How long do the lcd projector bubls last?

November 18, 2006 1:58 PM

In LCD Projectors, how accurate are manufacturer's claims as to the lamp life?

I have a chance to buy a 3 year old LCD projector. The claimed life on the bulb is 3000 hours. The projector has just over 500 hours on it. Can I expect another year of moderate usage (say another 500 hours)?

Thanks!

posted by aeighty to Technology (10 answers total)

I bought an Infocus LP290 with ~200 hours on the bulb. I have owned it about 3 years now, and it registers 1420 hours on it.

For whatever that is worth. I would assume the rated life is somewhat relative to the actual life :~).
posted by SirStan at 2:03 PM on November 18, 2006

The lamp life is inversely proportional to how often you turn it off and on.

A projector bulb that is on 24/7 will vastly out-last the projected lifetime.

One that is turned off several times a day will probably not reach the estimate.
posted by Mwongozi at 2:14 PM on November 18, 2006

You can usually reset the bulb lifetime counter without actually changing the bulb, so you'd better check there's a good backstory to that 500 hours.

Also, some bulbs fail a long time before their rated life (which is an average), so you can't expect anything for certain.
posted by cillit bang at 2:22 PM on November 18, 2006

Bulb life depends entirely on usage and environment so there is really no way to know for sure.

I've gone through to two used projectors in the past five years and via eBay I've stocked up on two extra bulbs just in case. I'd factor the cost of a replacement bulb in any used projector purchase (I also wouldn't invest in a new projector without first checking on bulb prices.) For my sharp projector new bulbs (when you can find them) run $150-$200 on eBay - twice that if you buy from a retail store - so it's not chump change.
posted by wfrgms at 2:41 PM on November 18, 2006

Part of what I do for a living is sell these things and I've generally found the rated lamp life of projector bulbs to be accurate. cillit bang does bring up a good point though - it is incredibly easy to reset the lamp counter on a projector so there is no real surefire way of knowing exactly how much lamp life is left on the bulb besides hoping you are buying from a reputable seller (or at least one who doesn't know the lamp resetting procedure).
posted by The Gooch at 2:43 PM on November 18, 2006

My guess is that the standard deviation here is enormous, so whatever expectation the manufacturers are quoting is bound to be of limited usefulness. For what it's worth, my LCD projector's bulb has several times its rated life on it right now and its running fine. As far as I know, projector bulb life isn't one of those things like laptop battery life that is wildly over-promised by all the manufacturers.
posted by jeb at 6:00 PM on November 18, 2006

For what it's worth, my LCD projector's bulb has several times its rated life on it right now and its running fine

You should check your manual to see whether this is safe, because old bulbs die by exploding, and my projector will shut itself off when it reaches the rated life.

(Also, the number is meant to be the time it takes to reach 50% brightness, not when it stops working)
posted by cillit bang at 6:21 PM on November 18, 2006

You should check your manual to see whether this is safe, because old bulbs die by exploding, and my projector will shut itself off when it reaches the rated life.

That's bouncing off my internal scam-filter. Are you sure that isn't a recommendation that's selfishly promoted by bulb-manufacturers? (Lather, rinse, repeat?)

(Also, the number is meant to be the time it takes to reach 50% brightness, not when it stops working)

How do they resist the temptation to call it half-life, then?
posted by rokusan at 7:48 PM on November 18, 2006

See here. They actually say it only happens rarely, but "sometimes the lamp will explode due to manufacturing defects [...] The screens on the lamp housing are there to protect the end user and the projector's internals from glass shards".

Quite a few pages here mention half life.
posted by cillit bang at 8:27 PM on November 18, 2006

old bulbs die by exploding

This has happened to me. I was watching Shaun of the Dead when the bulb blew. Scared the shit out of me. In the darkness I though I had been shot. Nope, just the projector bulb EXPLODING. I had to open it up and blow out all the glass shards.

I still love my projector, but after malfunctions, exploding bulbs and the high cost of replacements, I'm starting to warm to the simple pleasures of a normal fricking television.
posted by wfrgms at 10:47 PM on November 18, 2006