Fooling the projector

I will try to give you a general idea how to fool the projector that was designed to squeeze some extra $$ out of your pocket. I will illustrate it with the pictures taken while I was fixing a certain projector but this model is rare and the idea I want to share with you is general. Sorry, it's not a real 'instructable'. I can't name the exact steps for your particular projector but the ideology will remain the same for any case.

Disclaimer - you are going to work with the device that has several dangerous components:
circuit board with live terminals, high-voltage power supply unit, pressurized lamp that can blow up if not handled properly. Think twice and take corresponding precautionary measures to avoid injuries and death :)

P.S. As you can see from the comments in some cases the old lamp may blow up.
I never faced with that myself and the bulb in my friend's projection TV is more
than 10,000 hours old but this "statistics" is not enough so  "forewarned is forearmed".
The safest (and most expensive) way to avoid this problem is ... to buy a new lamp but this
defies the purpose of this very instructable. The compromise is to study the construction
around the lamp and if it looks weak then one can install a metal mesh screen.
The design is up to you - it should have fine openings and at the same time it should
not hinder the cooling.

Step 1 General ideas

Let's assume that you own a projector that says that its lamp is to be replaced.
There can be two reasons for lamp replacement:
1) The lamp really doesn't work because the electrodes are damaged or there was a leak and
the gas inside the lamp has mixed with air or the lamp has blown. These are the real reasons
and of course one has to put some light source instead of the one that got damaged.
Instructables.com is full of various recipes for that. Surely, one can buy the original lamp for
$250-300 but it seems to be a bit overpriced comparing with a projector's cost :)
If you decide to follow one of the instructions from this site briefly read what is written
on the page "Bypassing the control module - 1" below. This will help you to use any light source
while the projector will keep thinking that a new lamp was installed.

2) The lamp is NOT damaged. It's the projector that thinks it needs to be replaced.
Moreover, it tries to convince you. If you remove the lamp and re-install it, it won't start. "How does it know that the lamp is old? May be it's really worn out?", you think and go to the store. Read the following pages to find out the truth :)

Comments

[Trying to get a fix!]

Thanks for the post, very informative. I wonder if you could help me out with my conversion as I'm a bit new to all of this?

I have a Sahara AV 2100 projector with a blown bulb.

I have taken apart the projector and removed the high power board entirely, but am struggling to find the octocoupler or feed to tell the projector that the bulb is OK?

Here are some pictures to give you a clue as to what's going on where, I would really appreciate your help.

Thanks

[artemff]

Hi,
if I understand the photos correctly then I would suspect that the signal connector is the one with 3 pins (with OK letters near to it, I'm speaking about the lower). BTW, where do two thicker wires go and what is written near their connector? Most probably, it's the power wires for this board. What happens if you start the projector with the power board removed? Does it show any signs of life (like a blinking LED)?

[Trying to get a fix!]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response!

Yes, that was my guess, unfortunately the pictures have been reduced in size on here, but the other end of that three pin lead connects to the main board and says 'Ballast'.

I have tried the unit with the high power board removed and it still 'works' as before, ie, it starts up, obviously checks for the bulb and then shuts back down.

The two thicker wires on the top RHS in the first photo are from the high power board to the bulb itself, but I had already disconnected the socket from the bottom RHS of the picture (above the blue sleeve).

So, in theory, if I test the voltage of the three pin 'ballast' wire when the unit starts, I should notice a drop in voltage once it shuts down again?

Thanks

[artemff]

I actually meant a white connector with two wires that can be seen in the left corner of the board in the lowest panel. As for the "ballast", I'm not sure since the ballast wires should be thicker.

In general, the hi-voltage board must have two power wires, two high-voltage wires which go to the lamp, and XX signal wires which go to the control board. There should be no direct coupling of power to logic (or high-voltage to power or high-voltage to logic). We are looking for the "logic" wires. Can you identify where are three thin pins connected to on the main board? I suspect, one is the ground, another one is +5V, and the third one is "our" signal wire.

[Trying to get a fix!]

Well, after a little playing around following your advice, I've managed to convince the projector that it doesn't need a bulb anymore!

Thanks so much for the help and advice!!

All I need to do now is sort out a new light source!

[artemff]

Congratulations !
Now you can write your own instructable :)

[ikaros45]

This is an AWESOME work guys. Really appreciate it.

I would have one more questions. I'm trying to replace the bulb of my beamer (toshiba TDP S20), and was thinking of a high power LED (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx0G-4xfMRc&feature=related)

It seems this projector checks whether there is bulb or not with a high voltage signal. So, let's suppose I can fool the control system, but what about the high voltage? isnt it going to fry the poor led? is there any way to get rid of that?

