Projector Installations

Often, when we hear about center of gravity it usually has to do with a race car or the space program but it is also very important when it come to projector mounts.
These days, to make them lighter and less expensive, projector cases are made mostly of plastic. Not only does this make them very light and affordable but it also makes them flexible and subject to twisting. The twisting can lead to internal cards being pulled out and shorting against the other internal parts and ultimately, to costly repairs.
This is important because many projector mounts, especially universal projector mounts, do not take into account the center of gravity.

What is the center of gravity?   Webster’s defines it as “The point within something at which gravity can be considered to act.”  You can imagine the center of gravity being a single point on your projector where it balances. For example, if you place your projector on a marble and move it around, there will be a very precise and specific point at which the projector will balance.

When the projector’s center of gravity is directly over the marble, you can effortlessly keep the projector steady with just one or two fingers.  As the center of gravity moves away from the marble, it takes more and more force to hold the projector steady and thus places a great deal of stress on the case of the projector.  A good projector mount will either be designed to balance at the projector’s center of gravity or will allow you to adjust the projector mount so that it balances at the projector’s center of gravity.

When a projector mount ignores the projector’s center of gravity, a few different things can happen.  Firstly, it is very difficult to properly adjust the projector.   When the center of gravity is off, the projector will have a tendency to lean to one side or the other.  This can be frustrating when you are watching a movie or presentation and the image slowly but surely moves up or down or tilts sideways.  If the projector is over 5 or 6 pounds, you may not even be able to keep it steady at all.  If you are able to keep it steady, you run into the second problem.

You see, when the center of gravity is off, there is a great deal of stress placed on the projector’s external case.  This almost always leads to some degree of twisting or bending.  It is easy to see the problem when you look inside your projector.

A projector consists of a power supply, a lamp, a lens, a motherboard and various other boards which are connected to each other and contained in an external case.  The main optic component of a projector is the lens and it must align perfectly with the light train and the LCDs or DMDs for the image to be perfect.  When the case is twisted even slightly, the image can be thrown off.  This is seen in blurry images and shadows.  I have seen this hundreds of times due to a poorly designed projector mount.  Most people change their lamp in an expensive attempt to fix the problem and find that they end up with the same blurry image only brighter.

The blurry image is bad, but the worst part of a poorly designed projector mount is what it does to the internal electronic components of your projector.

As mentioned above, a projector consists, in part, of a main board or mother board and several other cards.  Many of these cards are plugged into the main board much like they are in a computer.  When these cards are moved they can come loose and can be shorted out.  This often results in dead boards and cards and very expensive repairs.  I have seen repair estimates totaling double what the projectors were purchased for.

To summarize, although many people search for the cheapest projector mount available, they end up paying more in the long run when the projector mount they purchase is poorly designed and does not take into consideration the center of gravity.

For a website that provides only mounts that are projector friendly at very reasonable prices, click here.

When you hear about center of gravity it’s usually in relation to a race car but it is also very important when it come to projector mounts. Here’s why:

These days, projectors are made of plastic. Not only does this make them very light and affordable but it also makes them flexible and subject to twisting. The twisting can lead to internal cards being pulled out and shorting against the other internal parts and ultimately, to costly repairs.
I mention this because many projector mounts, especially universal projector mounts, do not account for center of gravity. You can imagine the center of gravity being a single point on your projector where it balances. For example, if you place your projector on a marble, where is the point at which it will balance?
When a projector mount does not take this point into consideration, a great deal of stress can be placed on your projector. It’s kind of like holding up a broom. If you grasp the broom at the midway point of it’s handle, it is very easy to hold up, maneuver, and hold still. If you grasp it at the end of the handle, it is much more difficult. If we change the example to a measuring tape, the destructive force of gravity is more evident. If you pull 2 or 3 feet of tape out, it is very easy to measure something. The more tape you pull out, the harder it is to handle and eventually the tape breaks. The same can happen to your projector.
Make sure that the projector mount you use is either balanced with your projector or that it is adjustable so that you can make it balance. This will not only make mounting your projector easier, it will help you avoid costly projector repairs down the road.

I have had many people ask me this question when mounting a projector.  What height should my projector be installed at in relation to my screen.  I thought I would try and provide a little guidance.

Although there is no one rule of thumb when it comes to this, I find that in most cases,  your projector should hang down to within a foot or so from of the top of your projection screen.   You could go higher as most projector mounts allow for tilting, and you could get the image down to the screen, but unless you have true lens shift (which most projectors do not have), you will be degrading your image.

This is because of the fact that when a projector is pointed up or down at an angle greater than 15 or 20 degrees, the distance from the lens to the top of the screen is different than the point from the lens to bottom of the screen.  For example, if you place your projector on a table and point it up at an extreme angle, the top of the image will be wider than the bottom of the image.  This is called keystone, and even though most projectors have an electronic function called “Keystone Correction”, it is not always advisable to use it. The reason is that keystone correction does not magically fix the focal distance problem that I described above.  What keystone correction does is to electronically alter your image.  It actually reduces your projector’s resolution.  This can lead to a fuzzy image, video artifact and poor video interpolation.  In other words, your image is not as good as it should be.

