[R.Thompson]

I have been looking into purchasing one of these to replace my Sony 1272Q CRT projector (I am moving to a place with less available space). Becuase of this, I have been reading all the threads I could find. Nobody seems to state exactly how they turned their unit off. Forgive me if this turns out to be a stupid question.


I am wondering if everyone with "led of death" problems followed the powerdown procedure stated in the Panasonic manual? I have very little experience with LCD projectors but I have always been told that you MUST follow the specific procedure in the manufacturers manual. If not, then the unit will most certainly break... the only question is when.


With this unit, the procedure is as follows

1. Press power button for 0.5 seconds then press the power button twice to turn off power. (the power led will turn orange)

2. Wait until the led indicator turns red and the fan has shut off, then flip the switch to the "O" position.


Is this what everyone with problems was doing prior to breakdown?

 

[akelley]

This procedure is only used if you are turning off the main power - the rocker switch on the back of the unit. This procedure must be followed because when you do a "soft" power down, the fan spins at a high rate until the lamp temperature has cooled down, then the unit goes into stand by mode. You can then "hard" power down by the rocker switch on the back.


Since I do not move my projector, I see no reason in doing a hard power down every time. I don't recall reading in the manual if this is advisable or not, but I don't see why they would make a stand by mode if you were supposed to hard power down every time. In any case, that's what I do - soft power down to stand by mode and that's the way the projector stays until I power back up.


So yeah, if you need to move the projector or want to unplug it, definitely follow the power down procedure - never hard power down from a hot projector (one that is being used). But I suspect that most owners who keep their AE100 stationary or mounted, just use the stand by mode.

 

[jeffreyw]

Also wondering what the percentage of the problems coming from users who have their projector ceiling mounted?


Jeff

100+ hours (knock on wood)

 

[Big Hock]

I followed the power down procedure everytime. just to let you know. 86hrs and red light of death.


-Gene in Colorado Springs

 

[mtm900]

I also followed the power down procedure so that is not what caused my "led of death".


Mike

 

[Steve13]

The power down sequence for any digital projector with a high intensity lamp is to allow the lamp and associated electronics a chance to be properly cooled by the fan before total powering off. Certainly this is good common sense, and recommended for all projectors.


However, I've seen many of my employees use digital projectors for presentations. As soon as their done, they typically pull the power cord (while the lamp is still lit), shove the projector into its carrying case and go on their way. I can only imagine the heat build up in this situation, but we've never had a projector (or lamp) fail prematurely, so I'd be very surprised if the what is causing the problems with the AE100.

 

[pumori]

I follow the recommended procedure on my AE100. That said, in about 5 years of experience with this type of projector at work I've rarely seen them properly cooled before killing power. They are usually used for presentations and people often want to kill the fan noise during followup discussions. I saw one bulb blow on powerup (quite spectacular!) but no other failures.

 

[Mancubus]

For those of you that have experienced the Red LED of death, were you or were you not using step down transformers?

 

[Mr Happy]

I'm with akelley, I leave it in stand by unless I move it. No step down trans either, I don't think one is required.