DIY Projector Lamp

doozer · 2005-05-11T15:29:45+00:00

This maybe a little off the normal beaten path for this group but it has some knowledgeable people and this certainly falls into the category of DIY. I have already asked on AV Forums BTW.You're probably going to think I am mad for even suggesting this but I am toying with the idea of building an external light source for my projector to reduce the cost of lamps.I have a Philips cBright XG2 which has just finished it's first lamp (cuts out after about 10 minutes). I went to buy a new one and nearly passed out when I saw that it would set me back £450 at least . I pulled the old lamp out and was surprised to see that not only did it look fine but it consisted of nothing but the housing and lamp - I had expected some fancy control circuitry for some reason.Well that got me thinking.Thought #1: Would it be possible to but a cheaper lamp for another projector make and put it in the current lamp housing? Trouble is I don't know the exact spec of the current lamp (it's 200W) or where to look for it.Thought #2: At the end of the day you just need to shine (a lot of) light through the projector. The bulbs are expensive because they are small and very bright to make the projector mobile. I don't need that mobility so a huge cheap bulb wouldn't be a problem on that front. Assuming that I can make a light box and position mirrors such that the light is shone through as per the normal bulb my only problem would be tricking the projector into coming on without a bulb in place and that is where I am hoping to get some help.I don't think the light box will be that hard to make. I realize that the real bulb produces very white light etc etc. I was thinking of using either low voltage halogen or perhaps short fluorescent tubes as both produce fairly white light and I think a tweak of the color settings on the projector should take care of the rest.Anyway I think I have rambled on for enough for now. I am really interested in getting this working so any ideas will be greatly...

May 11, 2005 40 Replies

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Tim Mitchell 21 years ago

I think the 20,000 hours was referring to what they had acheived in the lab, not what was commercially available at the moment.

Discharge lamps don't like being struck (fired up when they start). The lamp itself lasts longer the less it is turned on and off. Leaving it on may cause heat related failures in other parts of the projector, but the lamp itself will have max life if left on (assuming it is cooled correctly and the fans keep working).

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