Thanks a lot in advance.

[artemff]

First of all, one has to forget about using the high voltage power supply
to power the LED. There are special high-current, low voltage power supply units, check the specs of your LED and google "powering the powerful LED"
---
If possible, remove the high-voltage circuit board or at least
cut the power to it. The last thing you want in your projector
is the arc between the unplugged hi-voltage connectors.
---
I doubt that the beamer checks the high-voltage directly without voltage divider.
In this case you may fool the system by simulating the correct (low) voltage
on the input of the control board.
Can you post the pictures of the bulb board somewhere and provide a link?
---
In any case, I would split the tasks:

1) First, try to make the projector running without the high-voltage
module (use a flashlight in a dark room to check if the system works).

2) When this part of the work is done, make the LED working, align it properly,
and so on.

[artemff]

actually, the voltage dividers are unsafe - the correct way of interfacing the
high voltage with low voltage circuits is the optocoupling. In any case, the control board should receive the low voltage signal and your task is to identify the corresponding wire, cut it and put a correct voltage on it that will make the control board thinking that the bulb is there and it's working properly.

[ikaros45]

Thanks very much for the quick answer.

Yeah, I understood I have to shortcut certain pins of the optocoupling (which i'm not really sure what they do, but let's skip that point =)

This is the pic from the high voltage board:

http://diy-community.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=72211&d=1202499034

Taken from a german thread on a DIY forum:

http://diy-community.de/showthread.php?14580-Toshiba-TDP-S20-Xenon-Mod

And I understand that I have to shortcut the pins 2 and 3 from the white port. I did but when I switch the beamer on, nothing happens and a small LED control for "Lamp" blinks. Exactly as before shortcutting.

So far, the goal is just to make it work... I don't care too much if I have to put an externar powersource for the LED.

Thanks!

[artemff]

let me check - did you remove the connector and shortcut the pins or you
just make a shortcut on a cable that is still attached to the board?

My understanding is that one has to unsolder the connector and shortcut
the pins (or just put a piece of wire to the other side of the connector and
make a shortcut there). If you have exactly the same model like posted
on the German board this trick should work (and make sure that the lamp
lid safety switch is activated).

[ikaros45]

AWESOME!!! IT WORKS!! :D

Thank you a lot!!

Now I'm just curious about how to get rid of the high power part. Do you think it's a good idea just to remove the small transformer? without it, everything stays at low voltage.

By the way, do you think a 50W LED is a good option?

Once again, thanks a lot!

[artemff]

you may remove the transformer or simply remove the board as a whole. It will give you more space (to mount the power supply unit for the LED).
----
Average efficiency of modern LEDs is ~50 lumen / watt so with 50W LED
you'll get something like 2500 lumen light source that is of the same
order of luminosity as an average projector. It's not guaranteed, though, that
you'll efficiently collect all this emitted light and throw it to the LED chip
but on the other hand, making the screen 1.5 times smaller increases the
brightness by more than two times. Watching the movie at daytime and
at night also makes a big difference. Check the specs of this LED and if
it produces more than 2000 lm then you are on a safe side.
---
BTW, with 50W LED I would seriously think about the cooling.
Usually, these LEDs are mounted on the fan-cooled radiator.

[ikaros45]

Hi again,

You mean removing the whole board... i.e.:

http://diy-community.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=72211&d=1202499034

I'll try later if it works without it but uhm, if I had to bet, I'd say it won't. But it could be good to get extra space yeah.

Do you think it's possible to get power directly from some point of the projector? or I just better go to an external power supply.

I thought that... normally these projectors are using 130-160W, so I wouldn't have to install any extra cooling. 50<<<<150W... I'll anyway be really careful on this point.

Thanks again!

[artemff]

1) I don't know why the projector should bother about the mising high voltage power supply unit once you have shortcut the signal wires.

2) I doubt you'll find the point where you can get necessary voltage and current
from. Moreover, it's a good idea to have a variable power for LED so I would
buy something specifically designed for this purpose (~3.5V, at least 15A,
check the specs of your LED).

[ikaros45]

Hi again,

You were right. Works like a charm without the powerboard.

Yeah, the easiest way is to use an external power supply. There are some LED kits that come with a LED power driver that allows you control the light by PWM, like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110757769115&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT#ht_3542wt_1110

The problem with this kit is that the driver only works till 10W (what a non-sense to sell it together with a 50W ), so I'm looking for other combinations... preferably directly from AC. There are cheap powersources but without power control. Any idea for this?

Btw, these high power leds work around 15v or 30v, depending on type.

