CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[javers]

Hi Folks,

Long time lurker, first time poster so go easy on me lol.

Ok I've got a working BG 1208/2 with 3x toasted tubes and a BG1200 with 2 dead neckboards but good 9" tubes (mx09's I think?). I'm keen to make something good out of the pair as a replacement for my BG808 which is currently hanging in the home theatre but done 35k hours and close to death. Which do you think would be my best route?

1. Use the neckboards from the 1208 in the 1200 (I think this is possible by swapping the crt socket and re-wiring for 09mx pinout?)

2. Install the 09mx tubes in the 1208 and, as above adapt the neckboards to take the sony tubes?

I've been doing quite a bit of searching here and at the AVS archive and I'm quite interested to hear from anyone has done such a swap and has it been successful? I'm also having a little trouble finding the pinout's for the sony tubes.

Thanks,

Jon

[Curt Palme]

A boat anchor?

If you're interested, I've got tons of Sony tube 8" neck boards, the 120 Mhz versions that are out of 1208s sets that I'd sell cheap, say $100 for a set of three. Perhaps someone can confirm that the 8" Sony tubes out of the 1208s/808s have the same pinouts as the MX09?

[Curt Palme]

A boat anchor?

If you're interested, I've got tons of Sony tube 8" neck boards, the 120 Mhz versions that are out of 1208s sets that I'd sell cheap, say $100 for a set of three. Perhaps someone can confirm that the 8" Sony tubes out of the 1208s/808s have the same pinouts as the MX09?

[Ile]

[febellif]

You have just to replace the two dead sony neck cards and put the Sony 9" LC tube as they are in 1208/2. You need to replace the front metal panels..... the one up and under the tubes. You could fit the two coming from 1200, if it's a recent version with shielded chassis they works well, (in this case just don't need to change..really) if it's the old naked version with black metal parts.....probably they don't fit well....but you could try...size seems the same....side screw holes are different.

So you need just 2 sony 7621195 neck cards and some metal parts to convert the 1208/2 in a 9"LC.

1208/2 have the same input and driver board as the 1200 1209.

Newer input /driver cards and neck cards as well... went out on 1208S/2 - 1208S/E (pretty the same chassis of 1209s)

Yes.....1208s and probably 1209/2 have newer R762700 driver board, but is still similar to older design (but better made as Ile told you) and it works only with old black box neck cards. Old driver board R7621175 still works well in 1208s. R762700 is more desiderable, anyway.

If you decline the idea of putting Sony tubes into 1208/2..... i'm always looking for Sony 09MX tubes!!! just kidding....go ahead you will be satisfied!!

[javers]

Thanks Guys,

OK sadly I don't have a boat so option #1 was out!

Just for background info both of these projectors have been sitting under a pinball table for the last 4-5 years feeling unloved, so yesterday using all the ideas / info posted I spent all day tinkering with the ambition of swapping the 09MX tubes in the 1208/2 and here's how far I got:

1. Cleaned and fired up the 1208/2 - still working ok with original burned tubes.
2. Dismantled the tube housing & removed tubes from the 1208/2.
3. Dismantled the housings & tubes on the 1200 to find they had been leaking a little (then spent ages fixing leaks and bleeding excess pressure from the housings).
4. Noticed the 1200 was the old style open frame type so moved the black bottom tube plate into the closed frame 1208 chassis (4 of the 5 screw holes line up perfectly, but you do need to trim a little off the front lip of the plate to make it clear the 1208 convergence tray housing).
5. Aligned the 1200 tube top plate in the 1208 closed frame chassis and marked where would need to drill holes (some exisiting holes are close but will need elongating).
6. At this point before drilling I decided to hook up each 09MX tube individually to the green output of the 1208 (so I could see menu's) with my one good 1200 neckboard and test each tube. Blue fired up ok and everything was looking good....
7. Sadly when the red is hooked up and set powered on, I got the usual "crackle" as the ht comes on, but the what looked like a full frame flash from the tube, instantly followed by what I would describe as a ht "fizzle" as the ht shuts down and the red led illuminated on the eht board. I had the lights out at the time and could not see any arcing from the ht lead.

I guess does this means a shorted red tube? Anything else I can do / try? If I put the blue back in everything fires up ok, and I've yet to test the green. One thing I did notice, the red appears to have a different set of coils around it (pic below) that I've not seen before.

