Digital projectors, UPS, and bulbs (1 Viewer)

[Neil Joseph]

Let me start off by asking this question to those of us that have digital projectors.... How many of us are using UPS to protect our bulbs, in the event of a loss of power in the home, so that they do not become damaged?

A few years ago, with my first projector, I found out the hard way that members of my family were powering off the projector (a Sharpvision XVZ1U) with the power "kill" switch rather than the regular on-off switch. This would immediately remove power from the projector including the bulb cooling fan. I lost 2 bulbs due to explosion and on one occasion, the exploding bulb took out a circuit board as well. I was very lucky to have Sharp cover the costs. Needless to say, I taped over that switch from that point on.

I never have had a UPS solution in place and I was wondering how many of us do, and if not, how many of us are aware of the potential danger to our projectors and their bulbs.

Just a heads up but I would not mind some discussion ont he topic.

 

[Dan_Isaacs]

I don't have a FP. But I stick a UPS on every computer or AV device in my house. Consider a small one will cost you ~$100 for 500VA, and it's a bargain. Go with a bigger ~$300 1500VA UPS and you gain a heavy-duty unit delivering clean power to your hungry yet sensitive electronics.

We don't have the most reliable electricity, particularly during Summer.

 

[Neil Joseph]

I have a question. I have an outlet in the ceiling to which I have attached a Monster surge protector SW200. That way, I did not have a mess of wiring or a big box on the ceiling. Is there a way I could have UPS protection on that line without having to physically place the UPS box on the ceiling? Is there something I can do by the electrical box in the basement? Could I find that circuit in the electrical box and cut the circuit, then place the UPS in the circuit, maybe placing the UPS box in the vicinity of the electrical box and would this cause any problems in the electrical code?

 

[Dan_Isaacs]

Yes, you can. We do that at work. I work at a Bio-tech company, and we have a lot of labs with equipment that needs local UPS. We wire the UPS directly into the outlet loop for given group of benches. We have an electrician that does that, so it may be over the head of a novice. He uses a regular UPS, and just strips the plug off and taps it into the line. I never paid enough attention to be able to describe any more than that.

Try cruising some of the electrician's newsgroups and see if there is more info about that type of install.

 

[TanT]

Try this link

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...S&pagenumber=1

 

[Sacha_C]

Just to be sure whta they said on AVS forum is true, did your bulb blow after the power was cut or when you tried to turn it back on while the bulb has still hot?

 

[Neil Joseph]

My bulbs did not blow when the power was cut. Interesting!

 

[Sacha_C]

Then when did they blow?

 

[Neil Joseph]

One blew when watching a movie. The other one must have blown (maybe on power down) because when it was powered up again after a few hours, it never came up. This is ont he Sharpvision XVZ1U. I am now using the Sony 11HT. After I taped down that switch, I never had a bulb problem again. The one time the bulb blew and took out the circuit board, there was a total of over $1000 in damage done.