And... I've seen that some people use this kind of lense together with the LED... I guess is to make a zoom effect and concentrate the light.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50W-4-90Deg-Optical-Glass-Projector-Lamp-Led-Lens-/190586037664?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5fd025a0

I'll upload some pics when everything's working

Thanks!

[artemff]

first of all, congratulations :) The first part is finished.
---
Regarding the LED driver - it's really strange to sell a 10W PSU for 50W LED.
May be there's a mistake in the description? I'd ask them before making a purchase, anyway.
---
Regarding the lens - most probably, it's a collimator lens. You put a point light source in its focus and get a "parallel" beam. The only thing to watch is the focal length since you are limited in space by the walls of the projector.

[ikaros45]

Hello again,

I tried either by conecting the two pins by putting a wire between the pins 2 and 3 in the connector, or just by removing the isolation of the cables and just putting them together "out of the board".... with no results.

Under a electrical point of view, both things are exactly the same.

This lid safety you are talking about, is a safety system to check that the department of the bulb is closed? I was checking it with the lid open, so maybe this is the reason.

I'll check and tell you later.

Thanks again!!

[invisiblelight386]

I am curious as to what model projector this is. It looks very similar to the that i have now. when i found the projector it did not come with a bulb and i am trying to use an alternative source but i think i need to bypass the circuit in order for it to work.

[artemff]

the model is kind of rare: ASK Impression A6+
The bulb costs about $350 so the desire to use an alternative
light source is understandable :)
Most probably you'll have to remove the hi-voltage block completely
and use something like halogen bulb or powerful LED.
As I wrote, the key thing is to make the projector thinking that the
light source exists and operates.
You may open the projector, identify the hi-voltage module and
see what wires connect it to the main board (and, possibly, to
power supply unit). Knowing this will help to make the next step.

[invisiblelight386]

i have a Sharp pg-d100u. I'm most likely going to use a high power LED for the light source. I think I'm going to probe around the thing this week end to find the circuit for the light sensor and see were it goes from there.

thanks

[tyler9613]

Not to be a buzzkill, but, just as a warning:

WHEN PROJECTOR BULBS BURN OUT, THEY ARE PRONE TO EXPLODING, SENDING GLASS SHARDS ALL OVER THE PLACE.

This is why projectors have the built in counter in them. Apparentally, yours may have a sensor, but almost all projectors I've seen have a lamp counter in them. The projector manufacturers put this in place for a reason, to protect its users.

Just sayin.

[Bad Maxx]

I have a neighbor who repairs TVs I've talked to him about these bulbs. Explosions are an extremely rare exception, not the rule with these. That said I have seen brand new ones "blown up" as well when owners did something (not sure what as they of course say they did nothing). My repair friend has not figured out what they are doing either. That said, my neighbor also hacks as he calls it, projector TVs for friends and family his brother's original bulb has now been reset for the 3rd time, a savings of around $750
On another note he said many units do not have a counter or a circuit to limit the hours but rather just eventually wear out on their own.

[artemff]

I guess, some of them blow up because people don't handle them properly. They open the projector when they want to check the lamp, touch the bulb without special gloves, and leave the skin oil marks on the bulb that leads to uneven heating and cracking of the glass. Some people also turn the projector off using the main switch while they were supposed to pass it through the cooling phase. This also lead to bulb overheating and possible damage. ---- And, you are right, some bulbs simply degrade with time.

[Bad Maxx]

That would make sense, I know my first experience with a halogen bulb went like this: Removed bulb from package with bare fingers (no warnings or instructions were included to tell me otherwise) placed in my brand new torché style lamp, enjoyed my new lamp while reading, used lamp approximately 1 week, while relaxing with a good book I heard a faint pop noise and the room went dark. Replaced "popped" bulb, about two days later popped the new bulb.... Called my father and asked him what he knew about halogen bulbs, first thing out of his mouth was "do not touch the glass with bare fingers"! Of course this was in the 80's when these bulbs were not as common as today.

[jimmy dean]

My friend is in the av department at our school, and he tried installing an old bulb in a projector. It ended up blowing up in the middle of class and sending glass shards around the room. Luckily, it didn't get in anyone's eye or anything, but I don't recommend messing with these things.

[artemff]

OK, sorry about your friend. I've heard about that, too but with a less scary scenario. However, even a brand new lamp can blow out if one touches it with naked fingers while installing it (the skin oils will lead to irregularities in the heat transfer that increases the risk of the lamp failure).