When mounting your projector from the ceiling, make sure that the projector mount you choose has the ability to be extended down.  I prefer to use a telescopic extension kit so that I can fine tune my image.  Many of the cheaper Chinese made projector mounts come with a huge extension or none at all.  I avoid these and use the Perfectmounts telescopic kits.  They work great and allow for infinite adjustment.

One more thing to consider is that you can have a keystone problem on the X axis as well.  This is due to the fact that the projector lens is not at the horizontal center of the screen.  You should always take extra time to get the lens of your projector mounted dead on so that you don’t run into this problem.  I have seen many projector installations where the screen had to be moved to accommodate a sloppy installer.  There is a product from Perfectmounts called the Deluxe Ceiling Plate which allows you to move your projector from side to side.  It is a fantastic product but I don’t think it is listed on their website for some reason.

All in all, it is safe to say that if you plan your projector installation properly and choose the right projector mount and mounting equipment, you will be able to mount your projector quickly, easily and avoid degrading your image.

Hello,

Over the last few week or two I have installed several Panasonic PT-AE4000U projectors.  The AE4000 seems to be the flavor of the day so I thought I’d share my experiences.

In 3 of my last 4 AE 4000 installs, I used the Perfectmounts 2000 Series projector mount.  The 2000 series projector mount for the Panasonic AE4000 is very well balanced and always seems to go up nice and easy.  The AE4000 is a pretty heavy projector and you don’t want to mess around.  Along with 2 of the 2000 series projector mounts I used the Perfectmounts False Ceiling Adapter which, by the way, is currently on sale at 25% off – A great deal.  The False Ceiling Adapter sits in the t-bar grid and clamps right on.  The security wires that come with the false ceiling adapter make the installation nice and safe and the 2000 series projector mount bolts directly to it.  I figure that my installation time is cut in half when I install a false ceiling adapter as opposed to a 1.5″ pipe that goes to the ceiling above.  It also saves having to run out and get that heavy old steel pipe cut, threaded and painted.  If you need to drop the projector below the false ceiling, you can purchase a fixed or telescopic extension kit from Perfectmounts that is also a direct bolt-on accessory.

My fourth Panasonic AE4000 projector installation involved a 14 foot high cathedral ceiling and a required projector drop of 28 inches.  For this installation I used old faithful: the Perfectmounts Everest universal projector mount and a 25 to 45 inch telescopic extension kit.  As usual, the installation went smooth and quick and I was able to get in and out in less than 2 hours.

When setting up the Panasonic PT-AE4000U projector I did notice that it has a nice clean image.  I wish I had room for one!

Talk to you soon,

ProjectorInstallationGuy

I am a professional installer of video systems.  I have installed thousands of projectors in thousands of rooms on both ceilings and walls and I have had my share of surprises and setbacks because I used the wrong projector mount.  Most people won’t give a second thought to which projector mount to use.  This is kind of silly considering that the projector mount is the only thing keeping your expensive projector from crashing to the ground.  Most people are also oblivious to the fact that a poorly designed projector mount can cost them hundreds of dollars in the long run due to premature lamp failure and projector repairs.  In the next page or two I am going to detail how a good projector ceiling mount or projector wall mount can save you money and protect your investment.  I will also give you a few tips to assist you in choosing the right projector ceiling mount for you.

Heat kills lamps and projectors.  Once you really think about it, it is pretty obvious.  Projector manufacturers are trying to squeeze every lumen of light out of smaller and smaller projectors.  This not only generates enormous amounts of heat, but the small projector cases confine the heat to a very small area.  The fans can barely exhaust the excessive heat through the vents.

The heat causes the projector and its components to expand and contract.  The projector manufacturers expect this to some degree but when the heat is excessive, the internal components can expand and contract so much that they can actually come apart.  Cards can be pulled from their slots and chips can come loose.  As you might imagine, projectors are very expensive to repair.  Often it is more expensive to repair a projector than it is to replace it.

Projector lamps are also very expensive.  Ranging in price from $200 to $600, you don’t want to be changing your lamps any sooner than you have to.  Lamps are considered a consumable product.  This means that as the lamp is used, it degrades and gets closer to its end of life.  If the lamp is kept relatively cool, it degrades at an acceptable rate and can last for thousands of hours.   When it is exposed to excessive heat it degrades at an exponential rate and can fail very quickly.  It can also reach the end of its life much faster which means that the brightness has decreased so much that it is impractical to continue using it.  I read about a study a few years ago that showed how a properly cooled lamp lasted an average of 30 percent longer than a poorly cooled lamp.  Over the life of a projector, this could translate into as much as $1000 or more!

A poorly designed projector mount can trap excessive heat within your projector and magnify it causing extensive damage.  There are 2 basic flaws in a poorly designed projector ceiling mount: The wrong material is used and the mount is shaped so that it traps heat near the projector.

