Projector, bulb explosions?

[Bez]

Anyone use a projector for their sim-rig? After just over a year of use my projector died catastrophically when the bulb exploded inside the unit. cost me nearly £200 for the new bulb and having all the glass and dust cleaned out. Is this a regular thing ie. every year and does a bulbs life always end in such a dramatic way? would of been sooooooo much cheaper if the bulb had simply stopped working.

 

[MrPix]

I use a PJ, not quite a year old though... will be wearing a racing helmet from now on... I have a SHORT THROW PJ... a few feet away from my head! eeeek!

 

[Bez]

I was sat right under mine, s**t myself when it went, sat in the dark wondering what the hell just happened.

 

[Mark Breslin]

Short answer....NO, it is not normal for a bulb to explode!
I've used my Sanyo projector for 'Home cinema' for the last 8-9 yrs replacing bulbs 3-4 times.
Things that come to mind that can cause an 'explosion' are:

• Just damn unlucky!
• Defective bulb / batch.
• Bulb had been touched by 'sticking fingers'
• Projector been moved while on, or shortly after use.
• Defective component(s) within projector i.e fan failing or regulator playing up on circuit board.

Hopefully your replacement will give you hours of endless racing, but do make sure your new bulb comes with a good warranty. (Too many cheap 'knock-off's about). If that blows, then it could be your projector could be at fault.

 

[Stefan Sparco]

It happened to me several years ago. Watching a movie in my living room with the projector mounted on the ceiling above my head. Suddenly there was a loud bang, the bulb had exploded. No big deal really. I cleaned out the debris in the projector and plugged in a new lamp and everything was fine.

 

[Bez]

I went directly through the optoma service centre to make sure everything was done right, as the bulb had never been removed or tampered with and the projector is situated on a ceiling mount i guess im just unlucky
It says on the invoice that i get a 90 day warranty but im sure i read that the optoma bulbs have a 6 month warranty.

 

[Stefan Sparco]

How many hours did you get out of the lamp ?

Looking at the post I made back in Jan 2008, I only got 699 hours out of my lamp:-
https://www.avforums.com/threads/my-projector-exploded.686248/

 

[Bez]

i think last time i checked it was 2000hrs of the expected 4000, im not 100% on these figures but defo remember it being roughly half way through its expected life, this was a couple of weeks before it failed

edit: after reading that thread i might invest in a ups for it