Ruby / Qualia lamp, pics added. - Page 8

At 350 hrs with a new lamp a flock of crickets flew into my home theatre room. There is a high pitched squeaking coming from the rear of the Ruby, sounds just like crickets. I reinstalled the original lamp but the crickets were still there. So I believe it's not a lamp related problem. The cricket sound comes 10 seconds after the lamp has been turned on. Might be a broken ventilator or a broken capacitor too.

I've contacted Sony Prime Support about this. Too many problems with my Ruby recently

The cricket issue, is a known issue, and has perhaps to do with dirt. Mine got it after 300 hours and only recently Sony Prime succeeded to get rid of it!

I have put, with the help of a friend a new lamp, and everything is fine. i got a very bright picture now, maybe a bit too much.

I did not suceed to reset the timer. Maybe because it was only on 70 hours, because the Prime, got the carter out.....

My Ruby was at Prime Support some time ago for starting up problems and they also cleaned the machine internally. I'm curious, what did they say that causes the cricket sound excactly?

I have had my Ruby for 3 years now and the bulb just reached 2500 hrs. I tried to reset the lamp timer during the Lakers/Rockets game last night with no success. So I decided to change the bulb this morning. I would like to thank everyone on this forum for your excellent help in helping me put a new bulb in the housing. The hardest part of the job was to resetting the lamp timer. I tried it 3 times with no luck. Let a friend of mine try it and we were good to go.
He just hit the buttons one after the other with no time delay. The PJ was in Standby.

I don't wanna spoil this party, but I made a bulb test. My original bulb has 750 hrs, no "cricket" sound or any other noise. My first replacement bulb has 450 hrs, crickets are very loud and there's also a constant whining sound. My second replacement bulb has 350 hours on it and recently (250 hrs) started to make noise too. No crickets yet, but a constant whining that's quite audible.

So I installed the original bulb again today and there was no extra noise whatsoever. The original bulb is already a bit dim but I'll take silent operation over noisy extra brightness of the replacement units any day.

The replacements look identical to the original Sony lamp. But there is a slight difference maybe in the wattage or voltage handling that makes them chirp after a few hundred hours.

Heat transfer gel applied in all 3 cases.

EDIT: The original bulb has crickets too now...

That's very interesting. I just sent my VW200 into Laredo due to the "cricket" or loud whining. It had already been sent in before. It got pretty loud the last time I had it on so it sounded even worse then the crickets which is what alarmed me. I hope it isn't something like a simple lamp change that would have solved it. It did get gradually worse though. It sounds more like the fan to me. Thanks for your informative post. Maybe if I get it back and it starts up I can try to put in a brand new lamp...

The cricket sound comes from the lamp. Sony says that the only fix is to buy a new lamp as the lamp is not under warranty. Too bad those E-bay replacement bulbs make the crickets even louder... I hope someone posts a fix for this problem as I've invested 700 dollars for two lamps that are useless! I could have bought an official Sony replacement lamp unit for that money...

So if even some of the newer official Sony Lamps are making this noise they must be cutting corners somewhere. I will say mine did sound like crickets at first but the last night I had it on it was a constant more louder noise. Then the next morning while on the phone with them it was a high pitched noise. So hopefully they replace something or just send me a new one.

Did any of you with the "cricket sound" had the "Sony Hard Start Mod Kit - Ref: A1206459A" previously installed ?
Or has anybody who has sent his Ruby to Laredo for a cricket sound problem had it returned with this kit installed, in addition to a new lamp ?

The reason I am asking is that I am wondering if there is not some more fundamental lamp supply design issue in the initial shipments of Rubys, which makes them more susceptible to "marginal" lamps, either supplied directly by Sony or by OEMs.
Personally, I have had the "hard start" problem after only 350h with a Sony original lamp, which likely would never had happened had Prime Support recalled all early Rubys to install the kit...

My Ruby was silent before it had the hard start mod at Prime Support. The crickets came soon after that was done. Could the mod be the reason for the cricket sound? Maybe they increased the power to the lamp and that makes the lamps chirp?

Please report if your Ruby had crickets AFTER the hard start mod!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXLjE-u-A8w

My Ruby is similar.

