Hello all ,

`Well, I only have 10 hours on the pj and the bulb, and tonight, I fired it up, it went on, flickered a bit, and then, went off for good.

I thought it could have been a bad connection, but checked everything and all is fine. Try to screw it in correctly but nothing will do. I ended up taking out my tester and I get no connectivity between the thread and the center button, so I guess it died on me... but nothing looks wrong with it...

Usually you can tell when a bulb is dead because you can see where the little wire has been cooked, but nothing in my bulb indicate that it should no longer be working...

any idea??

here is another one of the base

You cannot do a continuity test on these bulbs. As you noted there is no "little wire" (filiment). This is because the way that MH bulbs work is to strike and arc between the two probs going into the center gas pocket. (This completes the electrical circuit, kinda like a controlled lightning storm) The arc excites the gas in this pocket and creates light. This bulb is more like a flourecent light (can't do a continuity test on those either) than an incandecent bulb.

What ballast are you using ? How long did you leave it switched on to try an fire the bulb ? (Leave it on for a good 10 minutes to see if it fires) Where is your ballast located ?

By "connectivity" I'm assuming you're performing a continuity test? Make sure your meter is set to megaohms. I get around 18 megaohms off of my secondary. It's very doubtful the secondary opened up on your transformer. Try cleaning up all your connections and solder if possible. With you stating that it flickered leads me to believe it to be just a bad connection.

An HID bulb doesn't have a filament, as noted above. It is possible to "blow out" the arc with excessive vibration (Though I don't think this a likely cause.)

We can start with the obvious question: Did you check the fuse? (You DID use a fuse, didn't you?)

After that, it sounds more like a failure fothe ballast, not the bulb.

Well, I feel stupid . When I wrote this last night , I was half asleep, and I thought about it this morning, and knew I had been wrong about the filament. That beeing said, I tried it again and left it on for more than 10 minutes and nothing. Also, I am using the eballast from LL, and the ballast is located at the left portion of the back panel of the enclosure.

I have also tried a different mogul socket, that I had bought somewhere else ( as opposed to the one bought from LL) and nothing... so I am thinking this may have something to do with the eballast indeed.

Well, no I have not put in a fuse in the circuitry, since there is one on the powerbar that I am using, so I thought it was not necessary..

Does Lumenlab provide any kind of warranty on those eballast? They are kind of expensive so I would not like to have to buy another one...

Thank you guys

It can't hurt to send an e-mail asking. I know that there were some quality control improvements with the last batch of ballasts.

Well I have tried everything to bring this projector back to life and nothing will do. I have tried cleaning and verifying all the connnections, thightening them... reseating the bulb in the socket, playing with the middle tip / ticket... cleaning the bulb threads and end point... but with no success.

The bulb looks fine, so I am thinking it's the eballast.

Tomorrow, I will go out and buy a philips ed37 from Home depot and will see if the eballast is at fault.

What else could I check?

Fuse is not a requirement for the eballast. Circuit side is protected by mains fuse and the eballest output is both open & short protected electronicly. If you did use a fuse it would be something to check but it sounds more like a bad bulb or bad ballast.

Kirk

Check the wires on each end of the arc tube where they are soldered onto the main big wire frame inside the bulb. I had a bulb where one of the solder joints let go. I figured it out by holding the bulb horizontally and shaking it gently up and down.

Okay, I went out and bought a philips ed37 400 watts metal halide bulb and put it in the socket, and nothing, so I guess it is clear now that the electronic ballast is faulty. But it is almost brand new ... less than 10 hours of use on it. ..

Anybody got this problem? And what did Lumenlab say about it?
Do they offer some kind of warranty? It is an expensive item, and I would hate having to replace it...
Any feedback is appreciated..

I was doing a continuity test with both input and ouput wires of the ballast, meaning that I would take both brown ones, and I would get continuity confirmation, but nothing for the blue ones.. Is this normal? What are the basics of electronic ballast?

Any experts out there?

Brain has graciously offered to take that defective eballast back and replace it with another one, but I wanted to run one last check just to make sure it actually was defective 100% sure, so any help in this regard would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks
JF

That would be perfectly normal.

The brown wire is the "common" or "return" line. This is the voltage reference point for the power. The ballast works on the "live" voltage, which is the blue wire. If there were continuity there, that would be a problem, as it would only be able to supply the same as the voltage coming in -- that is, 120VAC (Unless you have 240VAC service.)

I had a problem with my bulb switching off after approximately 1.5 hours and re-lighting after 5 or 6 mins, only to go off again.
I know this is not the problem that you are having, but I e-mailed Brainchild at LL directly.
It was a Sunday evening and he responded that night, advised moving the center tag in the Mogul base to make a better contact. I tried this but it made no improvement. He then arranged for a replacement e-ballast to be shipped as as I shipped mine back to him simultaneously.
I received the replacement before the end of the week.
You can't complain with service like that, I suggest we propose LL for a JD Powers award for best customer service in the home made DIY projector market !!!

Oh man, I just ordered a new replacement bulb and ballast. I had the same flickering fallowed by dead failure but I have 20 hours on mine. I was using the eballast inside the case but with the evercool directly pulling air over its heatsink frame. I thought it was my own damn fault for not using enough fans but I even used a large house fan blowing forced air into the slought because the evercool was working hard. I used the direction in the guide with the flashing tunnel over the fan and ballast but I used the evercool from this website instead of a 120mm.
The bulb does actually seem to have some darkening on the solder joints though. How can you test the ballast short of just popping in a new bulb (which is what I am waiting for)? I dont want to fry a new bulb if my ballast is not working correct.

And yes I have tried to bend up the mogul flap and I know its making good contact and yes I have left it on for long periods of time.

Oh man, I just ordered a new replacement bulb and ballast. I had the same flickering fallowed by dead failure but I have 20 hours on mine. I was using the eballast inside the case but with the evercool directly pulling air over its heatsink frame. I thought it was my own damn fault for not using enough fans but I even used a large house fan blowing forced air into the slought because the evercool was working hard. I used the direction in the guide with the flashing tunnel over the fan and ballast but I used the evercool from this website instead of a 120mm.
The bulb does actually seem to have some darkening on the solder joints though. How can you test the ballast short of just popping in a new bulb (which is what I am waiting for)? I dont want to fry a new bulb if my ballast is not working correct.

And yes I have tried to bend up the mogul flap and I know its making good contact and yes I have left it on for long periods of time.

Edit: Sorry about the double post.

There's not much you can do other than making sure you have good connections, a good lamp, and power to the ballast. Knowledge, logical thinking, and your senses are the best tools you can use. If it's from Lumenlab I'd email brain with details. I'm sure he'll be willing to help.