Hey, don't be including me in this question....I'm not the guru in this department. Besides, I don't want to take any responsibility for "COOKING" any roaches just for your enjoyment.

Thought maybe you'd already overdrove one when you ran your tests? Too lazy to check is all.

I came damned close to buying one of those when destructo-kity had a go at my first S400DD lamp. I ended up chickening out and getting another S400DD. Only because the local price for that ceramic lamp was way too high, and I had no guarantees about it being appropriate. Kind of silly in retrospect.

Anyway, at least your light gate got built. Mine's still in unfinished status.

I've been using the 400w Philips ceramic bulb for about 10 months but that's the only bulb I've run in a projector, so I can't really compare it to anything.

My only recommendation would be to make sure and leave your uv blocker in place. (you have a hot mirror, right?) I had problems from the start due to a pair of cheap rosewill 120mm fans not moving enough air, causing my lexan and rear fresnel to warp (and pop out of their frames). I had read that some people went without extra uv protection, so i just replaced my rear fresnel and all was wonderful for a few months, until my projection started showing light polka dots in dark scenes... I can only blame that on having a cheap lcd being bombarded with uv...

The color and brightness are fine for me (for now), even though I only have a lumen output of 85 or so on my 106" 16:10 screen... You'll probably get a lot better with that pro reflector hangin behind it...

Anyway, good luck!

Thanks ingrown. Yep, got a hot mirror. I'm reworking my cooling design due to warmer than desired - but still acceptable - temps at my fresnels.

FedEx package at the door last night. Could it be? I'll check.

YES!!!!!

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But . . . lightgate gutted.

Still, getting closer . . .

I sounds to like you had a problem with good old fashoned heat rather than UV. The Phillips lamp already has a UV blocker in the outer shell, it doesn't block it all but it does make a difference.

Wow D! Thats one of the coolest looking shoehorns I have ever seen!

'shoehorn'? I thought it was a 'roach sensor'.

You jagoffs. I'm gonna train my roaches to press the buttons depending on the pitch of my flatulent expulsions.

haha thats too funny you crack me up Durachko

That's the impression I had about the ceramic lamps, but you might be right... I just assumed that since there was a couple of months of regular use after I got new fans, and removed my lexan, before the damage was visible that it was a uv issue... Maybe my ventilation still isn't working as well as it should... damn that good old fashioned heat...

What size fan, amps, CFM?

I have 2 120mm fans in the back of my haas case now... They're from the LL store with the specs below. They certainly feel like they're blowing around their full 80 cfm, I always assumed that was plenty. Thinking about it, I do have a rather large (8" or so) stainless bowl reflector behind the Philips that's bound to cause some heat buildup... I might have to rethink things.

Evercool EC12025M12C

12 volt
29 DB
80 CFM
2000 RPM
3.36 watts
0.28 amp

I have no basis for comparison on the heat output of this ceramic vs a regular 400w metal halide, but the way Durachko's designed his ventilation I doubt he'll have a problem with heat.

Ya got any temperature data for your build? I was shocked at how warm my stuff got even with all my cooling. But even still it's not a real problem. My take is the vertical build is simply a bit problematic since heat rises. I'm really interested to see how things are once I vent the lightbox directly.

Nope, sorry... But I've got a buddy that has a temperature probe. I'll hit him up for it in the next couple of days and see if I'm cooking my cheap little lcd or not. (the no-name geeks.com 14.1")

My take on the this Philips 400w'r at the time is that it produce more heat compared to some of the others I tried. This especially with the HPS S51 ballast over clocked from 48 to 55uf. I had a 135cfm 120mm fan dedicated to it in a lightbox- wind tunnel fashion. It was loud and it did push alot of air through the arc, precon and reflector.

SIM: So your setup at that time wasn't very tight? That is, some heat snuck past the precon?

Wouldn't any 400W lamp create damn near the same amount of heat regardless simply by definition?

