Projector owners...what to do if power goes out?? (1 Viewer)

[BrettisMckinney]

Hey guys. I was just wondering what you do with your projector if the power goes off during a movie? I've never really thought about it until the power went off the other day, I was thankfull I wasnt using it.

So does everyone use a UPS or whatever they are? Or does it damage it to be turned off without cooling down. I'm scared to turn it on now!

 

[Leo Kerr]

Step 1: Don't panic.

Step 2: Find out how your projector behaves.

Mine, if the power drops when it's on, when the power comes back, it will restart. Not useful if it's 2:am in the morning and you're in bed. So be able to find the real power switch on it to turn it off until you're ready for it to turn back on.

Point 3: If projectors blew up every time the power went out when they were on, there would be no consumer projector market, or lamps would not be $300-$4000/ea (yes, I know of two projectors that require ~$4000 lamps.)

Really, the big difference between a power-drop and you turning the projector off with the remote is the cooling fan. As long as you don't abuse the projector while it's still hot, it'll be fine.

I'd also not recommend a UPS for a projector, unless it was more the flavor of a "power regenerator." Ballasts have enough troubles; feeding them stepped sine waves or trapazoidal waves aren't going to be good for 'em.

Leo

 

[drobbins]

Funny you write this post. I just got finished e-mailing my power company. In the past 12 weeks my computer's UPS has recorded 33 interventions. A few of them have been weather related, but most are 2 second outages. Just long enough to have to reset all our clocks and shut down our projector.
I have a 4805. When the power "blips" it will go into the cooling mode. then once that cycle is finished, it will come back on. I have been considering a UPS for it, but the ceiling mounting does not allow for a good looking solution.

Dave

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

I just use an inexpensive battery back up ... gives me about 5 to 10 minutes of juice.

Makes no difference to the image quality.

Peace of mind ...

Regards

 

[BrettisMckinney]

Ok, so if the power goes off completely, just unplug it and let it sit and itll be ok. Or if the power goes off, then back on again..just leave it off also? I thought that it goes off unexpectingly, then you turn it back on straight away..while its hot, then the globe explodes?

Im running it through a belkin surge protector at the moment.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

If the power goes ... and you have a battery back up ... just go through a normal shut down cycle since all the other equipment is off anyway.

Regards

 

[Joseph Bolus]

A lot depends on the type of projector that you have. If you have a DLP based projector, then simply turn the projector off and leave it off for at least 10 minutes. (30 minutes would be better, but 10 is sufficient.) As long as the bulb has cooled down enough prior to re-start there will be no damage. As stated above, many of the Infocus projectors will not try to re-ignite the lamp following a power failure until the unit has been on, with the fan blowing, for at least two minutes.

Now ... if your projector is LCD based, then you have additional worries. It's quite possible that a power failure after the projector has been on for at least 30 minutes could lead to slight warpage of the LCD panel. If the panel warps then you could have convergence and banding issues. If I owned a LCD based projector, I would definitely have it plugged-in to some sort of UPS battery back-up which would provide enough time for a normal power down sequence.

 

[BrettisMckinney]

THanks guys, so what type of batter backup do they make? I've only ever heard of UPS's and as Leo said, they change the wave. I am using a LCD panel. If power drops, ill just unplug it and leave it. As long as that doesnt ruin it im satisfied. As long as when power drops and comes back on, the projector doesnt try to restart it self straight away..then i have a problem.

I just love my projector

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

I do not see any degradation in the image due to the battery back up so I don't worry about sine waves and stuff. My images are just fine and I don't have to worry about power irregularities any more.

I just use a typical computer battery back up giving about 10 min worth of juice for a typical computer set up including a 17 in crt monitor.

Regards

 

[Allan Jayne]

A UPS is essentially the same thing as a battery backup unit. More precisely a UPS should not deliver a glitch at the moment of loss of input (utility) power.

The battery delivers DC and the unit converts that to AC. Different makes and models may deliver AC with better or worse semblence of a sine wave. The more jaggies there are in the power output waveform, the more likelihood of RF interference to either video or audio or both.

 

[drobbins]

Depends on what mood the wife is in.