Optical Engine

[gcurran1982]

I have resently sent off an Epson projector to Epson to be fixed. They've given me a quote of £995.95 which is ridiculous really. When i asked the customer service lady what exactly is the fault with the projector she said that it needs a replacement bulb and optical engine. Now i know the bulb was working fine as i had tried it in another projector, hence sendind it off to be fixed. So alarm bells started ringing. Does anyone know if it is possible to replace an optical engine yourself?

[Marc-Engineer]

No but i can who has your projector now and what model is it what was the fault when you sent it away?

 

Please,.....just because a lamp lights does not mean it is OK, lamps have a life at the end of it the lamp may still light but it may be drawing too much current and damage the projectors ballest unit in which case a replacement would be needed.

 

qoute from my previous posting about lamps :- the way lamps operate is often not understood you wont of course remember but during the WW2 we used search lights very large reflectors using 2 largs rods between which jumped a spark, this was a huge (bear with me) this produced a huge amount of light to light up aircraft in the sky. Ok now our little projector lamps are very like these, the large search lights had motor driven rods so as they burnt down the where driven together to keep the gap constant (impotant bit).

Our little lamps cant do this so the gap gets bigger, so what the projector does is turn up the voltage in an attempt to maintain brightness over its life as the rods get eaten away (no one asleep yet?) So this has 3 downsides with larger gap the heat goes up as its a bigger spark and funnily enough it is not the heat that burns the LCD and polerising panals it is the UV light that increases exponentialy the third thing is the current goes up from the power supply with the attempt to maintain the brightness (nearly there).

The power and ballest unit the control the lamp become stressed if they work too hard, by over running the lamp as the gap becomes to big so next lamp in will not be as bright due to the powersupply /ballest being stressed the first time (cost to replace ballest depending on unit £250 plus) and the UV may have dimmed by burning the polerising filters (yellowing).

 

So moral of the story DONT DO IT, change your lamp at around 2500 hrs regardless of how bright YOU still think it is and DEFINATLY DONT wait till it doesnt light anymore as this is way too late.

 

A maintained projector should easily last 7 to 8 years.

 

Marc

Projector Engineer

[AidanMcelroy]

Hi Marc,

 

I bought an Epson PL Home Cinema 8500 ub in USA in July 2010 and brought home to uk.

For the last 3 months the projected image is showing a pink horizontal banding along the bottom of the projected image.

Epson uk have told me to send it back to usa under warranty, they will not touch it here in the UK. Epson says they suspect the problem may be the

optical engine. Have you any suggestions. Lamp hours is 920. Thanks.

 

Aidan

 

No but i can who has your projector now and what model is it what was the fault when you sent it away?

 

Please,.....just because a lamp lights does not mean it is OK, lamps have a life at the end of it the lamp may still light but it may be drawing too much current and damage the projectors ballest unit in which case a replacement would be needed.

 

qoute from my previous posting about lamps :- the way lamps operate is often not understood you wont of course remember but during the WW2 we used search lights very large reflectors using 2 largs rods between which jumped a spark, this was a huge (bear with me) this produced a huge amount of light to light up aircraft in the sky. Ok now our little projector lamps are very like these, the large search lights had motor driven rods so as they burnt down the where driven together to keep the gap constant (impotant bit).

Our little lamps cant do this so the gap gets bigger, so what the projector does is turn up the voltage in an attempt to maintain brightness over its life as the rods get eaten away (no one asleep yet?) So this has 3 downsides with larger gap the heat goes up as its a bigger spark and funnily enough it is not the heat that burns the LCD and polerising panals it is the UV light that increases exponentialy the third thing is the current goes up from the power supply with the attempt to maintain the brightness (nearly there).

The power and ballest unit the control the lamp become stressed if they work too hard, by over running the lamp as the gap becomes to big so next lamp in will not be as bright due to the powersupply /ballest being stressed the first time (cost to replace ballest depending on unit £250 plus) and the UV may have dimmed by burning the polerising filters (yellowing).

 

So moral of the story DONT DO IT, change your lamp at around 2500 hrs regardless of how bright YOU still think it is and DEFINATLY DONT wait till it doesnt light anymore as this is way too late.

 

A maintained projector should easily last 7 to 8 years.

 

Marc

Projector Engineer

[Marc-Engineer]

Yes i think they may be correct, it sounds like its had a knock and one of the mirrors is way out of alignment, most companies are run as seperate entitys so Epson USA is nothing to do with Epson UK etc etc. so no they cant look at it for you under warrenty, you might like to email Epson USA and as if you can get it repaired over here on their behalf, just maybe.

 

Marc

Projector Engineer