Mine was similar but the last day or night it expanded to a very high noise that was over powering. It progressively got worse...

I may have a problem with my ears, but I find the sound track of this video less than conclusive : the parasitic noises due to displacement of the video recorder and different capture places are to me greater than the lamp on/off differences.
But you are right, the noise may come from the lamp itself.
Did you get a new one at the same time Sony installed the Hard Start Kit ?

No, they didn't replace the lamp. My Ruby is going to Prime Support again today. I hope they have resolved this cricket problem. I don't believe they will replace the lamp though as it is an accessory and not under warranty.

From Sony Prime Support:

"The GA board has been replaced and the Noise level reduced. Please bear
in mind the VPL-VW100 always makes some noise. The lamp is weak and is
also producing some noise. (The lamp has not been replaced by end-user
recently). The replaced part has nothing to do with lamp or lamp PSU. The lamp is weak and should be replaced by end-user. (advice) This unit presents a operating time of 1560 hours."

My original lamp has 900 hours on it. Sony did not replace the lamp.

I'll receive my Ruby tomorrow, hope the crickets are gone!

My Ruby came home on Thursday. The crickets were still there after Prime Support. That made me very frustrated so I installed my replacement E-Bay bulb again, this time with silver heat compound. Now I've got a silent Ruby again!

I've come to the conclusion that knowing my Ruby is technically faultless after two service trips, the reason for the cricket sound must be the mounting of the bulb into the heatsink. I believe Sony uses wrong kind of thermal paste which stops working (maybe it's not heat resistant enough) after a few hundred hours and the bulb starts to oscillate in high pitch noise.

That silver stuff seems to work. When I turn the Ruby on I hear that annoying whining for a while, it's gone in 5 minutes. After that it stays quiet. The temps stay at about 550. But only time will tell if this is the solution for the cricket sound...

I got my 200 back and luckily they were gone. They did replace a few parts though including putting in a new lamp.

Good for you! It's too bad that Sony Europe doesn't replace the lamps on these units. It's obvious that the lamp is causing the crickets. I'm happy now anyway as that silver thermal compound seems to keep the crickets away :-)

Good thing you found that out.

Yes, maybe I should tell that solution to the cricket sound to Sony as well ;-)

Seriously, it couldn't hurt.

I bet they lurk here too... But I'll mail Sony Prime Support soon!

Awesome.

This was sent to Sony tonight:

Please forward this email to Sony Prime Support, projectors:


I have a fix for the whining sound (cricket sound) that Sony VPL-VW100 and VW200 xenon lamps may develope after a few hundred hours.

I disassembled the lamp housing and heat sink. Then I replaced the white thermal paste on the lamp with silver thermal paste. The previously noisy lamp is now normal and quiet, no need to buy a new lamp.

This is a simple fix, please test it yourself. If it works for you too you can make a lot of Sony high end projector users happy with it!


I'm using this brand heatsink compound: http://www.spirecoolers.com/main/pro...asp?ProdID=458


Yours,

Sami Saarinen
Helsinki, Finland

Perfect!

Yes, if this fixes this issue, WOW, what a find.
Why did you even think of trying this to see if it has an effect?

I tried 3 different thermal compounds and this silver one worked. My Ruby has been silent since!

That is awesome!!!

I must have disassembled and reassembled the lamp module over 20 times now (I can do it blindfolded;-). I've got 3 bulbs including the original. Recently all 3 chirped, not equally loud but still. I tried to apply more of that white compound and it seemed to work but the crickets came back soon. I even tried to assemble the bulb WITHOUT the grease, huge crickets instantly.

So I figured out it must be the heat compound!

As my VW100 has been to Sony Prime Support twice it is in a top notch condition now. The cricket sound comes from the lamp module if the compound loses its thermal conducting capability and maybe dries a bit too. This silver stuff is more grease like and you can apply a thin and even coat very easily.

I too hope that the solution to the cricket sound was this simple!

I'll report later and please somebody try this silver trick too!

You can bet if I get them again I will definitely try it. I plan to find a place over here where I can order the good stuff.