After playing around with a few different projectors and alternate lamp mods I have come up with a combiation that gives excelent results. I have a working DLP version but with the light tunnel alot of the light is lost. Using an LCD projector alot more of the available light is used.

Here's a list of what I used and pictures.
Projector - Proxima DP8000
Lamp - Automotive HID 35W Philips 85122
Ballast - Toyota Denso

I would avoid china ballasts and lamps they are nowhere near the the brightness and quality of the OEM's I have tried them and was not impressed.

The lamp was removed from the socket and test fitted into the reflector to achieve maximum brightness. Then the lamp was secured in place with high temp automotive silicone. These lamps dont get near as hot as the stock lamps. It may be necessary to bore out the reflector if the hole is too small. I used a 3/8ths diamond bit available here. http://www.drillglass.com/drillingglass1.html




65inch Lights On

65inch Lights Off


These pics were taken with the ballast running at the stock 35W. The ballasts can be boosted to 65W and give a much brighter picture. There also is a 50W version of the lamp available but double the price. The lamps average around $40 for the 35W and have a reasonable life.
The next step is to get a Bosch OEM ballast and make a 12V 6amp power supply and mount everthing inside the stock case. I will be shooting for boosting the ballast to 50W for better brightness. Total cost - $160 the majority of that the lamp and ballast, but for about 1/3 of the cost of a new lamp I have a sweet HD projector.

How did you bypass the lamp sensor on the pj?

Victor

The ballast was pretty easy to bypass after some poking around with a multimeter.

***For those of you that are having trouble bypassing the ballast on any projector***

1 - Find the group of wires that come from the ballast to the main board.
2 - Power the projector on with NO lamp.
3 - Measure the voltages on all the wires connecting to the main board.
4 - Find the wire that is close to +3V/+5V then go to 0V with no lamp
5 - Insert lamp (If you have one) and power on. Measure the voltage of this wire again. The voltage should be around 0V
6 - Connect the spot on the board where that wire connected to a ground on the main board.

This will bypass the lamps for 90% of projectors. It has worked for me on about 8 different models.
If you still have no idea what im talking about here. Ground the wires one at a time and power on. Eventually you will find the correct one and the projector will stay on. There is usually 3-5 wires. Lamp Lit - Lamp Enable - Ground - Econo Mode are the ones in a 4 Pin connector.

I am upset with the ballasts that come in these projectors. They all run off of high voltage DC that ranges from 300-600V. With the ballasts removed I would have to make a custom power supply to use them with different bulbs out of the projector.

Well done Ounvme...using the stock reflector has to be a big improvement..light looks very even

Great Job!

So ..now you are going to remove original ballast and replace with Bosch...will it fit ?

Cheers

btw
Ive read that you can use ceramic putty...like the exhaust/hole repair compounds..for the lamp/reflector glue...if the silicone cant handle 50 watts+

I have used plaster of parris with good results as well. Since these HID lamps have an envelope around the actual lamp part they dont get too hot.

I have since boosted the ballast to about 45W and the picture is clearly visible with the lights on. I will report lamp life. The color and light is perfect with the stock lamp reflector. I will post some pics when I get the new ballast and power supply figured out. I am hoping to get this all mounted internal and looking stock. This so far is the best projector I have modified.

Hey OUN ,
Nice looking mod. I did some checking on the Lamp and it is listed as a 4100K lamp. What's up with that? 6500K seems to be the holy Grail with DIY Projects as it tries to duplicate daylight. Also what would happen if you ran the stock lamp ballast thats in the Projector instead of the outside one? Any chance it would work? Could the stock ballasts output wattage be turned down?


Thanks

Bohanna -AKA stuffyhead1@aol.com

BTW Nice touch with the diamond drill

The stock ballasts can be modded. I dont have the electronic background as to how to do that. 6500K is too blue for my liking. 4100k is also brighter. I have an interesting mod pending that will give 11000 lumens and 20000 hour life....more to come stay tuned....

Hey Ounvme ,

I am really confused with your blue tint and the 6500K comment, All my research points to a colortemp of 6K to 65K as the desired colortemp level. Blue tint seems to be in the 8K and above temps. How is it that your 4100K lamp is producing these white colors especially in a stock projector? I know that in theory the 4100K lamp is SUPPOSED to be brighter but too the human eye it is supposed to be more yellow. What's up with that?? Also 11000 Lumens? that should be visible in a well lit room. I can't wait to see that. Good luck. Where stateside can you get these Phillips Lights and for how much?
Many Thanks in advance.

Bohanna - AKA - Stuffyhead1@aol.com

I'm curious, what is the best place to get ballasts and lamps in the US? Do you have any specific links that you could provide? I'm really interested in trying this out.

Thanks!

I get my ballasts and lamps from fleabay. The best ones to get are Bosch Gen 1 35W and the phillips lamps. The bosch ballasts can be boosted to 75+ watts. 4100k white Natural Day Light NDL 5000-6500 is also white but higher than that gets blue. 4100k has a higher lumen output. Ballasts are around $75 and the lamps are around $75 for 2.

Read up on hidplanet.com/forums for better info on the lamps...

How do you boost the output from the ballast, do you increase supply voltage or are there two output modes?