Life expectancy of average projector

[Little-Miss]

One thats been treated like they always are in a school. No real cleaning being done, filters left for months, left on for hours on end when not in use...

 

Basically a lot of ours are showing signs of when the dust has burnt onto the mirror/lens inside and the edges are purple/yellow.

 

I'd personally like to start a rolling programme of getting them changed so need an arguement lol...

 

Could be me just being a perfectionist though..

 

Thanks

[somabc]

I would guess about 1000-2000 hours of use per bulb Edited March 2, 2009 by somabc
clarification

[Little-Miss]

Is that the projector or the bulb?

[Azhibberd]

I usually expect a bulb to last for 2000 hours then i like to have a space on order if its an important projector although known some do over 3000 i think it was.

[Little-Miss]

I'm wondering more about the contraption itself? How long until you replace the whole unit?

[Ric_]

The lifespan really depends upon how much (ab)use the projector gets. For instance, yours sound like they've been getting trashed where as I have 5-year+ projectors that are perfectly servicable.

 

If you air on the side of caution, you could replace your projectors after 3 years (when the warranty runs out) but IMHO 5 years should be fine unless the lamps have become too expensive (I replaced 3 HP projectors bcause the lamps were only £50-£100 less than a brand new BenQ projector).

[kmount]

Like Ric I have plenty older than 5 years but have noticed that as the uptake grows we're going ~2 years before a lamp change at which time it's often more economical to buy a new one with a lamp voucher.

[bossman]

@Little-Miss:

I would agree with Ric 5 years rolling program is right on the button. If they are abused like in your case then the length of the warranty would suffice.

[pete]

4-5 years, depending on the inhabitants of the classroom.

[localzuk]

We've got about half a dozen which are now 6 years old. All are cleaned sporadically. I'd expect them to just keep on going for a couple more years.

 

We have a couple, 5 years old, which are starting to go dim, so i'll be looking at replacing them at some point shortly too.

 

When I start replacing them, I may see if I can get the engineers to replace the connector boxes with a standard type throughout the school too - as every classroom is different at the moment, and it gets a bit annoying.

 

But, I would expect 7 years at least from a decent projector. 5 years if really abused.

[Sylv3r]

I think you have to bare in mind also that its not always a case of purchasing a new projector that will solve the problem.

 

You may purchase a new projector and find that it doesn't fit on the ceiling bracket or if it does the image may be too large / small for your IWB. This will mean further expense in having to move / replace the projector mount to accommodate the new projector.

[Little-Miss]

No you are right Sylv3r, i did take that into consideration.

 

They're just awful to look at...some of them dim with new bulbs..

[dgsmith]

yes I know the topic is a few months old, but I found it quite interesting myself how other schools work on projector replacing!

 

We only just took out some 3M MP8625 (nice huge things) from service in summer just gone (although, admittedly, they were so bad that they didn't see daily use the last few years, but were ok for watching a video or dvd, but not for computers (max resolution supported was 800x600).

 

We still use some Hitachi projectors for mobile purposes (presentations where there isn't a projector), and these are over 8 years old, yet still work ok (albeit, very dim!)

 

The oldest we have in regular use are some Sanyos bought in summer 2002, and although again not as bright as they used to be but still usable.

 

Our only gripe with the oldest projectors is the resoltion. The ones which are native with SVGA don't look as sharp and easy on the eye as our XGA projectors, and now that is becoming a problem with widescreen laptops.

 

However much we'd like a replacement policy on projectors, we just can't justify it, and really are stuck on a "if it aint broken" approach. Plus we are struggling financially this year which doesn't help!

 

In an ideal world, 5-7years sounds reasonable.