following:

No matter how you shake and dance the last drop goes right down your pants.

RIP Grandpa R.

OK, I think the Grandpa story has just about topped this whole thread. That will be hard to beat!

Mind you, we've got all summer to keep this PLOG going for Subgenius's triumphant return in the fall.

My wife caught me peeing in the sink once, I was shaving and didn't feel like stopping...she was pissed "I brush my teeth in there!" ........I said "oh gross, I'm never kissing you again"

I just need one rainy sunday and I can get her up and running.

Well, the transformer is a 110 to 220 UK job so i assume the ballast fires at 220, I really don't want to test the current pull so don't expect that one.
Since this is from a projection TV I think the lamp sensor is on a completely different PCB that is easily removed. All the pics of all the specs and numbers are in the first thread (I think)

I considered trying this out in a commercial projector but I am waiting for some really solid info from a english speaking site so I don't end up with a giant smoldering mess

Pics of progress coming soon.....people actually expect me to work today....on Friday!! ...the nerve

ok, I'm back on it. I got her all wired up last night while watching the Pistons game.

Here is the overall powerbox area, I will end up with one computer power cable going to the back and powering everything. The input is next to the fan and hard to see.

A view into the sun cage



All wired up to test fire.

aaaaaand she's fired

Sub you freaking tease give us some freaking screenshots! Anyway I really want to see how this works out for you since I made something similar. If it works good you know you will have to remove that crappy res dvd player and throw one of those 7" crazychen is selling pretty sweet good luck on the rest of the build.

"aaaaaand she's fired"

Yo Sub the Lamp Picture looks great!! How Long did you keep it running??/

I have been checking into the Xenon HID Lamps and they seem to go between 35 W and 50 watt. the 100watt ones are halogen's with filiments. If the lamp you are using stays on and actually works could you please give us as much info on it as you can (OEM Name, Numbers or anything that may written on it) . My guess is that it is a 50 watt.
Many Thanks
Bohanna

lamp is most likely from a replacement kit for H1 halogen car lamps (usally 35 W) driven with a commercial projector ballast.

I wonder how long it will take till it looses brightness.

I KNow that it is not a HALOGEN there is no filiment. there is definitly and arc/Gas chamber.
Looks to be a H1 h3 or H7 Lamp,,, Possobly 6000K colortemp,, just don't know if it is 35 or a 50 watt version
Highly unlikely it is a 100 watt. It May be being overdriven by the Ballast ,, But who cares if it stays up and running.
It's really Looking more and More Like the rating system on these HID/xenon/Metal Halide Lamps is Like the speaker watt rating sysem.. No rhyme or reason and Make it up as you go along. I guess is all dependes on what your definition of IS is.
Many thanks
Bohanna

It's a really HID lamp, people use the kits to replace a halogen system in there car with xenon. that's what i meant.



most chinese 50 W lamps are just overdriven 35 W versions. real 50 W lamps have thicker glass and a different gas mixture.
tests in the german community have shown that the overdriven lamps loose brightness after a short period and the color temp is changing.


100 watt xenon HID automotive lamps don't exist.
The only 100 W Xenon lamps i know are XBOs, and you wouldn't want one of those in your projector.

very sorry about screenies, I am throwing up ~60" test projections on a light green wall in my bedroom by holding a FS mirror at 45 with a non-optimized light engine....so I am not quite ready to post yet.

All true there, I am thinking about grabbing up a couple 35watt bulbs just to test and see if it will fire two at once and if there is a difference between my bulb and purchased 35 watters.

Yes, mine is for sure a 6000k bulb.

I noticed some odd waves in the projection and looked to see what was going on...yup, cracked the pre-con already .....need to do some better heat ducting.

There are Plenty of sites on Ebay that sell the 50 watt ones that are supposed to me Long lasting. How do we tell if it is a 35 or a 50 watt?. I called a company in NY today and the guy said that the 50 watt's were a Lot brighter than the 35's. Duh??
When you say a short period of time how much time are you talking about??
Thanks
Bohanna

why not try the 50's as well so you can see the difference. you may have a 35 there already and you are overpowering the crap out of it. I Like the idea of 2 Lamps at once with the same Ballast that May do the trick.

I have also wondered about making a 3 gun RGB style Projector similar to the old CRT's with three seperate LCD Panels
and three powerful 400 watt or 575 HMI Lamps behind the Panels. If you could set up the proper color split you would would have one Big Bright set up.

sorry about the Pre con crack. please keep us all posted with as many photos as Possiable

Bohanna

I have a feeling that 99% of the difference between the 35's and 50's is the ballast, not the bulb (ebay kits that is)

That would be quite the project, sadly to say, if you cross the beams anyone walking in front of it would be instantly vaporised....good way to kill mosquito's tho.

I've never tried a 50 W kit myself, but a lot of people in the german community did. (there were several group buys). the (overdriven) 50 watt lamps are brighter, but there was a noticeable shift in color temperature when overdriven.
If i remember right, they said that after about 100 hours the brightness of a 50 W lamp was similar to a 35 W one.
they had a ballast that could do both, 35 and 50 watt.

lumen output of xenon lamps with a lower color temp (~4000) is about 30% higher than lamps with better color temp.
personally i would still use a 6000K lamp just for the perfect color match and white.

I have come to the conclusion that the Lumen ratings and Numbers that Most of these folks promote is utter crap and is about as Misleading as you can get. the Brighter picture the lower lumens. That makes perfect sence if you come from Mars and that truly seems to be where a Lot of these Lamp selling folks are from. I don't know enough about electronics to make a comment on a 35 or a 50 watt Ballast . In this case the Projector Ballast seems to be designed to power a 150 watt UHP or metal Halide Lamp. so I I don't know if the Lamp draws what it wants or it is overdriven by a Ballast.
The HID Kits have a 12Volt DC input and they Power the Ballasts and the Lamps for supposedly thousands of hours. WE KNOW that headlight Lamps take constant shaking jarring and jolting. If we can figure out if subs geni's Ballast will work Long term that would be great. If Not maybe a double lamp Kit retrofited into a reflector would do the trick we KNOW that will Burn a Long time. I am hoping that this thing with sub Geni works out as it will Help a hell of a Lot ot us in the DIY retrofit groups.
Many thanks in advance folks

Bohanna

Hey Sub Haven't heard from you in a while. What's going on with the Project?? did the Lamp stay going with that Ballast??

Inquiring minds want to KNow. you can also CC to Stuffyhead1@aol.com

Many Thanks

Bohanna

Thanks for interest. I am still at it (slowly, as time permits) I have auto trimmed my FS mirror with chrome trim (trimmed some skin doing it) added rear vent holes, stained/glossed and cut front panels and started setting up the 45 deg mirror holder (more difficult than I thought)
I do not have a luxmeter so any screenies I post will have to be for visual effect only, so far it appears that the brightness is not outstanding (dark scenes are hard to see) but I still have tons of testing/tweaking and light gaps to work thru. If it rains tonight (I think it's supposed to) I will have another couple hours to work on it.

To answer you question about the ballast, I have had it on for 2 hours max (forgot and left it on while doing other stuff) and had no problems except the smell of hot glue particle board (ick).....this is before I set up proper venting.

Hey Sub I think I am just going to have to send you a mirror triplet holder from an OHP I have laying around That way you can just drop the triplet in there and open or close the mirror to your liking!

Awww, then I would have taken that chunk off my knuckle for nothing!


How about this, I'll trade you my trimmed out ghetto fabulous FS mirror for your OHP mirror trip holder? I have one that I use for my main projector but it throws off my focus because the trip sits higher and I didn't didn't want to mod it just to test my new project.