Infocus X1/X2 Lamp & Ballast Bypass
I just picked up a cheap Infocus X2 projector that I want to mod and play with alternative light sources. I have the projector apart and I have taken some voltage measurements. I was able to find a troubleshooting guide but no schematics were included just connections.
2 of those connections got my attention.
Lamp Enable
Lamp Lit
After doing some testing I find that when there is no bulb the voltages are as follows
Lamp Enable -2.11v
Lamp Lit .95v
When the bulb is inserted and powers on
Lamp Enable 1.07v
Lamp Lit 4.04v
I tried unplugging those 2 leads. When the Lamp Enable is dissconected the projector will act like there is no blub. When the Lamp Lit is dissconected the projector will not function at all. I am guessing that the Lamp Lit is the bypass but it seems that I need to feed this 4 volts. I am going to follow the traces and see what components these connections leadto but does anyone have any ideas as to the method of bypassing this ballast?
Pic from the repair manual.
I just picked up a cheap Infocus X2 projector that I want to mod and play with alternative light sources. I have the projector apart and I have taken some voltage measurements. I was able to find a troubleshooting guide but no schematics were included just connections.
2 of those connections got my attention.
Lamp Enable
Lamp Lit
After doing some testing I find that when there is no bulb the voltages are as follows
Lamp Enable -2.11v
Lamp Lit .95v
When the bulb is inserted and powers on
Lamp Enable 1.07v
Lamp Lit 4.04v
I tried unplugging those 2 leads. When the Lamp Enable is dissconected the projector will act like there is no blub. When the Lamp Lit is dissconected the projector will not function at all. I am guessing that the Lamp Lit is the bypass but it seems that I need to feed this 4 volts. I am going to follow the traces and see what components these connections leadto but does anyone have any ideas as to the method of bypassing this ballast?
Pic from the repair manual.
Success
Well after some following of the circuits and some testing with my meter I found that that pinout was way off. I must have a newer revision. It ended up being pin 14 through a 10ohm resistor to ground lets the projector turn on and stay on. Now I need to pick a lamp source to play with. LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!
Well after some following of the circuits and some testing with my meter I found that that pinout was way off. I must have a newer revision. It ended up being pin 14 through a 10ohm resistor to ground lets the projector turn on and stay on. Now I need to pick a lamp source to play with. LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!
I have had very good results using 50W 5000k HID lamps used in auto applications. They output 4500 lumens and fit inside the stock reflector. You have to use an external ballast but the bulbs are super cheap $25 and last just about as long as a stock bulb...only downfall is the external 12V ballast.
needing help finding a bulb for my InFocus X1 projector
Hello everyone.
I am having a terrible time finding just the bulb for our projector.
we have a InFocus X1
I took out the housing or ballast maybe any way i have it all open so i can remove just the bulb with the power plug........is there and way to find this part instead of buying the whole $300 housing.
we dont have that kind of money.
It completely suprised us we were sitting watching a movie and the next thing you know there is a huge BURSTING POP!!!
It was the bulb.
thank you for any help.
Natalie
Hello everyone.
I am having a terrible time finding just the bulb for our projector.
we have a InFocus X1
I took out the housing or ballast maybe any way i have it all open so i can remove just the bulb with the power plug........is there and way to find this part instead of buying the whole $300 housing.
we dont have that kind of money.
It completely suprised us we were sitting watching a movie and the next thing you know there is a huge BURSTING POP!!!
It was the bulb.
thank you for any help.
Natalie
The lamp enable lead just triggers the ballast to fire. This is a 5v signal going to the ballast. When the lamp is fired the lamp lit pulls low to 0v and that is how the main bored is fooled. By grounding the lamp it the board thinks the ballast is on and the bulb is lit. Today when i get home I will post a pic of the leads.
Here are the pics as proimssed. On the connector. Pin 1 (The one closest to the frot of the projector.) is the lamp lit and needs to be grounded. Pin 3 is lamp enable and needs to be removed.
