Projector bulb lifetime

[unhappy_mage]

I have an Optoma HD65 that I got last August. Bulbs for it are rated for 3000 hours by the manufacturer. It came with a bulb that lasted for about 1000 over the course of 10 months. I figured, hey, sometimes you get a bad one, the next one will last a lot longer. So I bought a replacement ($330) and put it in. Now this bulb is apparently dead after less than 500 hours of use!

So, is this normal or should I investigate a repair of some sort?

 

[valve1138]

Is the inside of the projector clean, and the filter dust free? Are the fans operating properly?

Also, look up the way you reset the bulb life counter. Sometimes it's not a bad bulb, but the counter is off and a simple reset fixes things.

 

[novadude]

Definitely not normal, you might have power/heat issues.

 

[krupted]

mine just told me to replace it at 2000 hours... hd71... but the bulb still works at 2100hrs. . not as bright as it was for the first 400 hours of use, but it does its job in a dark room. i plan on makin it to 4000 hours with this bulb well, actually i plan on going till june then getting my warranty bulb

 

[Verge]

I have an Optoma HD65 that I got last August. Bulbs for it are rated for 3000 hours by the manufacturer. It came with a bulb that lasted for about 1000 over the course of 10 months. I figured, hey, sometimes you get a bad one, the next one will last a lot longer. So I bought a replacement ($330) and put it in. Now this bulb is apparently dead after less than 500 hours of use!

So, is this normal or should I investigate a repair of some sort?

Yes it's normal for a 500 dollar projector... These digitals are designed to make you buy bulbs, which are huge $$$ for the manufacturers. You can run the bulb for longer than the set indicates, you just risk ruining the ballast or imploding the bulb(which can break other things)... it's a lose lose really.


3,000 hours is a stupid claim if you ask me though, the bulb prolly loses 1/2 it's brightness by then.


It's a bunch of bull @#$@# huh?

 

[krupted]

it really is bullshit. if the bulbs were $100 it would be different, but they only last 2 years at best if you actually use your projector regularly... $100 a year isnt horrible, but like you said after the first 500 hours or so you lose a ton of brightness anyway. projectors are really just a money pit, if you want something permanent then go with the biggest LCD you can afford.

 

[bencorn]

My bulb is well past it's 2000 hour limit. I run it in eco mode so it is rated to hit between 3 and 4000 hours before it goes out. By then I'm going to be ready to upgrade to a different model and sell this one on the cheap.

 

[GreenMonkey]

The bulbs aren't actually huge profit - they are pretty expensive to manufacture. Getting super high brightness and even light distribution/color isn't cheap tech. I'm sure they make some cash on it, but they aren't crazy overpriced, really.

My Optoma HD72 - first bulb started going black at 750 hours - projector would come on, then screen would go black. There's an AVSforum thread about it somewhere. Sent it in for RMA, they put a new lamp driver in it, bulb continued to work until about 1200 hours when it finally bit it.

I think they had a bad run of bulbs that year. The new lamp driver I think just tolerated the out-of-tolerance bulb better.

The 2nd bulb is at 2100 hours / 2? 3? years now and still going fine. I've noticed a bit of wobbly brightness at times though when it powers up. Hopefully it keeps going.

My Infocus X1 bulb was at 3700 hours when I ebayed the projector and got the HD72. Now THAT was a good PJ.

Are you getting an amber bulb failure light? Hear any POP! noises when it stopped working? Or does the projector power up and then go black?

 

[Trepidati0n]

The bulbs aren't actually huge profit - they are pretty expensive to manufacture. Getting super high brightness and even light distribution/color isn't cheap tech. I'm sure they make some cash on it, but they aren't crazy overpriced, really.

I wish more people understood this. There is no "standard bulb" in the PJ industry. Thus every single lamp run by the machine is almost "unique". Considering how much power these things crank out and how pure the light is, i'm surprised they don't break more often or even cost more.

