[Nicoff]

I own a JVC RS1 projector (DILA). About 4 weeks ago, a warning from the projector flashed on the screen indicating that the lamp needed to be replaced. By pressing the "exit" button on the remote, the warning sign goes away.

I ordered a new lamp and now have the replacement lamp on hand.

I am sure that the brightness has degraded but I still enjoy the image being projected on the screen.

When should I replace the lamp? Can I wait until the warning sign no longer goes way or the lamp just stops working? Is there any risk in not replacing the lamp immediately?

Thanks!

 

[mark haflich]

The lamp can explode inside the projector possibly damaging it. You will be surprised how much brighter your picture will be with a new lamp. Try your new lamp out without resetting the lamp meter. If you say Wow, what a difference, leave it in and reset the meter.

 

[Brian Hampton]

I bought a simple (cheap) lux meter from Amazon and I take a reading when I install a new bulb. I change it when it's half it's new brightness.


This happens before the lamp warning and before the bulb's rated life.




Anyways, that's what I do.

 

[MovieGuruJeff]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mark haflich /forum/post/20768540


The lamp can explode inside the projector possibly damaging it. You will be surprised how much brighter your picture will be with a new lamp. Try your new lamp out without resetting the lamp meter. If you say Wow, what a difference, leave it in and reset the meter.

Are you sure about it actually "exploding" inside the projector? The reason I ask is that while it can happen, it is typically VERY RARE it will physically explode. Typically, most bulbs that go out, even in JVC are still in one physical piece when they go bad. What happens most times is you hear a loud "pop" like a large light bulb in a living room lamp or such.


When I asked around about this before, the JVC rep said it was highly unlikely and that very few cases ever reported of a bulb actually exploding. He did not say never or it could not happen, just very rare. Most others I have talked with said basically the same thing. I know of a few that have either JVC or other brands running for years and never seen this, only the loud pop where the bulb blows out, but never comes apart in pieces.


Just wondering how often that's all.

 

[mark haflich]

I am not saying it will explode but there have been more than a few cases reported here on the AV Science forum of bulbs exploding, even relatively new bulbs. Some manufacturers have hour meters that will shut the projector down and not allow operation without resetting the hour meter.

 

[airscapes]

They can only guess at the lamps life, so the guess safe. As the high pressure glass chamber ages it gets weaker.. and will eventually fail. The failure could be in the form of an exploding lamp. If your projector has the warning light on, and you have a new lamp in hand (assuming OEM and not an inexpensive knock off). Check the number of hours on the old lamp and write that on the box. Install the new lamp and enjoy. You have a known good lamp with a known number of hours on it, put it someplace safe. If you have a lamp related issue, you will have a functional lamp on hand.

Some folks just reset the counter and keep going with the old lamp until it fails, if you feel lucky, that is an option.. some people have gotten 2 or 3 times the rated usage our of lamps.. there are a couple of old threads on the subject.

 

[rboster]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Hampton /forum/post/20768832


I bought a simple (cheap) lux meter from Amazon and I take a reading when I install a new bulb. I change it when it's half it's new brightness.


This happens before the lamp warning and before the bulb's rated life.




Anyways, that's what I do.

Brian: Which (model) light meter did you get?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ter+&x=19&y=22

 

[Brian Hampton]

This one...

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Meter-LX...2307962&sr=8-2


Says they are available new for ~$11 from third party sellers (Better Stuff, Lower Price is the sellers name). Mine shipped for about $20 total.


It gives me a quick and easy way to track bulb brightness over time.


Edit- I use it with a 100IRE white patch... I use the free AVS709 test disc.


-Brian

 

[Ronomy]

I am surprised nobody said start using the new bulb ASAP while it is still under warranty! Also the color temp usually drifts way out of cal as the bulbs age so unless you are at least calibrating your offsets the color temp is probably way off.

 

[Nicoff]

Thanks everyone for your sensible suggestions. I have decided that I will install the new lamp now and keep the old one as a spare.

 

[Paulidan]

I've got 959 hours on my FPJ-1 (RS-2 clone) and just last night I noticed some flickering. The image getting brighter and dimmer- sort of like the pumping of a dynamic iris. Is this a sign that the arc in the bulb is weakening? Or might it be a voltage issue?

The image still looks bright enough for my needs, but should I be ready to get a new bulb asap? Or is this potentially something more serious?


I should note those 959 are 'hard' hours- meaning mostly 2-3 hours for every strike of the bulb as opposed to the 5-6 hours per I used on previous pjs. Just can't seem to pull the double and triple features the way I used to.

 

[airscapes]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulidan /forum/post/20773466


I've got 959 hours on my FPJ-1 (RS-2 clone) and just last night I noticed some flickering. The image getting brighter and dimmer- sort of like the pumping of a dynamic iris. Is this a sign that the arc in the bulb is weakening? Or might it be a voltage issue?

The image still looks bright enough for my needs, but should I be ready to get a new bulb asap? Or is this potentially something more serious?


I should note those 959 are 'hard' hours- meaning mostly 2-3 hours for every strike of the bulb as opposed to the 5-6 hours per I used on previous pjs. Just can't seem to pull the double and triple features the way I used to.

If you are using the lamp on low, switch it to high for a week or so. I have read the that flicker happens when the arc take 2 different paths. Putting it on high helps to burn in the spot where the arc starts to prevent the dual paths. After a week or 2 of high, low should work without flicker.