That's pretty much what I thought. I know that it's true with it comes to incandescent lights...

It's pretty close to the same though, when you consider how much of the light gets blocked (ie: transferred into heat) inside the projector. Only a couple hundred lumens at best ever get outside of it, therefore the total heat dissipated inside the projector is mostly determined by the wattage of the lamp.

Tough week at work combined with other things stalled me badly yet again.

But I did get the precon back in.

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And my lightgate lid partially modified by changing the rectangular hole to round.

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Meanwhile SIM is nearly burning holes with his latest awesome creation! (Nice work SIM!!!)

Dude, any update? I'm curious as to how the ceramic does ya. BTW, how are you cutting your circles on metal cause they look clean, with a jigsaw?

I'm almost through sealing up my lightbox to vent directly outside. Free time is tighter than normal lately (and it's usually nearly non-existent). Needed to cut out a big "tin can" to fabricate a holder for my circular hot mirror. Pics later. I'm using AV's recommendations for initial spacing of lamp||precon||rear fres. I really should try to get the hang of DAZZ's precon spreadsheet but am too lazy. DAZZ has given me some info regarding front fres||triplet optimal spacing but it was based on some bogus component info I stupidly gave him so maybe it's not quite right. I'm still really confused regarding the whole pro triplet mod thing but that will come later if at all. For movies and casual viewing the slight blur/flaring/whatever I see at the projection periphery is more than tolerable. Also, the pro reflector isn't quite optimal for this ceramic - the lamp shell prevents getting the arc close enough to the reflector - but it should be okay for now. Also, I've gotta check back in your 575 ballast thread to see if AV had a way to use two S51's since I think I have two at my disposal now. Someday maybe I'll do the 575 thang like you crazy dudes.

Edit: Whoops! I use nibblers to cut the metal. They rock. They're in my ploD somewhere and in the useful tools thread wherever that is. Easy search <nibblers, Durachko>. You can see the lid of the tin can I used for that holder I'm making sitting by my lightgate in the pic above.

Edit 2: The nibblers wouldn't work on the tin can. Too thin. Just jammed it up. I used a spiral blade on my neighbors scroll saw for that. He had only wood blades so I busted two of them. Gotta buy him some new ones to stay in good graces! Snips bent the metal too much and a Dremel would've been a major pain. I did use a diamond coated cutoff wheel on my drill press to do some of the work though. Should have taken pics. Will describe later.

So, found a lidded (press fit) "tin can" of the right size to just hold my hot mirror and cut off bottom and a hole in the lid so the lid would slide over the bottom giving me a lip to hang the assembled pieces by. Make sense? See this:

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And this:

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Gonna plug those little "corners" still "open" there from the rectangular iris the lightbox used to have. Paint it all flat black. Put three little spacers in to keep the hot mirror centered over that round hole. Cut a good sized hole in the end of the lightbox and a matching hole in my projector enclosure. Then, it vents directly to outside the box.

Just droppin' this in here for later use.

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And this:

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So how in the heck do you find the exact right size can! Please let us know how many shopping trips and house scrounding it took.


I have not used two S51 for a 575 but it should not be a problem. There is two or three ways to wire them if you are goint with the high low setup.

The cap will have to be reduced on one ballast, how much is a little bit of a guess. I did make a guess but I forget where I posted it, I will do a little looking.

Pure dumb luck. Had a couple of secondary containment shipping cans saved up at work and as soon as I saw it "BINGO!" I knew it was just right. I was wound up for shopping the WalMart aisles for cookie tins, etc. but just bumbled into the one I used.

I'll hit ya up for dual S51 suggestions at a future date . . . likely WAY in the future.

Say, I sense some "cold" germs floating around in my ploD. Wha . . . aaaggghh . . . just got a cobweb in my face. <splutt, phlflllt, ptew>

Now . . . just where is "Beaker" hiding???





Very creative BTW. Nice web.

