do you keep projectors on all day?

[localzuk]

I agree with Andrew_C. All of our projectors are LCD short-arc lamp type ones (our oldest one being 4 years old). I think I remember a CRT style one from my old high school though, 7 years ago...

[StuartC]

Yes we advise teachers to leave them on all day, and use the No Show/Blank function when they're not in use; as we were recommended by Promethean. The less the lamp has to warm-up-cool-down the longer it should last, in theory

I am "Mr Promethean", and I'm telling you that "no show" should not be used for long periods of time. The no show function switches all the LCD panels on in the projector, this reflects the heat back inside the projector causing a lot of heat. This heat could damage the projector if it is used for a long time.

My advice as far as this whole topic goes is (and don't take this as a rule of thumb, these are guidelines)

1. If you are not going to use the projector for more than an hour, switch it off.
2. Don't use no show for long periods of time.
3. Don't power down projectors from the mains, always use the power button on the remote or projector and wait for the shutdown process to complete.

There are no issues with using the projector all day, just be aware that the life of the lamp is a finite figure and will run out eventually. Also be aware that if the projector is on and not in use then it is just pulling air and dust into the unit for no good reason.

[western]

be careful of most 3 year lamp warranty as there are many t and c's. For example the warranty is void if the projector is not in eco mode and is used for more than 8hrs a day also some manufacturers offer 3 years lamp warranty with a clause in very small print that they will only swap the lamp once in the 3 year peroid. The clauses go on and on so be v careful!!

[chrbb]

Don't smartboard do a smartbulb saver - does this turn the projector off ?

On another note what steps do you take to provide security for the projectors - we've got security cages with the keys locked away in the safe, given each projector a pin number which only me and the office staff know, (won't stop anyone stealing it I know but might make it unusable) any other ideas would be gratefully accepted!

[Andrew_C]

Our new Acer projectors, and some of the old miscellaneous stuff has a shut down if inactive feature. I've set these to 1/2 an hour.

[seanmh]

Leave projectors on all day here, with the exception of the one in our main hall, as people generally "forget" to turn it off at the end of the day so it's on all night (have Yr6 Monitor who now deals with all this).

No real determental effects, average bulb life in an Epson EMP74 projector 3 years.

[enjay]

Think of all that energy you are wasting they draw a lot of current them things, think green or else we will garnish ur salary for the electric wastage

An interesting point on that subject is that projectors draw the same amount of electricity whether they are projecting or are on "no show / blank". We've recently bought a plug-in power meter, and I've been surprised by some of the results I've been getting (like my new 19" TFT draws less power on standby than my old 17" did when it was off!)

[enjay]

Our new Acer projectors, and some of the old miscellaneous stuff has a shut down if inactive feature. I've set these to 1/2 an hour.

I'm about to implement that here, too.

We've had a number of instances recently of people leaving projectors turned on after school and the caretaker just flicking them off at the mains when doing his rounds.