The replace bulb light is showing on my projector after only 900 hrs. I have been told that this is just bad luck. Can anyone out there shed any light on this . any assistance would be helpful.
Cheers
Jimdy.

[Crocodile JD]

I don't think there are any come backs with bulbs. It might be worth a try if your projector is still under warrenty.

The problem from what I've read here is that the life of a bulb can be drastically reduced due to how it is used. In order to preserve it you should ideally run your PJ for at least 30minutes once you have turned it on, minimise the number of times the PJ is turned on and off (eg. don't turn off half way through a film for a 20 minute break, leave it running) and never turn off at the plug before the fan has run through its cool down cycle. Power cuts therefore are bad news, have you experienced any when the PJ is on and how do you use your PJ in general use.

Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs. I'm interested because I have a PLV30 also. I'm no where near 900hrs yet so I don't know how much difference all the TLC I show mine is going to make. I would also be interested to know where you get a replacement bulb from and how much it costs. Here is an email for someone who has offered to give me a quote:

stanley@yelnats.com

I don't know anything about them except that it came via a PM on this forum from someone who had obviously picked up from a thread that I was a PLV30 owner, I'd been asking about bulbs myself. But there is no user name the PM says "deleted user". Don't know if that's a bad trader or what so beware.

Also, I think there is a warning in the manual against running it once the warning light has come on.

Crocodile JD

When i asked the sanyo service centre about bulb life, he said the bulb counter only goes up to 1000 before it resets to zero, so maybe the bulb life is only around 1000 hours.

[Crocodile JD]

so maybe the bulb life is only around 1000 hours.

If that's so, it sucks. It's always been advertised as 2000 hrs (which of course is already much lower than some)

Crocodile JD

P.S. what details do you have for the Sanyo service centre and do they do replacement bulbs?

[jonny m]

It could just be a problem with the counter, seems very strange as its still advertised everywhere as 2000 lamp life.

And the bulb outputs only 500 lum, if it was 2000 then maybe but its a very low powered bulb. I would reset the counter and just get on with it as it seems someone has got the wrong message somewhere and if sanyo have lied about the bulb life Im sure we would have had a class action or two by now.

[jonny m]

What the cheapest price anyone has found?
Replacment lamp for PLV-30 £295 (£346.63 inc. VAT) @ ivojo

[jonny m]

http://www.sanyo-projectors.co.uk/lamps.htm
seems to have a wide variety of prices for lamps some are even half the price of the plv-30!

Even the plv-1 is about £100 cheaper arrgh!

I have contacted the sanyo service centre and they say 1000 hrs is what you should expect from this projector.
I was sold this machine in the knowledge that you would get at least 2000hrs from the bulb.
This is conflicting information i wonder what owl think of this as i believe they supply to some outlets.
I bought this machine from sevenoaks who basically informed me that it is like a domestic light bulb and can go at anytime,seems like duff info to me.
I have used the projector as per the instructions , it is ceiling mounted,and is in a relative dust free environment so its not through misuse.
Is there anyone else out there that has had trouble with the life of the bulb.
Cheers
Jimdy

[jonny m]

jimdy
If this is the case then its very serious as we have been basically mis-sold if not plain decieved by sanyo.

[Crocodile JD]

I have contacted the sanyo service centre and they say 1000 hrs is what you should expect from this projector.

I hope this is wrong because I've just done an online search and found several sites selling at 2000hrs just as it was when I bought mine.

Guys
I think we need to start a new thread entitled: "URGENT all PLV30 owners this is important!" and enlighten them to the Sanyo line on this if it is indeed so. Just in case people are missing this thread. We need to know how many other owners have had lamps go early. What do you think?

Croc

[jonny m]

Go for it croc!

Hopefully Chris from owl will appear on the scene also..

Thanks guys, i agree that this could become a potential problem for other owners. I am now waiting and checking for loss of picture quality every time i switch on, which is not something i particularly want to concentrate on.
I intend to follow this up if the bulb does give up the ghost and i still have unanswered questions with the sanyo service centre. will keep you informed.
Cheers
Jimdy.

[Crocodile JD]

Go for it croc!

Well I went for it guys but not a single related response. Are we the only PLV30 owners left in the world, or are they all stuck in a big que which is forming outside the Sanyo Service Centre? Probably lurking in dark corners on other forums more like!

Any news jimdy?

