4805 lamp fan failure

Hello everyone,

I've got an InFocus 4805 here that I got on refurb, sale, etc ... obviously way out of warranty at this point. It developed a lot of fan noise and some dust blobs, so I tried the blob guide on here. That did clear up some of the problem, but in the process I think I jarred loose the last bits of holding glue on the light tunnel, and it also developed the "dark border" problem. I was about ready to throw in the towel and live with the border because I'm guessing it's not worth trying to get someone to repair it, but then the lamp fan stopped spinning up too. I think it's been making noises for a while.

I'm not sure what went wrong here, I guess the projector gods hate me

Anyway, I was able to get it apart again and replace the lamp fan with a PC fan. It worked fine, but as many have noted on other forums when asking about replacing the fan for noise, the projector shut down after a few minutes. Probably overheated the lamp, from not enough airflow.

By copious amounts of searching the web I was able to find a place to buy some replacement parts. So I ordered a new fan ($20 .. sheesh InFocus!) and a new light tunnel. I figured I might as well replace that too while I was in there again.

Tonight I took the projector apart and replaced both the fan and the light tunnel. The picture quality is now sterling (yay!!) but the fan is doing exactly the same thing. I have this dread that the real problem is the controller board and not the fan... ;_; That's definitely not worth replacing at this point, not with sub-$1k projectors with reasonable specs out there (I'm no AV maven, we just use it to watch DVDs in the living room).

So I guess I was wondering if anyone had seen this exact problem before and managed to fix it. I've only seen a couple of references to it on the web and none of them had any conclusions about how to take care of it.

Basically the projector has, as I mentioned, a brand new lamp fan installed. The lamp itself has maybe 1500 hours on it. When I turn the projector on, if the lamp spins up at all (or tries) it just kind of makes this "errr .. errr .. errr" noise over and over, like it's trying to spin up but can't. If you start the projector with the casing off, you can see it budge whenever it makes the noise, for a second. If you flick the fan with your finger, it will spin feebly for a few seconds and then give up again.

We have a very dusty house, so I figured it was just that the old fan got too gunked up .. but I really don't think that's the problem now since this is brand new one

If it really is the controller board, I saw one suggestion about rerouting the fan's power to a 12v source in the projector .. I suppose that would work but it's a move of desperation.

Anyone have any ideas? I like this projector and would just as soon fix it rather than having to buy a new one.

Thanks!

Yikes!! I didn't realize the forum stops sending you notification emails after the first one Sorry, didn't mean to abandon this thread.

I ended up doing what several posters suggested, tie the lamp fan's power in with the smaller fan. It does indeed run at a lower speed than it used to (I think) and it's really strange to hear it powering the fans up and down in unison now .. but it works. We've had several multi-hour sessions with it and no meltdowns, lamp failures, or overheating shutdowns. The case feels a little warmer on the outside when I shut it down, but that is totally subjective ... it had been over a month since it died on me.

Either way, at least I got a few more months out of it, maybe with some luck a few more years ... time enough to move "replacement projector buying" into a better financial situation

As far as buying new components -- yes, I did find a place that would sell you basically every major component of the projector. And yes, mainboards are so outrageously priced that you might as well forget about it. ($600+) The other "board" components are not quite that bad, but they are pretty high ($100+). That's why I opted to just splice the power instead of trying to replace the components properly. I'm almost afraid to post the name of the place because I don't know if they're supposed to be doing small resales to private individuals, and I don't want them to get in trouble. But if you ask nicely, they will let you submit an order and pay for it with a credit card.

Oh hey, it won't even let me post the URL since I'm too new ... Anyway, google for Projector Doctor. I actually found the link here in this forum on another post, where someone said they ordered through their corporate account at work.

Good luck!

Edit: I should say, in regards to the parts, too, it helps a lot if you have the InFocus part number ready. Here are a few from their list, prices obviously subject to change (this is just what they sent me):

- 526-0193-00 FAN,60, MMEZL12NM002, 2406KL-04W-B50-T13 $19.00
- 526-0192-00 FAN,80, MMEZL12NH003, D08G-12TS401(MA) $19.00
- 525-0146-00 S/A, COLOR WHEEL KIT, SP-4805 SERVICE $100.00
- 306-0095-01 TUNNEL, SP,TSUNAMI-PLUS HOME $29.00

I suspect the prices are just InFocus' cost plus a bit. You also have to pay for shipping, and it takes about 2-3 weeks, because they have to order the parts from InFocus and then ship them back to you.