 

[rovingtravler]

I actually have had a bulb "explode" although it was much less of an explosion than it was a crack and break. This was on a Proxima DP9240. The bulb was old and went from not bad to ultra dim i.e. almost nothing on the screen, before I could even shut down the machine I heard a pop , crack, and some other noises. When I opened up the projector there was a fair amount of glass in the bulb chamber area. Luckly this pj was at the end of its life and it did not matter. i never put a new bulb in it so I do not know if it damaged the pj or not. The bulb had a bout 3000 hours on it.

 

[Daniel Hutnicki]

The simple answer is when the bulb dies.


The expensive answer is when the bulb hits 1500 hours. Runco was rating their bulbs at 1500 even though they were using the same bulbs as everyone else. They figure by the time you hit 1500 hours, the bulb has degraded to much


The cheap answer is to wait until you think the picture isnt bright enough. I work with a calibrator that has like 2500 plus hours on a bulb. It image is dim, but the contrast on the image is amazing. Depends on what you want

 

[DanLW]

I'm flirting with danger.


The "Replace Bulb" warning on my Mitsubishi 3100U is now flashing for the SECOND time (after having re-set it the first time, leaving the original lamp in) So I now have 4000+ hours on my bulb, and I'm still running it on low lamp mode.


Just today I was researching getting a new bulb. A couple suppliers such as purelandsupply and myprojector lamps looked to be offering original lamps in housings for around $250. It looked like they were actually selling the Japan made lamps in housings, not the actual OEM assembly. The couple places that did look like they were selling the OEM assembly were $350.


I was thinking of trying the $250 refurb with the Japanese lamp instead of the OEM part, but I'd had to spend that much and have the lamp last for only 500 hours. Especially when an HC4000 is less than $1000 more.


My current plan is to keep using my original bulb and wait to see if any

 

[airscapes]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DanLW /forum/post/20791435


I'm flirting with danger.


The "Replace Bulb" warning on my Mitsubishi 3100U is now flashing for the SECOND time (after having re-set it the first time, leaving the original lamp in) So I now have 4000+ hours on my bulb, and I'm still running it on low lamp mode.


Just today I was researching getting a new bulb. A couple suppliers such as purelandsupply and myprojector lamps looked to be offering original lamps in housings for around $250. It looked like they were actually selling the Japan made lamps in housings, not the actual OEM assembly. The couple places that did look like they were selling the OEM assembly were $350.


I was thinking of trying the $250 refurb with the Japanese lamp instead of the OEM part, but I'd had to spend that much and have the lamp last for only 500 hours. Especially when an HC4000 is less than $1000 more.


My current plan is to keep using my original bulb and wait to see if any

 

[PLB]

Basically there are two types of projector lamps - Japanese and Chinese. Your projector is likely to be Japanese. My advice is to stick with Japanese.


I had bad luck with the original bulb in my Mitsubishi HC1600. It only lasted 500 hours. After that it wouldn't strike. I bought a Pureland bulb on the web. It was a Chinese bulb in a Chinese housing for only $200. It fit and struck but was much dimmer than the original. I bought an original equipment replacement bulb for about $300. It was bright and lasted 3000 hours before I replaced it. The Pureland Chinese bulb went in the drawer as an emergency replacement.


It's time to replace the bulb again. But now I'm going to get a whole new projector. The projector turned itself off when the counter reached 3000 hours. I looked up in the owner's manual how to reset it. Now I'm running on a post-3000 hour bulb and will do so until I see what new projectors are launched this year at Cedia.


The picture still looks great. I'm going to run with the current bulb as long as neccessary. If it dies peacefully, I have two spare bulbs. If it actually explodes (unlikely) so what? Projectors only last so long. Most likely the projector and bulb will work fine and then go into a drawer as an emergency spare.

 

[Paulidan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by airscapes /forum/post/20773626


If you are using the lamp on low, switch it to high for a week or so. I have read the that flicker happens when the arc take 2 different paths. Putting it on high helps to burn in the spot where the arc starts to prevent the dual paths. After a week or 2 of high, low should work without flicker.

Thanks.

I know I've read that solution before- but forgot what exactly it was a fix for. Good to have confirmation on that.


Had the pj on the last couple nights and the light hasn't fluctuated again (yet).

After today I won't be using it again for a few months, since I'll be hitting the road for work. When I get back I'll most likely dig deep and buy a new bulb and put that in and keep the current as a spare.

 

[Ronomy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulidan /forum/post/20793771


Thanks.

I know I've read that solution before- but forgot what exactly it was a fix for. Good to have confirmation on that.


Had the pj on the last couple nights and the light hasn't fluctuated again (yet).

After today I won't be using it again for a few months, since I'll be hitting the road for work. When I get back I'll most likely dig deep and buy a new bulb and put that in and keep the current as a spare.

Flicker around 1000 hours is very common on these bulbs. Use high lamp mode and it should go away. Although I had flicker around 1300 hours on high lamp and when i changed to low lamp it flickered like crazy. Thing is after doing that and going back to high lamp it went away. I had to do that more often to get rid of the flicker and just bought a new bulb. The old one had lost over 50% of its output so it was time.

 

[DanLW]

I had flicker around the 500 hour or so mark. Flicker is like a bulb going through puberty. It's part of growing up. Too bad projector lamps aren't like wine, scotch and cigars. Aside from burning steady, they definitely do not improve with age.