Cheers

Croc

Hi Croc,
received a second reply from Sanyo Admitting that it should last up to 2000 hrs ( they did say 1000 originally ) but say that their original statement still stands whatever that means.
I assume that all of the other plv30 owners have not had problems, which is a good thing. perhaps i have been a little unlucky.
Thanks for your efforts, much appreciated.
Cheers
Jimdy.

[jonny m]

jimdy
Any idea why the bulb replacement light has come on, has your pj stopped working completely or does it still work but with the bulb warning??

Confused??

John

[Ricky27]

Hi, been reading this thread with interest and i would be very very unhappy if my PLV30 's bulb failed at anywhere near 1000 hours.
I myself was told that it would last around 2000 hours too so i would say that maybe the replace bulb light is simply coming on way too early as you didnt mention the picture was any different?

Any other recommendations for TLC on the bulb? Is that true you should just run it for 1/2hr before use?

Also, I reckon a UPS (uninterrupted Power Supply) is a worthwhile investment for a projector. I was lucky enough to pick up a good UPS from work and that will supply a constant current plus safeguard against any unexpectant power failures.

[Crocodile JD]

Is that true you should just run it for 1/2hr before use?

I don't think this is the case, but I am lead to believe that you should, once turned on, run it for at least 1/2 hour before for turning off. In other words dont turn your PJ on and off all the time. short bursts are not good. It might be something to do with heat stressing.

Croc

[buns]

the problem with switching on and off is that that is when the current flowing spikes and is thus most likely for a failure. hence turn it on and off less means fewer problems.

I have my sanyo at 800 odds and will not be pleased if it goes before i get to 1500!

ad

[Crocodile JD]

Hi Buns

Thought you'd sold yours yonks ago? Keep us posted as you go 1k +

Hey jimdy

What's the latest, did you go for a new bulb and if so what cost etc?

Croc

[buns]

i tried but was unwilling to sell at 600 pounds odd...... it would have been far too much of a loss for me!

Croc,
I am still waiting for the bulb to go . It seems to be taking longer to warm up before show a decent picture but its still operating. as it should on only 950 hrs.
I will let you know if it pops completely. With any luck it may be a fault with the replacement light, fingers crossed.
Cheers
Jimdy

Hi guys,

I have a Sanyo PLV-30 with the original lamp with approximately 2600 hours of usage. The replacement light when on at near enough 2000 hours of usage. The red lamp problem light went on at about 400 hours of usage!!!!

The picture is still blowing me an my wife and our friends away, so I have absolutely no urgency of replacing the bulb.

I must admit that I have got no idea on how to get to the usage counter provided by the projector, I kept track of it myself.

Sorry to hear you guys are encountering problems, but maybe you should just ingore the signals by the projector....

Cheers,
Jean-Paul

Oh and regarding that guy offering PLV-30 lamps. I was contacted by him as well. Offering them to me for £250 each. I asked him for a website and company details and he replied that he was a kind individual providing this service to his european cousins.

I just said thank you but the risk is too high. Unfortunately we live in a society where I don't trust people that I do not know with £250 of my cash.

Cheers,
Jean-Paul

[Ricky27]

Hi there, to find out the lamp age you simply have to keep the forward cursor key on unit,not remote pressed for about 20 seconds and it will show you the hours of lamp use.

[Crocodile JD]

Hello again dejongj not heard from you for a while

Just curious

The replacement light when on at near enough 2000 hours of usage.

I was led to believe that you ignore this one at your peril? I don't know what the consequences are. What would likely happen if the bulb actually blew when in use?

Crocodile JD

In my humble opinion the lamp won't actually blow-up. The first signs will be that the picture quality is starting the reduce, it will loos some of its oomph, you will feel like you have to up the brightness and that you may loose some detail.
However this happens very slowly so your brain may actually not pick it up. So if you have a CRT compare it to that at time, I pipe Sky to both at times. Looks very similar still, although I think Sky is very grainy...than I put a progressive scan DVD on and I realise again what this little projector is all about...It is just the Sky picture which is not very good when blown up......

Cheers,

Jean-Paul

[Crocodile JD]

Sorry I didn't mean blow up, I mean when the lamp suddenly gives out for good. Figure of speach

Croc

I know Croc, although there are some people who did think that, i.e. my wife. She has been worried about that for months now.

So the worst case scenario is that is gets very dark in your room!! And as I said to my wife, that is not necessarily a bad thing ;-)

Cheers,

JP