Pocket LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

[koti]

I want to buy a Bonitor MP201 pocket projector for my brothers birthday. Seems like a realy cool gadget
Heres the projector user manual : http://www.projectorcentral.com/pdf/projector_manual_5128.pdf
Im preaty decided I want to get this one, havent ordered yet though, I wanted to consult You guys first
I did a few hours research on these things and found that this particular model is the best bargain for the price ($219 on ebay) But anyway...
Naturaly being a flashoholic, the first thing that comes to my mind is how to mod this thing to get more juice out of it...heres a youtube movie comparing a 15 lumen model (this is the one I want to buy) to a 13 lumen model : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_eYi8VUS1E
Now for some facts...this thing runs aproximately 90 minutes on a 3,7v , 2500 mah LiIon made by Varta - I guess its more or less a 18650 in a flat form.
15 lumens seems a joke for this size battery...Im thinking is it possible to mod this little thing with a brighter LED with 2 variable brightness levels - low for battery operation and high for DC operation. What do You guys think? Anybody up for the challenge?

Heres a youtube movie showing the size of this thing in hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSTObO7Lxz0

And heres some pics of the little thingy

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

you would have to know what LED emitter and reflector/optics combination was being used first so you could match the focal characteristics or the focus may be way off, next you would need to consider accomodating for a larger heatsink and possibly the drive circuitry may be unable to handle increased power of a higher output LED.

 

[koti]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

I was thinking to upgrade the source along with the driver. Lets say a Q5 running on some low voltage or a low R2 depending on what kind of characteristic LED is needed. Anything would be better then 15 lumens that they claim. The heatsink issue shouldnt be a problem with such low output...not like I want to put an SST-90 in this thing
Im worried about the optics...like You say it might be preaty complex. I actualy have no idea how a full color RGB image can be created with a single LED (I assume its got a single LED)
Anyone have some more input ?

Heres the wiki on the LCOS technology used in this projector: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_on_silicon

 

[koti]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

Im no expert but after going through that wiki Im afraid that moding this thing can be preaty close to impossible
Those shown RGB panels that are used to projest the image probably have to be calibrated to the characteristics of the LED source and changing those characteristics could be disasterous...anyone with some knowledge about this who can bring some input?

I just bought it btw...I should have it in a a few days.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

it is possible it isn't using an LED, instead using an incan at such low lumen output.

 

[IMSabbel]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

Ok, seeing that people get it totally wrong up to now, a bit of clasification:

15 lumen sounds reaonable with that power supply.

Its 15 lumen on the screen. Now lets calculate back to the source:

(Some of this are conservative guesses, especially optics and coliminiator loss)

LED-> Coliminator: 30% loss
Polarization filter: 50% loss
Colour filters on the LCOS chip: 66% loss
Absorption loss on LCOS chip: 20%
Optics loss: 10%.

The result is that less than 10% of the LED lumens will end up on the screen, i,e. that this device is using at least 150lumen at the source.


Just for emphasis: I know that some of those small beamers use SST-50s.

Thats, btw, also the reason why OLED would be so great for displays even if it was only at 40l/W or so. Normal color LCDs only let 1/6th of the light through. Spin polarized LEDS could make a factor of 2 difference, theortically, but that would only work for much more bulky 3 LED assemblies.

 

[koti]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

it is possible it isn't using an LED, instead using an incan at such low lumen output.

No, I dont think it is remotely possible.
Thanks for the input though

Ok, seeing that people get it totally wrong up to now, a bit of clasification:

15 lumen sounds reaonable with that power supply.

Its 15 lumen on the screen. Now lets calculate back to the source:

(Some of this are conservative guesses, especially optics and coliminiator loss)

LED-> Coliminator: 30% loss
Polarization filter: 50% loss
Colour filters on the LCOS chip: 66% loss
Absorption loss on LCOS chip: 20%
Optics loss: 10%.

The result is that less than 10% of the LED lumens will end up on the screen, i,e. that this device is using at least 150lumen at the source.


Just for emphasis: I know that some of those small beamers use SST-50s.

Thats, btw, also the reason why OLED would be so great for displays even if it was only at 40l/W or so. Normal color LCDs only let 1/6th of the light through. Spin polarized LEDS could make a factor of 2 difference, theortically, but that would only work for much more bulky 3 LED assemblies.

Estimations might be a little off (at least I hope its more then 10% of the source lumen OTF) but I think You are 100% right. After reading thru the wiki on LCOS technology I figured that on my own.
Im thinking though...will the RGB silicon plates withstand a higher output LED? If they are not calibrated to a certain lumen & spectrum this mod could be doable afterall. I wonder if anybody done this before...

 

[koti]

Re: Pocker LED projectors - mod help wanted - anyone familiar?

:bump:

Edit : Admin, could You move this thread to the Personal Gadgetery forum?
I think I missed posting this here :-/

 

[zeramant86]

The first one on this link is probably junk, I've heard decent reviews on the other one though.

If you're really serious about it, the second (3M) is 100 lumens and produces 480p resolution, but it costs considerably more.

Note: they also make a 12 lumen model that is overpriced listed under microportable projectors.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat....asp?CatId=23&sel=Detail;237_1230_48076_48076