killing power instead of turning off

Most projector's go through a cool down period when you turn it off. The fan spins at high speed for half a minute or so before it shuts down.


Turning off the power without going through this procedure is supposed to significantly reduce the life of your lamp.

I would not recommend using a hard switch to power the projector off. Most projectors go into a standby mode when you power them off with the Power button (not the switch). "growler" is right. Shutting off the hard switch without letting it cool the lamp will cause the lamp to burn out very quickly.


The slight trickle of current used in standby mode costs literally pennies per month, comparable to (or less than) a tube tv. Some Optoma projectors continue to spin the fan at a very low speed while in standby mode. I know a few people that installed H55's when they first came out (3 or 4 years ago?) and the fans have not died, despite spinning constantly since then.

I have been using a soft power off, then after the fan shuts off, I turn it off manually. I tried leaving it off using the soft power off and when I turned it back on the next day it came up with a bunch of white lines running horizontally. I ended up powering it off and back on to fix the problem, so I decided it might be best to power it off from now on (using the soft power off first though). So would it be ok to power it off using the remote, and after the fan stops running turn it off via surge protector?

When I wired in my ceiling plug for my H57 projector, I put a lightswitch in the circuit to cut the power after cooldown.


I feel this serves three purposes;

1) prevents the fan from running at idle and sucking in dust and wasting electricity(as little as it may be)

2) Should help eliminate power surge damage, at least when the projector is not running. I plan on using a plug-in type surge projector in the ceiling plug to help protect when the projectors running.

3) Helps protect against accidental remote power-ups, especially with the lens-cap on (thinking of kids here)

i guess it depends on your projector but my benq goes thru a 120s cool down then into standby... i never hear the fan run. i hard power off very rarely, only when im moving the projector or leaving town for a few days. ive seen no problems with jsut the soft off and im sure most people do the same.

What make and model of projector, jasonbee? I'd suggest getting it fixed while it's under warranty.

Its a new infocus 4805, I will try and replicate the problem and get it fixed. Thanks for the responses