Solaria One Light Issues

[Armand Daiguillon]

Hey all,

I know this has been discussed before and the general consensus was that the reflectors in these older Christies are a known issue and that they degrade as they age and are the main cause for light issues.
This projector is outputting half the light of its counterparts. (bulbs are obviously ruled out)
I did replace the entire reflector assembly - it did not help at all.
My next step I figure would be to replace what I assume is the light pipe ? (I have a spare that should be close to new)

Here is a picture of what I assume should be replaced next .... but before I do, I wanted to check in and see if this is the best course of action or if something else should be tried first.,

Thanks !


Armand

light.jpg

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

While all parts are eligible for fail, some are more protected than others. And some light prohibitors are not even part of the projector...
Should we assume that you measured the light coming out of the lens and it was half the light you got from its counterparts?
And, therefore, you checked the situation of the lamphouse mirror, the lamp power, the lamp focus, etc. and you found no significant difference between this machine and the others?

Even if no one can deny a possible issue with the light pipe, which may as well be due to mis-configuration, it is better protected than most parts of the light path. So, if I were you, I would rule out what is less protected and try to check other factors, like the state of the screen (including size of screen or resizing of the image), the port glass, the lens, the prism (especially the part of it that is apparent when you remove the lens) and work myself "inwards".

I do understand that you might have already ticked all those boxes and the boxes that go under those, but -even for the benefit of the unknown that will come here by searching- it's not a bad idea to mention those (other factors).

[Armand Daiguillon]

The "basic" stuff (screen, port glass etc) is all good. You mentioned the "prism" - do you think that assembly more likely an issue than the light pipe ?

[Caleb Williams]

I didn't see it mentioned before, but how are you measuring brightness? The internal light sensor is not very accurate

[Armand Daiguillon]

I didn't see it mentioned before, but how are you measuring brightness? The internal light sensor is not very accurate

I have a light meter - but even without it anything we have on that screen is barely watchable. Its very clearly dim.
I certified tech had been here in the past - he said it was the reflector, but now I know its something else. But its VERY bad, so I really want to get it fixed.

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

The "basic" stuff (screen, port glass etc) is all good. You mentioned the "prism" - do you think that assembly more likely an issue than the light pipe ?

Yes, because it is more exposed and has a bigger rate of failures than the light pipe parts.

Again, I would start from outside, moving inside. Different screens (auditoria) might have a lot of differences in hardware and setup. Thus, the same make and model of a projector may show a wide variety of screen brightness between them. That is measurements as well as appearance.

Best of luck.

[Aaron Tucker]

You'll want to verify the bulb is centered in the reflector. Look at the values during the lamp axis adjustment and make sure that the brightest position isn't maxed out in one direction. If it is, then your reflector mount is still off center. The soft magnesium pin that it mounts on may still be an issue.

The reflector itself isn't the problem, it's the reflector's mount letting the reflector sag so far that the bulb can no longer be focused properly.

[Leo Enticknap]

Possibly relevant to which, last month I worked on an install in Central California. My part of it was the Atmos configuration and tune. The theater chain's tech was also on site, giving the projector (quite an old DP2K-32B) an overhaul and general TLC in parallel with the audio work.

Following a thorough internal clean, we both noticed that the picture was dimmer than it should be. My PR655 was showing 9-10 ft-l with the 6.5kW lamp maxed out, even after triaxial tweaking. That evening (my day had started at 3a, so I wussed out early evening and headed to the hotel for an early night), he cracked it. The problem was that the XL lamphouse had a UV filter for an SM lamphouse on the front of it. This has a slightly different receiver cup for the anode end of the lamp, that pushes the lamp further back toward the reflector than is optimal. He noticed that this XL lamphouse had somehow acquired an SM UV filter. He swapped it out for the UV filter piece from another XL lamphouse module in storage, and achieved an instant 7-8 ft-l light gain by doing so!

I know that Armand's issue is unrelated to Barco, but I do wonder if there could be a similar explanation, e.g. an incorrect or missing piece of hardware holding the lamp in the wrong place in relation to the reflector.

[Marco Giustini]

Silly question: are the screens where youre measuring the brightness the same size and ratio?

and as Ioannis mentioned, did you try measuring the light AT THE LENS and not on the screen?

[Matt Fields]

Which bulb are you using? If it is the CDXL-14M or CDXL-16M you need to add the extension nut. Not having the nut will make it very dim, or the opposite will (using the nut when you are not supposed to).

[Gordon McLeod]

I have had the fold mirror at the base of the prism decoat itself

[Miguel Moreno]

you can also check the integrator rod. The heat can break it and prevent the light from coming out correctly. This has happened to me on several devices of that model.

[Armand Daiguillon]

Which bulb are you using? If it is the CDXL-14M or CDXL-16M you need to add the extension nut. Not having the nut will make it very dim, or the opposite will (using the nut when you are not supposed to).

We use the 16's in these smaller auditoriums. This dim theater's "twin" theater has twice the light output this one does. Everything about the two theaters is identical in every way. Swap a bulb from one to the other and the light level issue remains regardless.
Reflector has been changed, no affect. - I'm out of that area right now but when I go back i'll try swapping out light pipe and prism apparatus. Although the prism part seems more complex - not looking forward to that. But at literally half the light it is something we need to fix. We have to be very careful what movies we play in there so that no one complains. - Its frustrating.

[Armand Daiguillon]

you can also check the integrator rod. The heat can break it and prevent the light from coming out correctly. This has happened to me on several devices of that model.

Yes - that seems like it could be the culprit. I'll check that too.

Thanks

[Sihong Cheng]

Possibly relevant to which, last month I worked on an install in Central California. My part of it was the Atmos configuration and tune. The theater chain's tech was also on site, giving the projector (quite an old DP2K-32B) an overhaul and general TLC in parallel with the audio work.

Following a thorough internal clean, we both noticed that the picture was dimmer than it should be. My PR655 was showing 9-10 ft-l with the 6.5kW lamp maxed out, even after triaxial tweaking. That evening (my day had started at 3a, so I wussed out early evening and headed to the hotel for an early night), he cracked it. The problem was that the XL lamphouse had a UV filter for an SM lamphouse on the front of it. This has a slightly different receiver cup for the anode end of the lamp, that pushes the lamp further back toward the reflector than is optimal. He noticed that this XL lamphouse had somehow acquired an SM UV filter. He swapped it out for the UV filter piece from another XL lamphouse module in storage, and achieved an instant 7-8 ft-l light gain by doing so!

I know that Armand's issue is unrelated to Barco, but I do wonder if there could be a similar explanation, e.g. an incorrect or missing piece of hardware holding the lamp in the wrong place in relation to the reflector.

I suspect it might be a problem with the integral rod or the light box, or the nuts might not have been tightened to the optimal degree.