Curt - I'm up for buying those 1208s neckboards off you, if of course this red tube hasn't put an end to the project.
Febellif - Thanks for the advice about open frame vs closed frame, very helpful when adapting the hardware.

Jon

[Curt Palme]

Pull the HV leads out of the splitter to the red tube. Look at the tube neck. See if the red tube filament lights up. If it does (soft orange glow), then you probably have a bad HV lead on the red tube. If the red tube doesn't have the glow, then the red tube is probably shorted. I think I have one here if you want it. Cheap, too!

[Curt Palme]

Pull the HV leads out of the splitter to the red tube. Look at the tube neck. See if the red tube filament lights up. If it does (soft orange glow), then you probably have a bad HV lead on the red tube. If the red tube doesn't have the glow, then the red tube is probably shorted. I think I have one here if you want it. Cheap, too!

[febellif]

So your 1200 is an historical model... i think dated early 1992.... first 9" LC EM from Barco!!! A great beast with very expensive sony 09MX Tubes!! convergence and cpu from 800 series and some input boards are not very shielded..... so it had a noisy video signal. I don't remember if 1208/2 has newer 1209 style convergenge tray, but input cards should be better made...so performances will gain with chassis change.

Usually these very old tubes are not very reliable.... it's quite easier they get shorted for different reasons one of these is beacuse internal leaking. These LC chambers are natively defective and need a little tuning. Remember....just a micro leaking and your tube is gone!!! and usually his neck card with him!!!

When you will change Glycole, you have to clean and dry up the inside and put trasparent silicon between tube face and lc chamber. This prevent future failure. Ps. take care when you remove Glycole trasparent tube.... sometime cause high pressure you could water the entire room!!!

I wish Curt..... will find a red for you (Curt please always remember.....a Blue for me!!!) and you'll get a good projector.

Most people say these tubes are low resolution, they are definitely not sharp as LUG or PT22, but my opinion they handle 1080p very well being quite razor. Most of the problems focusing 1080p are with 1200 focus coils....( as the one in your picture) .... they are quite weak. On more recent 1200... 1993-1995 years... Barco updated with a bigger version...most desiderable. Please remember you could not use Panasonic focus coils..... they just don't work on sony tubes. Otherwise you can use newer gray deflections coils coming from the 1208/2.

Keep us informed on the process. More photos are welcome!!

[javers]

Hi Folks,

Right Curt I tried your advice by removing the ht lead and I get a glow from the end of the tube but its not orange! I found it really interesting so I removed the cpc magnets for a better view and posted a vid here with the lights out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvp5I3v_AhY kinda reminds me of one of those plasma balls, a very similar neon blue glow. Anyhow I guess this concludes this tube is shot, am going to send you a pm about that red you have for sale.

Febellif some really good info there, I will definitely re-do all the silicon & glycol once I get a red tube sorted. Following your advice I will also swap over the deflection coils from my original 1208/2 tubes. If I can't do the same for the focus coils because 1208/2 was originally panasonic tubes I don't suppose you know if I could use the focus coils from my BG808s that's got 07MFP2 sony tubes? Would they be an improvement over the 1200 focus coils?

Thanks,

Jon

[febellif]

[javers]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for not updating for ages, but I did finally finish this project, swapping the 1200 tubes into the 1208 chassis.

-All tubes stripped down and re-silicone to prevent leaks and damage to the tube face bonding
-All glycol filtered for dirt and replaced
-Upper and lower tube mounting plates bought across from the 1200 (lower plate holes line up, upper plate some drilling -needed)
-Neck cards replaced with ones from 1208s to take sony tubes (Thanks Curt!)
-Chassis stripped and sprayed black
-Since photos taken the C elements have been replaced with coloured ones from a 1292

Have to admit it was a nice step up from my bg808s, lc really does help the contrast without those annoying halos around bright objects. This projector is going to be destined for my father, in the long run I have a 9500lc here I'm trying to get going - but that's a story for another post!

Cheers,

Jon

[ecrabb]

Wow, very nice and great job! Looks great after the paint work... I HATE "80's beige".

I couldn't believe the difference between AC and LC, either... HUGE upgrade, IMHO. People with AC machines have no idea what they're missing until they see LC.

SC