Another thing to check is the construction around the lamp: in my projector everything is solid and even if something happens the parts will remain inside.
Other projectors might have a different build, so - think twice, weight all "pro" and "contra" and then act but it's typical for many instructables :)

[1000000VOLTS]

excuse me if i have put this on before couldnt find it on the site,anyway can you use a flourecent tube starter to strike the ark,then a normal halogen bulb connected to a separate supply or just tapped inside the projector.

[artemff]

Let me check my understanding. Do you want to use some other
high-voltage bulb?
Then it's getting tricky since you have to solve two
tasks: 1) fooling the projector and 2) using an (unknown) lamp with a
(unknown/third party/self made) power supply.

The second part might be trickier that the first one.

BTW, recently I found that there are extra bright and powerful LEDs available for
reasonable price. For example, Allelectronics had one for $5. It's a single point light source and it's easy to work with.

[1000000VOLTS]

thanks for your reply i was going to fool the projector by putting the flourecent tube starter the ones that constantly click when they are old. in replace of the broken bulb, because they strike an arc doing a similar job to the original bulb and then use a halogen bulb or leds doent matter whatever is brightest on there own power supply , i just need to fool the projector would the starter thing do this.

[artemff]

Now I understand what you want but I wouldn't go this way.
The unit will measure the voltage drop and the current at and after the
arc and if the parameters will be off specs it will generate "FALSE" signal.
Why don't you want to find out which wire is a signal one and what is the
level of the "TRUE" signal? Then you'll make it in an elegant (and safe) way.
There shouldn't be too many wires coming to/from the ignition/power supply module.

[1000000VOLTS]

ok i will try it your way seems a bit complicated to me electrics is my thing not electronics ,i will let you know how i get on cheers

[amp2009]

hi im also looking into replacing the current bulb for a led. i found a 100w led that claims 7000 lumens. im hoping this will be bright enough as my projector is nec vt560 and in the specs it says its only 1300 lumens. thought about using a focusing lens with a reflector to use the most of the light. i was also thinking a heatsink and aditional fan on the bulb housing. what do you guys think? this instructible is awsome if i can get the projector to think that the bulbs working ok then ill be so so happy.

[artemff]

I would suggest splitting the task to two: first, make the projector
working without lamp (and better yet without the lamp ignition module since this will eliminate the high voltage in your unit). You can use any light source
in the dark room to check if you succeeded (use a small throw distance).

After that you can play with the LED source - I think the heat production will be comparable to that of the bulb so you'll just need a good heatsink. The fan
is already there. But may be you're right and you'll need extra airflow.

Please, write a brief comment here if you manage to get a reasonably bright picture.

[1000000VOLTS]

and when youve taken out the ignition circuit you could make a nice tesla coil out of it lol

[1000000VOLTS]

ive only got 200 hours left and like the rest of you dont want to spend a fortune on bulbs,i have two phillips  lc1312 or somthing like that one with bulb other without the one without has a green screen cos the ribbons have broke ,not by me so i dont mind playing with it,i understand the risks of high voltages .lol.if the thing can be fooled into thinking there was a bulb in there any bright bulb would do ,i think the Hg bulbs run on about 20kv and need an arc to set em off correct me if im wrong..same as the flourecent tube starters.so before i kill it does anyone have any objections to that aproach.cheers.i was thinking of putting the starter on a direct short across the two bulb wires ..

[abadfart]

nice i have an old epson elp-3300 for a tv this might work seeing as how it is from the 90s

[fred41]

hi It seems that I have the same projector as you infocus lp720... when my lamp shutted down, I trowed it and replaced it with a "deported" other lamp, hotter, but cheaper. all work fine but, i can't pass the "blue presentation screen", I already bypass the control module 2. So my question is : did I only have to cut the black wire you show on "step 2", and plug it to ground , the metal case for example, and wich side ? from the board, or the other side? sorry for my english, hope you could help. And why did'nt you produce this how to, two month ago, i would'nt have trow my lamp... so sad...

[artemff]

First of all, my projector is not Infocus, it's a kind of exotic ASK Impression A6. Second, what do you mean by "blue presentation screen"? Third, are you sure you found a correct wire? In general, you have to tell the main board that the lamp is working OK. Check the voltage on this signal wire - if it is zero volts when the lamp is not working, cut it and pass +5V to the main board through some resistor (1KOhm will be fine, I guess). If it is +5V, cut it and ground the wire going to the main board through the same 1KOhm resistor. Hope this will help.

[artemff]

another comment - just to be on a safe side. My projector doesn't have this signal wire on the control module. I don't know if your projector is of "Type A" or "Type B" (see the steps 2 and 3) so don't mix up the power wires with the signal wire. (I guess you've already found what is what but double-check prior to cutting and grounding ).