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An issue that seems to be recurring this year is dim projectors. At first, we thought it was probably due to lamp life. However, I discovered that the desktop, file explorer, and doc cam software would all be projected with no dimness. When chrome or IE was open, however, the bottom half of the projected image would be almost black while the top would still be pretty dim too, but readable. If I closed the browser, the issue went away. The projector plugged into a Chromebook had no issues. I feel that the issue has more to do with the PC, a Dell Optiplex 3030 running Windows 10 v1809 enterprise. The PC was updated, and then reimaged this summer Thanks for any feedback!

We have 18 Sanyo XE40s on Promethean Activboards and several are very dim and showing colour shading and patterning. We sent one back under warranty for the severe colouring (I thought the LCD panel had gone) and were told it needed cleaning; £90 plus carriage. We have a very thorough filter cleaning regime here every two weeks where the outsides of the projectors are dusted down with a hand-held vacuum then the filters are removed with the vacuum on to catch any stray dust that may drop in off the filter. Ours is a relatively new school with clean ceilings and tight pile carpets, ie there is very little dust around unlike in our old school. We offered this data to Promethean but they were not interested. We declined the clean and the projector was returned to us in the same state, effectively unusable. We bought a service manual and studied it then proceeded to strip this projector down. The dust was unbelievable inside! We stripped down the light path and cleaned everything and reassembled it. PAT tested it and it was as good as new. We are now on the 16th projector (we are doing them all regardless of condition as they are all 2.5 years old) and they've all had a new lease of life. It took us three hours to do the first one (extra extra careful!) and now our technician has it down to 75 mins start to finish. It is not a difficult job to do; you just need to be methodical, careful and patient. Materials needed are as follows: Antistatic mat/wristband/clip etc Usual screwdrivers/Allen keys/tweezers Half a can of air duster (we get two projectors done per can) Lint-free lens cloths Glass cleaner Test pattern generator (optional - could use some software pattern generator instead) PAT tester Quiet place to work undisturbed Confidence to handle the components safely without dropping them! If there's any interest out there I'd be happy to put together a sequence of events (disassembly/cleaning process/reassembly) for other members with the usual disclaimers, ie this is how we do it and it works for us, but if you break your projector following what we've done then it's down to you Let me know.

Hi Folks I look after the IT resources for a number of schools in West Yorkshire. The original tranche of funding for smartboards back in 2004/05 went to a local supplier with contacts in the LA (suprise suprise) who installed almost exclusively NEC Projectors (VT470's, VT570's etc) at massive cost. Most of these are now on to their second or third lamp, and are increasingly dim despite the purchase of a new lamp - some of these have been sent back to NEC for cleaning, at about £100, and then needed a new 'optical unit' which has cost another £100. This is stupid when contrasted against the cost of a new projector. Unfortunately if you've ordered a lamp for £150 to correct a brightness issue, then told the projector needs a clean, you're already wandered down the garden path of spending and it's hard to stop. I also look after a couple of schools who decided to shop around back in 04/05, and they went for Hitachi ED-X3400's and Epson EMP-S3's. Although they've received the same amount of use, these are still bright and usable wheras the NEC's are rubbish. My questions are: Are we the only ones who've encountered this? What lifespan do people regularly achieve / expect from their projectors? I'm considering planning to replace them every 3 -4 years now, and writing this into the ICT budgets. Did we simply get projectors with a design flaw? Lastly, does anyone reckon this scenario still applies to NEC projectors? I've seen the LP200's cheap with a 3yr hardware & lamp warranty but I don't know if I should trust NEC. Anyone got any good recommendations up to £450 inc VAT (3 yr warranty essential given previous experiences!) Sorry to be so verbose, but I'd like a good consensus to take back to my Headteachers. Your advice is both representative and greatly appreciated :-)