This disables the onboard ballast and lets the projector run.
You can see pin 1 grounded. I cut the lead from a diode and put it under the screw. Then I plugged in the pin 1. This lets me reverse any changes with no cutting of wires. Pin3 is stuffed into that grey area.
This disables the onboard ballast and lets the projector run.
You can see pin 1 grounded. I cut the lead from a diode and put it under the screw. Then I plugged in the pin 1. This lets me reverse any changes with no cutting of wires. Pin3 is stuffed into that grey area.
So, after reading this thread (I apologize, it is 4:00am and I am way tired) I have come to the conclusion that crazifunguy has successfully bypassed the 'lamp ignition' sequence in his InFocus projector. I truly hope this is the case since I am looking for alternate illumination tactics as well. I have found some great options searching boards like this one, and have gained a little knowledge.......albeit very little knowledge.
I do have a few questions for crazifunguy though:
1: What is the forward voltage to the lamp?
2: What is the current to the lamp?
3: When bypassing the lamp ignition sequence, does it still offer power through the main lamp wiring? Or did you have to plug the external ballast in as well?
4: Do you know the lumen output of the lamp? (at the lamp, not screen) I have the Knoll Systems HD102 which is VERY similar to the InFocus 4805. Doing my research, one of the differences between the X2 and 4805 is the color wheel. The X2 has a RGB/C (C being Clear) wheel, where the 4805/hd102 has 2 sets of RGB (ie. RGBRGB) on the wheel. I read this is why the lumen output on the X2 is 1600 and the 4805 is 800. I want to get a lighting option that will provide the required amount of light. (wow, that got long)
5: Do you have an extensive electronics knowledge, or could someone like myself, with some help of course, be able to do this DIY project?
Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
I do have a few questions for crazifunguy though:
1: What is the forward voltage to the lamp?
2: What is the current to the lamp?
3: When bypassing the lamp ignition sequence, does it still offer power through the main lamp wiring? Or did you have to plug the external ballast in as well?
4: Do you know the lumen output of the lamp? (at the lamp, not screen) I have the Knoll Systems HD102 which is VERY similar to the InFocus 4805. Doing my research, one of the differences between the X2 and 4805 is the color wheel. The X2 has a RGB/C (C being Clear) wheel, where the 4805/hd102 has 2 sets of RGB (ie. RGBRGB) on the wheel. I read this is why the lumen output on the X2 is 1600 and the 4805 is 800. I want to get a lighting option that will provide the required amount of light. (wow, that got long)
5: Do you have an extensive electronics knowledge, or could someone like myself, with some help of course, be able to do this DIY project?
Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
DLP projectors are not the best ones to modify for alternate lamp sources. The light needs to be concentrated too tight and with larger arc gap lamps the results are not great. I tried to use a powerball lamp at 11000+ lumens and the image was way more dim than the 5000 lumen HID.....Why? The arc gap was much larger and could not be focused into the light tunnel. These projectors demand lamps that have extremely tiny arc gaps around 2mm you will have only average results with a DLP unless you can concentrate the light.
Thank you for your quick reply. I will look at your other posts and see if I can find what you are talking about.
My plans to do this ,since I am not a rich individual and will have a problem paying ~$400USD for a new lamp each year,
is to use a high power LED lamp and heat sink for the bulb, and connect the LED driver in an old lamp housing I have. I want to connect the driver directly to the lamp input (hence my question of lamp voltage/current) so the only MAJOR workaround is overhauling the lamp housing to accept the LED. (I have placed links to the LED, Driver, and Lens below)
The lens should direct the light into a small enough focal point that it should (in theory) direct enough light through the projector. The LED puts out 7000lm and from what you said, the bulb only puts out 5300ish, so it should (again in theory) give ample amount of light. I could also maybe fashion a reflective collar to focus the light before it reaches the lens (maybe dismantle a large mag light, or even the stock bulb)
I may be wrong in my ideas, but I am hoping that I am at least on the right track. I like the idea of a 50K - 100K hour lamp life costing me ~$200USD and some time, than a stock unit of 2K hours.
