Bulb Exploded .. (1 Viewer)

[Gerald LaFrance]

Well I finally experienced an exploding bulb in my DLP Projector.. Scared me for a asecond was like wth was that.. sounded like a Firecracker going off.. Maybe I should let the room vent bbl!!

 

[Leo Kerr]

The first time is always the worst.


Actually, come to think of it, I've only witnessed it once, and it actually wasn't that bad.


Fortunately it wasn't one of the 1.2kW xenons!


Most of these lights contain a trace of mercury, as well as some thallium-204 (radioactive, poisonous, see Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse, I think,) thorium-232, a small assortment of other heavy metals, and probably a whiff of Kr-85, which is a mildly radioactive beta-emitter. I once had a more detailed "recipe" for the contents, but that's at work, and I haven't seen it in years. Of them, Mercury is the one everyone panics about, although the thallium is likely the most poisonous.

That said, here are the major precautions you should take.


0. Like the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy says, don't panic.

1. unplug the unit.

2. once the unit is cool, open it. Preferably not in a closed room, but doesn't need to be out-of-doors, either.

3. extract the large pieces. Get a sense of how many pieces there are left inside the projector.

4. attempt to extract the remaining pieces. Vacuums, tweezers, lint-free cloths, things like that.

5. make sure that even if you can't get all of the pieces, they (a) aren't likely to get into any motor housings (color wheels, fans, et cetera,) the light path, or into any of the optic or imaging block.

6. install a new lamp.

7. enjoy. Sometimes replacing a lamp can make the projector seem brighter and have better color than ever -- except it's not really "better," it's just back into however it was when you calibrated it when it was new. Those lamps generally color-shift very slowly as they age, and generally loose reds.


Leo

 

[Gerald LaFrance]

Thank you for the info ( I think hehe).. I did NOT panic but immedietely jumped up and unplugged it instinctively so that was good.. I am going to be ordering the bulb tomorrow found a real good replacemnet bulb for a fair price.. I still have yet to replacve my HT Bulb and I had that near 5 years and some moderate viewing even watched HDTV Mostly Sundays Football-- Baseball.. Used to watch alot of HDTV But most of it was all 2012 doom and gloom,, going to be funny when the next day arives or even 2013.. Now mostly just reserve the HDTV for Football.. very little any other HDTV Programming..Well The ?Universe is a good one but havent had the time and keep forgetting to set up the DVR