Lightbox vent hole cut. (No nibblers this time SIM.)

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Hot mirror holder finished. Can't even see that clean piece of way-to-pricey glass. Wait a minute . . . is it even IN there???

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Just a pic I liked. Plodding along . . .

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I'm such a stinker!!

CAM'ON, TURN THAT ROACH ON!!!

I smell steak....Do you smell steak?

Let's just say this. If any of yooze guys git dis heah package in da mail from D maybe you'd best not open it. I'm gonna catch the biggest, baddest, meanest, juiciest pile of roaches in our infested building and mail them FedEx overnight!!!

Against all odds I've fired the 400W Philips retro ceramic. I just lost a lengthy post due to some freaking error.

Got the precon setup as per AV's latest recommendations but the light cone appears too narrow so I'll have to dig in there and bring it closer to the hellfire arc.

I may be fooling myself - probably am - but this ceramic does appear "whiter" than either of the MH lamps I've toyed with.

I'll let it burn in for a few hours and then try some tweaks over the next week or two as I have time and energy.

I'm second guessing the lamp long axis perpendicular to panel long axis theory SIM but switching now would mean hacking yet another hole in my enclosure to perpetuate the lightbox direct vent to outside the box option which I'm liking quite a lot now that I've done it.

I also noticed something which should not have surprised me at all - these ceramics have wire wrapped around the arc chamber and when I looked back through the triplet during operation I saw all these lines on the arc and went "WHOA! Wuh the . . . ?" for a millisecond or two until I realized I was just seeing those dang wires.

Later all . . . I think I smell roach-roast.

&*#$%^@! One of the buttons on my OSD-Panel doesn't work!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go on universe. Just save up a big old turd and plop it right down on my head why-don'tcha???

Oh well . . . tomorrow is another day.

Post a pic of your OSD board. It may be just a simple mechanical problem.

DJ

Sho nuff. I traced it to a cold solder joint - hell, no solder at all - on the ribbon connector doo-hickey on the board. I'll post a microscopic before/after pic. No offense DAZZ but if your eyes were good enough to find that bad joint in a pic you'd be a cyborg!!! I stayed up way too late last night. Couldn't sleep after not being able to adjust my panel settings so dug out the jeweler's loupe and DVOM and started pecking away. Didn't take too long to find the problem. Now to see if I can squirrel my iron into that mess to fix the problem. <squinting with tongue partially out between lips>

I just wanted to see how the board was designed. In particular the number of wires used and other components on the board. That way I could give you a direction to test the connections. A lot of these boards use a basic resistive ladder (digital to analog converter) to transmit the key press so there can be less wires than there are switches. Trying to test this type of circuit can be a little confusing.

Thanks DAZZ. I'll post something when I can. It's simply 5 momentary N.O. switches, a few caps, a few more resistors, and a transistor from what I see at a glance. All S.M. stuff. I think the pdf manual at Kontron has a great schematic in it. Oh, forgot the LED and maybe a diode.

The offender:

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You gotta be kidding D, you able to solder within that much confinement and at a very small a connection? If you do, you deserve the nick 'Stone Cold'.

Not nearly as bad as that damn JAE30 for the LVDS cable.

Happy Birthday DAZZ:

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I think I will need cyborg eyes, damn smd circuits. Since you already found the problem I won’t figure out the schematic being it’s my birthday and everything.

lol Happy Birthday Dazz!

Besides . . .

D, not sure what you were pointing at, did you mean this?

'ROCK ON!' StoneCold!

Hmmm, that pointer don't point straight or sumpin'. You commented on my soldering skills in the past and I responded tongue-in-cheek. That's what I wuz pointin' at. Now when I click on it I land a little low in the thread. Gotta adjust the hyperscope reticle elevation. Who's in charge here anyway???

Edit: My stones were cold the other night so I just hopped into the hot tub for awhile.

So ya got any screen shots yet!?!?!?!????????

