Bad bulb or ballast in PJ?

[wildfire99]

I've got a problem that hopefully someone can help me shed some light on.

I have an NEC HT1000 that's worked flawlessly for a few years now, with less than 400 hours on the lamp (it sat in storage for a while). I pulled it out of storage, and it wouldn't fire the lamp. I pulled the lamp, reseated it, and it worked fine for a few weeks.

I left it to sit again for a few weeks, and now it won't fire the lamp again. This time, the reseating trick doesn't work. I yanked the cover to see if the ballast was working. The bulb will flash sometimes (indicating there is an arc), other times not.

If I let the unit sit for a few minutes, it'll arc five times the first time the PJ tries to strike the bulb. If I try again in less than a minute it will either flash just once, or not at all. It will never flash/arc any other time it tries to strike the bulb (it tries to strike it three times before returning an error).

Is this just a problem with the bulb, and it needs to be replaced (despite having such low usage)? Or could it be a bad ballast? The former is easy to fix, the latter means a repair bill higher than the value of the PJ. Buying a bulb to test means I could be throwing away a lot of cash.

The lamp itself looks flawless, except for some odd coloration at the tip (the tip looks like it's supposed to be covered in tin/solder, but it seems like it's flaked off a bit with some brownish edges, exposing a white underlayer like porcelain).

Are there any good ways to check either the bulb or the ballast for correct operation?

[Dean McManis]

You might try to clean all of the electrical contacts thoroughly. Sitting out without being used could have corroded the contacts.

[wildfire99]

I checked and reseated everything I could get my hands on. Nothing looks burnt or out of place.

One of the things I just don't get is, if the bulb was bad, would it arc or flash? If so, wouldn't it arc every time the PJ tried to strike it, not just once or a few times?

If the ballast is bad, would it still strike the bulb sometimes but not other times? My other consideration is if the tip of that bulb is shorting out, although I don't have another for reference.

[George Bellefontaine]

Hard to say what the problem is there. I own an HT1000, too. It has just under 1000 hours on the lamp and I have never encountered any problems. However, they were a few HT1000s out there with bad lamps that had to be replaced anywhere in the 200 to 500 hour category. Maybe yours is one of those.

[Kevin P]

Did you try cleaning (not just reseating) the contacts? Do the contacts on the bulb/assembly as well as the socket inside the PJ.

I would suspect dirty/oxidized contacts first, bad bulb second, bad ballast 3rd.

If you got the PJ locally, could you try your bulb in another PJ at the dealer?

[Clive]

You're planning on keeping the PJ for awhile anyway which mean that you'd need a bulb change sooner or later. Why not purchase a new bulb and try it. If you noticed in the warranties (from what I've seen anyways) that the bulbs are warrantied for only 90 days, while the unit will have a 1 or 2 year warranty.

If it's not the bulb the hey...........you now have a backup. Take the unit to a qualified repair store :cry:

[wildfire99]

I'll check the bulb contacts for oxidation again, however it all looked good. I had the DVM on it for a continuity check with no issues. It is indeed frustrating, as a test lamp would totally resolve the problem for me (no repairs on this old fella). No dealers around me at the moment (bought mail order, anyway).

Before I risk taking a dive on a new bulb (that may not work either, if something else is shot) I will probably wait for the new batch of projectors to hit the streets Oct/Nov. By the time I hit the wallet for a new bulb and new ballast and new whatever else plus shipping, as a max risk, I have half the dough for a new AE900! :E

The weird part that still throws me is how it worked fine one week, then one week later, with nothing but getting put on a shelf for 7 days, totally KO'd it. Maybe it is indeed a bad lamp. I have an email into NEC tech support, hopefully they get back to me on if they think it's a repair issue or not. I just figure if the lamp is bad, why does it still flash/arc, and why would it do it only once (when the PJ strikes the lamp several times)?

I have my eyes set on the new Sony SXRD unit... the problem is, waiting for it without a PJ in the interim. Oh, the agony!

When I bought this thing a few years ago I was going to make it a keeper. I never expected to not use it much at all. For what I paid, and the hours I have on it, I think that's about $100 an hour. Ouch! I don't think I could even make it a wash on the repair bill selling it, since I don't see the HT1000's moving well unless they're under $900 now. (HT1100's, maybe.)

What I really want is to just buy or borrow someone's crusty old (1500 hr) lamp they had hidden away for an emergency. Anyone game?

[wildfire99]

FYI, NEC tech support said that "90% of the time it's the bulb", and that I should either replace the bulb or have a more lengthly diagnostic period with them.