I use the Perfectmounts Everest Universal Projector Mount almost exclusively and I’m never disappointed.  The Everest projector mount features all of the above characteristics.

A steel projector ceiling mount will hurt your projector and lamp.  Because steel is a poor conductor of heat, it stores the heat energy generated by the lamp and keeps it near the projector.  The stored heat then combines with the newly generated heat and scorches the projector and lamp.

A good example to use is the automobile industry.  The engine in your car generates excessive heat.  If left unchecked, the heat would destroy your engine.  The heat is removed from the engine by your radiator.  Your radiator is made of aluminum because it is excellent at dissipating heat.  Although aluminum is more expensive than steel, it would be ridiculous to use steel in a car that you had to warranty because any savings would be quickly paid towards fixing the engines that were blown.  If the auto industry thought they could make an acceptable radiator out of steel and save some money, they would.  If you buy a projector ceiling mount, make sure it is an aluminum projector ceiling mount.

Now that we know that an aluminum projector ceiling mount is the best way to go, let’s talk a little about the finish.  By the finish, I mean is it painted or powder coated?  Is it available in one color or a number of colors?  One thing to always be sure of is to insist that it is finished somehow.  There are a number of “basement” projector mounts that are unfinished.  The sellers of these mounts say that the aluminum will not corrode but that is ridiculous.  Unless the projector mount is treated by means of anodizing or covered by paint or powder, it will corrode.

A poorly shaped projector ceiling mount can kill your projector and lamp.  An example of a poorly shaped projector mount is a large flat plate.  The more surface area, the more heat trapped close to your projector.  Combine a projector ceiling mount that has a large surface area and is made of steel and you will have a recipe for disaster. If you think about it, the projector is usually mounted within inches of the ceiling.  The heat has very little clearance already, so a poorly designed projector ceiling mount will only magnify this.

Look for a projector mount that has a minimum of surface area.  Avoid a projector mount that has a large surface area and that can trap heat close to your projector.  Always stay clear of large steel projector ceiling mounts.

Here some information about how a projector mount can affect your projector.

One of the most important features a projector ceiling mount can have is balance.  What I mean is that the projector’s center of balance or center of gravity must be taken into consideration when it is designed.  If it is not, there can be a great amount of stress put on the projector’s case and this can cause premature failure.  Here’s an example.  Most children can pick up a broom and hold it horizontally for any given period of time as long as they grasp it in the center, near the center of gravity.  On the other hand, if they grasp it at either end, they will have much more difficulty.  This is because the further you move out from the center of gravity, the more force is exerted on the opposite end of the broom.  The same applies to a projector ceiling mount.  If you mount a projector using a poorly designed projector ceiling mount that does not take center of gravity into account, a great deal of stress will be placed on the projector.  Since projectors are made of plastic these days, it is not uncommon for the plastic to crack and for cards and chips to be pulled from their sockets.

Some companies offer cable management mounts.  In my opinion, this is a little silly since the projectors a so close to the ceiling that the cables must be bent sharply to fit into the “cable management” holes.  This places undue stress on the cables and projector and can cause them to fail.  When routing cables, be sure to use gentle curves in order to prevent bending and damaging them.

How far should my projector hang down from the ceiling? The distance that your projector should hang down from the ceiling is directly related to the positioning of your screen.  For example, if the top of your screen is 36 inches from your ceiling, your projector should hang between 12 and 24 inches from your ceiling depending on your specific projector and the amount of keystoning it has built into it.  Many companies offer free extensions but most of the time they don’t work.  The reason is that it is impossible to take every installation and use one length of extension for all of them.  For example, most of the Chinese made mounts offer 18-36 inch extensions.  This is fine unless your projector needs to be at 12 inches or 45 inches.  It is much better, easier and inexpensive in the long run to purchase the correct extension kit for your installation.

What if there is a drop ceiling in the room that I want to hang my projector in?  Drop ceilings, sometimes called suspended ceilings or false ceilings are very common in North America.  Some people see this as a problem but I see it as a blessing.  With accessories like false ceiling adapters available, your installation time can be cut in half or better.

A false ceiling adapter is installed directly into your ceiling grid and your projector ceiling mount is bolted directly to it.  The best false ceiling adapters are adjustable so that you can move your projector side to side or front to back.  This helps immensely when installing and adjusting the image.  The best false ceiling adapter available (and the only one I use) is made by Perfectmounts and can be found here: False ceiling adapter.  Avoid the large false ceiling panels that take up the whole tile area.  They are difficult to install and are not very flexible when it comes to adjusting.

I use the Perfectmounts False ceiling adapter which works very well.  It is 4″ wide x 24″ long and fits into just about any ceiling grid configuration.  It is slotted so that you can make it work anywhere you need it to.  It works with all of Perfectmounts’ projector mounts and will cut down your installation time by up to 2/3.  This truly is an excellent product.