I've almost got my public release 15.4 firmware ready, the flesh tone and saturation enhancers really look nice since I rebuilt the gamma tables. I think you'll be impressed........

Got's another ICE AGE or the COMING OF CHRIST HIMSELF?

I didn't think so...hehe

Guys, I'm laughing through my tears.

Y'all ain't gonna believe this one.

Setting up to watch Cars with my wife and son. Lamp wouldn't fire. Hmmmm . . . three tries no fire.

Open her up.

Oh crap.

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Explanations please? This lamp IIRC was fired either twice or thrice for hours-long burns. Obviously, something has gone horribly wrong.

Note you are viewing the BOTTOM of the bulb and it was burned horizontally. I've no idea if this was an incremental deterioration or not. This IS NOT a universal burn position bulb but I'm damned if that's the problem.

Anyway, looks like yet another minor setback for me.

But at least I think I fixed the OSD-Panel. Well, maybe.

Ach, but this almost gets me a twiddle depressed. But I'll get through it.

Dagnabbit!!!

Edit: For clarity I should point out I'm overdriving a bit.

Edit 2: GusF - errrm . . . did you . . . errrm . . . happen to notice that HitesFiero said . . . uuummmm . . . ENHANCED FLESH TONES!!!!????

Damned if I know.

That looks like the ceramic wirewound went and melted itself. Got any pics of the wire?

Thanks for stopping by Supra.

The wire wrapped around the ceramic arc chamber is intact. Clean and shiny.

Could overcooling do this?

Simply a defective lamp?

This is crazy but I felt the bulb was burning really cool. I couldn't truly compare it to any other lamp due to the fact this is the only lamp I've burned using my new direct ventilation route. But it seemed too cool to be true. I have no quantitative data to support that observation. Purely a gut feeling. I guess I'll have to put that dang DE bulb back in and see what's up.

I really did like the "whiteness" of this ceramic - but again, a totally gut feeling.

The pattern of deposition within the lamp shell tells a story but I don't know if it's relevant at all to the mode of failure.

From the base toward the top (if burning in a standard base down position - which it wasn't) I see this:

• follow along in the picture above; as written below "bottom", "top", and "sides" refer to horizontal burn position
• mirror deposit - there from the start unless I miss my guess
• relatively clear band
• whitish haze very heavy at "bottom" and very light at "top"
• relatively clear band
• narrow sulfur colored (greenish-yellow) band almost uniformly deposited around periphery
• tip is relativley clear

There are obvious "peaks" (peaks in the shape sense of the word - not in magnitude of deposition) in the deposits at points where the rectangular wire supports shield the outer lamp shell from the arc. Just some thermal artifact I suppose. I could post a pic but I don't think it'd serve any purpose. Any lamp forensics experts out there?

I don't know whether to check ebay for another one of these retro lamps or not. My tail is still tucked between my legs. But that rarely lasts long.

Okay, before pressing "Add Reply" I went and dug out my magnifying glass and flipped on the shop lights because even though I had previously performed a cursory examination of the lamp Supra's comments made me take a harder look. I thought I saw a blemish on the arc chamber and BINGO!!! There's a "bleb" on the damn arc chamber. Like an aneurysm. I looks for all the world as if the freaking chamber got a hole melted through it!!! Is that even possible???????

SIM: Can you take a REALLY good look at your retro and see if you can discern any kind of imperfection in the arc tube? What a freaking odd thing. The salts must've leaked out of the arc chamber and screwed up the works.

Reassure me that it makes no sense this could have been from burning horizontal. The bleb is at the "base" end of the arc chamber and at almost the exact "bottom" of the chamber as it would have been when oriented in its horizontal burn position. This is the end furthest away from the hole cut into my lightbox for venting heat.

Mysterious . . .

I can get a good pic but don't feel much like it tonight. Anyone wanna see it? I'll get a pic eventually. Grumble, grumble.