Over the past week, my projector has turned itself off while in use with the Lamp/Cover light repeating three times. According to the manual, it's either time to replace the lamp or an overheating issue. As the lamp appears fine, I'm guessing it's an overheating issue. I'm wondering if a fan in the projector is shot. If another owner with the HW10 could put the Cooling Setting to High and tell me where they feel good exhaust, I would appreciate it. I'm only feeling it at the front of the projector on the "Full HD 1080" logo side. I'm not sure if there is more than one fan in the projector, but on the other side of the projector (the side with the Sony logo), I can hear more of a whine from what sounds like a fan when I put my ear to the vents.

My projector is at about the 1120 hour mark. The temperature in my apartment hasn't changed much so that wouldn't explain my problem, and the projector is shelf-mounted with plenty of clearance on all sides. Things I have already tried are: (1) cleaning the air filter; (2) reseating the lamp; (3) plugging the projector directly into the wall rather than into the UPS. None of these have solved the problem.

For now, I'm running the projector on the High Cooling Setting and the problem hasn't resurfaced. That said, I don't know why a fully-operational unit in my environment would need to run on High. As such, I intend to get warranty service, but would like to figure out what the problem is before calling customer service.

There probably aren't too many HW10 owners that have more hours on their projector than me. Let's hope my issue is a one-off thing rather than a general longevity issue.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sounds like a Lamp. Just because the lamp looks ok doesn't mean that it is and at 1120 yea time to change the lamp.

I second the lamp. Though the lamp could still initially fire up, it doesn't mean it isn't failing.

Jason,

The next question is when should one replace a lamp? Wait until the projector is overheating. By then perhaps the "optical block" has been damaged. I understand as the lamp ages the arc length widens. The lamp regulator tries to maintain the same current but the votlage continues to increase to maintain the current. Since power is voltage x current the lamp gets hotter as it ages. I would think Sony or other projector supplies would monitor the voltage and give a warning to replace the lamp before an over temperature warning. Perhaps not.

Charles

Over the past week, my projector has turned itself off while in use with the Lamp/Cover light repeating three times. According to the manual, it's either time to replace the lamp or an overheating issue. As the lamp appears fine, I'm guessing it's an overheating issue. I'm wondering if a fan in the projector is shot. If another owner with the HW10 could put the Cooling Setting to High and tell me where they feel good exhaust, I would appreciate it. I'm only feeling it at the front of the projector on the "Full HD 1080" logo side. I'm not sure if there is more than one fan in the projector, but on the other side of the projector (the side with the Sony logo), I can hear more of a whine from what sounds like a fan when I put my ear to the vents.

My projector is at about the 1120 hour mark. The temperature in my apartment hasn't changed much so that wouldn't explain my problem, and the projector is shelf-mounted with plenty of clearance on all sides. Things I have already tried are: (1) cleaning the air filter; (2) reseating the lamp; (3) plugging the projector directly into the wall rather than into the UPS. None of these have solved the problem.

For now, I'm running the projector on the High Cooling Setting and the problem hasn't resurfaced. That said, I don't know why a fully-operational unit in my environment would need to run on High. As such, I intend to get warranty service, but would like to figure out what the problem is before calling customer service.

There probably aren't too many HW10 owners that have more hours on their projector than me. Let's hope my issue is a one-off thing rather than a general longevity issue.

Thanks in advance for your help.
It could be a failed fan. You can either replace the bulb and see if that stops the overheating error indication at the normal fan speed or take it into a service center and have the fan checked. I had the same issue 3 years ago. The fan sound was quieter than usual and I got an over heat waring on the screen. I ended up replacing the projector because of its age. I have seen VPL-VW50 or 60 projector with very dim pictures in demo rooms without and error or turn offs.

I wonder if you need to clean your filter...

Jason,

The next question is when should one replace a lamp? Wait until the projector is overheating. By then perhaps the "optical block" has been damaged. I understand as the lamp ages the arc length widens. The lamp regulator tries to maintain the same current but the votlage continues to increase to maintain the current. Since power is voltage x current the lamp gets hotter as it ages. I would think Sony or other projector supplies would monitor the voltage and give a warning to replace the lamp before an over temperature warning. Perhaps not.

Charles

Well it's a gamble. He could replace it now, and see if that fixes the problem. If so, all set. If not, he'll have to ultimately send it to Sony. But, he'd then have a spare lamp on hand as well. Sending it to Sony first would make the answer known for sure, but also cause one to be without for a couple/few weeks.

Thanks for the responses. SonyHome, I did clean the air filter, but the problem persisted.

I still haven't gotten any responses from an HW10 owner as to airflow. In particular, whether air exhausts from both sides of the front of the projector or just from the left side (when facing the projector).

I did run the projector for the last couple nights with the High Cooling Setting with no issues until a few minutes ago. I could try running it on the lower lamp setting with high cooling to see if it still overheats, but that's a picture that I would not be happy with. Since there is plenty of time left on the warranty, based on Chuck's and Jason's comments, I'll try a replacement lamp and see if that fixes the problem. Of course, if I get more info to make me believe that I have a bad fan, I'd just send the projector in for service.

Thanks again to everyone.

Thanks for the responses. SonyHome, I did clean the air filter, but the problem persisted.

I still haven't gotten any responses from an HW10 owner as to airflow. In particular, whether air exhausts from both sides of the front of the projector or just from the left side (when facing the projector).

I did run the projector for the last couple nights with the High Cooling Setting with no issues until a few minutes ago. I could try running it on the lower lamp setting with high cooling to see if it still overheats, but that's a picture that I would not be happy with. Since there is plenty of time left on the warranty, based on Chuck's and Jason's comments, I'll try a replacement lamp and see if that fixes the problem. Of course, if I get more info to make me believe that I have a bad fan, I'd just send the projector in for service.

Thanks again to everyone.
I just wouldn't recommend running the projector at a high fan speed if not at high altitude to stop an error code. If one fan is not functioning correctly it could still cause overheating in one area and damage.

Charles

Basically don't let this go...figure out the problem asap to avoid potential damage.

Thanks for the responses. SonyHome, I did clean the air filter, but the problem persisted.

I still haven't gotten any responses from an HW10 owner as to airflow. In particular, whether air exhausts from both sides of the front of the projector or just from the left side (when facing the projector).

I did run the projector for the last couple nights with the High Cooling Setting with no issues until a few minutes ago. I could try running it on the lower lamp setting with high cooling to see if it still overheats, but that's a picture that I would not be happy with. Since there is plenty of time left on the warranty, based on Chuck's and Jason's comments, I'll try a replacement lamp and see if that fixes the problem. Of course, if I get more info to make me believe that I have a bad fan, I'd just send the projector in for service.

Thanks again to everyone.

Air flows out from the left side of the front of the projector (when you are facing it). The right side of the front is the air intake.