8MM-16MM FORUM WORLDWIDE

Can using a higher wattage bulb result in burning out a transformer in a projector?

Yes, it will burn out the transformer and possibly othe electronic components. I have read where some have added another transformer to the existing projector in order to safely use a brighter bulb. Have you tried Steve Osborne's screen paint? I haven't, but Steve says you can also paint your screen or your wall with it and get a 20% brighter image.

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Thanks Dan. I thought that would be the case. I can't use Steve's paint because we live in an apartment.

The thing you also need to consider is the cooling capacity of the machine. If the machine is meant to operate with a 100W lamp and you put in a 250W, for example, the cooling air in the neighborhood of the bulb will probably not be enough to keep the brighter lamp as cool as it should be.

At the minimum, this could mean getting a lot less than rated hours from the lamp, at the worst it could result in parts around the lamp being distorted and/or damaged by higher temperatures than they were meant to experience.

It's the classic thing of making a car faster by wedging a huge engine into it: sooner or later something not up to the strain is going to break and there'll be a mess! It's a system: everything that matters has to be up to the job for it to work right.

Interesting.

I have toyed with the idea of using a 200w bulb in my ST1200.

Not a good idea?

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Well...

The closer you get in wattage to what was designed in, the less of a chance you are taking. Everything that's well designed always has enough margin for error such that you aren't normally operating it full blast, but by the same token when you start using that extra capacity you are getting closer and closer to the limit where the thing is going to fail, or just fail sooner. (...and we're talking about machines that were built when the Berlin Wall was still in place.)

200Watts in place of 150 Watts isn't like going 90 MPH on a bicycle, but honestly I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it.

Yeah, you're right, Steve. Hardly worth the risk I guess.

I'll leave well enough alone, as they say.

Thanks

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True, especially considering the benefit wouldn't be that great.

I usually run an ST-800(100W) next to an ST-1200HD (150W)

This is a 50% increase in wattage, but the difference isn't stunning. One is bright, the other is brighter, neither is either dim nor blinding.

If you went from 150W to 200W, now your increase is only 33%

How about I try one of my 16mm machine's 250's in the ST1200?
Would that be brighter?

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....Briefly!

-then MUCH dimmer!