I don't know the exact dimensions of the driver, but I assume, if needs be, that I could wire 2 LED's and drivers for the extra light output. (I don't know much about electronics, and I hope this wouldn't cause my projector to blow up or transport to an alternate universe)
If this is a viable solution, I would love to try it. If you could tell me how to test the voltage/current to the lamp (I will have to get a meter....which I don't know how to use) it might show me the power is too much/little to power this LED. Any ideas that you could come up with that I haven't mentioned would be greatly appreciated.
LED: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-HIGH-POWER-...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
(I also found a 200W LED that emits 10000lm for a bit more....$530USD)
DRIVER: http://cgi.ebay.com/100W-Save-Energ...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
LENS: http://cgi.ebay.com/1x-100W-LED-Len...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
Thanks again for your time and help.
~Ryan
My plans to do this ,since I am not a rich individual and will have a problem paying ~$400USD for a new lamp each year,
is to use a high power LED lamp and heat sink for the bulb, and connect the LED driver in an old lamp housing I have. I want to connect the driver directly to the lamp input (hence my question of lamp voltage/current) so the only MAJOR workaround is overhauling the lamp housing to accept the LED. (I have placed links to the LED, Driver, and Lens below) The lens should direct the light into a small enough focal point that it should (in theory) direct enough light through the projector. The LED puts out 7000lm and from what you said, the bulb only puts out 5300ish, so it should (again in theory) give ample amount of light. I could also maybe fashion a reflective collar to focus the light before it reaches the lens (maybe dismantle a large mag light, or even the stock bulb)
I may be wrong in my ideas, but I am hoping that I am at least on the right track. I like the idea of a 50K - 100K hour lamp life costing me ~$200USD and some time, than a stock unit of 2K hours.
I don't know the exact dimensions of the driver, but I assume, if needs be, that I could wire 2 LED's and drivers for the extra light output. (I don't know much about electronics, and I hope this wouldn't cause my projector to blow up or transport to an alternate universe)
If this is a viable solution, I would love to try it. If you could tell me how to test the voltage/current to the lamp (I will have to get a meter....which I don't know how to use) it might show me the power is too much/little to power this LED. Any ideas that you could come up with that I haven't mentioned would be greatly appreciated.
LED: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-HIGH-POWER-...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
(I also found a 200W LED that emits 10000lm for a bit more....$530USD)
DRIVER: http://cgi.ebay.com/100W-Save-Energ...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
LENS: http://cgi.ebay.com/1x-100W-LED-Len...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
Thanks again for your time and help.
~Ryan
Well for sure you have some homework ahead of you. Dont take this as me shooting you down but there are numerous problems with your idea.
1 - You will need a seperate power supply for the led. The output for the lamp is AC and in the 80V+ range.
2 - The focal length of the lenses will need to be considered if you want to fit this inside the stock housing.
3 - These LED's put out extreme amounts of heat. Active cooling will be needed.
4 - The color wheel with divide your light output by about 2.4
5 - Optics just 1mm off will kill the output.
A better solution woudl be to bypass the color wheel and use high output RGB led. This would give vivid color but is limited by the current LED power. The problem with this is that you need an extensive electronic background using PWM to control the LED's to the sync of the removed color wheel.
I woudl really recomend you doing an automotive HID mod first before you jump into LED. This will give you an idea of what your getting into.
1 - You will need a seperate power supply for the led. The output for the lamp is AC and in the 80V+ range.
2 - The focal length of the lenses will need to be considered if you want to fit this inside the stock housing.
3 - These LED's put out extreme amounts of heat. Active cooling will be needed.
4 - The color wheel with divide your light output by about 2.4
5 - Optics just 1mm off will kill the output.
