Bulb replacement

[TechSupp]

Just a thought yesterday, but wondered when people actually change projector bulbs, do you leave it till they blow, do it when a teacher complains of brightness, at a certain number of hours have passed or when you notice that the board is a bit dull? Due to cost I usually leave it till the teacher complains enough or it blows, so just wondered what criteria others use.

[localzuk]

Complaints or it going pop here. Although, we've recently gone through a projector refresh so it'll be a few years before we need to do that again.

[Boredguy]

Normally when the bulbs get to or past the 2000 hour rated limit and the image is too dull to be seen.

 

Sometimes I'll just clean the inside of the projector and then wait another 500 hours if the image isn't too bad.

[Nibiru]

Complaints or bulb failure here too. The lamps are too expensive to be swapping out earlier.

[witch]

Complaints or failure here too. Sometimes I reset the lamp hours if the teacher hasn't complained.

[Sagima]

Usually when the change bulb light gets reported to us, occasionally when its brightness but probably 3 out of 5 times someone has turned down the brightness so we just turn it up again.

Projector gets replaced if the bulb has gone and it's more than 5 years old or if it's more than 3 and gets through a bulb in under a year

[plexer]

My understanding is that as lamps age the projector has to ramp up to try and keep it running at the same level so if you leave it until it blows or is really dim then you are at risk of causing other damage to the projector itself.

 

Yes lamps can be expensive for some models and others are cheap as chips or you can re-lamp existing modules.

 

Ben

[witch]

My understanding is that as lamps age the projector has to ramp up to try and keep it running at the same level so if you leave it until it blows or is really dim then you are at risk of causing other damage to the projector itself.

 

Yes lamps can be expensive for some models and others are cheap as chips or you can re-lamp existing modules.

 

Ben

This might well be true but our projectors are mostly upwards of 10 years old anyway so I think if damage was caused to them - and I have never seen it - replacing them would be OK

[Nibiru]

Most of our projectors are approaching 10 years old too, so overdriving them into total failure is not a problem

 

The most annoying thing is the replacements have differing throw distances so I have to move the mounts on the ceilings....

[Andrew_C]

The most annoying thing is the replacements have differing throw distances so I have to move the mounts on the ceilings....

Why not buy a model with the right optics? (I know, then it would have the wrong power cord and you'd have to get the ceiling tiles down to change it...)

[teejay]

As bulbs go we replace the projector with a Casio one. About 90% Casio now, much less hassle.

[localzuk]

The most annoying thing is the replacements have differing throw distances so I have to move the mounts on the ceilings....

 

We choose replacements based on the throw distance now. No need to replace mounts.

[Nibiru]

Our budgets wont stretch to that consideration I have to buy reasonable lumens output and cheap

[localzuk]

Our budgets wont stretch to that consideration I have to buy reasonable lumens output and cheap

 

It doesn't have to be expensive. We just bought 2 projectors here to do the job for a grand total of £210 and £335 each.

[hardtailstar]

When they blow here they get replaced. After a bulb goes we tend to buy in twos so that we have a spare bulb around incase another one goes before the order gets here.

[Bento]

We've been replacing ours when they go pop. So many of the projectors are old and falling apart it doesn't make sense to buy lamps. We're replacing them with the new Casio LED/Laser machines and it's really a case of install and forget, maybe cleaning the vents once a year too.

[clockend25]

As bulbs go we replace the projector with a Casio one. About 90% Casio now, much less hassle.

 

Same here. Only have one block not with Casio XJ-xxxx models now. Different class.

[maniac]

You must ALWAYS replace projector bulbs when the projector asks if you want your projector to continue working properly. I know a lot of people will think this is wasteful, and that there's 'plenty more life in the bulb' etc. but this is actually incorrect.

 

Projector bulbs are arc bulbs and not traditional filament bulbs and in order for them to work they use a very high voltage to create the arc. As the bulb is used, the electrodes inside the bulb wear away very slightly so in order to keep the bulb working the electronics in the projector ramps up the voltage a bit to keep the arc going, but this also has the effect of causing the bulb to output more heat. Eventually you reach the stage where the arc is so big that it puts out more heat than light. Because the wear on the electrodes is pretty predictable, projector manufacturers know how long their bulbs will last working at an acceptable heat/light level. The danger is if you run the bulbs past their service life, the bulb puts out so much heat once the arc gets to a certain size that it starts to damage the internal parts of the projector which is when you start to get yellowing on the LCD output.

 

Change your bulbs at the designated number of hours and you will find your projectors will last a lot longer than if you run them past their service life.

 

Mike.

[jonnykewell1]

We do a survey a couple of times a year and score them out of 10. if they get to a 4 or less we look at replacing the unit or the bulb depending on the age/warranty status/bulb price. We also have the problem that if the bulb still works no matter how dull it is, they won't swap the bulb if it's under warranty until it has completely stopped working. We too have now gone down the Casio LED projector route, they cost us more but come with a 5 year warranty and we haven't had any issues to date (touch wood)

[Sylv3r]

Lamps are swapped when the projector dies depending on age, anything over 5 year old is replaced.

 

We also, listen to feedback from staff and if they complain, we take a look and if the image is exceptionally bad the projector / lamp is replaced.

 

We also audit the projectors a couple of times a year and anything deemed poor is replaced - projector or lamp again.

[truebluesteve]

We are halfway through a projector replacement program as our Sahara projectors are mostly 7 years old and although changing the lamp helps, the quality still isn't great.

 

The entire lamp assembly isn't available anymore, so for the last 3 years we have been buying the lamp itself from the US from a company called interlight.biz They are much cheaper than getting them from the UK and do lots of different lamp types.

 

Staff let us know when there are image quality issues, but I like the idea of an annual survey ( with 100 projectors, twice a year might be a bit demanding on time) so thanks for that idea!

[Oddbod]

Using the Epson projector management tool, we would replace ours when the projector notified us… very nice bit of internet of things. 100 projectors and counting… Edited November 21, 2014 by Oddbod
its epson, damn you autocorrect!