Dim Z1

S

speaknoevil

Guest
Hi,

I've had a (fantastic) Z1 since Feb - so about 8 months old.

Ceiling mounted. Use average 2h/day.

Today the picture is very dim. The blue screen is very dim.

This is across all inputs and all image presets.

Toggle the no-show makes no difference.

The lamp warning light is not flashing. The temp warning isnt worried either.

Is is just very dim. Otherwise looks and sounds the same.

Anyone any ideas before I contact Sanyo support?

Mike
 
speaknoevil said:
Hi,

I've had a (fantastic) Z1 since Feb - so about 8 months old.

Ceiling mounted. Use average 2h/day.

Today the picture is very dim. The blue screen is very dim.

This is across all inputs and all image presets.

Toggle the no-show makes no difference.

The lamp warning light is not flashing. The temp warning isnt worried either.

Is is just very dim. Otherwise looks and sounds the same.

Anyone any ideas before I contact Sanyo support?

Mike

Bulbs will usually start to get much dimmer prior to death....so I expect you should start looking for a replacement.
 
This happened to my Z1 and shortly after the bulb just went pop,no warning light either.Got a new one from GM Services Milton Keynes(01908 321103) for £222,
 
Thanks for the rapid replies. You were right.

I found out how to check the lamp life while at work today.

Got home, fired up the projector, checked the hours: 566 of which 550 in bulb-sparing mode and the rest at full power.

Turned on the PC, sat down & checked price on Dabs. (£228 delivered).

Projector on for 5 minutes maybe, then POP & everything went dark.

I guess the bulb has exploded. Like yours did.

<600 hours from a lamp is bad enough but now I'm faced with possible damage to the projector (according to the manual).

Can I still replace the unit or do I need to contact my supplier and have them do it. It is still well within warranty (by 2 1/2 years!). I know that the bulb isn't though.
 
Lamp replacement is very straightfoward.
It's unlikely that the blown lamp has done any harm. Gently shake out the broken glass into a bin and carefully vacuum any remnants. (a small piece of tubing taped to the end of a vacuum hose/cleaner set to "low" should help)

Jeff :rtfm:
 
Although my bulb went pop it did not actually explode,just the element inside the unit disintergrated,I don't know the exact number of hours but the bulb had lasted 12 months being used nearly everyday.
The firm I quoted above are an offical Sanyo service agent if you are in any doubt about damaging the unit contact them.They delivered the replacement bulb to me in 2 days although they did not have one in stock at the time I rang.
By all means contact Sanyo but as you say the bulb is not covered by the warranty,if you go to Sanyo's web site there is a list of service agents you may find one local to you.
I personally do not think 600hrs is acceptable when figures of 3000hrs were quoted but if you read other threads about lamplife its just the luck of the draw.
 
Thanks.

After reading the posts I opened the hatch...

The lamp elements are blown to bits but fortunately the front plate remained intact.

I've ordered a replacement unit which will hopefully last longer. That one averaged 40 pence per hour (ouch).

Maybe I was just unlucky with that lamp but I wonder if this has contributed...

The Z1 firmware crashed about 3 times since I've had the unit. Being ceiling mounted I always use the remote. The projector works fine but refuses to turn off. It wont respond to anything via remote or unit buttons. It wont change input or anything. It's only happened 3 times and I've just put it down to software crashes. My mobile phone does the same. My PC does it all the time...

Aware of the potential for lamp damage we've had no option but to switch it off via the rocker switch and the immediately back on in order the get the fans running ASAP. They come on fast for 30 seconds or so then drop back down to normal operating speed.

Do these 'crashes' happen to other people or should I be talking to Sanyo ?

If so, do you do the same, or just turn the projector off and leave it to cool naturally (I would have thought that this would lead to more heat build up) ?

There's no mention of this in the manual but I expect it will happen again, with my nice new lamp unit. I could do with getting a few more hours out of this one!

Comments welcome - maybe this is worth a new thread?
 
I can't remember my Z1 crashing as badly as that,occasionally when switching between inputs its blue screened but all I had to do was switch off using the remote as normal.There is a hardware reset button at the rear of the unit have you tried that.
 
I've had my Z1 since Christmas and clocked up 540 hours, and it went pop last week. It went dark prior to popping, but I didn't really notice it until I put in the new one in and I was amazed at how bright it was. I suppose if it dims gradually then you don't notice it so much.

I paid £240 from ivojo.com who got it delivered with 2 days.

I was expecting at least 1000 hours out of it though - I've had a bit of trouble trying to explain to the wife that I've just been unlucky this time and the next one should last much longer - fingers crossed.

The night before popping we had the central heating on, and it was quite hot in the cinema room where the projector is housed. Half way through a film I felt the top of the pj and it was VERY hot. I needed to pause the film for five minutes, so I decided to power down to give it a little breather. I think I might have done this twice. I'm thinking now that it may be bad for the bulb to turn it on and off in succession, especially since it was very hot at the time. Perhaps the cooling and heating up of the bulb is worse than just leaving it on. Any comments anyone ? I think I'm going to turn the radiator off and suffer a slightly cold room if it's going to be better for the bulb in the long run.

As for the firmware crashes - I haven't had anything as bad as you have reported, but one thing that always happens is if I switch on the pj and leave it to warm up, but I don't switch the dvd player during the five minute countdown, it goes into a standby mode but I can't power it up again using any of the buttons. I have to knock it off at the mains and start the cycle again. Quite annoying.

Off topic now - but has anyone had a demo of the Infocus 4805 ? I demo'd the 4800 before I bought my Z1, but I couldn't stand the rainbows so had to count it out. But my mate has just got a 4805 and I'm amazed by the picture quality and lack of rainbows and quite jealous. He paid £1200 for it and I'm wishing that it was out when I bought my Z1 - I think it would have been well worth the extra £200.
 
speaknoevil said:
If so, do you do the same, or just turn the projector off and leave it to cool naturally (I would have thought that this would lead to more heat build up) ?

Just switch if of manually at er, switch and allow it to cool down manually. Much less thermal stress to the bulb that way.
 

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