[oversteer]

I recently purchased a LP350 (in December) and while watching TV tonight, the bulb "ruptured" causing an exploding glass sound. Needless to say the projector is dead but i want to hand it to InFocus for offering to ship a replacement out immediately and take care of the problem. Its great to see good customer service.


Has anyone else experienced a ruptured bulb and is this a fluke or has something been re-engineered?


Thanks InFocus,

Chet

 

[oversteer]

OOps. I searched the wrong forum before posting this topic so I can see now that others have experienced this problem. Sorry for the duplicate topic.

 

[mhamel]

Oversteer,


How many hours (approximately) were on your projector when this happened? You seem to be the third person now who has had a bulb explode in what I am assuming is a number of hours significantly shorter than the projected bulb life.


-Mike

 

[oversteer]

I had about 500 hours or so on the bulb. The projector had been on for about 30 minutes when the bulb exploded without warning.

 

[plasmadis]

Hello. Same thing happened to me after using my LP340 for about two months, the bulb exploded. In Focus was great and sent me a replacement the next day. I think the main reason this happened might be that the projector just gets too hot. The top of it feels like it's going to burn up, and even the wall behind the it is hot from the exhaust. This prompted me to get two 9 cm computer case fans, wire them together, and stick them behind the projector. They force quite a bit more air through the front of the projector and out the back. It is now cool to the touch. Even the exhaust is cool. It looks like it really needed more fans.


I think what's happening with all these exploding bulbs is that the projector really wasn't engineered for such rigorous use, hence the single fan it only has inside. Myself and many others are using the projector constantly as a computer monitor, television, and as part of a home theater setup. When designing it, In Focus probably only had in mind the corporate presenter that uses the projector occasionally.


Given the popularity of this projector and the use it's getting, I wish some cool aftermarket products would become available, such as some slick looking clip-on heatsinks and fans.


plasmadis
http://home.pacbell.net/plasmadi/projector


(Heh, don't laugh at the boombox. I have since replaced it with a nice little Onkyo mini system.)

 

[mhamel]

Plasmadis,


How many hours are on your bulb since the addition of fans?


-Mike

 

[GarfGib]

A very similar thing happened to me. My LP350 had less than 100 hours. One day, after being on for about 20 minutes, it exploded.

InFocus customer service was very helpful. They shipped my replacement unit the day after they received my returned unit. They shipped it overnight using Fedex so my downtime was only about a week.

 

[plasmadis]

Since I've added the fans, I've put about 50 hours on the bulb. It makes me feel a lot better knowing they're there.


plasmadis
http://home.pacbell.net/plasmadi/projector

 

[S2K]

Quote:

Originally posted by jrausch: Same experience here - my bulb blew after about 400 hours. BoxLight replaced it free of charge (along with installing the light leakage fix). Does seem like a disturbing pattern however. Seems like a lot of defective bulbs... jon

Jon, what are your thoughts on the light leakage fix? I have been debating whether it is worth sending it in for that as I can bury a lot of the border in the frame of my screen. What's your experience both before and after? Thanks!


[This message has been edited by S2K (edited 03-13-2001).]

 

[mhamel]

Grumpy,


Hmm.. Both of the units I had also flickered like that, though it would generally go away without having to be turned off. How many hours were on your projector when the bulb went?


-Mike


[This message has been edited by mhamel (edited 03-14-2001).]

 

[Thumper]

Guys,


Just a thought that probably has been discussed before. Since environmental conditions at ceiling level are hard to predict due to airhanding drafts, drafts created by projector fans, etc, I found it good practice in all ceiling & custom installs to use a thermometer at the projector's intake grille to see what it breathes. I don't like to see above 95 degrees F for PJ supply air but it seems many installations easily exceed that. I would look at the environmental specs of the manufacturer, derate it slightly for better margin and compare to actual intake readings. We cannot always depend on a manufacturer's internal overtemp sensors to help as these are designed to sense catastrophic problems.


Thumper

 

[mhamel]

Thumper,


I hadn't thought of checking the intake temperature. I will do that and see where it reads once I get everything back together and back up on the ceiling.


-Mike

 

[mhamel]

Grumpy,


I'll let you know... I ordered two 80mm Silencer case fans from www.pcpowerandcooling.com, and I will hook those up as soon as they come in. They don't draw a huge amount of air, but it should be an improvement over what the flow is now without much of a noise increase.


Until they do come in, I'm goign to try to keep my projector use fairly short, so that if heat is the issue that's causing this, I (hopefully) won't cause undue damage to the new bulb before I get the additional cooling installed.


-Mike

 

[mhamel]

Just an update...


I finally got my fans, and have managed to leave the projector un-mounted and turned off the entire time so that I can start this fresh and keep it cool right from the start. What started as a simple project turned into something slighty more complex (don't they all??


I was originally just going to get a 12v plug-in wall transformer, put a switch on it and run it up to the fans which would mount behind the projector... but then, in the course of having a conversation with my fiance which went something like...


"Ok... now I'm going to be putting some fans up on the projector, and you can NEVER EVER forget to turn them on when you turn the projector on, since they block air when they're off."


