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Projector bulbs - why do they shut off after 2000 hours?

beatle

beatle

Diamond Member
We have a lcd front projector @ work, a Proxima DP6500x. It's nice, but it didn't turn on this morning. I looked up the error code in the manual and it said the bulb needed to be replaced as it has been over 2000 hours. Well, after replacing the bulb and resetting the lamp hour counter, it came back on. Then it occurred to me, "why have a lamp hour counter that automatically shuts the projector off?" It'd make sense to just let the bulb burn out on its own, IMO, especially since the bulbs are over $300 apiece. I've since put the old bulb back in and it works fine.
 
That's a really good question. :Q

Makes you wonder, since the bulbs are 300$ a piece...................
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
So why didn't you just reset the lamp hour counter without replacing it?  😕
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I believe he did do this and is just asking why the lamp hour counter is there to begin with.
 
Maybe because he didn't think to reset before buying a new bulb. He's going to need a new bulb eventually anyway, so it'll come in handy as a spare.
 
Maybe it's like a warning. "You are going to need a new bulb soon, so order it now before this one actually dies." type of thing.
 
Could they be in danger of exploding or something? With studio lights, you have to be careful not to touch the glass with your bare skin because if skin oil gets on there it can heat up when the bulb is on and cause the glass to break. Maybe projector bulbs could blow if the filament just burns out due to age?
 
Because the bulbs can explode, literally.

Resetting the counter usually will let you keep using it, but you do risk it exploding after a while. Thats not the only way they go, but it is possible. They can also just get dimmer and dimmer, giving people an unfair opinion of the projector itself.

That said, the bulb technology is expensive, but not AS expensive as they sell 'em for.
 
They'll explode? Hmm, maybe I should swap the new bulb back in.

I did replace the bulb with a new one as I thought that's all it needed and that the lamp counter would reset itself automatically. When they explode, is there the possibility of damage to the unit?

These bulbs aren't ordinary. They're in a proprietary metal housing with plugs and an additional glass bulb panel. There is no mention of bulbs going out in this manner on Proxima's site.
 
Because the bulbs get dimmer with age. It's not some mass conspiracy to make you buy bulbs you don't need. The bulbs were tested and found to start dimming past QC standards after 200 hours.
 
why are you risking of losing your job for trying to save your company a few pennies? throw away the old bulb and put in a new one!
 
Lamp life is defined as being the 50th percentile point (in other words the average) of all lamps in the supplier's test sample reach 50% brightness. So when a lamp is specified at 2000 lumens of lamp life, it is just expected to reach half its brightness at that point.

Don't know where people are getting the exploding stuff from - after its rated life the lamp is no more prone to exploding than it was before. That manufacturer may just be driving lamp sales or avoiding "my projector is too dim" tech support calls in forcefully shutting it down after 2000 hours.

There's a lot of interesting physics behind projector lamps and how they maintain their lamp life actually but I won't go into it or I'll be here all day. 😛
 
Originally posted by: Mani
Lamp life is defined as being the 50th percentile point (in other words the average) of all lamps in the supplier's test sample reach 50% brightness. So when a lamp is specified at 2000 lumens of lamp life, it is just expected to reach half its brightness at that point.

Don't know where people are getting the exploding stuff from - after its rated life the lamp is no more prone to exploding than it was before. That manufacturer may just be driving lamp sales or avoiding "my projector is too dim" tech support calls in forcefully shutting it down after 2000 hours.

There's a lot of interesting physics behind projector lamps and how they maintain their lamp life actually but I won't go into it or I'll be here all day. 😛
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I was going to say.. It doesen't really make any sense that the bulb would explode simply due to use.. lol
 
Originally posted by: richardycc00000
why are you risking of losing your job for trying to save your company a few pennies? throw away the old bulb and put in a new one!
Click to expand...

I'm not risking losing my job. I'm just performing the work and passing along suggestions. If bulb life is like inkjet life, I say use the bulb until it burns out or is no longer producing adequate life. Just like inkjets which are outrageously expensive and signal replacement prior to actually running out of ink, replacing a bulb prematurely is a waste of money.

Then again, we've got like 6 bulbs... I might as well switch it out again. 😎
 
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