NEC VT47 Projector Information

[SimpleSi]

Its seems that these projectors decide to play dead once they've exceeeded a certain num of bulb hours (2100 normal -3100 eco mode)


So what happens is, projector warns user that bulb reaching end of life - ignore as usual - eventually projector won't turn on.

(Obviuously - we thought bulb had gone as Lamp light was lit Red - ordered new bulb - still wouldn't accle)

To reset the projector (as it says in small italics on page 52 of the manual - which I had sadly neglected to memorise ) you have to hold down the Help key on the projector remote for 10 secs.

That would be OK if the projector remote has a help key - mine hadn't.

Tech support (very pleasant on surface but really unpleasent person BTW) told me to hold Power and Exit button at same time (on remote - doesn't work on projector I was told)

Well, nothing happened.

Maybe remote is broken so projector and remote are in my car and I'm taking them to another school that has same type to see what happens.

I'll let you all know outcome.

Does anyone know of other projectors that do this ?

regards

Simon

[SimpleSi]

Well it did reset with remote from another school

(although the remote I had already works fine - maybe can't stand being pressed for 10 secs necessary to do the reset????)

When I put the projector back up and checked its hours, it had done exactly 2100hrs since 1st use (so at least that bit of the manual is right)

The help desk says its done to prevent bulb exploding - now they have a point because I've had 2 bulbs in projectors do that in the past.

Something maybe worth checking with other models - maybe they all do that nowadays.


regards

Simon
PS Replacement Bulb cost wasn't too bad at £180 and we might have an emergency spare now as well

[john]

Hitachi's can do something along these lines, they put HUUUUUGE warnings on the screen which cannot be got rid of when they have reached EOL and that way you know its time to change and it should help prevent explosions and the release of mercury.

[projector1]

Replacement Bulb cost wasn't too bad at £180 and we might have an emergency spare now as well

where from please?

[SimpleSi]

Sorry for delay - view new posts sometimes misses posts out and I only get to see them if I check any threads I've participated in

I ordered mine from Western Business Systems in Blackpool - I don't believe they do special prices or anything so you should be able to get that price (or cheaper) from someone else.

But they look after me well (or so they keep telling me )

regards

Simon

[john]

I use projector point for my bulbs, £138 for that lamp in question that Simon spent more on from his firm.

http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk/proj...ctor_Lamp.html

[maniac]

We've had 2 or 3 bulbs explode in the last few months. Our projectors, most of which were brought at the same time, are reaching that age I think.

Does anyone else here have continued problems with staff leaving projectors on?? some of ours won't turn off automatically when disconnected from source, the number of times we'll go into a classroom in the middle of the holidays and there's this projector desparately trying to cool its self down in a sweltering hot room. :twisted: Makes me mad it does!

[Andrew_C]

Lamps are likely to explode only if they are run over their rated life. So, as you have spotted, the teachers need to turn them off when not in use. Worth checking that there isn't a menu option to turn off after a pre-set time of inactivity. Most of ours have this feature

[mattx]

How long did you wait for the bulbs for your VT47 ?
We have had two on back order now for about 4 weeks. I had two go in the space of a few weeks and had to replace a whole projector with our spare as we used the final replacement bulb.
Fingers crossed we don't blow another !!

[_Bat_]

Lamps are likely to explode only if they are run over their rated life. So, as you have spotted, the teachers need to turn them off when not in use. Worth checking that there isn't a menu option to turn off after a pre-set time of inactivity. Most of ours have this feature

Unfortunately the teachers in my schools leave their projectors on all day. The classroom pcs are connected directly to the projectors (making the monitors pretty much redundant) so any work on the computer has to involve the projector. I tried to encourage the school to buy some form of splitters so teachers could switch between the monitor and projector with ease, but this proved too expensive at about £20-£30 each. Does anyone know where I can get some kind of splitter quite cheap as I have to buy about 14 of these?

The other option would be for teachers to use their laptops for the projector, but they refused to do so. 8O

[Andrew_C]

I tried to encourage the school to buy some form of splitters so teachers could switch between the monitor and projector with ease, but this proved too expensive at about £20-£30 each.

Explain, with the use of a cricket bat if required, that £20 is about 10% of the cost of a new lamp. :cry:

[_Bat_]

I tried to encourage the school to buy some form of splitters so teachers could switch between the monitor and projector with ease, but this proved too expensive at about £20-£30 each.

Explain, with the use of a cricket bat if required, that £20 is about 10% of the cost of a new lamp. :cry:

Good point. It may be something i'll look into over this holiday - its not ideal that they are permanantly connected to the projectors anyway because sometimes the whiteboard is actually behind them.

The other issue is remote controls, which have already been discussed to death on this board. They have managed to lose some which means they are either sharing or turning them on/off at the projector which is knocking them off centre on the whiteboard. There is nothing that can be done about this though at like £50 per remote. I'm gonna go through the classrooms over the holidays and make sure all the projectors are aligned etc and hope they stay that way.

[SimpleSi]

So, as you have spotted, the teachers need to turn them off when not in use.

This is VERY debatable.

I used to work with big expensive thermionics devices (£10K-20K each ) and we were very careful NOT to turn them off if we didn't have too.

The basic issue is leaving them on for 1 hour reduces working life by 1 hour - turning them off for 1 hour and turning them on again causes thermal cycling/shock and reduces life by X hours where X is unknown.

Since bulb failure is a statistically very variable event (I've had them go at 560 hours - some have racked up > 4000, its very tricky to determine what the best real world usage should be, as its hard to pin cause and effect.

This is not the only factor but its the main one I use in my advice to teachers - leave them on if you are going to use them in the near future and turn them off as soon as you realise you are finished with them for the day.


regards

Simon

[SimpleSi]

@mattx
Got it next day

Like a say they are not specialist suppliers - they don't stock them - they just get them delivered from a distributor.

regards
Simon

[mattx]

Thanks for the info Simon - I think I shall be looking into them !!