"What happens if I forget?"


"At the very least, the bulb will blow out if it

gets too hot."


"Hmm. What happens if I remember to turn them on

and the bulb still blows out? Can't you do something

to make them both turn on at once?"


<insert bad 70's action movie music here>


So what I decided to do is kill two birds with one stone. I picked some 3 conductor power cable, a plug, a female AC power connector, a multi-voltage transformer, a switch, a couple of electronic project boxes, some split loom, plexiglas, weatherstripping, Dremel bits, and a vast assortment of various things that could be used to rig up or make a mount for this thing.


What I ended up with is a new power cord with a heavy duty in-line switch, that runs up to a junction box mounted near the projector on the ceiling. The junction box contains the transformer and outputs 120VAC for the projector and 6-12VDC (switchable 6-9-12) for the fans.


I cut a piece of Plexiglas, including 3" cutouts to fit the fans, with 1/2" lip around the entire edge when the two fans are mounted side-by-side. The fans mount to the back of the plexiglas, drawing air out through it. On the front, I've got an edging of 3/8" thick x 1/2" wide weatherstripping (which forms a reasonably good seal around the projector to draw out as much air as possible).


As for the mounting, I took two straight brass friction lid supports (picture a tongue depressor with a groove cut down the center, mounted to a pivot at one end with an L-bracket) I mounted L-brackets to the back of the fan assembly giving a nice right-angle mount to attach to the lid supports. The other end of the lid support screws into the mounting board that the projector bracket mounts to, so that I can pivot the fans to adjust to the projector angle and then back out of the way again whenenver I want to un-mount it.


I don't know if it's going to help the lamp issue yet or not, but so far it's passed the fiance test... she thinks it's "Cool" and looks like it "Belongs There" (which is High Praise considering how much she cringes whenever I put some new electronic device in the den).


So now there isn't much else to do but wait and see what happens as I get some hours on this thing. Here's hoping I don't have to post about it blowing up again.


-Mike

 

[mhamel]

Jeff,


My projector isn't running cool to the touch, but it isn't hot, either... so, hopefully it is cool enough.


I'm using "Silencer" fans from PC Power & Cooling ( www.pcpowerandcooling.com ). Both fans are 80mm.


I don't have a digital camera, but I'll try to borrow one this weekend to take some pictures.


-Mike

 

[mhamel]

Jeff,


Check out http://www.richat.com/~mhamel/pfans/index.html


There are a bunch of pictures on there of the fans and how they are set up. I apologize for the image quality... the lighting in the room wasn't very good and the camera either picked up dark images with no flash or blown-out images using the flash.


-Mike

 

[sonny b]

Guys,


I'm a bit concerned about this ruptured bulb problem. It seems a lot of forum members are starting to experience it. I'm seriously considering an LP340...in fact, I've got a demo coming up tomorrow. I'll pop this question to the dealer but I doubt if they've experienced this problem since most LP340s/350s they sell are to business clients...very-very few to HT enthusiasts.


Anyway, I know we're all assuming that it's a ventilation or overheating problem...and it probably is. But has In Focus given an official explanation for this "phenomenon"? What reason did they give when you guys turned in your units for repair/replacement? Do they acknowledge this to be an inherent defect on some units or just something plainly coincidental?

 

[Thumper]

Hey guys,


Why don't you get a survey going. Find out what your intake air temperature is, what the average line voltage is, inverted vs. non-inverted mounting, lamp code #, accidential/intentional power interruption while hot, etc. It might shed some light on the problem.


Thumper

 

[ttomj]

I actually emailed InFocus about this at [email protected] They have ignored my email. Maybe I used the wrong email address, I have heard nothing but good about InFocus service. Here is a copy of the email I sent that was ignored:


Sent March 16:


Subject: Exploding Lamp, Policy


I am, with great regret, holding off purchasing an LP350 because of the numerous reports of lamps exploding as reported in the forum at www.avsforum.com. Does InFocus acknowledge this problem and have a policy that will allow me to purchase a unit without undue concern? The application is home theater and I will not have any where near the 300-500 hours at which explosion typically occurs before the 3 month lamp warranty runs out.


For your market research:


Main reasons for picking LP350:

High lumens

Long lamp life

Lower cost bulb (these three too good to be true?)

DVI

DLP

Price

<<<< end of email


Maybe if enough of us email them they will take a stand on this. On the other hand, I really have a good impression of InFocus from what has been written here and would not want to generate any unnecessary ill will. I wish they would just answer my email. It would be fine to just hear they are looking into it and will make modifications if necessary, and that in the mean while they will be very liberal on the lamp warranty. But no response does not enhance confidence. I am probably not going to buy an LP350 given that fact.



[This message has been edited by ttomj (edited 03-25-2001).]

 

[sonny b]

We need to find the right In Focus person who could answer this question. I recently sent an email to In Focus when I was inquiring about their dealers in Saudi Arabia. I'll try to send him an email about this problem. He's probably from Sales but he might be able direct me to the right technical person for this query. I'll also give them a link to this thread for their reference.


- Sonny