Barco DP-2K Series Laser Upgrade

[Bruce Cloutier]

I haven't even bothered with the back of the envelope. Your power is likely more than ours. I think we are just over 12 cents per kWh. Also the residence uses a lot less being in this climate where A/C isn't needed all of the time. Typically <30 kHh per day. I've got 36KW in a ground-mounted system and 11KW PW system that will go live in August. We have to stay under 50KW or risk being labelled as a commercial generator. We have the SREC income as well where we have a broker selling the right to claim our solar against the power companies annual renewable energy targets. That brings some income but it varies quite a bit.

So we didn't worry about the payback I guess we were comfortable in knowing that it was there. Also who can really predict the future electricity rates which, as you say, enhance the payback. No it is more about being independent I guess. Starting in August not only will be have the $0.00 electric bills that we have now but I am hoping to only ever export to the power company and stop the incoming meter from rolling even at night.

I think I would go for the laser projectors in wanting to put the best product out there for the patrons. But, I wouldn't have first-hand knowledge as to what is involved. (wish I did).

I am assuming that LED screens aren't a reality.

[Carsten Kurz]

They are a reality, but an expensive one. Around 10 times more.

[William Kucharski]

That (▲▲▲) shaker might be good to install underneath some seats in the auditorium, and shake a few loose coins out of pockets....?!! Might be a tad bit noisy, though.

Oooh, a new bass shaker for seating in 4DX theaters.

[Jack Ondracek]

Last time I looked at this, Barco's specs for expected laser hours called for running it at something like 50% capacity for 2D operations and (temporarily) 80% for 3D... more or less. To run it full-out for a large drive-in screen would drastically reduce the life of the laser... or so I'm told. If you're expecting 50k hours from your investment, running at 50% capacity wouldn't make the output much better than xenon, and flooring it would dramatically raise the cost-per-hour... again, as far as I recall the numbers.

So... if you're getting such dramatic improvement on a 32B, how long would you expect the laser to last at, say, 900 hours per season, full-out, before a replacement 6500 watt xenon bulb would start to look good?

I haven't penciled this out yet, but while the improved output is tempting, I'd like to know what I'd be getting myself into... like when the slow degradation of laser would be noticeable and what kind of money I'd be looking at to replace the engine.

My Portland-based equipment supplier doesn't think the numbers add up... yet.

[Sam Chavez]

And laser diodes don't always fade away gracefully or pleasantly. Think about your LED light bulbs lasting 20 years. Ha! Haven't had one go more than 2 years.