[hydrostream]

The Hush Box is made out of styrofoam and hung from the soffet that hides the heating duct work. It is held in place by the 2 springs shown in the picture and 8 very strong magnets (4 in the hush box and 4 in the ceiling). The LT150 sits in a wire basket suspended by 4 adjustment screws. Works great.

 

[hydrostream]

Larger front view of Hush Box

 

[Cain]

Pretty sweet..


Does the projector ever overheat in there??


- Cain

 

[aviman33]

Where is the intake and exhaust ports?


Jon

 

[hydrostream]

It runs about 5-10 degrees cooler than it did without the hushbox. My temp sensor is on the air exiting (from the side opposite the lens). It was 130-140 degrees before the hushbox. Now its usually 120.


I vent it into the cold air return duct work. I have a small blower above the 150. I also use a relay to turn on the furnace blower. The relay also prevents any thermostat from calling for heat. I did that because I tapped into the hot duct work to supply air to the hush box (with a filter). I could have sealed it up completely but I put that blue filter across the back just in case.


You can see a little of this in the attached picture.

 

[hydrostream]

Here is a view from the front with the hush box removed.


BTW - I use the Sears current sensing switch so all I do is turn the projector on. The small blower and the furnace blower both come on automatically.


This is still somewhat experimental. I live in Minnesota and winter is coming. Our house is very well insulated but 2 hours without heat may be a problem. However, our normal movie watching time is usually in the evening around when the setback thermostat drops the temp down a few degrees so I hope no one even notices....

 

[Mark Hoy]

You may be able to redirect a bit of the "waste" heat from the LT150 to heat the theater room you are in. I've noticed my LT150 can heat up a room fairly quickly (but not as quickly as my G1000).


If you have access to the ceiling, you could re-do the venting with one of those in the duct work ajustable valves for winter/summer modes of operation.


Mark

 

[hydrostream]

Thanks, I'll think about a summer vs. winter mode.


I guess even without redirecting the air I am heating the house with the LT-150 - just not as much as the 70,000 BTU furnace that normally does the job.

 

[apg]

Wow! $20 for a styrofoam hushbox? Some people are made of money, I spent $2 on mine...

Well, $2.16, including tax, from a convenience store. I baffled it with cardboard from a leftover Hawaiian Punch 12-pack, and punched holes in the bottom for cables and IR.

After a couple of hours of use, there is a characteristic warm cardboard/styrofoam smell, but it's pretty quiet. I also taped together a cardboard light baffle to get rid of light leakage from the lens. Note that this is not meant to be a permanent solution; I'll do something better when people stop laughing at it.

Not only is it quieter, but random splashes from the hot tub aren't so cardiac-arrest inducing any longer.


We saw "O Brother, Where Art Thou" from the hot tub on Friday night. Because of street noise, and the dialect drenched dialog, after a few minutes, we turned on the subtitles. What a blast! Instead of detracting from the experience, it made the film even funnier. We even got to sing along with "You Are My Sunshine"...

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

Don't you guys worry about the combustible materials in these things??!!

 

[hydrostream]

I have a fair amount of experience with styrofoam (carving it with red hot wire for an N-scale layout). It takes a lot to get it burning. 150 degrees isn't even close to melting it much less burning it. Also the size of the box is about twice the size of the LT150 so I doubt if the styrofoam ever exceeds 80 degrees.


I used styrofoam because I wanted it light and its easy to work with. Note that the only weight the box has to carry is its own.

 

[apg]

uncledeathmonkey: "Don't you guys worry about the combustible materials in these things??!!"


It is a concern. $2.16 up in smoke... good thing the hot tub is usually full and we're _excellent_ splashers.


hydrostream: "I have a fair amount of experience with styrofoam (carving it with red hot wire for an N-scale layout)"


One idea that I have is to use cryo-insulating structural foam. You can't cut it with a wire- the melting point is too high, and the melted foam is very tough; it has to be sawn. You can use simple solvents to glue pieces together. It is very light, paintable, and strong enough to stand on.


Mark Hoy: "I've noticed my LT150 can heat up a room fairly quickly (but not as quickly as my G1000)."


I measured the current draw of an LT150 using a B&K Precision AC power supply. In HV startup mode, it draws 0.8 Amps. As the arc builds, and it reverts LV current regulation, the AC current slowly rises to about 1.8 Amps, and by the end of five minutes, it stabilizes at 1.65 Amps, with minor fluctuations. This is an LT150 with about 100 hours on the bulb, at 115 VAC. No perceptible current change between full white and full black display.

This works out to around 190 watts running. Turning off the TV and one lightbulb actually means less power is used by the LT150, and less heat generated, than under normal TV conditions.

The perception that the LT150 generates a lot of heat comes from the fact that the main exhaust has such small area. If we could reduce that area to the cross-section of a toothpick, the LT150 would make a fair soldering iron, or box it up completely, and it would be a decent EasyBake Oven.

I prefer to use it as a projector.

apg

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

Hmm... 200 watts eh - doesn't sound too bad - better than a 6K xenon bulb anyway...


I wouldn't worry too much about the $2.16 in lost styro if the hushbox ignited - just the $2160.00 if the styro fire got the projector going - and then the $216,000.00 if the projector fire got the house going...

(of couse these numbers all depend on where/how big your house is - and whether or not you have a hot tub in the home theatre )


The structural foam sounds interesting... does it cost much?

 

[apg]

"Hmm... 200 watts eh - doesn't sound too bad - better than a 6K xenon bulb anyway..."


Do you mean 6K as in 6KW? That's some lightbulb...


"I wouldn't worry too much about the $2.16 in lost styro if the hushbox ignited - just the $2160.00 if the styro fire got the projector going - and then the $216,000.00 if the projector fire got the house going..."

Actually, it's the $2.16M if the supermodels sue me for frizzing their hair...


"The structural foam sounds interesting... does it cost much?"

In relative terms, yes. ~$100 a sheet. Not as bad as Bruynzeel mahogany ply, but a tad bit more than styrofoam.

But for an LT150 size hushbox, you could probably make four of them per sheet. The Bruynzeel would be prettier...

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

Whoops - I thought this was the budget hushbox thread... and here we are talking about supermodels and mahogany plywood (not to mention super duper $100 styrofoam!)


Yes those are kilowatts... the very bulbs used down at the amc1000 in their dlp theatre... mmmmmm.


maybe balsa wood would be better? *grin*

In all seriousness I think I'm gonna have tap plastics build one for me - of course that would be more expensive than the structural foam.. *sigh*