A better solution woudl be to bypass the color wheel and use high output RGB led. This would give vivid color but is limited by the current LED power. The problem with this is that you need an extensive electronic background using PWM to control the LED's to the sync of the removed color wheel.
I woudl really recomend you doing an automotive HID mod first before you jump into LED. This will give you an idea of what your getting into.
Thanks again for your fast reply.
I was actually thinking at first about doing the auto HID mod, but then I saw these LED's. From what I understand the HID bulbs for automotive applications run about the same amount of hours (~2000 - 3000) IIRC. I love the idea of doing this once and not having to worry about it again. I know the HID bulbs are only like $35-45USD so it's cheaper, but then I have to mod it every time the bulb goes out.
In response to the problems you suggested:
1: The driver for the LED that I posted says it takes a voltage of ~85-265V and drops it to the 30-36V required to drive the LED. I may be reading this wrong, but that's why I was thinking the driver would work.
2: I don't know exactly what you mean by the focal length of the lens. Does this mean the distance it takes to focus the light to the claimed point?
3: For the heat issue, I was going to use a heat sink, and the stock fan to cool the LED. I can't imagine the LED displacing more heat than the stock bulb, although, again I might be wrong.
4: The color wheel will divide it by 2.4 meaning the LED's 7000LM would only put ~2900lm to the projector lens. Is this what you mean? (Sorry, I have to ask because I don't want to assume anything and make a wrong decision.) If this is correct, that will provide almost 2000lm more light to the lens than the current bulb provides because the 4805/HD102 is rated at 800lm. I'm sure extra light will be lost through the various lenses used in the DLP process.
Would this give me a better contrast ratio if I have a brighter picture?
5: Optics meaning placing the LED's center/focal point 1mm off in any direction?
If I could find a high output (1000lm+) RGB LED I would try your other suggestion. I could maybe make an array of high power 10mm RGB's (found some with 360K mcd) and use that, but I'm afraid it won't have the light output required. I know how to program, so programming the micro-controller would be the easy part. The hard part would be finding the frequency of the color wheel, and building a board to accept the PWM and drive the LED. I know little about circuitry, but I'm always willing to learn.
Thanks again for your help.
I was actually thinking at first about doing the auto HID mod, but then I saw these LED's. From what I understand the HID bulbs for automotive applications run about the same amount of hours (~2000 - 3000) IIRC. I love the idea of doing this once and not having to worry about it again. I know the HID bulbs are only like $35-45USD so it's cheaper, but then I have to mod it every time the bulb goes out.
In response to the problems you suggested:
1: The driver for the LED that I posted says it takes a voltage of ~85-265V and drops it to the 30-36V required to drive the LED. I may be reading this wrong, but that's why I was thinking the driver would work.
2: I don't know exactly what you mean by the focal length of the lens. Does this mean the distance it takes to focus the light to the claimed point?
3: For the heat issue, I was going to use a heat sink, and the stock fan to cool the LED. I can't imagine the LED displacing more heat than the stock bulb, although, again I might be wrong.
4: The color wheel will divide it by 2.4 meaning the LED's 7000LM would only put ~2900lm to the projector lens. Is this what you mean? (Sorry, I have to ask because I don't want to assume anything and make a wrong decision.) If this is correct, that will provide almost 2000lm more light to the lens than the current bulb provides because the 4805/HD102 is rated at 800lm. I'm sure extra light will be lost through the various lenses used in the DLP process.
Would this give me a better contrast ratio if I have a brighter picture?
5: Optics meaning placing the LED's center/focal point 1mm off in any direction?
If I could find a high output (1000lm+) RGB LED I would try your other suggestion. I could maybe make an array of high power 10mm RGB's (found some with 360K mcd) and use that, but I'm afraid it won't have the light output required. I know how to program, so programming the micro-controller would be the easy part. The hard part would be finding the frequency of the color wheel, and building a board to accept the PWM and drive the LED. I know little about circuitry, but I'm always willing to learn.
Thanks again for your help.
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