Projector bulb life

Dear all,

I have just read on another thread that I can more than likely expect to obtain only a fraction of my projector's bulb's 3000 hour rated life. I was aware that there was always the possibility of premature bulb failure and had conservatively assumed that I would get 2000 hours out of my own. However, after reading the thread in question, I now wonder whether I was actually unconservative in my original estimation.

Can you help out here by posting the rated hourly life of your own projector's bulb along with the hourly life you actually got? In this way, we can all benefit by obtaining some kind of average bulb life expectancy.

Regards

Panasonic PT-L300U - Low Power Mode
Rated: 5,000 hours
Actual: 1,380 hours

Room: Open family room, ceiling mounted away from heating vents, etc. Well ventilated location w/regular cleaning of the air filter.

Current bulb: 1,000 hours(ish) with no sign of issues.

Had a DLP RPTV, 6000 Hr rating for bulb, actual (1)5000hrs, (2)1800hrs. At 400 dollars a piece, I said screw it, and got a plasma.

Yamaha Dpx-1 rated 1,000 hours got a maxed out 2,600 hours. Second bulb was 1,800 hours, third bulb is at 1,000 hours at the moment.
Please do not believe all that you read. I know of the posts your talking about, and for some reason I am always wrong and the other person is always right. Go figure....

My current projectors are at 1,000 hours on 1 bulb with a rating of 3,000
The other is at 980 with a rating of 3,000

Oh BTW, if you are looking for a manufacture that will warranty their bulbs for at least 1,000 hours or 1 year. Just look to Mitsubishi, they do this....

Good work guys . Keep them coming everyone else.

As an aside, how do the bulbs actually 'go'? I gather that they lose brightness over their life, but do they finally 'blow' like a regular light bulb?

Regards

I have not had one blow, usually the projector will not allow for this to happen. With all the carbon build-up, the bulb will start to get hot quick, and projector will shut down before bulb explodes. They are built to do this, but surely someones projector will have blown on them.

i had a hitachi progector at work that we used for presentations, no idea on the bulb life, but the bulb did blow, there were little glass shards everywhere in the bulb housing. made a loud pop and a bright flash of light at the same time

Mine got dimmer and dimmer towards the end. It was getting outrageously difficult to view even in 100% darkness, then I was adjusting the brightness up to try and compensate and 'POP!' went the bulb. Just like a normal light except a bit louder.

I pulled the projector down and the bulb did break, but it was inside the lamp assembly and no glass went anywhere that I could even touch it. Slapped the new lamp in and within 15 minutes I was reminded again of how incredible a projector can actually look.

brian32672 said:

Yamaha Dpx-1 rated 1,000 hours got a maxed out 2,600 hours. Second bulb was 1,800 hours, third bulb is at 1,000 hours at the moment.
Please do not believe all that you read. I know of the posts your talking about, and for some reason I am always wrong and the other person is always right. Go figure....

My current projectors are at 1,000 hours on 1 bulb with a rating of 3,000
The other is at 980 with a rating of 3,000

Click to expand...

Is there an hour meter in the projector? Or, how is it estimated if not?

Yes there is a hour meter in the projector. It will show on screen display. When you change the bulb you can reset it back to zero.

Power outage

One thing to watch out for. During California's infamous blackouts a couple years back, my lamp had it's life seriously cut down. A blackout turned off the projector and of course it could not cool down the bulb with the fan. The life went quickly downhill and I had to buy a $300 replacement bulb a couple weeks later.

So, if you're in an area with bad power, you may want to consider a cheap UPS to give you some time to turn off the projector. It may also smooth out any power spikes.

With my panny AE-100, I had 2,800 hrs on it recently when I decided to replace it because it was getting dim and had obvious flaws internally. It had a 5,000 hr rating on low power which is where it spent most of it's time. I probably could have gotten another 1,000 hrs but there were other reasons I replaced the bulb ahead of time.

I agree a UPS is not a bad idea at all. You would not need a 2,000 ups with 10Kva, just one for long enough to shut PJ down, not to run it for a 2 hour movie. It would certainly pay for itself within 2 power outages......

Higher altitudes & premature bulb life?

optima projector installed in Pueblo CO bar & grill, and continues to blow bulbs with less then 800 hrs. After asking a ton of questions and reading everything I can get my hands on, is there any truth to the higher altitudes having such effects on equipment?

There are, at the time of writing, 8405 members of Audioholics.com, yet there are only 6 people, it seems, with projectors that have gone through one or more bulbs.

Rubbish!

Come on folks! Surely there must be more of you out there? Our findings so far don't count for a statistical Castlemane XXXX!

To reiterate; state the rated hourly life of your own projector's bulb along with the hourly life you actually got before it blew.

Regards

BMXTRIX said:

Mine got dimmer and dimmer towards the end. It was getting outrageously difficult to view even in 100% darkness...

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I can now relate to this. A little before Christmas I noticed my projector didn't seem as bright. It's gone down hill rapidly since then and I've had to turn my brightness control up to 100% just to compensate, and even then the picture is now at a point where it's almost a right-off.

Rated bulb life=3000 hours

(As good as) actual bulb life= 438 hours

Does anybody happen to know; can bulbs be reconditioned (seeing as I've got less than one sixth of the rated life), or am I as well just to go ahead and order a full replacement?

Infocus X1 still on the original bulb
Rated : 4000hr
Used so far : 1800hr and haven't noticed any dimming

cheers