I know that there are conversations here that sometimes touch on lamp life but there has never been a real good run on what those who have been using front projectors have managed to get out of their bulb vs. what the "rating" said they should get.

With that, I am at 2250 hours on my BenQ and I am considering just flipping the counter back to 0 when I hit the rated 3000 hours as I have yet to see an apreciatable decrease in brightness. I will need to do this if I want to go past 3000 because BenQ sets their projectors (Like many others) to prevent the pj from turning on if the bulb is "past its time".

I know that there is one major risk but that same risk is present even with a "in hours" bulb. That risk is that the bulb may actually break. This is an experience that I have only ever personally experienced once and with a VERY early NEC LCD unit at work. Beyond that, I have never heard of anyone personally and first hand that has experienced.

Thanks to all that post on this as not even AVSforum has a really tight conversation on bulb/lamp life.

P.S. -- Where did the Poll option go? Would have been nice to have a few items showing how many hours people coaxed out of their bulbs.

Edit: I have added the poll. You can pick more than one option.

I am curious myself but I cannot help you as I have only one thouand hours on my BenQ. The bulb for my is only rated for two thousand hours however.

What model BenQ do you have.

Also to others that have read and are re-reading, my curiosity is for ALL projector models and not just BenQ, so feel free to chime in...

For my Panasonic AE900, the projector is programmed to warn at 3000 hours under normal use. It shuts the projector off after 10 minutes use until it is replaced and the timer re-set.

Likely you could fake it out and keep going, but it's probably a bad idea. The manual says there is a much greater chance of the lamp exploding after 3000 hours.

Yes I agree with rwalker. I think the failure is more unpredictable in that the glass may weaken to a point were it cannot contain the pop when the bulb does go.

My brother's projector bulb died this week.The projector is an Eiki EIP1000T, purchased October/November 2005.
It is usually used for a few hours in the evening.

My brother's projector bulb died this week.

Do you know how many hours it had on it?

Do you know how many hours it had on it?

Not really. I am gussing maybe 2k/3k, maybe even 5K
It has been living in a rather dusty enviroment too, so that doesn't help with bulb longevity.

It has been living in a rather dusty enviroment too, so that doesn't help with bulb longevity.


About that point...

I have a fully temperature and humidity stable environment in my house and dust is very low as the HVAC in the house is fully filtered. This is why I figure I may be able to cheat with my bulb life and drag it well past the 3K hours mark.

I think they should count the number of strikes the bulb makes rather than the number of hours. Or record both. I am sure that the testing they do involves firing up the lamp and leaving it burning which is not a true road test. They would only need 125 days to test the 3000 hour bulbs. Now switching it off, allowing it to cool and firing it back up again for 3 hours would be more realistic. I wonder if anyone reviews bulbs? :)

As a rule don't expect anywhere near the rated bulb life. I had a panasonic 300u which was quite dim at 2000 hours and was close to needing replacement when I sold it (rated at 5000hrs). I now have an Optoma H78 and just replaced a dead bulb at 880hrs (rated at 2000hrs). PJ manufacturers give bulb life under ideal conditions (no on-off cycles). The CSA or some other standards group needs to come up with a legitimate rating for bulbs to making these manufacturers honest.

Well, the first buld I had with my Sony HS-10 got up to about 2950 or so and was still going strong with no noticable dimness of the light output that I could tell.

I changed it in January as the filter needed changing as well. Just decided to do both at the same time.

The new bulb has less than 200 hours on it and going strong.

The HS-10 has been a good projector, but I'm looking forward to upgrading to the Panny AE1000. I'm just not sure when that'll happen.

Norm

I have the Sanyo Z2 and just passed the 4053 hours mark on the original bulb! Of course, using the pj everyday makes it hard to notice if there is any degradation. I wonder how much of a difference it would make with a new bulb?

I'm just waiting for this bulb to die so I can use the excuse to get the Z5!
No point in paying for a bulb that will be worth 50% of the replacement cost of a Z2... and with 1080p pjs coming out, the Z5 should be dropping more soon...

Way to go bulb!

I'm just waiting for this bulb to die so I can use the excuse to get the Z5!
No point in paying for a bulb that will be worth 50% of the replacement cost of a Z2... and with 1080p pjs coming out, the Z5 should be dropping more soon...

Yes. I too am thinking the same way. IF the original bulb in my pj goes to spec, I should be able to make it to the 2007 CEDIA show and with any luck, some serious drops in price and/or some serious increases in quality and features.

My X1 has over 400 hours. I bought it new several years ago. For the past few months, I have noticed some yellowish brown spots on the left side. It's only noticeable when white or light colours are displayed. I have been cleaning the filters every 150-200 hours.

If the lamp ever goes black, I will likely get a new front projector....hopefully the 1080p projectors will be well priced.

Dave

It could be caused by the coating on the reflector peeling. See this thread (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=36180) for a picture of my X1.

Lamp went last night with a pop, started up fine
and ran for about an hour "pop". Wife and I
both knew what it was. The lamp had about
1850 hours and started every day for about
13 months.
Luckily I purchased a spare on sale at Eastporters
in Jan 07.
Time to rest counter

If you have a lamp that has lasted more than about 2000hrs(suggested by most manufacturers) you better make sure that you are able to still get that bulb or you will be spending more money to purchase a new projo. I do know of some bulbs that once they get over that age and haven't been replaced there is a chance of them exploding and damaging the projector. This happens from the glass getting weak over time from the constant heating and cooling. I would suggest to everyone that has a projo to just open up the manual and see what the life expectancy is and then get into the menu of the projector to see how many hrs are on your lamp. If it is getting close to that time I would suggest getting a replacement and changing it. Also if you turn you projector on and off quite a bit your bulbs life decreases, as you are putting more stress on it from heating up and cooling down.

... PJ manufacturers give bulb life under ideal conditions (no on-off cycles)...

I have always wondered what the on/off is doing to the bulb. The first bulb in our AE500 lasted about 1600 hrs (rated 5000 hrs). One day we noticed it wasn't as bright and the next day it was unwatchable.

Typically, we will turn off the projector if we don't expect to be watching it again within a half hour. Maybe it should be much longer to save the on/off cycles.

What does everyone else doing?

I have used my Panosonic Aeu900 bulb for over 4990 hrs. on a low setting.
After 2000 hrs. it dimmed a little but was still ok. the projector said replace bulb,I reset the bulb counter turned the projector back on and it was back to its original brightness. the unit has been turned on and off thousands of times. Iwill use this bulb till it fails.