Why you should care about the location of your projection screen’s motor

Why you should care about the location of your projection screen’s motor

The motor of a projection screen is located on the left or the right. And most
screens have a “standard” motor side.

So it’s easy to take the motor’s position as a given.

But you shouldn’t. Here’s why:

1. The right motor position improves estethics

Nobody wants to see cables. It makes a room look messy.
To avoid this messy look, you need to find the shortest distance from
the screen to the power socket.

By doing that, you have the least amount of wire exposed. And when
you hide it (by using cable guides or routing them through walls), you
have to spend less time an money.

So before you buy your screen, make sure you know which motor
position will give you the shortest length of exposed cable or the
least amount of work

2. The right motor position avoids wiring issues    

Projector screens come with a certain amount of cable. That cable
is connected to the motor inside of the screen. Once installed, there’s
no way of changing the cable to a different length.

Cables range from 8 to 10 feet in length. If your closest power point is
further away than the length of the cable, you’ll need to extend it.

This means more work and possibly a licensed contractor to do this for
you.

And with an average case length of 7 to 8 feet, there’s a lot more distance
you can cover by having the motor on the “right” side.

Most manufacturers will not charge extra for a change of the motor’s location.
But, it’s good to keep in mind that it can take 2 to 4 weeks to get a custom
version of a screen.

So, as always, plan on time and save yourself trouble afterwards.