| kcsabresfan |
Has anyone tried running a thermal switch into their enclosure? I see people running a ton of switches into their pj's. I guess that it just doesn't make sense to me, why would it need more than one switch? You can't use the LCD without the lights behind it, and what's the point of turning on the light without the LCD? And a 3rd for fans?
I would think that a single switch to turn on both lights and LCD at the same time would be fine. And then wire a thermal switch into it to run the fans. That way the fans come on when the bulb is too hot. And then stay on even after you've shut the machine off until the bulb cools sufficiently.
I also think some kind of thermal switch with the LCD would be a good idea. Something that keeps track of the temperature at the LCD's level and if it gets too hot, shuts the machine off (except the cooling fans) This would just be an ounce of prevention really. In case other fans decided to **** out on you when you weren't paying attention.
None of this would be so difficult to wire up would it? I've never messed with thermal fans myself. |
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| ace3000_1 |
hmmm the major problem is different voltages, u cant run 2 voltages on the 1 switch in most cases and thats why we have 3, ive resorted to things abit different in my projectors, i dont have any switches but i use relays and a remote control to turn all of my gear on at once, but as most lcd monitors dont have remotes we will forget my set for now as its very different, now with theremal switches most of them start with a temp of 60deg c, that is far too high for a lcd fan to kick in as the lcd would be fried before the fan even turned on, we would want to get a thermal switch of 20deg c and they are very hard to find infact im not even sure if they are made at that low temp, as i said most start at 60deg c, also fixing one of these to a lcd would not be easy as the have to have a tight contact to contact the heat with minimal loss of heat, the only other thing u could do is to make one up with a temperature probe, this would be an electronic thermal switch and somthing most would not know how to make besides that u have an added cost that most are not willing to pay and would rather just leave the fans on, its a great idea though, now getting back to the power switches, 1 way to have just the one switch is relays, u would need 2 relays and a switch, it would be the same as what i do in mine but instead of the remote u manually turn it on via a single switch, very easy to setup but ofcourse for those who dont mind playing with mains power and those who have a small amount of electrical knewlege, another way is a high amperage switch this will turn on all units via its ac wires but on the 1 switch, this is abit risky for the switch to arc but its fully doable and is resonably safe providing u find a high enough amperage switch, u want somthing that is the highest amperage u can find , better to be safe then sorry, nothing under 20amps for u guys in the states, and use a fuse too.
Trev |
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| kcsabresfan |
wow, now that's an impressive answer!
I don't know anything about thermal switches really, so I was just taking a stab. I had figured there would need to be some kind of probe for an lcd temp guide. I didn't realize that lower temp therm switches would be so hard/expensive to find.
As for wiring it all through one switch, my thought was that if everything were being plugged into main, why not just run a main in, with a switch on it. Could even use a regular wall switch, they're less than $2 at Home Depot.
However, now I really like your idea of using relays and a remote. How did you wire that up? Did you design your own circuit/remote for that or find a ready built or ready to build kit? |
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| ace3000_1 |
| quote: | As for wiring it all through one switch, my thought was that if everything were being plugged into main, why not just run a main in, with a switch on it. Could even use a regular wall switch, they're less than $2 at Home Depot.
However, now I really like your idea of using relays and a remote. How did you wire that up? Did you design your own circuit/remote for that or find a ready built or ready to build kit? |
heya buddy, ok the wall switch would work fine and yep they are cheap, u can get better looking ones though with a neon inside of them for a reasonably cheap price, kind of finnishes the job off abit lol.
now for the relay remote circut i make, its totally made by me, its very easy to make but can be time consuming to set up, what u need is a lcd that has a remote control, if u search on the controller u will see the inverter, u need to trace its circut until u find the input voltage for the inverter (with the lcd tuned on), this is normally 12volts, this will be the power for the main power relay or for powering upto a number of relays, because we no longer need the inverter for a back light in a projector we can remove a component (normally a small resistor or smd fuse) in the very start of the circut to the inverter thus turning the inverter off, all the inverter is for is to light up the backlight and it uses a ton of power so by turning it off we can alternativly use the inverters power for relays and a fan if need be, the reason i go for the inverters power is because when u turn on the lcd via the supplied remote the inverter gets turned on and off, there is electronic switching in the eprom on the controller that enables power to parts of the controller to turn on and off and the inverter is one with a good supply of 12v, most relays run on 12v and we have plenty of power as relays only draw about 20ma compared to 800ma from each inverter, depending on what lcd u have u may have 2 inverters, its best to turn off both, on the lcd's i use i normally only have 1 hence only 1 back light, so when u turn the lcd on the relay now turns on, when off the relay off, there is your switch, now depending on what running gear u are using will depend on what amperage relays u can find and how manny u will need, most will only need a single 20amp relay but in the states id always use 2 as i said in my previous post always better to have a higher rating then one too low, so u have a relay for the ballast wich would get turned on and off via the remote and a relay maybe for a fan psu or for a 12v supply to the fans, so in term the whole lot will get turned on and off via the remote and u are saving power by having the inverters turned off, also inverters create heat, nothing to worry about but with them off they are now cold, another thing is now the inverters are off it is a safer environment to work in as there is no high voltage coming from anywhere but the mains and the ballast rather then from the controllers inverters too so its now become a safer environment, the only thing u realy need for this system to be on all of the time is the psu for the lcd, that is the power for the lcd to be in standby mode and for the remote control function to work, u could use a switch to power that psu on and off but i never worry as the lcd uses absolutley hardly any power in stanby mode, ive done this idea in 2 projectors so far and i dont get any problems, most relays last 10000 - 10million clicks so the life on these things will outlive your projector lol.
Trev |
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| ace3000_1 |
| quote: | | I don't know anything about thermal switches really, so I was just taking a stab. I had figured there would need to be some kind of probe for an lcd temp guide. I didn't realize that lower temp therm switches would be so hard/expensive to find. |
yeah i havnt ever seen any under 60deg c, the best thing to use would be a digital thermometer with a buzzer or an alarm, use the outdoor probe and stick it on the lcd, they are only a very small thermo resistor and could be stuck on with any soft adheasive like a small bit of silicon ect, the alarm u could use to turn on a small micro relay or to turn on another circut to turn on a relay for the fans, its totally doable and it wouldnt cost that much, its also fully programable depending on how good your digi temp unit is, so u could program the temps for winter to run higher and the temps lower for summer ect, also lets not forget u can see the temps on the temp unit so it could be made for a nice setup.
Trev |
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| Slayania |
Or one could use fan control box designed for PC use.
Those things designed for the 3.5" or 5.25" drive slots with knobs, some even have nice small lcd displays.
Most of them use a 12V input, and there are models capable of controlling 3-4 fans by speed and have a thermal sensors turning the fans on/off.
If might cost more than doing it yourself, but at least there is a way without building it from scratch. Plus having a blue backlit lcd on your projector might look cool. |
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