1. Does the bulb carry a heavy markup...yes

2. Is that markup stupidly high...not so much.

 

[Nenu]

They are milking people for bulbs badly.
It would be very easy to develop a ceramic metal halide bulb to go in a projector.
Ceramics are one of the more efficient light sources and generate a very flat light spectrum so are easy to work with.
The size of the lighting element isnt much bigger than the current pj bulbs, 150W (12,000 lumens raw) are less than £20, they last 6,000 to 10,000 hours.
Some ceramics last 20,000 hrs.
edit: forgot to add, that is the half life in hours, the length of time before the bulb will produce 1/2 its output. The bulb should still work and could still be useful on brighter projectors but it will likely run hotter.

I have been watching this for a long long loooong time to see when bulb life starts extending towards 6000 hours and/or prices drop.
This is why I am now looking at the Epson 6100 (TW3500 UK) projector as it has a rated 4,000hr bulb life even on full output, with a 3 year warranty on the projector AND bulb.
Bulb is approx £250 to £300, still costly but the expected life makes it more reasonable.

 

[krupted]

i think super high output LED projectors will change the game. they might cost a bit more up front, but bulb life wont be an issue. that or laser drive, which has the chance to look unbelievably good.

 

[unhappy_mage]

You can run the bulb for longer than the set indicates, you just risk ruining the ballast or imploding the bulb(which can break other things)...

This isn't a case of the projector saying "replace bulb now", it's a case of "nah, not gonna turn it on".

it really is bullshit. if the bulbs were $100 it would be different, but they only last 2 years at best if you actually use your projector regularly... $100 a year isnt horrible, but like you said after the first 500 hours or so you lose a ton of brightness anyway. projectors are really just a money pit, if you want something permanent then go with the biggest LCD you can afford.

LCDs are big expensive pieces of glass to carry around. My projector weighs four pounds.

Also of note: I wasn't really losing brightness, I just lost output all at once.

The bulbs aren't actually huge profit - they are pretty expensive to manufacture. Getting super high brightness and even light distribution/color isn't cheap tech. I'm sure they make some cash on it, but they aren't crazy overpriced, really.

I agree. Last time the bulb cost me $330 to replace, now it's down to $163 from a reputable source.

My Optoma HD72 - first bulb started going black at 750 hours - projector would come on, then screen would go black. There's an AVSforum thread about it somewhere. Sent it in for RMA, they put a new lamp driver in it, bulb continued to work until about 1200 hours when it finally bit it.

Was it in warranty? If not, how much did it cost to have the driver replaced?

Are you getting an amber bulb failure light? Hear any POP! noises when it stopped working? Or does the projector power up and then go black?

Red bulb warning light, no pop, never powers up the bulb. The fan starts low then goes high for a few seconds while it tries to start the bulb, then alternates back and forth three times and gives up.

They are milking people for bulbs badly.
It would be very easy to develop a ceramic metal halide bulb to go in a projector.
Ceramics are one of the more efficient light sources and generate a very flat light spectrum so are easy to work with.

Interesting. I've been considering what it'd be like to cut out the bulb circuitry and add LEDs (Luxeon makes some nice ones), but metal halide bulbs might be more or less a drop-in replacement.

 

[GreenMonkey]

T

Was it in warranty? If not, how much did it cost to have the driver replaced?

It was still in warranty...so it was a freebie. Since the projector would come on for a few seconds, and there was no bulb failure light (just went to blackscreen), symptoms were a little weird.

It sounds like you have a failed bulb, though.

IMO nothing short of a 70"+ plasma would substitute for our projector. And man, would that be a PITA to hang / move / etc.

 

[Verge]

This isn't a case of the projector saying "replace bulb now", it's a case of "nah, not gonna turn it on".

Our mitsubishi does this, but you can reset the timer(at your own risk)

Red bulb warning light, no pop, never powers up the bulb. The fan starts low then goes high for a few seconds while it tries to start the bulb, then alternates back and forth three times and gives up.

Sounds like the ballast is out, unless the manual specifies this as normal behavior for too many hours on the bulb.