CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[captainslug]

The banding is the result of the camera. I had to prod the ISO way high to get decent pictures of the screen in the dark.
And the only issues I have at the moment would be easily solved by replacing the lenses and installing the ACON camera. Although I did manage to improve the color balance earlier tonight by lowering the Blue G2 through the color temperature adjustments menu.
I'll have to do more tests when I have a computer hooked up to the projector. Rather than a $70 tuner box that won't allow me to center the image of the output signal.

I'll be in the market for a set of HD144/45 lenses sometime soon. I just need to get the rest of the room setup now.

[captainslug]

Huzzah! Good news and other things.
Since I had the time and was able to borrow the allen wrenches I needed from work, tonight I did a complete reinitialization of the project including a complete optical adjustment per the manual. I then redid all of the settings from geometry, convergence, rebalanced the color temperature, contrast, brightness, etc. etc. in the correct order and the picture is no phenomenally better. The only next step would be lens replacements, but the picture as it is now is very good.

I also tested the P14 voltage and it's at a safe 6.5 volts. I'll make sure to retest it in 3 months, but I'm guessing the power supply was replaced at the same time as the tubes.

We also got the rest of the furniture for the room picked out and delivered save for the last item, a cabinet to house the surge protector, Tuner box, video switch, video games, cords, and other crap we don't want to see while watching movies. I'm also eying a new DVD player that has HDMI and component output as well as support for external USB drives and all the codecs you could want.

And with all of that out of the way, NEW PICTURES YAY!




Actual projected image is a tad sharper than my camera can pick up in the dark, but the color levels are fairly close in the photos, if a tad bit saturated.

Now everyone at work is wondering when they get to come over to watch a movie. Good thing I only work with 4 other people.

[AnalogRocks]

You're doing great with that. Those screen shots are nice! Have you tried cleaning the curent lenses yet?

Here's the link for the cleaning solution just in case: http://www.curtpalme.com/Lens_Cleaning.shtm

[AnalogRocks]

You're doing great with that. Those screen shots are nice! Have you tried cleaning the curent lenses yet?

Here's the link for the cleaning solution just in case: http://www.curtpalme.com/Lens_Cleaning.shtm

[captainslug]

I'll try that this weekend. I cleaned the lenses when I first got the projector home, but since then some toddler fingerprints have accumulated from several holiday weekend visits.

I'm very happy with my cheap-as-free projector and without having to replace anything it should run fine for atleast the next 6 years (based on just what the service counter says and the service tag date). Sometime in the next year I will get around to replacing the lenses with HD144/145s and adding the astig and yokes. I'm pretty much hooked on CRTs now and couldn't be convinced to go with anything else.

[Gino]

awww... what a nice story, makes me wish i was a newbie rediscovering crt..... almost!

[AnalogRocks]

Yeah Gino, why don't you pack up all your CRT stuff, ship it to me, then take a BIG hit of the NOS gas and bonk yourself on the head. I'll gladly ship you my 1252 then you can re-discover your love of CRT's all over again

[AnalogRocks]

Yeah Gino, why don't you pack up all your CRT stuff, ship it to me, then take a BIG hit of the NOS gas and bonk yourself on the head. I'll gladly ship you my 1252 then you can re-discover your love of CRT's all over again

[captainslug]

New question: Does anyone know off the top of their head what the thread specification is for the bolt holes on the bottom of this projector?

[beerbujit]

If it's the four on the corners they are 3/8-16tpi. Hope it helps

Steve

[captainslug]

Well someone was watching video on it tonight and the video started to flicker and then shut off and the projector now smells strange and won't produce an image.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's most likely the HVPS, since as far as I can tell that's where the smell is coming from. As best as I could tell while still having the flu anyways.

It powers up fine, I get no error lights, I can hear the tubes turning on, but I get no image.

Any thoughts?

I'll probably start taking the HVPS apart tomorrow morning so I can inspect the capacitors and replace the the carbon ones.

[Nashou66]

If you hear the tubes turn on then it might not be the HVPS. Take off one of the cages n the VNB and when turning on the neck of the tube should glow. then its turned on. It could be the HDM, some times the PJ will turn on and no image. Pull it oout and sniff around it to see if that has a burnt electronic smell, also there is a msaller board on the HDm pull it off and back on to clean the contacts it could be that. You will definitely be able to litterally "sniff" the problem out on a board if some thing burnt. But if you do hear the tubes come on with that crackling woosh sound then i dont think its the HVPS, and we have to start to trouble shoot more. Soem times no error light come up till you shut it down and the turn it on again. Also look at the light on the LVPS for any error lights.

Athanasios

[JustGreg]

Break down every connector and clean them with Deoyxt. Then pull the VIM and CLM and with a proper puller (RatShack has them) remove every socketed chip you find GENTLY and clean the contact surfaces (pins, legs, whatever you want to call them) with Deoxyt and a toothbrush. Clean the sockets the same way. Blow off the excess Deoxyt with compressed air and press the chips back in firmly while supporting the board from the back right under the socket.

The smell of something burnt will require an articulating lighted magnifyer to visually rule out a puffed component. Even if you find a burnt component don't think that just replacing that will correct the problem. Replacing one burnt component COULD fix the problem for good...or it could puff again because the actual cause is somewhere else. I'd contact Curt for a replacement board unless you're well equiped and ed-u-muh-kated to track down the root cause.

Everyone's tired of hearing me mention this by now I would guess, but I had an 8500 that had similar issues. I replaced every damn board and PS with known good working parts and NEVER got that thing to do more than give me a faint image with B&C at 100. The only thing left was the motherboard and back plane but there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to rip apart (any further) my hung working machine to prove that.

You could also try removing all the neck boards, mark them with RG&B so you know which tube they came from, and reinstalling them one at a time and powering it up.

As a non tech, that's all I have but regular preventative maintenance tips. Mine was running great for 2+ years until a couple months ago when the VIM gave up the ghost.

Good luck! Even if you have to buy a board or two, you're still ahead of the game. BTW, did you ever get 144/145's for it?

[draganm]

a burnt smell from the HVPS is the Silicone potting material cooking off, most likely the resistor at R1 burning. It's trash if that's the case.

[captainslug]

Tubes turn on fine (can see them glowing at the neck and hear them buzz) but I'm getting no image at all.
I get no LVPS warning light on the back panel or on the LVPS itself.
It's really hard to tell what does or does not smell when my nose is this stuffed up though, and I may only have been really finding the smell in areas where the airflow and dust are.

I never got around to adding 144/145 lenses

[captainslug]

I've inspected everything that's easily removed.

LVPS = Fine (no errors)
Control Board = Fine
HDM = Fine
Focus Board = Fine
VIM = Fine

Not really able to figure out which component is bad, but the HVPS seems to be the source of the bad smell.

[Nashou66]

look at the mosfets against the case for any small holes could be one of those blew, also measuer all the resistors for proper values.

Nashou

[draganm]

like I said it's in the silicone potted matewrial. Take the back cover off the big gray block of RTV and you'll see it. upper right hand corner in that pic.

[Nashou66]

[captainslug]

Alright then, thanks for all the help.
Yes, some of the silicone sealant is chipping off at the corners.

I don't think I can replace the HVPS right away. The rest of the household is interested in getting a different projector and this one might end up getting parted out now that I know which part was the problem.

[draganm]

[ralpharch]