DIY Projectors and Lamp MODS - What Do You Guys Think?

I found a mod on instructables.com that teaches you how to wire a car's headlight bulb to a projector to save on lamp costs. I'm going to purchase a cheap, used projector from eBay to test it. I was wondering what you guys thought about that? Instructables has quite a few projector and home theater how to's, as well as tons of other information on doing some really cool DIY stuff. It's not just electronics either, people have posted things from just about every imaginable hobby and interest.

Also, if anyone is interested, you can go to the forums at www.lumenlab.com and get tons of information on building your own projector. They've got info for building an SD projector for around $200, a full-HD 1080p projector (saving you thousands off the retail price and retail lamps) and everything in between.

Also, Lumenlab has recently released plans for making your own DIY flight simulator and they have announced upcoming support for DIY robotics and 3D systems.

I would question whether a car headlight bulb's spectral distribution and color temperature would lend itself to HT projection.

[Post edited by Skyhawk on Jan 23, 2008]

Check it out for yourself. http://www.instructables.com/id/Head-Light-Projector-Mod-V1.2/

The author included pictures and and a pretty good description of his own experience. He claims to be very happy with it and the pictures look great. It looks like a regular retail lamp.

Maybe a car headlight HID Xenon lamp would give you enough spectrum coverage provided it's one of the "bright white" varieties. Then you can adjust your color balance and gamma the usual way to match the bulb. Still, the HID will cost you at least $50 which doesn't make this a cheap experiment. I'd be very careful working with such a bulb and wear protective gear including impact goggles and gloves. Retrofitting one of these into an existing cartridge would be like working with liquid nitro.

I would avoid the cheap $7 to $20 halogen replacement headlight lamps, because of shorter life span, lower lumen output, and inadequate spectral characteristics.

It will be nice when all front projectors are lit by LED technology. Imagine dynamic spectral control at the bulb itself, 20,000 hour life, cool, and safe to handle without a protective cartridge.

[Post edited by Skyhawk on Jan 23, 2008]

A few people in the DIY community have experimented with LED lighting. It definitely is possibly, but with the size of the bulbs, getting even light coverage is going to be a problem. I'm no authority on the subject, but I know that I haven't seen anyone get it right yet,

Fumbled,

I would not recommend this, but it sounds like a good expirement if you have money to waist. I have a site that has replacements lights for TV's around $120. Give me a second and I'll post the link.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Jan 23, 2008]

P.S. Please use all of the precautions that SKYHAWK mentioned.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Jan 23, 2008]

Tony,

It actually won't be too much of a waste. You'll be surprised at how cheap you can buy working projectors off eBay.

Actually Samsung has already perfected LED technology in DLP big screen televisions. They are selling at the store right now.

That may or may not be true, however, I am more of a projector fan. I would much rather have a 100"+ screen than a 42" screen.